Types of Manifests

In the automated installer application, three kinds of manifests are provided in each install service; AI manifests, SC manifests, and criteria manifests.

• The AI manifest is an XML document that defines the client installation. Some of the parameters defined are disk target, disk partitions and an Image Packaging System (IPS) repository. The AI manifest schema is based on Relax NG syntax and is installed on the install server as part of the SUNWauto-install-common package. This package is installed automatically when you install the SUNWinstalladm-tools package on the install server. A copy of the AI schema is available at /usr/share/auto_install/ai_schema.rng.

• The SC manifest or System Configuration manifest contains the information needed to configure the system after installation is completed. Some of the configuration parameters supported are timezone, root password, and adding a user to the installed system. The SC manifest uses DTD syntax. A copy of the schema is available at /usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/service_bundle.dtd.1.

• The criteria manifest encompasses the AI manifest file and the SC manifest file and associates them with a client. The client sends its hardware characteristics to the install service and gets the criteria manifest file that matches those characteristics. Then the client is installed using the specifications from the criteria manifest. The criteria manifest schema can be found at /usr/share/auto_install/criteria_schema.rng on the install server.