Cold Install of HP-UX 10.2

Prepared by Peggy Bruehl 3/17/97
Q. I've decided to do a cold install of HP-UX 10.2 on my system. What are the steps

A. The cold install of HP-UX 10.20 will destroy all information currently contained on your root disk drive and install the basic 10.2 operating system in its place. All your local configuration will be lost.

Local configuration includes everything you've done to the operating system since you first received the machine, including:

While you can make a back up tape of your 9.X system before you do the cold install, you can NOT simply restore that back up tape after you arrive at 10.2. The file system has completely changed, and restoring a full back up of the 9.X root file system on a 10.2 system will cause unpredictable results.

It is possible to pick and choose 9.X files and directories preserved on tape or disk and merge them into the 10.2 system, however you must be extremely careful. I do not recommend this for the novice UNIX administrator. Instead, if you choose to do a cold install, I recommend re-configuring your system by hand, using SAM, set_parms, etc.

The cold install of HP-UX 10.2 is described in the manual "Installing HP-UX 10.2". Additional information is given in the HP manual "System Administration Tasks". To help you, here's how to get going:

  1. Before you upgrade your machine, I recommend making a back up tape of all your file systems. You will NOT be able to simply restore these files on to your new 10.2 operating system disks, however, at some point in configuring your 10.X system, you may want to refer to an old 9.X file. With a back up tape, you can always extract the needed file or files into a neutral directory.

  2. If you have a DDS DAT tape drive, I advise you to make a 9.X recovery system tape. See the document Making & using a DAT recovery system for details.

  3. Put the HP-UX 10.2 Install/Core OS CD into the CD-ROM drive and reboot.

  4. Interrupt the boot process by pressing the escape key to get to the BOOT_ADMIN prompt.

  5. At the BOOT_ADMIN prompt, use the search command to search for bootable devices. If you are switching the boot drive from one disk to another, make sure that BOTH disk drives appear in this list.

  6. In the bootable devices list, find the CD-ROM, and boot from it using the command boot scsi.2.0 (assuming scsi.2.0 is the SCSI ID of your CD-ROM drive).

  7. You should now see a window welcoming you to the HP-UX Installation process. Choose Install HP-UX

  8. Answer no to the networking question (unless you are booting from a networked software depot and not the CD-ROM).

  9. If you are switching the boot drive from one disk to another, the next window should be the Select System Root Disk window. From this window, select the drive that will contain the new root file system.

  10. The next window should be the Select Whole-System Configuration window. If you would like to install logical volumes, select this now. Logical volumes are a nice tool for partitioning your root file system into separate pieces. This allows you to protect against your file system from filling up due to big log files. I do recommend that if you are doing a cold install that you install logical volumes. They are not required, however, and if you'd rather not bother with it, that's OK too. For the most part, the default sizes given to each logical volume is OK. The exception is the /opt partition. (This is where all your optional software is installed, such as your compilers.) To avoid having to extend the /opt partition later, you may want to increase the size now. 300MB is enough space for both the C and FORTRAN compilers. If you can afford the 300MB, do it. If not, you may need to shrink other partitions and increase /opt later, or add another disk drive to the LVM partitions.. This is something that LVM allows you to do. I do not recommend choosing the Journaled file system option.

  11. The next window should be the View/Modify Basic Configuration window. You can keep the defaults for most of these options. However, remember that I recommend the total amount of swap on your system to be at least two times the amount of RAM. Be sure that your primary swap area (on the root drive) combined with your secondary swap areas (on your external drives) give you a large enough total swap area. Since swap space must be contiguous, and it must be at the beginning of the disk, you can not change the size of the primary swap area without re-installing the OS. Remember, however, that you can use the swap space configured on your external disk drives.

    Also, note that the /home Configuration is where the users' home directories will be located. If 20MB is not large enough, then you should choose something other than the minimal configuration.

  12. From here on, you can simply follow the directions. In nearly every case, the default value for a question will be OK for your situation.

  13. After the configuration is done, you'll see the Enter SD-UX swinstall information window. You have the option of letting the SD (software distributor) install all the needed software for 10.2 without any input from you. OR, if you choose, you can interact with the SD and choose additional software for installation. I recommend letting the SD work without any additional input from you, with the exception of two additional pieces of software.

    I recommend that you add the VUEtoCDE Migration Tools fileset. These tools will automatically convert your HP VUE configuration files into CDE configuration files next time you log in. In addition, I recommend that you install the Transition Links fileset (if you can find it). These tools will help you convert to the 10.X file system layout. I don't recommend marking any other software at this point. You always have the option of installing additional software by running the SD (/usr/sbin/swinstall) after the installation is complete.

  14. Finally, the installation program will ask you some questions about your system. Answer the questions.

  15. After this, the installation program may run set_parms for you to set up the networking. If it does not run it for you, you can run it yourself later, after the install is complete.

  16. The system will now reboot. It is likely that this reboot will take a long time.

  17. After the reboot, you'll notice that HP-VUE is gone, and instead something called the CDE (Common Desktop Environment) is running. The CDE is the new user environment for HP-UX 10.X. HP-VUE is still available on the CD-ROMs, however the CDE is now the industry standard for UNIX platforms, and my recommendation is that you learn how to use the CDE. Log on to the CDE as user root.

  18. If you run CDE, you must make an important change to the /etc/dt/config/C/sys.resources file. See the document Important CDE Setting for instructions.

  19. You can now choose to install additional software from the Install/Core OS or the Applications CDs. This includes any compilers that you may have purchased.

    In addition, there is some software called the Transition Links in the Upgrade.UPG-TLINK fileset. I recommend that you mark this fileset for installation. These links help smooth the transition between the 9.X and 10.2 file system layout by linking the old locations of files to their new 10.2 locations. Examples include /etc/checklist->/etc/fstab and /etc/diskinfo->/usr/sbin/diskinfo. During the install process, the transition links should be installed. After the cold install, check whether the transition links were installed by running /opt/upgrade/bin/tllist. If they weren't installed, manually install them by running /opt/upgrade/bin/tlinstall.

    To start the software installation tool, simply type /usr/sbin/swinstall. You may have to specify that you are using the CD-ROM drive (including the hostname and the mount point) as your software depot. The swinstall GUI interface is easy to use. Mark the software you'd like to install, and then choose Install(analysis) to install it. swinstall will do a disk space analysis before any software is installed, so you do not have to worry about running out of disk space half way through an installation.

  20. To list all software installed on your system, use the commands /usr/sbin/swlist or /usr/sbin/swlist -l product.

  21. You may also have received a CD called HP Extension Software. This CD contains patch bundles that you can install on your new 10.2 system. You are free to install these patches, or you can wait for patch recommendations from me. I currently have patch bundle 02_700_1020 available on the patches/ directory of the SAC FTP server. If your extension software CD has an earlier patch bundle, don't bother installing it. Use the one on the SAC FTP server instead. (See the document Installing an HPUX 10.2 Patch Bundle for details.)

  22. At this point, you should start re-configuring your SAC. This will include running /sbin/set_parms initial and /usr/sbin/sam. You may find that the man pages and the 10.2 release notes are helpful. The release notes are located in the directory /usr/share/doc and the SOO/SAC Home page.

  23. You may want to amend your PATH and MANPATH environment variables to include the following paths:

    /opt/fortran/bin:/opt/ansic/bin:/opt/upgrade/bin:/usr/sbin/:/sbin:/etc
    and
    /usr/dt/man:/usr/man:/usr/share/man:/usr/local/man:/usr/contrib/man: /opt/fortran/share/man:/opt/ansic/share/man:/opt/upgrade/share/man

  24. After making sure all your SCSI devices are connected and funcitoning, I recommend that you print out a copy of your /etc/fstab file. (This file replaces your /etc/checklist file.) This is particularly important if you are using logical volumes. Store the printout with the Support CD. If you ever have to boot from your Support CD, you will need to know the names and device files for each of the logical volumes on your root disk.

  25. If you are a C-shell user, I strongly recommend the patch PHCO_9878. (You will need this patch if you intend to run the gribmaster scripts which download model data to your system.) You can get this patch direct from HP at HP's anonymous FTP patch site at "us_support.external.hp.com." or you can get this patch from the patches/ directory of the SAC FTP server. Download the patch to your /tmp directory and unshare it:

    # sh /tmp/PHCO_9878

    Follow the instructions in the PHCO_9878.text file to install the patch.

  26. In order to run NAWIPS & GARP, you will have to reconfigure the number of colors used by the CDE. To do this, log on and choose the Style Manager from the Front Panel. Click on Color, and then click on Number of Colors. Finally, click on "More Colors for Applications". Log in and out again. This will free up enough colors for NAWIPS & GARP to run.

  27. After re-configuring your system, if you have a DDS DAT tape drive, I recommend making a recovery system tape. See the document Making & using a DAT recovery system for details.

  28. After re-configuring your system, I recommend making a full back up of your root file system using the SAM fbackup facility or the back up facility of your choice.

  29. Finally, you should put your LaserROM 10.* CD into your CD drive and install the the LaserROM software. Please see the document Installing and Using your LaserROM CD for instructions.