Sun Blade X6220 Server Module Operating System Installation Guide

This chapter provides information about manually installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on a Sun Blade X6220 server module. It contains the following sections:

• About the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation
• Preparing to Install RHEL
• Installing RHEL From Distribution Media
• Installing the RHEL OS Using the Remote Console Application
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux and PXE
• Updating the RHEL SCSI Drivers
• Updating the RHEL Operating System

---

About the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation

If you have installed Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) software on other Intel or AMD Opteron servers, you are already familiar with how to install it on a Sun Blade X6220 server module. The two most common methods to install RHEL on your server are to use:

• The RHEL distribution media
• The automatic kickstart installation from RHEL software (installation tree) stored on a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) network server

Red Hat Installation and Administration Documentation

Before you install the RHEL software on a Sun Blade X6220 server module, consult the following RHEL documentation.

If you will need to know the logical names of your physical Internet interfaces when configuring your OS, refer to the appendix: Identifying Logical and Physical Network Interface Names for Linux OS Configuration

Task Map for RHEL Installation

Consult TABLE 3-2 to determine which topics documented in this Guide are relevant to the installation tasks that you want to perform.

---

Preparing to Install RHEL

You can install the RHEL software from a local CD/DVD, or the network. However, you will need to collect some information about your system and your network before you proceed with any of these installation methods. Before you begin installing the RHEL OS, review the procedures listed in this chapter for your installation method.

Additional Software Updates or Patches

After installing the RHEL software on the server, you might also need to update your system software with patches and packages. See Updating the RHEL Operating System for details.

Obtaining Updated Media Kits

To install RHEL updates on the Sun Blade X6220 server module, you will need to obtain the RHEL 4 or RHEL 5 Update Media Kit, available at http://rhn.redhat.com

You will need your enterprise account information to download the updated ISO images. An enterprise account is an account that the customer creates to access Red Hat's support network after purchasing the RHEL media kit.

---

Installing RHEL From Distribution Media

RHEL provides both a text mode and an easy-to-use graphical interface for installing and configuring the operating system. At the boot prompt, you can select the interface that you want to use. Both options are shown later in this section.

Before You Begin

Installing RHEL software from CDs consists of the following procedures:

1. Download the updated media kit from http://rhn.redhat.com.

See Obtaining Updated Media Kits.

2. Install the RHEL software.

3. Update the RHEL software.

See Updating the RHEL Operating System.

Required Items

Installation from distribution media requires the following items:

• Sun Blade X6220 server module equipped with equipped the following four items:
• USB keyboard and mouse
• USB CD/DVD drive
• Monitor
• Multi-port dongle cable to plug into the front slot of the Sun Blade X6220 server module. Refer to the Sun Blade X6220 Server Module Installation Guide, 820-0044.

• RHEL media CD set

1. Connect the USB CD/DVD drive into the USB port of the dongle.

2. Power on the system.

3. Insert the RHEL Distribution CD 1 into the DVD/CD drive connected to the Sun Blade X6220 server module and reboot the server.

The server will boot from the CD and display a boot: prompt.

4. At the boot prompt, select one of the following:

• For text mode, enter the following command:

boot: linux text

• For graphical mode, press Enter.

5. Refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide to guide you through the remainder of the installation process.

6. Proceed to Updating the RHEL Operating System.

7. Update the SCSI drivers.

See To Update the RHEL SCSI Drivers.

If the installation process does not recognize the CD inserted, please refer to the Sun Blade X6220 Modular Server Product Notes, 820-0048 (CR 6523141).

---

Installing the RHEL OS Using the Remote Console Application

This section explains how to install the RHEL operating system on your server using the Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) Remote Console application.

Use the following procedure to install the RHEL 4 U4 (or later) OS using the ILOM Remote Console application.

1. Locate your RHEL installation CD/DVD or the equivalent ISO images.

2. Connect to the ILOM Service Processor Web interface.

3. Click the Remote Control tab, then the Mouse Mode Settings tab.

4. If necessary, change the mouse mode to Relative Mouse Mode.

See the “Remote Console Application” chapter of the Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) Administration Guide for further instructions.

5. Click the Redirection tab.

6. Click the Launch Redirection button to start the JavaRConsole application.

7. Log in to the JavaRConsole.

8. Start keyboard and mouse redirection.

Select Keyboard and Mouse in the Devices menu.

9. Start CD/DVD redirection.

From the JavaRConsole Devices menu, you can redirect the CD in two ways:

• If you are installing a physical CD into the remote console CD ROM drive, insert the CD into the drive and select CD-ROM.
• If you are using an ISO image installed on the remote console, select CD-ROM image and provide the location of the iso file.

10. Turn on the server using the ILOM Web interface.

11. Set up the BIOS as follows:

a. Press Ctrl-E to enter BIOS Setup Utility.

b. Select the Boot menu.

c. Select CD/DVD Drives.

d. Set AMI Virtual CD as the first boot device.

e. Press F10 to save changes and exit.

f. Reboot.

g. Press Ctrl-P to select CD/DVD as the boot device.

12. When the boot prompt appears, enter linux text.

13. When prompted to test the CD media before installation, select Skip if you do not want the media test to run.

14. Refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide to guide you through the remainder of the installation process.

---

Red Hat Enterprise Linux and PXE

The on-board network interface card (NIC) in your Sun Blade X6220 server module supports the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) network booting protocol. The system BIOS and network interface BIOS on your server automatically query the network for a DHCP server. If the DHCP server on the network has been configured to support the PXE protocol and PXE image servers on the same network, then the BIOS on your system can be used to install a bootable Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) image on your server.

Task Map

If you don’t have PXE set up on your network and you would like to take advantage of PXE to install RHEL on your network, you need to perform the following tasks.

Preconfiguring Your Network to Support PXE Installation of RHEL

This section describes how to preconfigure a network running RHEL to support PXE installation of RHEL software on a server. These procedures assume that you already have a bootable server that is running a version of the RHEL operating system to use as a PXE server.

Preconfiguring your network for PXE installation involves the following procedures:

• Download the Tools and Drivers CD Image

See To Download the Tools and Drivers CD Image

• Copy Files From the Tools and Drivers CD

See To Copy Files From the Tools and Drivers CD.

• Configure a DHCP Server

See To Configure a DHCP Server.

• Install Portmap

See To Install Portmap on Your DHCP Server.

• Configure the TFTP Service

See To Configure the TFTP Service on Your DHCP Server.

• Install and Configure the neopxe Boot Server Daemon

See To Install and Configure the neopxe Boot Server Daemon.

• Configure the NFS Service

See To Configure the NFS Service on Your DHCP Server.

• Disable the Firewall

See To Disable the Firewall

Required Items

Preconfiguring your network for PXE installation requires the following items:

• RHEL server equipped with:
• A USB CD/DVD drive connected to server module through front dongle port
• A USB keyboard
• A Monitor

• RHEL media set
• Tools and Drivers CD (707-0095)

  If you do not have the Tools and Drivers CD, download the ISO image at http://www.sun.com/servers/blades/x6200/downloads.jsp.

If you create your own CD from the download site, use this CD in place of the Tools and Drivers CD referenced in this procedure.

This section describes how to copy the PXE support files, which are required for PXE configurations, from the Tools and Drivers CD. The steps below use RHEL 4. If necessary replace rhel4 with the file name that corresponds to your update.

1. Insert the Tools and Drivers CD into the DHCP/PXE server.

2. Create a temporary (/tmp) directory for the PXE support files, or use an existing /tmp directory. If a /tmp directory does not exist, enter the following command:

# mkdir /tmp

3. Enter the following commands to copy the files to the /tmp/ directory:

# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

# cp /mnt/cdrom/Linux/pxe/rhel4-pxefiles.tar.gz /tmp/

4. Uncompress and extract the contents of the tar file into the /tmp/ directory. Enter:

# cd /tmp

# tar -zxvf rhel4-pxefiles.tar.gz

When you extract the file, a directory with all required files is created at /tmp/rhel4-pxefiles/.

Complete the following steps on the server that will be your DHCP server.

1. Turn on the server and log in as superuser.

2. Determine whether the DHCP server package is already installed on the server. Enter the following command:

# rpm -qa | grep dhcp-

3. If the DHCP server package is not listed, insert the RHEL CD 5 and install the DHCP server. Enter the following commands:

# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/dhcp-*.rpm

4. Enter the following command:

# umount /mnt/cdrom

5. Remove the CD from the CD/DVD drive.

6. Set up your DHCP configuration file (for example, /etc/dhcpd.conf) so that only PXEClient requests receive PXEClient responses.

Enter the following entry to the DHCP configuration file (refer to the dhcpd.conf man page for more information):

class "PXE" {match if substring(option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) ="PXEClient"; option vendor-class-identifier "PXEClient"; vendor-option-space PXE;next-server n.n.n.n;}

where n.n.n.n is the IP address of the server.

7. In the DHCP configuration file, edit the server-identifier entry:

server-identifier n.n.n.n

Where n.n.n.n is the PXE/dhcp server’s IP address.

8. Also in the DHCP configuration file, find the subnet entry fields:

subnet 1.2.3.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {

range dynamic-bootp 1.2.3.100 1.2.3.200;

option routers 1.2.3.1;

option broadcast-address 1.2.3.225;

}

Edit the subnet, range, router and broadcast-address entries according to the PXE/dhcp server’s network configuration.

9. Start the DHCP service. Enter:

# service dhcpd start

10. Configure the server to always start DHCP. Enter:

# chkconfig dhcpd on

1. Determine whether the portmap server package is already installed on the server. Enter:

# rpm -qa | grep portmap

2. If portmap is not listed, insert the RHEL CD 2 and install the portmap service by entering the following commands:

# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/portmap-*

3. Remove the CD from the server after you enter the following command:

# umount /mnt/cdrom

1. Determine whether the TFTP server package is already installed on the server. Enter:

# rpm -qa | grep tftp-server

2. If the TFTP server package is not listed, insert the RHEL CD 4 and install the TFTP service by entering the following commands:

# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/tftp-server*

3. Remove the CD from the server after you enter the following command:

# umount /mnt/cdrom

4. Edit and save the /etc/xinetd.d/tftp file.

Make the following changes:

• Change the -s /tftpboot entry to -v -s /home/pxeboot.
• Change the disable attribute to no.

5. Restart the inetd server. Enter:

# service xinetd restart

Complete the following steps on your DHCP server. The neopxe server is designed for use with a DHCP server that is running on the same system.

1. Install the neopxe boot server daemon onto the system that is your DHCP server. Enter:

# cd /tmp/rhel4-pxefiles/neopxe-0.2.0

# ./configure

# make

# make install

2. Append the path /usr/local/sbin/neopxe to the rc.local file by entering the following command, making sure to use two greater-than signs:

# echo "/usr/local/sbin/neopxe" >> /etc/rc.d/rc.local

3. Copy the PXE Linux image from the /tmp/ directory. Enter:

# mkdir /home/pxeboot

# cp /tmp/rhel4-pxefiles/pxelinux.0 /home/pxeboot

4. Configure the PXE Linux image. Enter:

# mkdir /home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/

# touch /home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

5. Edit the /usr/local/etc/neopxe.conf configuration file, which is read by neopxe at startup.

• If the neopxe.conf file is not in the /usr/local/etc directory, copy it from the /tmp/rhel4-pxefiles/neopxe-0.2.0/ directory.
• A valid configuration file must have entries for each of the following lines, including at least one service line.

ip_addr=n.n.n.n
prompt=boot-prompt-string
prompt_timeout=timeout
service=service-number,boot-server,boot-file,label

Where:

• n.n.n.n is the IP address of your PXE server.
• boot-prompt-string is the character string displayed during a network boot that prompts the user to press the F8 key for a boot menu.
• timeout is the number of seconds the prompt is displayed before the server defaults to the first service for booting.
• service-number is an integer in the range of 1 to 254 that identifies the boot service.
• boot-server is the IP address of the boot server for that boot service.
• boot-file is the name of the boot file that is read from your /home/pxeboot directory.
• label is the text string that is displayed when the boot menu is invoked by pressing the F8 key.

For example:

ip_addr=192.168.0.1

prompt=Press [F8] for menu.

prompt_timeout=10

service=1,192.168.0.1,pxelinux.0,Linux

service=2,192.169.0.1,nbp.unknown,Solaris

6. Start the neopxe daemon. Enter:

# /usr/local/sbin/neopxe

1. Determine whether the NFS service package is already installed on the server. Enter:

# rpm -qa | grep nfs-utils

2. If the NFS service package is not listed, insert the RHEL CD 2 and install the NFS service with the following commands:

# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/nfs-utils-*

3. Remove the CD from the server after you enter the following command:

# umount /mnt/cdrom

4. Edit and save the /etc/exports file to add the following line to it:

/home/pxeboot *(no_root_squash,no_subtree_check,insecure)

5. Start the NFS service. Enter:

# service nfs start

6. Configure the server to always start the NFS service. Enter:

# chkconfig nfs on

# chkconfig nfslock on

Caution - Security vulnerability. When you disable the firewall protection on the system that is your PXE server, the security of the data on that server cannot be ensured. If this server is networked outside of your local intranet, be sure to re-enable the firewall after downloading software to PXE clients.

If you enabled firewall security when you installed RHEL software on the system that will be your PXE server, complete the following steps to disable the firewall so that PXE clients can download from the server.

1. Stop the ipchains service. Enter the command:

# service ipchains stop

2. Stop the iptables service. Enter the command:

# service iptables stop

3. Stop the ipchains service from starting when you restart the server. Enter the command:

# chkconfig ipchains off

4. Stop the iptables service from starting when you restart the server. Enter the command:

# chkconfig iptables off

Installing RHEL From the Network

When you have completed all the previous configuration steps, do the following.

1. Reboot the PXE/DHCP server.

2. Refer to the next section, Creating a PXE Install Image on the PXE Server.

Creating a PXE Install Image on the PXE Server

This procedure describes how to create a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) install image on the same server that is your DHCP server so that it will also act as your PXE server. The PXE server provides the operating system files to your PXE client.

Before You Begin

Before you install a RHEL image on your PXE server, you must configure your Linux network to support PXE images. See Preconfiguring Your Network to Support PXE Installation of RHEL.

Required Items

The PXE installation procedure requires the following items:

• A CD/DVD drive on the DHCP Server
• RHEL 4 U4 (or later) or RHEL 5 media CD set (see Obtaining Updated Media Kits)
• Tools and Drivers CD (707-0095)

1. Insert the Tools and Drivers CD into the CD/DVD drive of the DHCP/PXE server.

2. Enter the following commands to copy the Sun support files from the CD to the /tmp directory on your DHCP/PXE server:

# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

# cp -a /mnt/cdrom/Linux/pxe/rhel4-pxefiles.tar.gz /tmp

# cd /tmp

# tar -zxvf rhel4-pxefiles.tar.gz

# umount /mnt/cdrom

3. Set up the directory structure that will hold the RHEL software. Enter:

# mkdir -p /home/pxeboot/rhel4/

4. For each RHEL Distribution CD, enter the following commands to copy the contents of the CD to the appropriate PXE target subdirectory:

# mount dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

# cp -a /mnt/cdrom/* /home/pxeboot/rhel4/

# umount /mnt/cdrom

5. Copy the kickstart file ks.cfg to your PXE server. Enter:

# cp /tmp/rhel4-pxefile/ks.cfg /home/pxeboot/rhel4/

The kickstart configuration file contains a configuration that might not be optimal for your operating environment. Modify the file as necessary to suit your environment.

6. Copy the initial ramdisk from the PXE files uncompressed in Step 2 into the base of the PXE image. Enter:

# cp /tmp/rhel4-pxefiles/initrd.img /home/pxeboot/rhel4/

7. On your PXE server, edit and save the kickstart file: /home/pxeboot/rhel4/ks.cfg.

Edit the nfs line is as follows:

nfs --server n.n.n.n --dir /home/pxeboot/rhel4/

Where n.n.n.n is the IP address of your PXE server. Ensure that the location indicated after --dir is pointing to the top level of your image.

8. Create a default directory for the pxelinux.cfg image:

# mkdir /home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

9. Add the following entry to the file /home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/default:

default rhel4

label rhel4

kernel rhel4/vmlinuz

append ksdevice=eth0 console=tty0 load_ramdisk=1
initrd=rhel4/initrd.img network
ks=nfs:n.n.n.n:/home/pxeboot/

Where n.n.n.n is the IP address of your PXE server.

10. Save the modified version of the /home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/default file.

11. Insert the RHEL Distribution CD1 into the CD/DVD drive of the DHCP/PXE server.

# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

# cp /mnt/cdrom/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz /home/pxeboot/rhel4/

Installing RHEL From a PXE Server

This procedure describes how to configure your Sun Blade X6220 server module to initiate the request to download the boot image file from the PXE/DHCP server and how to install the RHEL boot image onto your Sun Blade X6220 server module.

Before You Begin

Before you configure your server to install RHEL from a PXE server, you need to have done the following:

• Configured your Linux network to support a PXE server. See Preconfiguring Your Network to Support PXE Installation of RHEL.
• Installed a RHEL image on that Linux PXE server. See Creating a PXE Install Image on the PXE Server.

1. Connect the PXE client to the same network as the PXE server, and power on the PXE client.

The PXE client is the target Sun Blade X6220 server module to which you are installing RHEL software.

2. When the PXE client prompts you for a network boot, press the F12 key.

The PXE client connects to the PXE server and attempts to obtain an IP address from the DHCP server.

3. When prompted, press the F8 key to begin downloading the PXE boot image.

4. At the boot: prompt, enter in the label you gave the image when you installed a RHEL image on the PXE server.

The RHEL install image downloads onto the target Sun Blade X6220 server module.

5. To configure the Linux operating system for your server, refer to the manual that is shipped with your RHEL media kit.

6. Update the SCSI drivers.

See To Update the RHEL SCSI Drivers

7. Update the operating system files.

See Updating the RHEL Operating System.

---

Updating the RHEL SCSI Drivers

1. Insert the Tools and Drivers CD for Sun Blade X6220 and mount it onto the directory /mnt as explained in the previous section. Enter the following commands:

For RHEL 4.6 and older, 32 bit:

# cd /mnt/Linux/drivers

# rpm -ivh mptlinux-redhat4.0-3.12.27.00-2.i686.rpm

For RHEL 4.6 and older, 64 bit:

# cd /mnt/Linux/drivers

# rpm -ivh mptlinux-redhat4.0-3.12.27.00-2.x86_64.rpm

For RHEL 5.0 and 5.1, 64 bit:

# cd /mnt/Linux/drivers

# rpm -ivh mptlinux-4.00.22.00-1-rhel5.x86_64.rpm

2. Installation of the new drivers is now complete. Reboot the blade for the changes to take effect. Enter:

# reboot

---

Updating the RHEL Operating System

Since software is constantly being updated, your distribution media might not contain the most up-to-date versions of the operating system.

The following procedures assume that you have already installed the RHEL software on the Sun Blade X6220 server module. This procedure explains how to update the RHEL installation with the latest OS.

To use the RHEL 5 update program, your server must be registered with the RedHAt Network (RHN).

This procedure assumes that your system has access to the internet.

1. Set up the up2date program on the server.

Refer to the documentation included with your RHEL media kit for details.

2. Run the up2date program.

Select the kernel packages in the available package updates section.

Your system must have access to the internet and be registered with the RedHat Network.

1. To run the yum update program, enter:

# yum

The program checks that the machine is registered with RedHat Network. If so, yum downloads necessary updates from the RedHat Network repository.

2. Answer the questions and make your choices before the packages are downloaded and installed.

You should periodically update your system using yum.

For more information, refer to the man page. Enter:

# man yum

Sun Blade X6220 Server Module Operating System Installation Guide

820-0045-16

Copyright © 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.