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Network Interactions of a Net Booted X86 AI Client

By on March 9, 2010

What all does an X86 do while net booting and installing?

I often get asked how the OpenSolaris Automated Installer works. The big question is how all the pieces tie together. To help answer these questions I have drafted a few UML sequence diagrams showing the boot process of an X86 type machine net booting and installing via the Automated Installer.

PXE running DHCP PXE running TFTP GRUB live-fs-root manifest-locator script auto-installer

AI Boot Flow Overview

(You can click down the client timeline for relevant links to source code and Wikipedia descriptions of the protocols.)
UML sequence diagram showing AI boot process -- image map links to relevant code and protocol Wikipedia entries.

Bug with of criteria selection manifest_xml() in webserver.py manifest_html() in webserver.py

AI Manifest Selection Flow Detail

(Click the note for a link to the relevant code implementing the AI webserver (which usually runs on http://<ai_server>:46501, http://<ai_server>:46502, etc.) manifest.html page or the note on manifest criteria for Bug 9106 which documents some issues with criteria processing at this time. Otherwise, the rest of the image links to the AI webserver’s code implementing manifest.xml.)
UML sequence diagram showing AI webserver communication process for downloading an AI manifest

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