In a previous step, you completed the node planning templates for your nodes. When defining your nodes (in an upcoming step) the information contained in the completed node planning templates needs to be supplied to the definenode command. It can either be entered into a node definition (nodedef) file, or it can be entered at the command line. A nodedef file allows you to enter the host names of the nodes, and all the attributes that you wish to define in a file, and thus avoid the error-prone task of having to type all of the information on the command line. If you intend to use a nodedef file, start with the sample file in /opt/csm/install/nodedef.sample and complete the information from the node planning template that you completed earlier. For large numbers of nodes, IBM suggests using the nodedef file and not the command line. For a small number of nodes, you can simply enter the information on the command line with the definenode command.
See Step 4. Create a nodedef file (optional) for an example of a typical nodedef file.
If you do not intend to use a nodedef file, skip ahead to the next step.
See the nodedef man page or CSM for Linux: Administration Guide for more details about the node definition file.