Overview

C H A P T E R 1

Overview

This chapter provides an overview of the operating system (OS) installation process for the Sun Blade X6440 server module. It contains the following sections:

About Installing an Operating System on a Sun Blade X6440 Server Module

Supported Operating Systems

Installation Methods

Installation Prerequisites

Things You Must Decide

What to Do Next

Note - This document only covers supported Solaris trademark

, OpenSolaris, Linux, and VMware operating system installations. For instructions on installing the Windows Server 2003/2008 operating systems onto the Sun Blade X6440 server module, see the Sun Blade X6440 Server Modules Windows Operating System Installation Guide (820-3963).

About Installing an Operating System on a Sun Blade X6440 Server Module

The Sun Blade X6440 server module does not contain internal hard disks. Therefore, to boot the server module and bring it to an operational state, you must install the operating system (OS) to one of the following installation locations:

Internal Compact Flash (CF) card (limited OS support).

Sun Blade 6000 Storage Module accessible via the chassis NEM+.

Storage Area Network (SAN) accessible via the chassis PCI EM and Fibre Channel.

Each of the above options requires specific hardware, and the installation procedure for each will vary depending on the choice of OS.

Supported Operating Systems

The Sun Blade X6440 server module supports the following operating systems:

Solaris 10 5/08 and later

OpenSolaris 2009.06 and later

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4.6, 32-bit and 64-bit

RHEL 5.1, 32-bit and 64-bit

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10 SP2, 64-bit

VMware ESX Server 3.5 Update 1

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise R2 SP2, 32-bit and 64-bit

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Datacenter 32-bit and 64-bit

Note - For instructions on installing the Windows operating systems onto the Sun Blade X6440 server module, see the Sun Blade X6440 Server Module Windows Operating System Installation Guide (820-3963).

Installation Methods

Direct with a locally attached CD/DVD

Remote keyboard, video, mouse (RKVM) redirect

PXE/network-based (diskless) installation

Sun Installation Assistant (SIA) using a locally attached CD/DVD

SIA using RKVM redirect

Tip - Using the Sun Installation Assistant (SIA) to install the Red Hat Enterprise Linux and the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server operating systems is the recommended installation method. SIA is a convenient, front-end application designed to assist you in installing these operating systems on your server. SIA supplements the standard installation utilities and procedures that ship with the operating system; it does not replace them. For more information, refer to the Sun Installation Assistant User’s Guide (820-3357).

Installation Prerequisites

You must complete the following prerequisite steps before you can begin installing an OS.

Install the server hardware.

(Optional) Configure the service processor.

Gather needed information, such as IP address and netmask.

(Linux only) Create a driver CD or use the Sun Installation Assistant (recommended procedure). See the documentation for your particular Linux OS or the Sun Installation Assistant User’s Guide.

Things You Must Decide

You must decide the following:

Which of the supported operating systems are you installing?

Where are you installing the OS?

Installation Location	Question to Answer
Sun Blade 6000 Storage Module/NEM+	Does my chassis have a Sun Blade 6000 Storage Module and NEM+?
SAN/PCI EM FC	Does this option exist for my environment?
CF Card	Will my OS fit on a CF card? (See next question.)

Which installation method will you use?

Installation Method	Operating System Compatibility
	Solaris	Open Solaris	Red Hat	SLES	VMware	Windows
Preinstalled on disk	YES	Yes	NO	NO	NO	NO
Install from distribution media (CD/DVD) on the server module via USB-attached external CD/DVD drive	YES	Yes	YES	YES	YES	YES
Install from distribution media (CD/DVD) via RKVMS ^[1]	YES	Yes	YES	YES	YES	YES
Install from network	YES	Yes	YES	YES	YES	YES
Install on internal CF card	YES	Yes	YES	YES	NO	YES

Are you configuring the server for diskless booting?

Operating System	Relevant Documentation on Diskless Configurations
Solaris 10	See About the Solaris 10 Installation or Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations at `http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-5504`
Red Hat Linux	See Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Administration Guide at `https://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/`

What to Do Next

The chapters in this guide provide detailed OS installation information, see the appropriate chapter for your OS.

You should also gather the installation, administration, and configuration documentation distributed with the operating system. These documents generally accompany the distribution media as printed manuals, or are included as PDF files on the media itself. In many cases, the latest versions of such documents can be downloaded from the web site of the OS vendor.

^{1 (TableFootnote) The Sun Blade X6440 server module supports industry-standard KVMS with devices connected to it through a USB port or through redirection via the ILOM Remote Console application. For more information on setting up USB connections to your system, see your server hardware documentation. For more information on setting up a remote KVMS connection to your server with the ILOM Remote Console application, see the Sun Blade X6440 Server Module Installation Guide, (820-3961).}