Before starting to setup JumpStart, verify that you have sufficient space on your system to copy the Solaris software from the CDROM. The complete image of Solaris 2.8 will require over 800 MB of disk space. If you lack enough space, then you will have to add more disks before proceeding. Consider using a filesystem with twice that space or more, in case you subsequently decide to add another Solaris image (for example, Solaris 2.7). We will call the Solaris directory /jumpstart.

Choose a location under which to install the Solaris image and create the appropriate directory. The convention used here is /jumpstart/OS/Solaris_8.0_10-00 where 8.0 represents the version number (somewhat confusingly, Sun Microsystems has decided to call Solaris 2.8 Solaris 8.0) and 10-00 represents the version release date. Insert Solaris 2.8 CD 1 of 2 into the CDROM drive and execute the following commands:

# cd /cdrom/sol_8_sparc/s0/Solaris_8/Tools

# ./setup_install_server /jumpstart/OS/Solaris_8.0_10-00

The setup_install_server program will verify that you have sufficient disk space and then copy the Solaris image to the directory that you have selected. The process may take some time, depending on the speed of your CDROM. (It took several hours on my venerable IPX.)

Once the installation has completed, eject the CD 1 of 2 and insert the CD 2 of 2 to copy the rest of the software.

Execute the following commands:

# cd /cdrom/sol_8_sparc_2/Solaris_8/Tools

# ./add_to_install_server /jumpstart/OS/Solaris_8.0_10-00

You will be prompted when the copy operation has completed successfully. You may then eject the CDROM.

If you are relatively new to JumpStart, then you will want to copy the example rule file, begin and finish scripts, and profiles from Solaris CD 1 of 2 to the JumpStart directory. You will find them under the Misc subdirectory on the CD.

The Solaris image must be available to client systems over the network. Accordingly, you will have to add the following line to the file /etc/dfs/dfstab:

share -F nfs -o ro,anon=0 /jumpstart

If you have not previously started NFS, then cd to /etc/init.d and execute the command "nfs.server start" to start the NFS daemon. Confirm that NFS has started by running the command "ps -ef | grep nfsd". The command "shareall" will share your entry from /etc/dfs/dfstab. The file /etc/dfs/sharetab will show currently shared filesystems.

It is possible to have separate JumpStart install servers and boot servers, and you will have to do so if you have more than one subnet, but we will assume that one server will play the roles of install server and boot server. If you decide to have multiple servers provide these services, you will have to consult the Advanced Installation Guide and see the manpage for the "add_install_client" command.