| Netra X4200 M2 Server Operating System Installation Guide |    
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| C H A P T E R 4 |
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux |
If you have installed Red Hat Enterprise Linux software on other Intel or AMD Opteron servers, you are already familiar with how to install it on a Netra X4200 server. The two most common methods to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on your server are:
Before you install the Red Hat Enterprise Linux software on a Netra X4200 server, consult the following Red Hat Enterprise Linux documentation.
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Contains late-breaking information about system requirements and system configuration for your version of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux software. |
On the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD 1, and online from http://www.redhat.com/docs/ |
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Brief printed guide containing useful information to assist you during the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. |
Included with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution media |
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Included on the Red Hat Documentation CD, and available for download from http://www.redhat.com/docs/ |
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux Introduction to System Administration |
Introductory information for Red Hat Enterprise Linux system administrators. |
Available for download from http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/ |
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Information on customizing the Red Hat Enterprise Linux software. |
Available for download from 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 |
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Available for download from http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/ |
Consult the following table to determine which topics documented in this Help system are relevant to the installation tasks that you want to perform.
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Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux from distribution media using a local or network-attached CD or DVD drive. |
How to Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux From Distribution Media |
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Update Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system files and drivers. |
How to Update the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Operating System and Drivers |
Although you can install the Red Hat Enterprise Linux software from a local CD/DVD, a remote CD/DVD, or the network, you will need to collect some information about your system and your network before you proceed with any of these installation methods.
The following is information you might need to collect relevant to the installation of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux software on the server.
After installing the Red Hat Enterprise Linux software on the server, you might also need to update your system software with the following patches and packages.
If you are installing a RHEL 4 Update 2 or later version, the drivers needed to install the OS are incorporated into installation image. You do not need to create an additional driver CD.
| Note - The Sun Installation Assistant automatically installs this driver. You can skip this procedure if you use that application. For details, see How to Use the Sun Installation Assistant. |
The LSISAS1064 SCSI controller on your Netra X4200 server is new to the market. The driver for that SCSI controller has not yet been made available on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution, so Sun Microsystems has provided the driver on its Resource CD. To install this driver on your server, you must create a Red Hat-specific CD that contains an installation-ready driver image.
Before you create a Red Hat-specific Driver CD, you must have access to a functioning Linux server or Linux workstation that can burn a CD.
To create a Red Hat-specific Driver CD from the driver images distributed on the Resource CD, do the following.
1. Log in as root to the Linux server or workstation that has the CD recorder drive.
2. Determine the name of the recordable CD drive. Do one of the following:
The system reports the names of matching devices:
0,0,0 0) ’SAMSUNG ’’CDRW/DVD SM-352F’’T900’Removable CD-ROM
In this example, the name of the IDE CD device is ATAPI:0,0,0.
The system reports the names of matching devices:
4,0,0 0) ’SONY’’DVD RW DRU-530A’’1.0e’Removable CD-ROM
In this example, the name of the SCSI CD device is 4,0,0.
3. Insert the Resource CD into the local system CD drive.
5. Copy the driver image to the local /tmp directory. Type:
# cp /mnt/cdrom/support/update_media/rhel3/32/driverUpdate.img /tmp
6. Unmount the Resource CD. Type:
7. Insert a blank CD-R disc into the CD recorder drive.
8. Create the Driver CD. Type:
# cdrecord dev=drivename /tmp/driverUpdate.img
Where drivename is the device name of the CD recorder you obtained in Step 2.
| Note - If you use a program other than cdrecord, it might warn you that driverUpdate.img is not a valid file. You can ignore this warning. |
9. Remove the newly created CD from the CD recorder when the recording process is complete and the CD recorder ejects the CD.
| Note - Use this Red Hat-specific Driver CD when you install the Red Hat Enterprise Linux software from the Red Hat distribution media. |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides both a text mode and an easy-to-use graphical interface for installing and configuring the operating system. You can select the interface that you want to use from the boot prompt, and both options are shown later in this section.
Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux software from CDs consists of the following procedures:
If you are using RHEL 4 Update 2 or later version, you do not need to do
Procedure 1. Proceed to Procedure 2.
1. If necessary, create the Enterprise Driver CD or use the Sun Installation Assistant CD.
See the How to Create a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Driver CD or How to Use the Sun Installation Assistant.
2. Install the Red Hat Enterprise Linux software.
3. Update the Red Hat Enterprise Linux software.
See How to Update the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Operating System and Drivers.
Installation from distribution media requires the following items:
You create this yourself. See the Help topic about how to create a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Driver CD.
To perform a basic installation from local media, do the following.
1. Insert the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Distribution CD 1 into the local DVD/CD drive on the Netra X4200 server.
The server will boot off of the CD and display a boot: prompt.
3. Select one of the following installation methods at the boot prompt:
The installer starts, and prompts you for a driver disk with the following message:
The installer then prompts you to Insert your driver disk into /dev/hda and press Ok.
4. Eject the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Distribution CD 1.
5. If necessary insert the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Driver CD.
This is the CD you created earlier. See How to Create a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Driver CD.
The installer loads the updated mptbase and mptscsih drivers needed to access the hard drives. When the installer is finished loading the drivers, it prompts with Do you have any more driver disks?.
7. Select No and remove the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Driver CD from the system.
8. Refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide to guide you through the remainder of the installation process.
See How to Update the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Operating System and Drivers.
This procedure describes how to update the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system and drivers.
Since software is constantly being updated, your distribution media might not contain the most up-to-date versions of the operating system. In addition, the kernel that is installed on the system might not contain the proper SCSI drivers that the server requires. Updating the drivers helps ensure proper system operation.
The following two procedures assume that you have already installed the Red Hat Enterprise Linux software on the Netra X4200 server. These procedures explain how to update that Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation with the latest OS and driver software.
Follow these steps to update the operating system software.
1. Set up the up2date program on the server.
Refer to the documentation included with your Red Hat Enterprise Linux media kit for details.
Select the kernel packages in the available package updates section.
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Caution - Do not reboot the server after running the up2dateprogram. If the server is rebooted before you installed the updated SCSI driver, the server might not function properly upon restart. |
3. If necessary, After you have finished running up2date, proceed to the next section to update the SCSI drivers before rebooting the server.
| Note - If you did reboot the system after updating the kernel and before updating the SCSI drivers, the system might fail to boot and you must boot from the installation media in rescue mode by typing linux rescue at the installation boot prompt. For more information, see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Administration Guide located at http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/ |
| Note - If you are installing RHEL 4 Update 2 or later version, you do not need to update the SCSI drivers. |
This procedure describes how to copy the latest drivers from the Resource CD. You can also download the driver RPMs from the product page for the Netra X4200 server:
http://www.sun.com/servers/entry/x4100/downloads.jsp
1. Determine which kernel is currently installed on the system. Type the following command:
# rpm -qa --qf="%{name}-%{version}-%{release}.%{arch}\n" | grep ^kernel
The following is an example of the output you might get:
kernel-smp-2.4.21-32.EL.athlon
This example shows the 2.4.21-32.EL.athlon kernel.
2. Insert the Resource CD into the server’s DVD-ROM drive.
3. Mount the CD and locate the SCSI drivers by typing the following commands:
# cd /mnt/cdrom/support/drivers/rhel3/32/
4. Determine which driver RPMs correspond to the installed kernel.
The file names of the RPMs contain the kernel version and type. Using the example kernel versions shown above, the appropriate SCSI (mptlinux) drivers would be:
mptlinux-2.06.16_2.4.21_32.EL-rhel3_1.athlon.rpm
mptlinux-smp-2.06.16_2.4.21_32.EL-rhel3_1.athlon.rpm
5. Type the following command to install the driver RPM files:
# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/support/drivers/rhel3/32/mptlinux-drivers.rpm
Where mptlinux-drivers.rpm refers to the appropriate SCSI driver RPM files determined in the previous step.
6. After successful installation, reboot the system by typing:
This topic explains how to install the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system on your server using the ILOM Remote Console application.
Use the following procedure to install the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 OS using the ILOM Remote Console application.
1. Locate your Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation CD/DVD or the equivalent iso images.
| Note - The Remote Console application can redirect iso images. |
2. Locate the appropriate LSISAS DriverUpdate.iso file from the resource CD.
Check the directory /support/drivers/rhel3/32/, /support/drivers/rhel3/64/, or /support/drivers/rhel4/64/ on the resource CD.
3. Connect to the ILOM Service Processor web GUI.
See the topic that describes how to log in to and out of the Sun ILOM web GUI.
4. Choose the Remote Control--Redirection tabs to start the Remote Console application.
See the topic that describes how to launch the Remote Console application.
5. Start keyboard and mouse redirection.
See the topic that describes how to redirect keyboard, video, mouse, or storage devices.
There are two choices of redirection type, either to redirect a CD-ROM drive using the Devices menu and to insert either installation CD 1 into the redirect CD-ROM drive, or to redirect CD-ROM images using the Devices menu. Select disk 1 iso image when prompted.
7. Start floppy drive redirection.
There are two choices of redirection type, either to redirect a floppy drive using the Devices menu and to insert the driver disk floppy into the redirect floppy drive, or to redirect floppy images using the Devices menu. Select driver image when prompted.
8. Power on the server using the ILOM web GUI.
See the topic that describes how to control power on the host server.
9. Press F2 to enter BIOS Setup and set the BIOS boot device to use AMI Virtual CDROM, or press F8 and select AMI Virtual CDROM when prompted.
10. When the boot prompt appears, type linux dd.
11. When prompted for the driver disk, select Yes.
12. When prompted for the driver disk source, select sda.
13. After the driver is done loading, select No when asked for additional driver.
14. When prompted for testing the CD media before installation, select Skip if you do not want the media test to run.
15. Proceed with Red Hat OS installation as usual.
The network interface card (NIC) in your Netra X4200 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 that 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 image on your server. PXE is a powerful and convenient solution for setting up a number of Netra X4200 servers so their configuration is identical.
To take advantage of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and PXE on your network, you need to perform the following tasks.
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See Appendix A. |
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Configure your server to install from a Red Hat Enterprise Linux image on a 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.
| Note - If you are installing RHEL 4 Update 2 or later version, you do not need to complete the steps that refer to installing the drivers. |
Before you install a Red Hat Enterprise Linux image on your PXE server, you must configure your Linux network to support PXE images. See Appendix A for instructions on preconfiguring your network to support PXE installations of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
The PXE installation procedure requires the following items:
To create a Red Hat Enterprise Linux image on your PXE server, do the following.
1. Insert the Resource CD into the CD/DVD drive of the DHCP/PXE server.
2. Type the following commands to copy the Sun support files from the CD to the /tmp directory on your DHCP/PXE server:
# cp -a /mnt/cdrom/support/pxeboot/rhel3_32-pxefiles.tar.gz /tmp
# tar -zxvf rhel3_32-pxefiles.tar.gz
3. Set up the directory structure that will hold the Red Hat Enterprise Linux software. Type:
| Note - You can use a different target directory than the /home/pxeboot/rhel3_32/ directory shown below. The examples in this procedure use this directory. |
# mkdir -p /home/pxeboot/rhel3_32/
4. For each Red Hat Enterprise Linux Distribution CD, type the following commands to copy the contents of the Distribution CD to the appropriate PXE target subdirectory:
# cp -a /mnt/cdrom/* /home/pxeboot/rhel3_32/
Eject and insert Red Hat Enterprise Linux CDs only when the CD/DVD drive is unmounted.
5. Copy the kickstart file ks.cfg to your PXE server. Type:
# cp /tmp/rhel3_32-pxefiles/ks.cfg /home/pxeboot/rhel3_32/
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. Type:
# cp /tmp/rhel3_32-pxefiles/initrd.img /home/pxeboot/rhel3_32/
7. If necessary, copy the updated SCSI driver RPM files to the target directory. Type:
# cp /tmp/rhel3_32-pxefiles/mptlinux* /home/pxeboot/rhel3_32/
8. On your PXE server, edit and save the kickstart file, /home/pxeboot/rhel3_32/ks.cfg.
Edit the nfs line is as follows:
nfs --server n.n.n.n --dir /home/pxeboot/rhel3_32/
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.
9. Add the following entry to the file /home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/default:
| Note - Type the text block from append through ks.cfg as one continuous string with no returns. |
append ksdevice=eth0 console=tty0 load_ramdisk=1
initrd=rhel3_32/initrd.img network
ks=nfs:n.n.n.n:/home/pxeboot/rhel3_32/ks.cfg
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. |
10. Save the modified version of the /home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/default file.
11. Insert the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Distribution CD1 into the CD/DVD drive of the DHCP/PXE server.
# cp /mnt/cdrom/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz /home/pxeboot/rhel3_32/
This procedure describes how to configure your Netra X4200 server to initiate the request to download the boot image file from the PXE/DHCP server and how to install the Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot image onto your Netra X4200 server.
| Note - If you are installing RHEL 4 Update 2 or later version, you do not need to complete the steps that refer to updating the drivers. |
Before you configure your server to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux from a PXE server, you need to have done the following:
To configure your server to install a Red Hat Enterprise Linux image from a PXE server, do the following.
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 Netra X4200 server to which you are installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 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. Press the F8 key to begin the downloading of the PXE boot image.
4. When you are prompted at the boot: prompt, type in the label you gave the image when you installed a Red Hat Enterprise Linux image on the PXE server.
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux install image downloads onto the targetNetra X4200 server.
5. To configure the Linux operating system for your server, refer to the manual that is shipped with your Red Hat Enterprise Linux media kit.
6. Update the operating system files and driver files, if necessary.
See How to Update the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Operating System and Drivers.
| Netra X4200 M2 Server Operating System Installation Guide | 820-0065-11 |
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