AI Manifest, Rules and System Configuration

Profile is a file that contains users selections to guide the Automatic installation. We continue to use the term profile since Jumpstart installation uses a file called Jumpstart profile and Solaris users are familiar with the name and concept.  

'rules are set of constraints to help the Automatic Installer to choose appropriate profile and system configuration to be used for a particular client. The rules infrastructure may also allow you to specify the customer's begin and finish scripts. The client can be assigned a profile and scripts based on architecture, platform, hostname, or some other grouping.

'sysidcfg' is the way of specifying system configuration to be used for a hands-free Jumpstart installation. We need to have similar functionality in Automatic Installer.<br>

[DM I've suggested that upgrade is out of scope, and am concerned about re-use of terminology (profile/rules) from Jumpstart.  Please reconsider, especially profile as manifest is the term from DC and commonality needs to be emphasized.]

[DM this all feels just as unwieldy as Jumpstart.  Please look at JET and other automation systems for some other ideas]

Profile

*The Profile may contains following items.
Install type (initial, upgrade, may be some thing new)
Target information
zpool details
ZFS datasets to be created
Partition information
upgrade from which rootfs if there are multiple rootfs
Removing UFS file systems
default locale
List of locales to be installed
Software cluster to be installed
IPS Repository to be used
different packages from different repo?

Rules

[DM I've suggested that begin/finish scripts are out of scope]

The rules (the name could change) file contain the necessary information to map client(s) to profile and sysidcfg files. Also it may contain the path of custom begin and finish scripts. So the rules file could have following information. If there are multiple matches, the first match will be returned.
client host name assigned a profile, sysidcfg, and custom scripts
client platform assigned a profile, sysidcfg, and custom scripts
client hardware characteristics determine appropriate profile, sysidcfg, and custom scripts (This needs to be defined)
wild card matching

Sysidcfg

[DM this whole section needs reconsideration.  Basing on SMF enhanced profiles is desired.]

The system configuration information such as hostname, ipaddress, and Name services can be configured during the installation. This information could be part of profile or on a separate file. The sysidcfg may contain the following items.
Host Name (IP address)
Netmask
DHCP/Static IP
Default Router
Name Service Information
NFSV4 domain name
timezone
keyboard
Root password
User Name and User Password
IP V4/V6

Location of AI config files

[DM suggest simplification to one or two cases in early phases, at least]

During the installation, the AI configuration files can be picked from one of these locations based on the setup (when a client is added using AI setup tools)
NFS directory
HTTP location
local removable media (USB, floopy, cd/dvd)
local disk
default values (???)

Validation

Syntax validation
semantics validation (if possible)