This chapter covers the things you must plan for before beginning your installation.

Note - Many references in this guide point to sections of the Sun Blade 6000 Disk Module Administration Guide (part number 820-4922), available online at http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/blade6000dskmod, which is referenced in this document as the Disk Module Administration Guide.

When you insert a Sun Blade 6000 Disk Module (also called a disk blade) and a Sun Blade 6000 SAS-NEM in a Sun Blade 6000 chassis, the chassis becomes an integrated system where all the blades interact with one another.

Whether you insert these components into an empty chassis or into a chassis where there are already server modules (also called server blades) in use, you must do some prerequisite planning.

Caution - For older X6220 server blades, verify that your host bus adapter hardware is at the correct revision level (see the system requirements listed in the Disk Module Administration Guide). If it is not, you must have Sun rework or replace the server blade before you can use it with a disk blade.

Plan for the following items:

Where to Put the Server Blades and Disk Blades

You can use any combination of the supported server blades (see Supported Servers and Operating Systems) in a single chassis.

The server blades and disk blades must be placed in the chassis in pairs. The pairs must be in slots 0+1, 2+3, 4+5, 6+7, or 8+9. No other combination of slots (such as 1+2) can be used.

Front view of chassis with alternating disk
and server blades.

Sun recommends that you fill your chassis with disk blades from right to left, facing the front of the chassis. This means that the first disk blade added should go in slot 9, the next one should go in slot 7, and so forth.

The server blade that is paired with a disk blade goes in the slot to its left. For example, the server blade paired with the disk blade in slot 9 should be inserted in slot 8.

Example: Placing Server Blades and Disk Blades

Suppose you plan to use six server blades (four X6250 blades and two X6450 blades) and two disk blades in a chassis. You would put the blades in like this:

Slot	Contents
9	Disk blade
8	X6450 server blade
7	Disk blade
6	X6450 server blade
5	Filler panel. Slot is available for the first new disk blade that might be added in the future.
4	X6250 server blade
3	Filler panel. Slot is available for the second new disk blade that might be added in the future.
2	X6250 server blade
1	X6250 server blade. Could be replaced with the third new disk blade that might be added in the future.
0	X6250 server blade

Where to Install Your Operating System

For server blades that are paired with disk blades, your OS must be installed in one of the following ways:

On a single disk in your server blade.
In a RAID 1 volume with both disks in the server blade.
In a hardware RAID 1 (but not RAID 1E) volume with one disk in the server blade and one disk in the disk blade. (Not allowed for SPARC blades.)

In a hardware RAID volume of any type with all disks on the disk blade. (Not allowed for SPARC blades.)

Note - A hardware RAID volume is RAID volume that is created and managed at the firmware level of the server blade’s host bus adapter. See the Disk Module Administration Guide for more information on configuring RAID.

The options are summarized in TABLE 1-1.

**TABLE 1-1 Operating System Installation Options**
Server	On a Single Disk in the Server Blade	In a RAID 1 Volume with Both Disks in the Server Blade	In a Hardware RAID 1 Volume With One Disk in the Server Blade and One Disk in the Disk Blade (RAID 1 only)	In a Hardware RAID Volume of Any Type With All Disks on the Disk Blade
X6220	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
X6240	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
X6250	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
X6270	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
X6440	Yes (Compact Flash Drive)	No	No	Yes
X6450	Yes (Compact Flash Drive)	No	No	Yes
T6300	Yes	Yes	No	No
T6320	Yes	Yes	No	No
T6340	Yes	Yes	No	No

Upgrading Components

Your chassis, and all of the server blades and host bus adapters in it, need to have the most current software and firmware versions.

Refer to the Disk Module Administration Guide for the following information:

How to find out the current versions of the software and firmware on your components.
Where to get software and firmware upgrade files.
How to install software and firmware upgrades.

Note - After you have downloaded the software and firmware files and any tools needed to install them in advance, the upgrade procedure should be no more than 10-15 minutes per server blade.

Upgrading Operating Systems

You must be sure that the OS you choose for each of your server blades has been tested for use with disk blades. The list can be found in Supported Servers and Operating Systems.

Each OS must include the latest drivers. The Disk Module Administration Guide includes information on updating drivers.

Note - Installation of patches takes only 10-15 minutes unless rebooting is required. If you need to upgrade your Solaris OS to Solaris 10 5/08, the process can take hours.

Things You Will Need

In preparing for installation of your chassis with a mixture of server blades and disk blades, it is a good idea to download the things you need ahead of time.

Note - If you have purchased new server blades, some of the items in this list may come with the server blade.

This list includes the following (refer to the Disk Module Administration Guide for more details):

The latest Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) software for your chassis.
The latest Sun Installation Assistant (SIA) software for each type of x64 server you are using. This is used to upgrade server and host bus adapter firmware.

Note - When you use SIA to upgrade firmware, you do not need to know the firmware version numbers. SIA provides the correct versions automatically.
The latest Tools & Drivers CD (or ISO image) for any x64 servers you are using. You can download just the drivers that you need.
The latest system firmware (SysFW) patches for any SPARC servers you are using.
The Solaris 10 5/08 OS if it is not already installed on your SPARC servers.
The Solaris 10 5/08 patches for any SPARC servers you use.
Host bus adapter firmware for any SPARC servers you use.
The lsiutil software.
If you are using older 10GbE Multi-Fabric NEMs, the Sun Common Array Manager (CAM) software.