Sun Blade X6240 Server Module Operating System Installation Guide

This chapter contains information about manually installing SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10 operating system (OS) on a Sun Blade X6240 server.

This chapter contains the following sections:

• Installing the SLES 10 Operating System.
• Preconfiguring the Network to Support PXE Installation of SLES 10
• Installing the SLES 10 Operating System Using PXE
• Updating the SLES 10 Operating System
• Updating the SLES Drivers

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About the SUSE Linux Installation

The most common methods for installing SLES 10 on your server are:

• Installation from your SLES 10 distribution media from a local or remote CD (see Preparing to Install the SLES 10 Operating System).
• Installation from the network, either from a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) image stored on a PXE server on your local network or from an image stored elsewhere on your network (see Installing the SLES 10 Operating System Using PXE)

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Installing the SLES 10 Operating System

This section describes how to install the SLES 10 OS.

SLES 10 Installation and Configuration Documentation

Before you install SLES 10 on your server, refer to the SLES 10 documentation.

Task Map for the SLES 10 Installation

Consult the following table to determine which procedures documented in this help system are relevant to the installation task(s) that you need to perform.

Preparing to Install the SLES 10 Operating System

You can install the SLES 10 OS from a local CD/DVD drive, remote CD/DVD drive, or the network; however, you need to collect some information about your system before you proceed with any one of these installation methods.

Before installing SLES 10 on your server, verify or collect the following information:

• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server name
• MAC address on system label
• SLES 10 SP2 CD set

Installing the SLES 10 Operating System From Distribution Media

The SLES 10 OS provides an easy-to-use graphical interface for installing and configuring the OS. Whether you are using Distribution CDs to install the SLES 10 OS from a locally attached CD/DVD drive or from a remote CD/DVD drive attached via KVMS, the installation procedure is fundamentally the same.

Required Items

• SLES 10 media base CD or DVD set
• SLES 10 installation guide, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Installation and Administration Guide (see SLES 10 Installation and Configuration Documentation)
• Sun Blade X6240 server module equipped with equipped the following four items:
• USB keyboard and mouse.
• USB CD/DVD drive.
• Monitor.
• Multi-port dongle cable to connect to the front of the Sun Blade X6240 server module. Refer to the Sun Blade X6240 Server Module Installation Guide (820-3968).

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

2. Power on the system.

3. Press F8 and select CDROM when prompted.

4. Insert SLES 10 CD #1 into your local CD/DVD drive.

5. Follow the installation instructions provided in the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Installation and Administration Guide to complete the installation of the system OS.

Installing SLES 10 Operating System Using the Remote Console Application

This section describes how to install the SLES 10 OS on your Sun Blade X6240 server module using the ILOM Remote Console application.

1. Locate your SLES 10 OS installation CD/DVD or the equivalent ISO images.

2. Connect to the ILOM service processor web interface.

See the topic that describes how to log in to the Sun ILOM web interface in the Sun Integrated Lights-Out Manager 2.0 User’s Guide (820-1188).

3. Select 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 Sun Integrated Lights Out Manager 2.0 User’s Guide for more information (820-1188).

5. Select 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. Power on the server using the ILOM web interface.

11. When the SLES 10 OS installation menu appears, use the arrow keys to select Installation and press Enter.

12. Proceed with the SLES 10 OS installation as usual.

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Preconfiguring the Network to Support PXE Installation of SLES 10

These procedures describe how to preconfigure your network running the 10 OS to support Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) installation of the SLES OS on your Sun Blade X6240 server. These procedures assume that you already have a bootable server that is running a version of the SLES 10 OS.

Preconfiguring your network for PXE installation involves the following procedures:

• Configuring the DHCP Server
• Installing Portmap
• Configuring the TFTP Service
• Installing and Configuring the neopxe Boot Server Daemon
• Configuring the NFS Service
• Disabling the Firewall

Required Items

Preconfiguring your network for PXE installation requires the following items:

• SLES 10 server equipped with:
• CD/DVD drive
• USB keyboard
• Monitor (optional)

• SLES 10 media set
• Tools and Drivers CD (708-0346)

Configuring the DHCP Server

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

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

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

# rpm -qa | grep dhcp-server

3. If the DHCP server package is not listed, install the package using YaST. Type the following command:

# yast -i dhcp-server

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

Add 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.

5. 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.

6. 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;
}

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

8. Edit the /etc/sysconfig/dhcpd file and verify that the DHCPD_INTERFACE is set to the interface that is connected to the network you are planning to run the PXE server.

For example, if you are using Ethernet interface 0, the DHCPD_INTERFACE variable would be set as follows:

DHCPD_INTERFACE="eth0"

9. Start the DHCP service. Type the following command:

# /etc/init.d/dhcpd start

10. Configure the server to always start DHCP. Type the following command:

# chkconfig dhcpd on

Installing Portmap

Complete the following steps on your DHCP server to install the portmap server package.

1. Determine whether the portmap server package is already installed on the DHCP server. Type the following command:

# rpm -qa | grep portmap

2. If portmap is not listed, install the package using YaST. Type the following command:

# yast -i portmap

Configuring the TFTP Service

Complete the following steps on your DHCP server to configure the TFTP service.

1. Determine whether the TFTP server package is already installed on the DHCP server. Type the following command:

# rpm -qa | grep tftp

2. If the TFTP server package is not listed, install the package using YaST. Type the following command:

# yast -i tftp

3. 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

4. Restart the inetd server. Type the following command:

# /etc/init.d/xinetd restart

Installing and Configuring the neopxe Boot Server Daemon

Complete the following steps ton the DHCP server to configure the neopxe boot server daemon. The neopxe server is designed for use with a DHCP server that is running on the same system.

1. If a compiler is not installed on the server, use YaST to install gcc with the following commands:

# yast -i gcc

# yast -i make

2. Install the neopxe boot server daemon on the DHCP server. Depending on your OS version, type the following command:

For SLES 9:

# cd /tmp/sles9-pxefiles/neopxe-0.2.0

For SLES 10:

# cd /tmp/sles10-pxefiles/neopxe-0.2.0

3. Type the following commands:

# ./configure

# make

# make install

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

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

5. Copy the PXE Linux image from the /tmp/ directory. Type the following commands:

# mkdir /home/pxeboot

6. Depending on your OS version, type the following command:

For SLES 9:

# cp /tmp/sles9-pxefiles/pxelinux.0 /home/pxeboot

For SLES 10:

# cp /tmp/sles10-pxefiles/pxelinux.0 /home/pxeboot

7. Configure the PXE Linux image. Type the following commands:

# mkdir /home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/

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

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

If the /usr/local/etc/ directory does not exist, create it with the following command:

# mkdir /usr/local/etc

If you need to create the neopxe.conf file, you can copy it from the /tmp/slesX-pxefiles/neopxe-0.2.0/ directory. Where X is the OS version (9 or 10).

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

9. Start the neopxe daemon. Type the following command:

# /usr/local/sbin/neopxe

Configuring the NFS Service

Complete the following steps on your DHCP server to configure the NFS service.

1. Determine whether the NFS service package is already installed on the server. Type the following command:

# rpm -qa | grep nfs-utils

2. If the NFS service package is not listed, install the package using YaST. Type the following command:

# yast -i nfs-utils

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

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

4. Start the NFS service. Type the following command:

# /etc/init.d/nfsserver start

5. Configure the server to always start the NFS service. Type the following commands:

# chkconfig nfslock on

# chkconfig nfsserver on

Disabling the Firewall

If a firewall is enabled on your PXE/DHCP server, you must disable it before attempting to install a PXE image onto the client system.

Caution - Network 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.

1. Execute the YaST command. Type the following command:

yast

2. Select Security & Users.

3. Select Firewall.

• Select none to disable the firewall for all network interfaces.
• Select specific interfaces to enable the firewall on only those interfaces.

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Installing the SLES 10 Operating System Using PXE

PXE is a powerful and convenient solution for setting up a number of Sun Blade X6240 server module so that their configurations are identical.

Before You Begin

The network interface card (NIC) in your Sun Blade X6240 server module supports the PXE network booting protocol. The system BIOS and network interface BIOS on the server module automatically query the network for a DHCP server.

Task Map for the SLES 10 Installation

Before you can perform PXE installations over the network, you need to complete the following tasks.

Required Items

The PXE installation procedure requires the following items:

• The DHCP server that you set up when you preconfigured your network to support PXE installation equipped with a CD/DVD drive
• SLES 10 CD media set
• Tools and Drivers CD (708-0346)

Configuring a SLES 10 PXE Install Image on the PXE Server

This procedure describes how to configure a PXE install image on the DHCP server so that it can also act as your PXE server. The PXE server provides the OS files to your PXE client.

Perform the following procedures to create an SLES 10 image on the PXE server:

• Setting Up and Copying SLES 10 Operating System to a Directory
• Creating Links to SLES 10 PXE Files

Setting Up and Copying SLES 10 Operating System to a Directory

The following procedure describes how to create and set up the directory that will contain the SLES 10 files for PXE installation and how to copy the SLES 10 OS to the directory.

1. Set up the directory structure that will hold the SLES 10 image. Type the following commands:

# mkdir -p /home/pxeboot/sles10/CD1

# mkdir -p /home/pxeboot/sles10/CD2

# mkdir -p /home/pxeboot/sles10/CD3

# mkdir -p /home/pxeboot/sles10/CD4

2. Insert SLES 10 CD #1 into your server and copy its content to your PXE server. Type the following command:

# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

# cp -r /mnt/cdrom/* /home/pxeboot/sles10/CD1/

# umount /mnt/cdrom

3. Remove SLE S10 CD #1 from the server.

4. Repeat the above procedure for copying CD #2, #3 and #4 to their corresponding directories in /home/pxeboot/sles10/ as given below:

# cp -r /mnt/cdrom/* /home/pxeboot/sles10/CD2/

# cp -r /mnt/cdrom/* /home/pxeboot/sles10/CD3/

# cp -r /mnt/cdrom/* /home/pxeboot/sles10/CD4/

Creating Links to SLES 10 PXE Files

Perform the following procedure to create links to the PXE files.

1. Copy the autoinst.xml file from the /tmp/sles10/ directory to the root of the PXE image. Type the following command:

# cp /tmp/sles10/autoinst.xml /home/pxeboot/sles10/

2. On your PXE server, modify the file home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/default adding the following entry to it:

default sles10

label sles10

kernel sles10/CD1/boot/x86_64/loader/linux

append textmode=1 initrd=sles10/CD1/boot/x86_64/loader/initrd
install=nfs://n.n.n.n/home/pxeboot/sles10/CD1
autoyast=nfs://n.n.n.n/home/pxeboot/sles10/autoinst.xml

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

3. Save and exit the file.

Installing SLES 10 From a PXE Server

This procedure describes how to configure your Sun Blade X6240 server module to initiate the request to download the boot image file from the PXE/DHCP server and how to install the SLES 10 boot image onto the Sun Blade X6240 server module.

Before You Begin

Before performing with this procedure, you must complete the following tasks:

• Configured your Linux network to support a PXE server. See Installing the SLES 10 Operating System Using PXE.
• Installed a SLES 10 image on that Linux PXE server. See Configuring a SLES 10 PXE Install Image on the PXE Server.

1. Connect the PXE client to the same network as the PXE server.

The PXE client is the target Sun Blade X6240 server module to which you are installing the SLES 10 OS.

2. Power on the PXE client and press F12 to select network boot.

3. When you are prompted at the boot: prompt, type in the label you gave the image when you installed it on the PXE server (sles10 in the example above).

4. To configure your SLES 10 Linux server, refer to the Installation and Administration Guide on SLES 10 CD #1.

5. Perform an Online Software Update to update the OS files (see Updating the SLES 10 Operating System).

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Updating the SLES 10 Operating System

The SLES OS installation media might not contain the most up-to-date versions of the SLES OS. This procedure describes how to update the SLES OS on your server after you have installed it from a PXE server or distribution CDs.

1. Log in as superuser.

2. Type the following command to run the YaST Online Update:

# you

Note that YaST can operate in both text and graphical modes. These directions apply to both.

3. If you are behind a network firewall and need to use a proxy server in order to access the internet, you must first configure YaST with the correct proxy information.

a. Select the Network Services tab on the left, then the Proxy screen on the right. Type the correct proxy URLs in both the HTTP and HTTPS fields.

b. Exit the YaST utility and run the following command:

rug set-prefs proxy-url Proxy URL

where Proxy URL is the fully qualified URL of your proxy server (for example: http://proxy.yourdomain:3128/).

c. After successfully running the command, launch YaST again.

4. Register with the Novell Customer Center.

a. Select the Software tab on the left.

b. Select Novell Customer Center Configuration and follow the directions.

5. Once registered, select the Online Update tab to perform the software update.

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Updating the SLES Drivers

The SLES drivers need to be updated. Perform this procedure after you have installed and updated the SLES 10 OS.

1. Insert the Tools and Drivers CD for Sun Blade X6240 and mount it onto the directory /mnt it by typing the following command:

# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt

2. To install the igb and nvsata drivers, type:

# cdrom/drivers/linux/suse/install.sh

3. If the server module has a REM that uses LSI drivers and you are using SLES 10, do the following:

a. Type: # cd /mnt/drivers/linux/RAID/LSI/drivers/RHEL5-SLES10

b. Unzip the file linuxmpt_RH5_SLES10_4002100-1.zip

c. Type: # rpm -ivh nvsata-rhel5u1-3.4-1.24.x86_64.rpm

4. If the server module has a REM that uses StorageTek drivers, do the following:

a. Type: # cd /mnt/drivers/linux/RAID/StorageTek/drivers/

b. Unzip the file linux_aac_1152455.zip

c. Type: # rpm -ivh aacraid-1.1.5-2455.rpm

The installation of the drivers is now complete.

5. Reboot the server module for the changes to take effect. Type:

# reboot

Sun Blade X6240 Server Module Operating System Installation Guide

820-3969-11

Copyright © 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.