You can use the NetInstallHelper application to set up your network so you can install OPENSTEP Release 4.0 onto Intel-based, NeXT, or SPARC computers from a server, rather than from the OPENSTEP CD-ROM. You also use the NetInstallHelper application to create the floppy disks you need to start the network installation process on Intel-based and NeXT computers.

This document describes how to use NetInstallHelper to prepare your network for network installation as well as how to create network installation floppy disks. It also describes a set of shell scripts you can use as a starting point for supporting network installation on networks where NetInstallHelper isn't sufficient. Once you've set up your network as described in this document, see Installing and Configuring OPENSTEP Release 4.0 for instructions on installing OPENSTEP across the network.

Note: Before you can add a client to a network installation server, you must use HostManager to add it to the network. In particular, each client must have host entry in its parent domain's /machines directory. If you're adding a SPARC workstation, you also need to choose Sun SPARC from the System Type pop-up list in HostManager's New Host panel. For more information, see the section 'Manually Adding a New Host' in Chapter 3 of the Network and System Administration Manual.

Once you've set up a network installation server, you can run NetInstallHelper to create the network installation disks you need. You can only create network installation disks for the kind of computer (Intel-based or NeXT) you're running NetInstallHelper on.

The floppy disks you create are different from the default disks--in particular, the installation disk skips the warning that the install process will destroy the contents of your hard disk (though you can still halt the installation process before erasing the disk). The custom device drivers disk contains only the specific network adapter, hard disk controller, and SCSI adapters device drivers required to install OPENSTEP on a particular configuration of computer, rather that all such device drivers from the OPENSTEP CD-ROM.

There are four scripts: setup_netinstall_server, setup_netinstall_client, make_netinstall_floppy, and delete_netinstall_server. These scripts are not used by NetInstallHelper, though you can use them in the Terminal application to perform the same tasks in roughly the same way.

Use these scripts as starting points to write your own shell scripts to set up customized network installation procedures at your site. There is some documentation included in the scripts themselves (you can open them in Edit to read them). In addition, you can run any of these scripts with the -help argument to view a short explanation of its syntax.