C H A P T E R 1 - Preparing to Install and Set Up Server Blades

C H A P T E R 1

Preparing to Install and Set Up Server Blades

This chapter provides an overview of the server blades. It contains the following sections:

Section 1.1, Blade Hardware Setup Overview

Section 1.2, Blade Software Setup Overview

Section 1.3, Overview of the B100x Server Blade

Section 1.4, Overview of the B200x Server Blade

Section 1.5, Upgrading System Controller Firmware

1.1 Blade Hardware Setup Overview

1. Set up and install the system chassis.

See the Sun Fire B1600 Blade System Chassis Hardware Installation Guide and the Sun Fire B1600 Blade System Hardware Chassis Quick Start poster.

Note - To install B100x or B200x server blades, you must be running System Controller firmware 1.2 or later.

2. If you are replacing a blade, disable the existing blade prior to removal.

See Section 3.2, Disabling an Existing Blade Prior to Removal.

3. If you are replacing a blade, remove the existing blade.

See Section 3.3, Removing an Existing Blade or Filler Panel.

4. Insert the blade.

See Section 3.4, Inserting the New Blade or Filler Panel.

1.2 Blade Software Setup Overview

1. Build a PXE boot install environment for the OS (operating system) you are installing.

For information on installing Linux, see Chapter 4.

For information on installing Solaris x86, see Chapter 10.

2. If you are setting up a blade system chassis for the first time, set up the System Controller (SC) and switches.

See the Sun Fire B1600 Blade System Chassis Software Setup Guide.

3. Use the System Controller (SC) to configure the blade to temporarily boot from the network.

For Linux, see Section 5.1, Configuring the Server Blade to Boot From the Network.

For Solaris x86, see Section 10.6, Configuring a Blade to Boot Temporarily From the Network.

4. Power on the blade to install the operating system.

For Linux, see Section 5.2, Powering On and Booting the Server Blade.

For Solaris x86, see Section 10.7, Monitoring the Network Booting Process and Starting the Solaris Installation.

1.3 Overview of the B100x Server Blade

The B100x server blade (FIGURE 1-1) is a single-processor server that fits in a Sun Fire B1600 blade system chassis.

FIGURE 1-1 The B100x server blade

Diagram showing the front and side view of a B100x server blade.

1.3.1 B100x Server Blade Feature Set

The B100x server blade features are listed in B100x server blade feature set:


Feature	Description
CPU architecture	AMD Mobile Athlon processor.
Chipset, front side bus	VIA KT333 (VT8367) North Bridge and VT8233A South Bridge. 266MHz double-clock Front Side Bus (FSB).
Memory architecture	2x 266MHz PC2100 DDR Registered DIMMs with ECC. 2 GByte addressable memory space.
PCI bus architecture	Dual Gbit ethernet MAC with integrated SERDES.
I/O to switch and System Controller (SC)	Two Gbit ethernet SERDES connections. Two serial ports from the Blade Support Chip (BSC) microcontroller to System Controllers (SCs).
Internal I/O	2.5" Ultra DMA100 ATA hard disk 30 GByte. Rated for continuous operation.
Support devices	Blade Support Chip (BSC) microcontroller. 1MB Flash PROM for BIOS. Temperature monitor for CPU and blade board.
Other	"Active", "Service Required" and "Ready to Remove" indicators.

1.4 Overview of the B200x Server Blade

The B200x server blade (FIGURE 1-2) is a dual-processor server that fits in a Sun Fire B1600 blade system chassis.

FIGURE 1-2 The B200x server blade

Diagram showing the front and side view of a B200x server blade.

1.4.1 B200x Server Blade Feature Set

The B200x server blade features are listed in B200x server blade feature set:


Feature	Description
CPU architecture	Two Intel LV Xeon processors.
Chipset, front side bus	Intel E7501 chipset. 400/533 MHz Quad-pumped Front Side Bus (FSB).
Memory architecture	Dual-Channel DDR-200/266 Memory Interface. 4x 266MHz PC2100 DDR Registered DIMMS with ECC. 8 GByte addressable memory space.
PCI bus architecture	Two dual Gbit ethernet MAC with integrated SERDES.
I/O to switch and System Controller (SC)	Four Gbit ethernet SERDES connections. Two serial ports from Blade Support Chip (BSC) microcontroller to System Controllers (SCs).
Internal I/O	2.5" Ultra DMA100 ATA hard disk 30 GBytes. Rated for continuous operation.
Support devices	Blade Support Chip (BSC) microcontroller. 1MB Flash PROM for BIOS. Temperature monitor for CPUs and blade board.
Other	"Active", "Service Required" and "Ready to Remove" indicators. Two fans.

1.5 Upgrading System Controller Firmware

To install these server blades, you must be running System Controller firmware 1.2 or later.

You can check the version of the System Controller firmware by typing showsc at the sc prompt:

sc> showsc

Sun Advanced Lights Out Manager for Blade Servers 1.2

Copyright 2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ALOM-B 1.2

Release: 1.2.1

sc>

For information on upgrading the System Controller firmware see Appendix A.