Troubleshooting Issues

1. `installadm create-service` Fails With DHCP Errors

Error message displays as follows:

# installadm create-service -n sparc_install_service -i
192.168.135.21 -c 2 -s /export/images/osol-0906-109-ai-sparc.iso
/data/AI/sparc/snv_109
Setting up the target image at /data/AI/sparc/snv_109 ...
Registering the service sparc_install_service._OSInstall._tcp.local
Creating DHCP Server
Created DHCP configuration file.
Dhcptab already exists.
Added server macro to dhcptab - sms1.
dhcpconfig: Error - starting the DHCP server. entity not found
dhtadm: GrubMenu already exists.
pntadm: Table for 192.168.135.0 does not exist.
pntadm: Table for 192.168.135.0 does not exist.
Could not retrieve DHCP information from dhcp server
  Please create a DHCP macro named dhcp_macro_sparc_install_service with:
  Boot server IP (BootSrvA) : 192.168.135.10
  Boot file      (BootFile) : http://192.168.135.10:5555/cgi-bin/wanboot-cgi
Failed to assign DHCP macro to IP address. Please assign manually.
pntadm: Table for 192.168.135.0 does not exist.
pntadm: Table for 192.168.135.0 does not exist.
Creating SPARC configuration file

The installadm command was not able to set up the network table for the addresses. Check to see if this problem is due to one of the following issues:

Check whether the SMF service, dhcp-server, is available on the system. Run the following command:
```
# svcs -a | grep dhcp-server
```
Check whether /etc/netmasks has the wrong netmasks for the network that is being setup, in the above output, 192.168.135.0.
Check that the node name is set to have the loopback address of 127.0.0.1..
Check which OpenSolaris release is installed on your install server. The install server must have the OpenSolaris 2009.06 release.

Make any needed corrections to fix the problems that you found. Then, run the following command to cleanup the failed service.

installadm delete-service -x

Then, you can rerun the installadm create-service command.

2. What if the Client Installation Fails?

Check DNS

Check whether DNS is configured on your client. You could use the nslookup utility to resolve pkg.opensolaris.org. If your DNS is not working, your DHCP setup for this is not correct. On the DHCP server, check whether DNS information is passed to the client.

You must ensure that the DHCP server contains a macro providing a valid DNS domain and DNS servers to the clients. This macro will typically be named with the DHCP server's hostname, and provide the following options: DNSdmain and DNSserv.

Check IPS Repository

The install client needs to reach the IPS repository defined in the AI manifest in order to install the OpenSolaris OS. In a normal configuration, the DHCP server sends the DNS information to the client. This DNS information is used to resolve the IPS repository name to an IP address.

In cases where DNS is not setup, an HTTP proxy can be used to resolve the IPS repository name to an IP address and complete the installation. The XML tag, <ai_http_proxy>, and value in the AI manifest can contain the URL of the proxy as follows:

<ai_manifest name="http_proxy">
           ..........
           ..........
           <ai_pkg_repo_default_authority>
               <main url="http://pkg.opensolaris.org" authname="opensolaris.org"/>
           </ai_pkg_repo_default_authority>
           <ai_http_proxy url="€http://129.101.77.121:8080"€/>
</ai_manifest>

The error message in the failed installation displays as follows:

<OM Oct 28 13:54:08> Transfer process initiated
<TRANSFER_MOD_E Oct 28 13:54:10> Unable to initialize the pkg image area at /a
<TRANSFER_MOD Oct 28 13:54:10> TValueError or TABort
<TRANSFERMOD Oct 28 13:54:10> IPS initialization failed

This error indicates that the client could not resolve the name of the IPS repository. On the failed machine, try to reach the IPS repository you have set up. The default repository is http://pkg.opensolaris.org in the AI manifest for this client.

Check the Installation Logs

You can review the installation log at one of the following locations:

If the installation failed, you can find the log at /tmp/install_log.
If the installation was successful, you can find the log at /var/sadm/system/logs/install_log after you reboot the client.

Check Client Boot Errors

Review the following additional information about errors that occur when the client system is booting: