8.3 Getting Ready to Build Images with scr

Before you can build client images with scr, you must complete the following tasks:

  1. Install ImageBuilder and the Image Description Trees.
  2. Copy the image source files from the Novell Linux Point of Service CDs to a central distribution directory.
  3. Define the location of the image source files.

These steps are explained in the following sections.

8.3.1 Installing ImageBuilder and Image Templates

ImageBuilder and the corresponding Image Description Trees are installed when you select the image building utilities during the Administration Server installation. For further information on creating an image server, see Setting Up the Administration Server or Setting Up a Dedicated Image Building Server in the Novell Linux Point of Service 9 Installation Guide.

During installation of the image server, the following image building components are installed:

  • All Administration and Branch Server packages are installed to the server.
  • The ImageBuilder packages (scr and xscr) are installed to the /usr/bin/ directory.
  • The Image Description Trees for each image are installed to /opt/SLES/POS/system/image_name-version/. For information on scr Image Description Trees, see Section 8.2.1, Image Description Tree.
  • The default configuration information for all kernel drivers are installed to /opt/SLES/POS/system/templates/drivers/.

8.3.2 Copying the Novell Linux Point of Service CDs to a Central Distribution Directory

To build the client images, ImageBuilder must have access to the source RPMs. Therefore, before building client images, you must copy the source files on the Novell Linux Point of Service CDs to a central distribution directory.

The POSCDTool and POSCopyTool utilities included with Novell Linux Point of Service copy the RPMs required to build client images. For information on this procedure, see Section 7.3.1, Copying the Novell Linux Point of Service CDs.

8.3.3 Defining the Location of the Image Source Files

When ImageBuilder builds an image, it must know where it can locate the RPMs required to build the image.

For scr, the path to the RPM packages is defined in the ImageBuilder configuration file, /etc/opt/SLES/POS/AdminServer.conf. This ASCII file provides the CD paths to the installation source tree where you have copied the Novell Linux Point of Service CDs.

When scr generates an image, it searches the paths listed in the AdminServer.conf file to find the packages required to create the requested image. The order of the single CD entries is important because scr looks for the requested package in the same order as the CD specification in AdminServer.conf.

For more information, see Section 8.2.2, AdminServer.conf. For information on creating this file, see Section 7.3.4, Generating AdminServer.conf or Distribution.xml.