Setting up a data store

To provision operating systems on bare metal computers using the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE), you create a data store directory on a Windows or Linux server. Then you share the data store directory.

You can set up multiple data stores. If you are provisioning many devices simultaneously, using multiple data stores can potentially reduce network traffic. During the provisioning process, most network traffic occurs between the device being provisioned and the data store. Using multiple data stores can reduce the possibility of a bottleneck. Additionally, if you are provisioning devices on different network segments, you can place a data store on each segment, thereby substantially reducing network traffic.

For successful provisioning, you must share the data store. The type of share depends on the type of operating system you are provisioning to bare metal computers:

• To provision Windows operating systems:
  • If the data store host is a Windows server, you share the data store as a Windows share.
  • If the data store host is a Linux server, you share the data store as a Samba share.
• To provision Linux operating systems, you provide HTTP access to the data store (such as Apache on Linux or IIS on Windows) because the Linux installers run over HTTP.

To set up a data store

1. On the host computer that will function as a data store server, create a data store directory.
2. If you are provisioning the Windows operating system, share the data store using one of following methods. If the data store server is a:
   • Windows host computer — Use Windows to set up sharing with the data store directory. The share should allow read-only access.
   • Linux host computer — Use Samba to set up sharing with the data store directory structure. The share should allow read-only access.
     If you are using WinPE, you need a password to access the data store share. Passwords are not necessary if using Gentoo. If you are using WinPE, the computer being provisioned must map a drive to the location of the installation files on the data store server. You must enable this account. You can use properties in BMC Server Automation to provide the connection information needed to access other data stores. For more information about defining BMC Server Automation properties and assigning properties to a system package being used to provision a server, see Creating a system package and PXE Properties.

     Warning

     BMC recommends that any account used to share access to the data store be limited to read-only access. Otherwise, you are creating the potential for a dangerous security lapse.

3. If you are provisioning the Linux operating system, perform the following steps:
   1. Set up HTTP access by taking one of the following actions. If the data store server is a:
      • Windows computer — Use IIS to define a virtual directory that corresponds to the data store directory structure. Use web sharing to grant read-only access to this virtual directory.
        
        In addition, if you have set up the data store on a Windows host computer where IIS and .Net Framework are installed, you must remove the file associations of .cs files in IIS by performing the following steps:
        1. From the Start menu, choose Programs > Administrator Tools > IIS Manager.
        2. In IIS Manager, choose Default Web Sites > datastore. Right-click and choose Properties.
           The Datastore Properties window opens.
        3. On the Virtual Directory tab, click Configurations.
           The Application Configuration window opens.
        4. Remove the application mappings for .cs files.
        5. Restart the IIS service.
      • Linux host computer — Set up HTTP read-only access to the data store directory structure. (To facilitate troubleshooting, you can optionally set up HTTP access to allow directory browsing. However, this makes your data store configuration less secure.)
   2. Copy the bmilinux.tar file and the bmiwin.exe file to the root directory of your data store. These files are provided in the provision-files.zip file. If you extract the entire contents of provision-files.zip, the files appear at the \provisioning\pxe directory.
4. If the data store server is a Windows host computer, and you plan to use this computer to provision Windows operating systems, configure the security settings as follows:
   1. In the Windows Control Panel, open Administrative Tools. Double-click Local Security Policy. Under Security Settings, click Local Policies and double-click Security Options.
   2. Set the policies as shown in the following table:

      Policy	Security Setting
      Network security: Do not store LAN manager hash value on next password change	Disabled
      Network security: LAN Manager authentication level	Send LM & NTLM responses

5. Install an RSCD agent on the data store server by using one of the following tasks:
   • (Windows) Installing an RSCD agent (Windows)
   • (Linux and UNIX) Installing only the RSCD agent (Linux and UNIX)
     To successfully provision servers, an RSCD agent must be running on the data store server.

Where to go from here

Stock the data store with the installers and other files that you expect to use, as described in the following tasks. See Stocking the data store.