| Sun Fire X4150, X4250, and X4450 Servers Operating System Installation Guide |    
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| C H A P T E R 5 |
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Linux Operating System Installation |
This chapter contains information about installing the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), SUSE Enterprise Linux System (SLES) and Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) operating systems and system-specific drivers onto your server.
This chapter includes the following sections:
This document provides an overview of the Linux OS installation process, and is not meant be a comprehensive source of information for installing a Linux OS. This section provides installation methods and tasks for installing a supported version of Linux on your server.
This section contains the following sections:
The following procedures are for installing drivers if you are performing a fresh installation of a Linux OS.
See TABLE 5-1 for the task map for OS installation.
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Install your server hardware and configure the service processor. |
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Set the display environment. If necessary, erase the primary boot disk. |
Chapter 1: Operating System Installation Overview and Preparation |
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Set up your system for a RAID or non-RAID configuration based on the SAS controller card. |
Your server supports two SAS controller cards. RAID setup is different for each card. |
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The product notes contain late-breaking news about the Linux OS software and patches. |
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Choose an installation method and locate the installation instructions. |
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Install the system-specific drivers from the Tools and Drivers CD. |
Install the system-specific drivers needed to run the Linux OS on the your server. |
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Patches are available from the SunSolve Patch Portal at: http://www.sunsolve.sun.com |
Running the up2date Utility for the RHEL OS or Running the SuSEWatcher Utility for the SLES OS |
See the following list of installation methods to determine the type of installation that you want to do and the information source for the installation. See Choosing an OS Installation Method for a description of each method.
The following sections describe the methods that you can use:
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Installing Linux Using Remote KVMS Over IP With Virtual CD/DVD |
The Sun Installation Assistant (SIA) is a convenient, front-end application designed to assist you in installing supported versions of Linux and Windows on your server. SIA supplements the standard installation utilities and procedures that ship with your operating system; it does not replace them.
See the Sun Installation Assistant for Windows and Linux User’s Guide, at:
http://www.sun.com/systemmanagement/sia.jsp
| Note - At the time this document was written, Oracle Enterprise Linux cannot be installed using Sun Installation Assistant. |
You can install a Linux OS using the local server DVD drive or a USB connected CD or DVD drive connected to the server.
See the instructions for basic installation in the document that corresponds to the OS you are installing:
This section describes how to boot the Linux from a PXE network environment.
Before beginning the installation, take note of the prerequisites for the OS that you plan to install.
When the prerequisites are in place, continue with the installation instructions in To Install Linux Using PXE.
KickStart is Red Hat’s automated installation tool. It enables a system administrator to create a single image containing the settings for some or all installation and configuration parameters that are normally provided during a typical Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Oracle Enterprise Linux installation. Typically, a KickStart image is placed on a single network server and read by multiple systems for installation.
The following requirements must be met prior to performing the RHEL or OEL PXE installation:
One of the following for RHEL:
Follow the KickStart installation instructions in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4: Administration Guide (http://www.redhat.com/docs).
AutoYaST enables you to install the SLES operating system on multiple systems. For information about how to prepare an automated installation using AutoYaST, refer to the Novell SUSE documentation collection at:
http://www.novell.com/documentation/suse.html
The following requirements must be met prior to performing the SLES installation from a PXE network book environment.
Follow the AutoYaST installation instructions in the SUSE Linux Enterprise 9 or SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 documentation.
1. Ensure that the PXE network environment is properly set up and the SLES installation media is available for PXE boot.
2. Reset the power on the server.
| Note - The next events occur very quickly; therefore, focused attention is needed for these steps. Watch carefully for the messages, as they appear on the screen for a brief time. |
3. Press F8 to specify a temporary boot device.
The Please Select Boot Device menu appears listing the available boot device.
4. In the Boot Device menu, select the PXE installation boot device (physical port) that is configured to communicate with your network installation server.
The network bootloader loads and a boot prompt appears. Wait for the five second time-out and the installation kernel will begin to load.
5. Proceed with the installation as described in the OS documentation.
| Note - When configuring a PXE installation using RHEL or OEL use the GigabitEthernet ports, Net 2 and Net 3. RHEL 4 drivers do not support ports Net 0 and Net 1. |
This method uses the RKVMS capability of the ILOM or ELOM to install the Linux OS on your server from a remote networked system. The CD/DVD drive of the remote system (virtual CD-ROM) is used to access the OS media, and all output of the server is displayed on the remote system (remote console).
Additional information about the RKVMS can be found in the ELOM or ILOM documentation.
Requirements for Remote KMVS (RKVMS) over IP installation include:
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1. On a remote system, open a browser, and enter the IP address of the service processor for the server on which you want to install the OS.
The ILOM or ELOM login screen appears.
2. At the login screen, enter the user name and password for an account with administrator privileges, and click Login.
The web GUI main menu appears.
3. Disable the session timeout:
a. From the main menu, click the System Information tab, and then click the Session Time-Out submenu tab.
The Session Time-Out screen appears.
b. Click the Disable Timeout radio button, and then click Submit.
4. From the main menu, click the Remote Control tab and select Redirection.
The Screen appears with a Launch Redirection button.
5. Click the Launch Redirection button to open a remote console window.
A screen appears with a Launch button. It also identifies your current host name, IP address, and user name.
7. Mount the OS CD/DVD or ISO file to be installed on the server onto the virtual CDROM.
a. In the Devices menu, select the following:
CD ROM if you are using a physical CD.
CD ROM Image if you are using an ISO file.
b. Depending on your selection, a dialog directs you to select either a CD/DVD drive, or a file.
a. In the remote console screen, select Storage and then select Mount Devices.
The Device Configuration screen appears.
b. In the Storage 1 Source drop-down list, select the CD/DVD drive to be used for installing the OS.
The system will boot from the virtual CD.
10. Proceed with the installation as described in the OS documentation.
A driver installation script is available on the Tools and Drivers CD. The CD is included with your server. You can also download the latest Tools and Drivers CD ISO image from one of the following locations:
http://www.sun.com/servers/x64/x4150/downloads.jsp
http://www.sun.com/servers/x64/x4250/downloads.jsp
http://www.sun.com/servers/x64/x4450/downloads.jsp
| Note - The driver installation script also mounts a diagnostic partition. If a diagnostic partition is present and running, the script creates and mounts it on diagpart. |
You can use the methods described in the following sections to install system-specific drivers onto your server:
Before performing a remote installation, use the web GUI to disable the session timeout function. This allows the installation process to proceed without interruption.
1. Mount the Tools and Drivers CD according to the instructions in Installing Linux Using Remote KVMS Over IP With Virtual CD/DVD.
2. Change to the /mountpoint/drivers/linux/operating_system directory.
/mountpoint The directory where the CD is mounted.
operating_system The type of Linux installed on the server (red_hat or suse).
# cd /mnt/dvdrom/drivers/linux/red_hat
| Note - If you have OEL installed on the server, use the drivers in the red_hat directory. |
3. Run the following command to install the drivers:
| Note - If the install.sh script detects the Sun StorageTek controller card, it automatically updates to the latest driver. |
4. Eject the CD after the driver installation is complete.
If your server has a CD/DVD drive, you can install the drivers directly onto the server, using the Tools and Drivers CD.
1. Log in to the server as root (superuser).
2. Insert the Tools and Drivers CD into the CD/DVD drive and enter:
cd /mountpoint/drivers/linux/operating_system
/mountpoint is the directory to which the CD is mounted.
operating_system is the type of Linux installed on the server (red_hat or suse).
3. If the CD does not automount, open a terminal window and mount the CD by typing the following command:
# mount /dev/cdrom /mountpoint
/mountpoint The appropriate mount point for the OS and optical drive type.
# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/dvdrom
4. Change to the /mountpoint/drivers/linux/operating_system directory.
/mountpoint The directory where the CD is mounted.
operating_system The type of Linux installed on the server (red_hat or suse).
# cd /mnt/dvdrom/drivers/linux/red_hat
| Note - If you have OEL installed on the server, use the drivers in the red_hat directory. |
5. Run the following command to install the drivers:
| Note - If the install.sh script detects the Sun StorageTek controller card, it automatically updates to the latest driver. |
6. Eject the CD after the driver installation is complete.
Based on your system controller card, use the one of the methods described in the following sections to install the RAID Management utility software.
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To Install the Sun StorageTek RAID Management Utility Software |
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| Note - Perform this procedure only if your server is equipped with a StorageTek RAID controller card. |
1. Insert the Tools and Drivers CD into the CD/DVD drive.
2. Navigate to the /drivers/linux/RAID/SunStorageTEK/ASM/[32bit|64bit] directory using the following command:
# cd /drivers/linux/RAID/SunStorageTEK/ASM/[32bit|64bit]
3. Enter the following command:
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1. Insert the Tools and Drivers CD in the server’s CD/DVD drive.
2. Navigate to the /RAIDmgmt/lsi/linux/[32bit|64bit] directory and list the directory contents using the following commands:
# cd /drivers/linux/RAID/LSI/MSM
3. Run the .bin file, and follow the instructions to install the RAID management software.
Choose the section that corresponds to the Linux OS that you have installed:
Run the up2date utility after installing the OS and drivers from the Tools and Drivers CD.
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1. Set up the up2date utility on the server.
See the documentation included with your RHEL media kit for details.
Select the kernel packages in the available package updates section.
Run the SuSEWatcher utility after installing the OS and drivers from the Tools and Drivers CD.
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1. Set up the SuSEWatcher utility on the server.
See the documentation included with your SLES 9 media kit for details.
2. Run the SuSEWatcher program.
Select the kernel packages in the available package updates section.
| Sun Fire X4150, X4250, and X4450 Servers Operating System Installation Guide | 820-1853-16 |
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Copyright © 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
To Install Linux Using Sun Installation Assistant
