C H A P T E R 2 |
Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux |
This chapter provides information about manually installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on a Sun Blade X6240 server module.
This chapter contains the following sections:
If you have installed Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operating system (OS) on other Intel or AMD Opteron servers, you are already familiar with how to install it on a Sun Blade X6240 server module. The two most common methods to install RHEL on your server are to use:
Before you install the RHEL OS on a Sun Blade X6240 server module, consult the following RHEL documentation.
Contains late-breaking information about system requirements and system configuration for your version of the RHEL OS. |
On the RHEL 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 RHEL. |
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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 |
Available for download from http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/ |
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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, and AMD64 Architectures at http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/ |
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Available for download from http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/ |
Consult TABLE 2-2 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. |
Installing the RHEL Operating System From Distribution Media |
You can install the RHEL OS from a local CD/DVD or from the network. However, you will need to collect some information about your system and your network before you proceed with either of these installation methods. Before you begin installing the RHEL OS, review the procedures listed in this chapter for your installation method.
The Sun Blade X6240 server module supports the latest versions of the RHEL OS: RHEL 4.6 and RHEL 5.1. To install either of these versions on the server module, you have to obtain either the RHEL 4.6 or RHEL 5.1 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 Update Media Kit.
After installing the RHEL OS on the server module, you may also need to update the OS with updates or patches. For more information, see Updating the RHEL Operating System for details.
RHEL provides both a text mode and graphical interface for installing and configuring the OS from distribution media. At the boot prompt, you can select the interface that you want to use. Both options are shown later in this section.
Installing the RHEL OS from CDs consists of the following procedures:
1. Download the RHEL Update Media Kit from http://rhn.redhat.com.
See Obtaining Updated RHEL Operating System Media Kits.
See Updating the RHEL Operating System.
Installation from distribution media requires the following items:
To Install RHEL From Local Distribution Media |
1. Connect the multi-port dongle cable to the connector on the front of the Sun Blade X6240 server module.
For more information, refer to the Sun Blade X6240 Server Module Installation Guide (820-3968).
2. Connect the USB connector of the CD/DVD drive to the USB port of the dongle cable.
4. Insert the RHEL Distribution CD-ROM #1 into the CD/DVD drive connected to the Sun Blade X6240 server module and reboot the server.
The server will boot from the CD-ROM and display a boot: prompt.
If the installation process does not recognize the CD-ROM, refer to the Sun Blade X6240 Server Module Product Notes (820-3972).
5. At the boot prompt, select one of the following:
6. Refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide to guide you through the remainder of the installation process.
7. After completing the OS installation, proceed to Updating the RHEL Operating System.
See To Update the RHEL 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 4.6 (or later) OS using the ILOM Remote Console application.
To Install RHEL 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. Select the Remote Control tab, then select the Mouse Mode Settings tab.
4. If necessary, change the mouse mode to Relative Mouse Mode.
See the “Remote Console Application” chapter of the Sun Integrated Lights Out Manager 2.0 User’s Guide (820-1188) for further instructions.
5. Select the Redirection tab.
6. Click the Launch Redirection button to start the JavaRConsole application.
7. Log in to the JavaRConsole.
8. Select Keyboard and Mouse in the Devices menu to start keyboard and mouse redirection.
From the JavaRConsole Devices menu, you can redirect the CD in two ways:
10. Power on the server using the ILOM web interface.
11. When the boot prompt appears, type linux text.
12. When prompted to test the CD media before installation, select Skip if you do not want the media test to run.
13. 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 Blade X6240 server module supports the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) network booting protocol. The system BIOS and network interface BIOS on the server module automatically query the network for a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. If a 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 the server module can be used to install a bootable Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) image.
Tip - PXE is a powerful and convenient solution for setting up a number of Sun Blade X6240 server modules with identical configurations. |
If you do not 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 RHEL Update Media Kit at http://rhn.redhat.com. |
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Preconfiguring a Network to Support PXE Installation of RHEL. |
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This section describes how to preconfigure a network running the RHEL OS to support PXE installation of the RHEL OS on a server module. 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.
Perform the following procedures to preconfigure your network for PXE installation:
See To Configure a DHCP Server.
See To Install Portmap on the DHCP Server.
See To Configure the TFTP Service on the DHCP Server.
See To Install and Configure the neopxe Boot Server Daemon.
See To Configure the NFS Service on the DHCP Server.
Preconfiguring your network for PXE installation requires the following items:
Complete the following steps to configure 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. Type the following command:
3. If the DHCP server package is not listed, insert the RHEL OS media CD-ROM #5 into the DHCP/PXE server and install the DHCP server.
4. Type the following commands to install the DHCP server:
# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/dhcp-*.rpm
5. Remove the CD-ROM 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.
Enter 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;}
7. To start the DHCP service, type:
8. To configure the server to always start DHCP, type:
1. Determine whether the portmap server package is already installed on the server. Type:
2. If portmap is not listed, insert 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.
1. Determine whether the TFTP server package is already installed on the server. Type:
2. If the TFTP server package is not listed, insert RHEL CD #4 and install the TFTP service by typing the following commands:
# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/tftp-server*
3. Remove the CD from the server.
4. Edit and save the /etc/xinetd.d/tftp file.
5. Restart the inetd server. Type:
Complete the following steps on the DHCP server to install the neopxe boot server daemon. The neopxe server is designed for use with a DHCP server that is running on the same system.
1. Install the neopxe boot server daemon onto the system that is the DHCP server. Type:
# cd /tmp/rhel4-pxefiles/neopxe-0.2.0
2. Append the path /usr/local/sbin/neopxe to the rc.local file by typing the following command, making sure to use two greater-than signs:
# echo "/usr/local/sbin/neopxe" >> /etc/rc.d/rc.local
3. Copy the PXE Linux image from the /tmp/ directory. Type:
# cp /tmp/rhel4-pxefiles/pxelinux.0 /home/pxeboot
4. Configure the PXE Linux image. Type:
# mkdir /home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/
# touch /home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/default
5. Edit the /usr/local/etc/neopxe.conf configuration file, which is read by neopxe at startup.
ip_addr=n.n.n.n prompt=boot-prompt-string prompt_timeout=timeout service=service-number,boot-server,boot-file,label
service=1,192.168.0.1,pxelinux.0,Linux
service=2,192.169.0.1,nbp.unknown,Solaris
Note - Refer to the neopxe.conf man page for more information. |
6. Start the neopxe daemon. Type:
1. Determine whether the NFS service package is already installed on the server. Type:
2. If the NFS service package is not listed, insert RHEL CD #2 and install the NFS service by typing the following commands:
# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/nfs-utils-*
3. Remove the CD from the server.
4. Edit and save the /etc/exports file to add the following line:
/home/pxeboot *(no_root_squash,no_subtree_check,insecure)
5. Start the NFS service. Type:
6. Configure the server to always start the NFS service. Type:
If you enabled firewall security when you installed the RHEL OS 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. Type the command:
2. Stop the iptables service. Type the command:
3. Stop the ipchains service from starting when you restart the server. Type the command:
4. Stop the iptables service from starting when you restart the server. Type 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, reboot the PXE/DHCP server and proceed to the next section, Installing the RHEL Operating System From a PXE Server.
This procedure describes how to configure your Sun Blade X6240 server module to initiate the request to download the RHEL OS boot image file from the PXE/DHCP server and how to install the boot image onto your Sun Blade X6240 server module.
Before you install the RHEL OS from a PXE server, you must complete the following tasks:
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 Blade X6240 server module to which you are installing the RHEL OS.
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 the RHEL image on the PXE server.
The RHEL install image downloads onto the target Sun Blade X6240 server module.
5. To configure the RHEL OS for your server, refer to the manual that is shipped with your RHEL OS media kit.
See To Update the RHEL Drivers
See Updating the RHEL Operating System
1. Insert the Tools and Drivers CD for Sun Blade X6240 and mount it onto the directory /mnt it by typing the following command:
2. To install the igb and nvsata drivers, type:
# cdrom/drivers/linux/red_hat/install.sh
3. If the server module has a REM that uses LSI drivers and you are using RHEL 4.6, do the following:
a. Type: # cd /mnt/drivers/linux/RAID/LSI/drivers/RHEL4-SLES9
b. Unzip the file linuxmpt_RH4_SLES9_3122700-1.zip
c. Type: # rpm -ivh nvsata-rhel4.6-3.2-1.24.x86_64.rpm
4. If the server module has a REM that uses LSI drivers and you are using RHEL 5, do the following:
a. Type: # cd /mnt/drivers/linux/RAID/LSI/drivers/RHEL5-SLES10
b. Unzip the file linuxmpt_RH5_SLES10_4002100-1.zip
c. Type: # rpm -ivh nvsata-rhel5u1-3.4-1.24.x86_64.rpm
5. If the server module has a REM that uses StorageTek drivers, do the following:
a. Type: # cd /mnt/drivers/linux/RAID/StorageTek/drivers/
b. Unzip the file linux_aac_1152455.zip
c. Type: # rpm -ivh aacraid-1.1.5-2455.rpm
The installation of the drivers is now complete.
6. Reboot the server module for the changes to take effect. Type:
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 OS on the Sun Blade X6240 server module. 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 OS, perform one of the following procedures as appropriate:
To Update the RHEL 4 Software |
This procedure assumes that your server module has access to the internet.
1. Set up the up2date program on the server module.
Refer to the documentation included with your RHEL Update Media Kit for details.
Select the kernel packages in the available package updates section.
To Update the RHEL 5 Software |
Your server module must have access to the internet and be registered with the Red Hat Network.
1. To run the yum update program, type:
# 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. Type:
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