Install Oracle Solaris 10 or 11 Using PXE Network Boot

The following procedure describes how to install the Oracle Solaris 10 or 11 Operating System installation from a PXE network environment.

Before You Begin

The following requirements must be met prior to starting the Oracle Solaris 10 or 11 PXE boot installation.

• To use PXE to boot the installation media over the network, you should have completed the following tasks:

  • For Oracle Solaris 10, ensure that the PXE/boot JumpStart install server is properly setup and accessible to your server on the network.

  • For Oracle Solaris 11, ensure that the Automated Installation (AI) image install server is setup and accessible to your server over the network.

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  Note - The PXE network boot does not work properly over subnets that include multiple DHCP servers. Therefore, you should set up only one DHCP server on the subnet that includes the client system that you want to install.

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• Ensure that the Oracle Solaris 10 or 11 installation media is available for PXE boot. For details, see one of the following documents:

  For Oracle Solaris 10 8/11, see “Planning to Install Over the Network” in the Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 Installation Guide: Network-Base Installations at: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E23823_01/index.html

  For Oracle Solaris 11 11/11, see Creating a Custom Oracle Solaris 11 Installation Image at: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E23824_01/index.html.

  For Oracle Solaris 11.1, see Creating a Custom Oracle Solaris 11.1 Installation Image at: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26502_01/index.html.

• Ensure that the Automated Installation install server has the MAC address of the network interface from which the system will PXE boot. As an example, if you want to PXE boot from NET0, you can obtain its MAC address by logging in to the Oracle ILOM SP as root, and typing:

  -> show /SYS/MB/NET0 fru_macaddress 
    /SYS/MB/NET0
      Properties:
         fru_macaddress = 00:21:28:e7:77:24

• Ensure that the BIOS mode configured on your system is compatible with the Oracle Solaris Operating System you are installing. For more details refer to Switch Between Legacy BIOS and UEFI BIOS Mode.

1. Reset or power on the server.

   For example:

   • From the local server, press the Power button (approximately 1 second) on the front panel of the server to turn the server off, then press the Power button again to power on the server.

   • From the Oracle ILOM web interface, click Host Management > Power Control and select Reset from the Select Action list box.

   • From the Oracle ILOM CLI on server SP, type: reset /System

   The BIOS screen appears.

   
   

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   Note - The next events occur very quickly; therefore, focused attention is needed for the following steps. Please watch carefully for these messages as they appear on the screen for a brief time.

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2. To verify that PXE boot is enabled, perform the following steps:

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   Note - PXE boot is enabled by default, however, this step directs you to verify that PXE boot is enabled just in case it was disabled. Once you have verified that PXE boot is enabled, you can omit this step on subsequent PXE boots.

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   1. Press F2 to accesses the BIOS Setup Utility.

      The BIOS Setup Utility appears.

      
      
   2. Select Advanced in the top menu bar.
   3. Set the Launch PXE OpROM setting to Enabled.
   4. To save the changes and exit the BIOS Setup Utility, press F10.

   This causes the server to reset. After resetting, the BIOS screen appears again.

3. In the BIOS screen, press F8 to specify a temporary boot device or press F12 to network boot (PXE).

   The Please Select Boot Device menu appears, listing the available boot devices. The screen that appears will be different depending on whether you have BIOS configured for legacy BIOS mode or UEFI mode.

   • For legacy BIOS, the following screen appears:

     

   • For UEFI mode, the following screen appears:

     

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   Note - Your Please Select Boot Device menu options might differ depending on the type of disk controller installed in your server.

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4. In the Boot Device menu, select the appropriate PXE boot port, then press Enter.

   The PXE boot port is the physical network port configured to communicate with your network install server.

   The GRUB menu appears.

5. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the PXE installation.

   For instructions for completing the PXE installation, refer to the following documents:

   For Oracle Solaris 10 8/11, see “Planning to Install Over the Network” in the Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 Installation Guide: Network-Base Installations at: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E23823_01/index.html.

   For Oracle Solaris 11 11/11, refer to the Creating a Custom Oracle Solaris 11 Installation Image at: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E23824_01/index.html.

   For Oracle Solaris 11.1, refer to the Creating a Custom Oracle Solaris 11.1 Installation Image at: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26502_01/index.html.

6. Proceed to the section Post Installation Tasks for Oracle Solaris to perform the post Oracle Solaris installation tasks.

Related Information

• Install Oracle Solaris 10 Using Local or Remote Media