Non-interactive SUNWexplo install

[naggiman]

I have to upgrade SUNWexplo across 400 or so Sun servers, and it is a pain.

Currently i have a wrapper script that generates a pkgask file for each server i install it on, but i would much rather have a single pkgask file so i can do
$ pkgadd -a <admin> -r SUNWexplo.pkgask SUNWexplo
instead of running the wrapper script (so i can make use of a package administrator system for installing/upgrading/removing packages).

I have attempted to put some logic into the pkgask file (as i assume it is .'ed , i.e. &quot;. <path>/SUNEexplo.pkgask&quot; but this doesnt work.

What do you lot do, for both initial installs and for upgrades across multiple servers?

 

[daFranze]

you can edit the SUN Package; remove the file &quot;install/request&quot; and generate another package containing a /opt/SUNWexplo/etc/default/explorer file

HOWTO generate your own Sun package:

http://docs.sun.com/db/doc/817-1778/6mhg3b154?q=pkgproto&a=view

or just google a little bit

Regards
-- Franz
Sorry I'm not a native spaeker, I'm from Munich, Germany - &quot;Home of the Whopper&quot;, oh no, &quot;Home of the Oktoberfest&quot; ;-)

 

[naggiman]

Thanks for your suggestion - i am not convinced i want to do that since it doesn't seem a very elegant solution (and i would have to do it for each new release of SUNWexplo).

But i guess, as a last resort, i may have to....

Thanks anyhow.

 

[Annihilannic]

If it's the explorer defaults file that's the problem, have you considered using a single defaults file on an NFS share somewhere?

Then you can refer to it in the Explorer cron job using it's -d option.

Then the information supplied via pkgask becomes irrelevant.

Annihilannic.

 

[naggiman]

Our internal networks are split into a number of firewalled segments, so I would need an NFS server for each segment. Our security people wouldnt allow me to cross segments with a single NFS area.

I can see why the pkgask has to work the way it does - so the NFS mounts and single defaults file works - a variable is set that uses the hostid as part of the name, i.e.

EXP_SERIAL_`hostid`=&quot;serial number&quot;

It looks as though the pkgask file is just parsed for tokens based on the '='s and so the non-plain text entries i was trying out (such as the one above) are ignored.

The reason i want to only use the pkgask file? I am setting up an internal version of the blastwave.org package management system so i can more easily upgrade/install any package on any system (similar in idea to yum/up2date on redhat).

 

[Annihilannic]

For a centrally maintained defaults file you would have multiple EXP_SERIAL_hostid entries... there is no reason why you can't have those in all of your defaults files so that you can use the same one on all machines.

Annihilannic.

 

[daFranze]

@naggiman

I used to work for Sun Microsystems and _nobody_ takes care of the Serialnumber in the Explorer output (ok, I speak for EMEA Support)

I used to ask Customers which version is running on the host, usually (only in certain environments, SAN, Cluster, EMC, etc.) you don't need the brandnew versions...

The Solution is not very elegant, but it works! ;-)


Regards
-- Franz
Sorry I'm not a native spaeker, I'm from Munich, Germany - &quot;Home of the Whopper&quot;, oh no, &quot;Home of the Oktoberfest&quot; ;-)

 

[naggiman]

daFranze,

So explorer output regularly does not contain serial numbers when they reach the Sun systems? How are support calls tracked when those explorer outputs need to be queried? Are hostid's used instead or soemthing then?

If is not that essential that explorer's contain the serials, then i just stop using them - even easier!

Thanks

 

[daFranze]

I can tell how we handled them:

mkdir /export/explorer/987654321
-> saveas: /export/explorer/987654321/explorer.*.tar.gz

I told my Customer just to hut RETURN when Explorer asks for something...I had a tarfile I sendt my customers so they did not need to install a package, just untar, run explorer and remove the &quot;installation&quot;.

I think the personal info is just gathererd to have another reference, if an explorer is lost is the deeps of a Diskdrive... ;-)

Regards
-- Franz
Sorry I'm not a native spaeker, I'm from Munich, Germany - &quot;Home of the Whopper&quot;, oh no, &quot;Home of the Oktoberfest&quot; ;-)