Remote install of solaris on a 220R

Fri Jun 25 12:36:23 PDT 2004

DMD> It's a PITA, especially if you want to try stipping the system down to
DMD> only install the minimums. Don't bother, install everything, then
DMD> uninstall things. You'll save yourself hours of headaches if you don't
DMD> know solaris interdependacnies backwards and forwards. 

This is not good advice, IMHO, but then I probably fall into the
category of somebody who knows Solaris interdependcies backwards and
forwards.  For most Internet-facing "appliance" type purposes, the
"Core System Support" cluster plus a few packages is usually
more than you need.

Once you've got the OS installed, Solaris hardening guidance is
available from http://www.CISecurity.org/ and
http://www.deer-run.com/~hal/solaris-sbs/

CY> Then you get to build tools and make packages.  Unless you trust
CY> other people.

www.sunfreeware.com is your friend.  I just wished they used PGP
signatures on their packages.

I also support the OpenSSH packages at ftp.cisecurity.org, which I
think are better than the ones at sunfreeware.com, albeit mine are
only 32-bit binaries for backwards compatibility.

CY> At this point, Solaris 8 is close enough to EOL that I'd certainly
CY> use Solaris 9.  I'm playing with Solaris A  (after 7, 8 and 9 is
CY> "A", we all know this).  It's beta or early release or whatever.

Yes, don't bother with Solaris 8 at this point, 9 is definitely better
in all respects.  "The Solaris Operating System That Comes After 9" is
definitely going to be worthwhile too-- Sun shops should subscribe to
the "Solaris Express" program to test the engineering snapshots and
prepare for early upgrades.

DMD> Depending on how many boxes it is, dd'ing the drives may be faster than
DMD> setting up a one-time jumpstart server.

See also "flash" installs for Solaris.  Kicks ass.

-- 
Hal Pomeranz, Founder/CEO      Deer Run Associates      hal at deer-run.com
    Network Connectivity and Security, Systems Management, Training