The Diskless Workstation Administration Guide explains how to configure and maintain Silicon Graphics software so that one or more networked workstations can operate without a local disk. It introduces the terms and concepts needed to understand a diskless implementation and explains how to plan an implementation. It also describes the procedures needed to install, maintain, and troubleshoot a diskless implementation.
Silicon Graphics' implementation of Diskless software should be used with these requirements in mind:
Diskless Workstation software must be used in conjunction with Silicon Graphics' Network File System (NFS) software option.
A diskless server must be running an IRIX release that is the same as or later than the IRIX release used by any of its clients.
The Diskless Workstation Administration Guide is organized into seven chapters:
| Chapter 1, “Understanding Diskless Operation” |
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| Chapter 2, “Preparing for Installation” |
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| Chapter 3, “Creating a Share Tree” |
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| Chapter 4, “Creating Client Trees” |
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| Chapter 5, “Updating Software on Diskless Trees” |
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| Chapter 6, “Maintaining Diskless Implementations” |
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| Chapter 7, “Troubleshooting Diskless Installations” |
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The Diskless Workstation Administration Guide is written for system and network administrators who will be responsible for managing a Silicon Graphics server that supports one or more diskless workstation clients. It assumes that the audience has experience with basic system administration on an IRIX or other UNIX-based system.
Experience in maintaining IRIX filesystems and NFS and in installing Silicon Graphics software is helpful, but not required, for installing and maintaining Diskless software. A familiarity with various families of Silicon Graphics workstations is also helpful, particularly for doing troubleshooting procedures. At some sites, familiarity with network administration is required to prepare network software for the diskless implementation.
This document uses the standard UNIX convention when referring to entries in IRIX reference pages. The entry name is followed by a section number in parentheses. For example, cc(1) refers to the cc manual entry in section 1 of the IRIX reference pages.
File and directory names and commands are shown in italics and options appear in bold. Command syntax descriptions appear in typewriter font, with variable names in italics. User entries are shown in typewriter bold.
The documents listed below provide supplementary information on topics covered in the Diskless Workstation Administration Guide:
IRIX Admin: Software Installation and Licensing
IRIX Admin: Disks and Filesystems
NFS Administration Guide
NIS Administration Guide
The owner's guide for your client and server systems