9.3 Getting Ready to Build Images with xscr

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

  1. Install ImageBuilder and the image templates.
  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 tasks are explained in the following sections.

9.3.1 Installing ImageBuilder and the Image Templates

ImageBuilder and the corresponding image templates are installed when you select the NLPOS Image Server Software Selection option during the Administration Server installation. For further information on creating an image server, refer to the Novell Linux Point of Service 9 Installation Guide.

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

  • 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 xscr Image Description Trees, see Section 9.2.1, Image Description Tree.
  • The template Image Specification Documents for CDBoot, DiskNetboot, Minimal, Java, Browser, Desktop, and POSBranch images are installed to /opt/SLES/POS/system/templates/support. These documents specify the RPMs and drivers required to build their respective images and are included as child documents in their parent Image Specification Document (ImageSpecification.xml) at the root of the Image Description Tree. For more information, see Section 4.2, Point of Service Boot Images and Section 4.3, Point of Service Client Images.
  • The Distribution.xml template is installed to /opt/SLES/POS/system/templates. For more information, see Section 9.2.3, Distribution Source Document (Distribution.xml).
  • The default configuration information for all kernel drivers are installed to /opt/SLES/POS/system/templates/drivers.
  • The child Image Specification Documents for the client image add-on options such as Samba3 client, GNOME, KDE, and VNC 4 Remote Control Client are installed to /opt/SLES/POS/system/templates/addons. For more information, see Section 4.4, Client Image Add-On Features.

9.3.2 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 Novell Linux Point of Service source CDs to a distribution directory on the Administration Server.

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.

9.3.3 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 xscr, the location of the RPM packages is defined in the Distribution Source Document (Distribution.xml). This XML document defines the paths to the distribution directories where you have copied the Novell Linux Point of Service CDs.

When xscr generates an image, it searches the URIs listed in the Distribution.xml document to find the RPM packages required to create the image. The order in which xscr searches the URIs is determined by the Order attribute for each URI. For more information on the Distribution Source Document, see Section 9.2.3, Distribution Source Document (Distribution.xml). For information on creating the document, see Section 7.3.4, Generating AdminServer.conf or Distribution.xml.