Creating boot image files and placeholders
To provision Microsoft Windows and Linux machines, you must create boot image files specific to TrueSight Server Automation. The system contains placeholders for these files.
The type of boot image file you create depends on the types of machines you plan to provision.
If you plan to provision... | You need to create... |
|---|---|
Windows machines | Create WinPE image files. See Creating-WinPE-boot-image-files |
Linux machines | Create a Gentoo Linux image file. See Creating-a-Gentoo-Linux-image-file. |
A placeholder is a pointer to a TrueSight Server Automation-specific image file. After you create the image files and put them in the correct places on the TFTP server, you can use the default placeholders built into the system.
Placeholders let you specify which image file to use in provisioning a device. For example, if you add a device, the TrueSight Server Automation Console displays a drop-down menu of image files that you can associate with the device.
TrueSight Server Automation contains the following default placeholders:
Boot image file | Description |
|---|---|
blade.img | Used only when working with legacy system packages. |
gentoo32 | Used to provision x86 Linux machines. |
gentoo64 | Used to provision AMD64 Linux machines. |
Skip Linux Pre-Install | Used to provision a device with the Red Hat, VMware ESX, or SUSE operating system when you want to skip the Gentoo pre-installation image. For information, see Using-the-Skip-Linux-Pre-Install-image-option. |
ESXi 4.0 (vmkboot.gz) | Used to provision AMD64 machines with ESXi 4.0. For information, see Provisioning-target-servers-with-ESXi-4-0. |
WindowsPE_2_x_Image | Used to provision x86 Windows machines using WinPE 2.x. |
WindowsPE_2_x_x64_Image | Used to provision AMD64 and Windows machines using WinPE 2.x. |
WindowsPE_2_x_ISO_Image | Used to provision x86 Windows machines from removable or CD-ROM media connected to the machine using WinPE 2.x. For information, see Provisioning-Windows-2003-or-later-servers-from-a-local-data-store. |
WindowsPE_2_x_x64_ISO_Image | Used to provision AMD64 and Windows machines from removable or CD-ROM media connected to the machine using WinPE 2.x. For information, see Provisioning-Windows-2003-or-later-servers-from-a-local-data-store. |
WindowsPE_5_1_x64_Image | Used to provision AMD64 and Windows machines using WinPE 5.1. |
WindowsPE_5_1_x64_ISO_Image | Used to provision AMD64 and Windows machines from removable or CD-ROM media connected to the machine using WinPE 5.1. For information, see Provisioning-Windows-2003-or-later-servers-from-a-local-data-store. |
To configure a default boot image configuration
In addition to pointing to an image file, a placeholder provides default configuration settings for the image in the TrueSight Server Automation system. These configuration settings include: image type, image file name, description, image path (kernel name), and whether the image is the default boot image. For more information about configuring images, see Configuring-boot-image-files.
To configure default boot images:
- On the console menu bar, select Configuration > Provisioning Configurations.
- Click the Image Files tab.
- (Optional) Add image entries if the ones that you intend to use as the defaults are not in the list. To add an entry, click the Add button.
- Double-click the 32-bit image that you want to set as the default image. For example, select WinPE_2_x_Image, or you can select a 32-bit Gentoo image.
- Select the Set as default image check box and click OK.
- Double-click a 64-bit image. For example, WinPE_2_x_x64_Image or WinPE_5_1_x64_Image, or you can select a 64-bit Gentoo image.
- Select the Set as default image check box and click OK.
(Optional) Delete unused image names from the list. To delete an entry, click the Delete button.
- To save your changes, click OK.