Unless you're using a network installation source when installing an OES server (which I can thoroughly recommend!) you will need to switch the SLES DVD for the OES one during the installation process.

As well as being inconvenient there are times when this can cause you some problems, most notably when you are installing an OES server in a virtual environment.

In this article I'll go through the steps necessary to create a single DVD that contains both SLES11 SP1 and OES11 that you can use to install an OES11 server, physical or virtual, without having to change media.

Before we start I'll firstly acknowledge that Glen Davis, the Product Manager for Open Enterprise Server, has previously created a Cool Tool[1] to handle creating a DVD image containing both SLES10 SPn and OES2 SPn. Unfortunately that can't be used to create an equivalent DVD image for OES11 because of some changes in SLES11 although it is my intention, having spoken with Glen during BrainShare and gained his permission, to release an updated version of that tool based on this article.

To perform the following steps you will need a copy of the DVD1 image for SLES11 SP1 x86_64[2] (since OES11 is 64-bit only) and OES11[3].

Linux


# cd /tmp
# mkdir sles11sp1
# mkdir oes11
# mount -o loop /path/to/SLES-11-SP1-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso sles11sp1/
# mount -o loop /path/to/OES11-addon-x86_64-CD1.iso oes11/
# mkdir sles11sp1_oes11
# cp -Rv sles11sp1/* sles11sp1_oes11/
# cp -Rv oes11/ sles11sp1_oes11/
# cd sles11sp1_oes11/
# vi add_on_products.xml

Copy and paste the following content to create the add_on_products.xml file

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<add_on_products xmlns="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns"
xmlns:config="http://www.suse.com/1.0/configns">
<product_items config:type="list">
<product_item>
<name>OES11</name>
<url>cd:///oes11</url>
<path>/</path>
<ask_user config:type="boolean">false</ask_user>
<selected config:type="boolean">true</selected>
</product_item>
<!-- Another product item -->
<product_item />
</product_items>
</add_on_products>

# mkisofs -R -o ../SLES11-SP1_with_OES11-x86_64-DVD.iso -b boot/x86_64/loader/isolinux.bin -c boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table .
# cd ..
# umount sles11sp1/
# umount oes11/
# rmdir sles11sp1/
# rmdir oes11/
# rm -rf sles11sp1_oes11/


You should now have a SLES11-SP1_with_OES11-x86_64-DVD.iso file in /tmp which you can either use to create a physical DVD or point your virtualization software at when installing a virtual machine.

Mac

It's also possible to do this with Mac OS X although you'll need to install MacPorts[4] (which in turn needs Xcode installed) to provide the missing mkisofs command. Once MacPorts is installed use 'port install cdrtools' to add the cdrtools Port that includes mkisofs.

# cd /tmp
# mkdir sles11sp1
# mkdir oes11
# hdiutil attach -mountpoint sles11sp1/ /path/to/SLES-11-SP1-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso
# hdiutil attach -mountpoint oes11/ /path/to/OES11-addon-x86_64-CD1.iso
# mkdir sles11sp1_oes11
# cp -Rv sles11sp1/* sles11sp1_oes11/

Note no trailing slash on the following oes11beta folder name

# cp -Rv oes11 sles11sp1_oes11/
# cd sles11sp1_oes11/
# vi add_on_products.xml

As with the Linux solution above, copy and paste the following content to create the add_on_products.xml file

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<add_on_products xmlns="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns"
xmlns:config="http://www.suse.com/1.0/configns">
<product_items config:type="list">
<product_item>
<name>OES11</name>
<url>cd:///oes11</url>
<path>/</path>
<ask_user config:type="boolean">false</ask_user>
<selected config:type="boolean">true</selected>
</product_item>
<!-- Another product item -->
<product_item />
</product_items>
</add_on_products>

The following step is where MacPorts steps in to provide the mkisofs command because you can't use hdiutil makehybrid.

# mkisofs -R -o ../SLES11-SP1_with_OES11-x86_64-DVD.iso -b boot/x86_64/loader/isolinux.bin -c boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table .
# cd ..
# hdiutil detach sles11sp1/
# hdiutil detach oes11/
# rmdir sles11sp1/
# rmdir oes11/
# rm -rf sles11sp1_oes11/

Again you should end up with SLES11-SP1_with_OES11-x86_64-DVD.iso in /tmp that you can use to create physical media or install a virtual machine.

Windows

At this point some of you may be asking what about Windows? Whilst I also use a Windows desktop I haven't worked through a process because I have both Macs and Linux machines to hand. If you're looking for a free solution then I believe it's possible to achieve the above using Cygwin otherwise there are many commercial CD imaging tools that you could use.

[1] http://www.novell.com/communities/node/2613/create integrated oes 2sles 10 sp1 dvd image
[2] http://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=x4q3cbksW7Q~ (DVD1 only, also available with OES11 at the following link)
[3] http://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=hPn9_LMecxQ~
[4] http://www.macports.org/

Update history:
2011-12-15 Updated to reflect release of OES11