C H A P T E R 4 |
Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux |
This chapter provides information about manually installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on a Sun Fire X4140, X4240, or X4440 server. It contains the following sections:
Note - If you want to mirror your OS, the recommended procedure is to create a hardware RAID before you install the OS. |
Note - If you use the Sun Installation Assistant to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the only sections of this chapter that you will need are: Preconfiguring Your Network to Support PXE Installation of RHEL and Updating a RHEL OS. |
If you have installed Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) software on other AMD Opteron servers, you are already familiar with how to install it on a Sun Fire X4140, X4240, or X4440 server. The most common methods to install RHEL on your server are to use:
Note - The Sun Installation Assistant is a convenient, front-end application designed to assist you in installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on your server. The Sun Installation Assistant supplements the standard installation utilities and procedures that ship with Red Hat Enterprise Linux; it does not replace them. Refer to Using the Sun Installation Assistant (SIA) for more information. |
Before you install the RHEL software on a Sun Fire X4140, X4240, or X4440 server, consult the following RHEL documentation.
Contains late-breaking information about system requirements and system configuration for your version of the RHEL software. |
On the RHEL CD 1, and online at: http://www.redhat.com/docs/ |
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Brief printed guide containing useful information to assist you during the installation of RHEL. |
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Included on the Red Hat Documentation CD, and available for download at: http://www.redhat.com/docs/ |
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux Introduction to System Administration |
Available for download at: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/ |
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Available for download at: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/ |
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Information on configuring your server and Red Hat Linux for diskless booting. |
Available for download as the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide for the x86, Itanium, and AMD64 Architectures at: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/ |
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Available for download at: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/ |
Consult TABLE 4-2 to determine which topics documented in this Guide are relevant to the installation tasks that you want to perform.
Install RHEL from distribution media using a local or network-attached CD or DVD drive. |
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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.
After installing the RHEL software on the server, you might also need to update your system software with patches and packages. See Updating a RHEL OS for details.
To install RHEL updates on a Sun Fire X4140, X4240, or X4440 server, 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.
RHEL provides both a text mode and an easy-to-use graphical interface for installing and configuring the OS. At the boot prompt, you can select the interface that you want to use. Both options are shown later in this section.
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.
See Updating a RHEL OS.
Installation from distribution media requires the following items:
To Install RHEL From Local Media |
2. Insert the RHEL Distribution CD 1 into the DVD/CD drive.
The server will boot from the CD and display a boot: prompt.
3. At the boot prompt, select one of the following:
4. Refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide to guide you through the remainder of the installation process.
5. Proceed to Updating a RHEL OS.
See To Update the RHEL SCSI Drivers.
This section explains how to install the RHEL OS on your server using the Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) Remote Console application.
Use the following procedure to install the RHEL 4.5 (or later) OS using the ILOM Remote Console application.
To Install 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.
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.
From the JavaRConsole Devices menu, you can redirect the CD several ways:
Note - Floppy diskette redirection is also available through the JavaRConsole. See the Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) Administration Guide for more details. |
10. Turn on the server using the ILOM Web interface.
11. Set up the BIOS as follows:
a. Press Ctrl-E to enter the BIOS Setup utility.
d. Set AMI Virtual CD as the first boot device.
e. Press F10 to save changes and exit.
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.
The on-board network interface card (NIC) in your Sun Fire X4140, X4240, or X4440 server 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.
Tip - PXE is a powerful and convenient solution for setting up a number of your Sun Fire X4140, X4240, or X4440 servers so that their configuration is identical. |
NIC0 -> eth2
NIC1 -> eth3
NIC2 -> eth0
NIC3 -> eth1
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.
Obtain the updated media kit at http://rhn.redhat.com. |
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Preconfiguring Your Network to Support PXE Installation of RHEL. |
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Configure your server to install from a RHEL image on a PXE server. |
Note - In the following sections, if you are installing RHEL 5.x, replace the appropriate RHEL 4 filenames with the names of the RHEL 5 files supplied in the resource CD. |
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 OS to use as a PXE server.
Preconfiguring your network for PXE installation involves the following steps:
See To Configure a DHCP Server.
See To Install Portmap on Your DHCP Server.
3. Configure the TFTP Service.
See To Configure the TFTP Service on Your DHCP Server.
See To Configure the NFS Service on Your DHCP Server.
Preconfiguring your network for PXE installation requires the following items:
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:
3. If the DHCP server package is not listed, insert the RHEL CD 5 and install the DHCP server. Enter the following commands:
# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/dhcp-*.rpm
4. Enter the following command:
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.
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;}
n.n.n.n is the PXE server’s IP address.
7. In the DHCP configuration file, edit the server-identifier entry:
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 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:
10. Configure the server to always start DHCP. Enter:
1. Determine whether the portmap server package is already installed on the server. Enter:
2. If portmap is not listed, insert the RHEL CD 2 and install the portmap service by entering the following commands:
# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/portmap-*
3. Remove the CD from the server after you enter the following command:
1. Determine whether the TFTP server package is already installed on the server. Enter:
2. If the TFTP server package is not listed, insert the RHEL CD 4 and install the TFTP service by entering the following commands:
# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/tftp-server*
3. Remove the CD from the server after you enter the following command:
4. Edit and save the /etc/xinetd.d/tftp file.
5. Restart the inetd server. Enter:
1. Determine whether the syslinux package is already installed on the server. Enter the following command:
2. If the syslinux package is not listed, insert the RHEL CD and install syslinux by entering the following commands.
# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/syslinux*
3. Remove the CD from the server after you enter the following command:
Make sure pxelinux.0 and pxlinux.cfg/ are in the /home/pxeboot directory. If not, copy these files to the /home/pxeboot directory.
1. Determine whether the NFS service package is already installed on the server. Enter:
2. If the NFS service package is not listed, insert the RHEL CD 2 and install the NFS service with the following commands:
# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/nfs-utils-*
3. Enter the following command:
4. Remove the CD from the server.
5. Edit and save the /etc/exports file to add the following line to it:
/home/pxeboot *(no_root_squash,no_subtree_check,insecure)
6. Start the NFS service. Enter:
7. Configure the server to always start the NFS service. Enter:
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:
2. Stop the iptables service. Enter the command:
3. Stop the ipchains service from starting when you restart the server. Enter the command:
4. Stop the iptables service from starting when you restart the server. Enter the command:
Note - You might encounter error messages if the ipchains service is not installed on the server. You can safely ignore these messages. |
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.
This procedure describes how to create a 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 OS files to your PXE client.
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.
The PXE installation procedure requires the following items:
To Create a RHEL Image on Your PXE Install Server |
1. Set up the directory structure that will hold the RHEL software. Enter:
# mkdir -p /home/pxeboot/rhel4/
# mkdir -p /home/pxeboot/rhel5/
Note - You can use a different target directory than the /home/pxeboot/rhel4/ (or /home/pxeboot/rhel5/) directory shown below. The examples in this procedure use this directory. |
2. For each RHEL Distribution CD, enter the following commands to copy the contents of the CD to the appropriate PXE target subdirectory:
# cp -a /mnt/cdrom/* /home/pxeboot/rhel4/
If you are prompted whether to overwrite any existing files, enter y to overwrite the files.
Eject and insert RHEL CDs only when the CD/DVD drive is unmounted.
3. 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.
4. On your PXE server, edit and save the kickstart file: /home/pxeboot/rhel4/ks.cfg
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.
5. Create a default directory for the pxelinux.cfg image:
# mkdir /home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/default
6. Append the following entry to the file /home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/default:
Note - Enter the text block from append to ks=nfs:n.n.n.n:/home/pxeboot/ as one continuous string with no returns. |
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.
Note - For console-based installations, add console=ttyS0,9600 to the append line. |
7. Save the modified version of the /home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/default file.
This procedure describes how to configure your Sun Fire X4140, X4240, or X4440 server 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 Fire X4140, X4240, or X4440 server.
Before you configure your server to install RHEL from a PXE server, you need to have done the following:
To Install RHEL from a 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 Fire X4140, X4240, or X4440 server 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 Fire X4140, X4240, or X4440 server.
5. To configure the Linux OS for your server, refer to the manual that is shipped with your RHEL media kit.
See To Update the RHEL SCSI Drivers.
See Updating a RHEL OS.
Since software is constantly being updated, your distribution media might not contain the most up-to-date versions of the OS.
The following procedures assume that you have already installed the RHEL software on the Sun Fire X4140, X4240, or X4440 server. 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 Red Hat Network (RHN).
To Update the RHEL 4 Software |
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.
Select the kernel packages in the available package updates section.
To Update the RHEL 5 Software |
Your system must have access to the internet and be registered with the Red Hat Network.
1. To run the yum update program, enter:
# yum
The program checks that the machine is registered with Red Hat Network. If so, yum downloads necessary updates from the Red Hat 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
To Update the RHEL SCSI Drivers |
Insert the Tools and Drivers CD for your Sun Fire X4140, X4240, or X4440 server and mount it onto the directory /mnt:
1. Insert the Tools and Drivers CD for your server.
2. Mount it onto the directory /mnt:
3. Enter the following commands:
For example, for RHEL 5.1 and 5.2, 64 bit for the Sun Fire X4140 server:
# rpm -ivh mptlinux-4.00.43.00-1-rhel5.x86_64.rpm
Note - Check the /linux/drivers directory on your Tools and Drivers CD for the correct driver file name for your operating system. |
4. Installation of the new drivers is now complete. Reboot the server for the changes to take effect. Enter:
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