| Sun Fire X4150, X4250, and X4450 Servers Operating System Installation Guide |    
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| C H A P T E R 1 |
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Operating System Installation Overview and Preparation |
This chapter contains an overview for installing a new Linux, ESX, or Solaris operating system (OS) on your Sun Fire X4150, X4250, or X4450 server. It also provides the OS installation preparation procedures.
This chapter contains the following sections:
Note - If you have the Solaris 10 OS preinstalled on your server, see the installation guide for your server for information about configuring the OS.
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Your server supports the following operating systems:
For the latest supported versions, see your server’s product notes.
For Windows Server installation information, see the Sun Fire X4150, X4250 and X4450 Windows Operating System Installation Guide.
A version of the Solaris OS might be preinstalled on your server. If you do not plan to use the preinstalled Solaris OS, you can install one of the supported OS versions listed at:
http://www.sun.com/servers/x64/x4150/os.jsp
http://www.sun.com/servers/x64/x4250/os.jsp
http://www.sun.com/servers/x64/x4450/os.jsp
Instructions for installing these operating systems are provided in the media sets that are packaged with the OS software. Retain these installation instructions for use in these procedures.
You can order supported versions of Red Hat and SUSE OS from Sun at:
http://www.sun.com/software/linux/index.html.
The following is an overview of the procedures for installing a new OS.
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1. |
If you are not planning to use the local CD/DVD drive and a locally attached monitor to prepare and install the OS, see the section, Accessing the Server Output During Installation. |
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2. |
If you have the Solaris OS preinstalled on the server, you will need to remove it before installing a new OS. See Erasing the Primary Boot Hard Disk. |
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3. |
If you plan to configure your server for RAID operation, you will need to perform some setup tasks before installing the OS. See Configuring Your Server for RAID |
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4. |
Review the installation options for your OS. See Choosing an OS Installation Method. |
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5. |
Install the OS, update the drivers, and run the OS updates, as necessary. |
See Choosing an OS Installation Method and the chapter that corresponds to the OS that you want to install: |
A diagnostic partition is preinstalled on the your server. If the diagnostic partition has been removed from the server, see your service manual for information about how to reinstall it from the Tools and Drivers CD.
When you install an operating system, you need to view the system console output. You have a number of choices about how to do this:
| Note - You can also connect to the SP directly through the SP serial port, which is different from the host serial port. See your SP documentation to use this option. |
During an OS installation all console output goes to the video port until the operating system assumes control of the display. When and how this happens differs, depending on which operating system is being installed, but they all have two things in common:
Any time you boot or restart the system, all output is also displayed on the serial port, up to and including POST test results, and a message that prompts you to enter the BIOS.
Whether or not any more output goes to the serial port depends on the remote access/external port setting in the BIOS. See Configuring the BIOS to Send Console Output to the Serial Port.
The service processor provides a command to enter console mode. In this mode, it acts like a serial port connected to the console. The commands are:
-> start /SP/console (for ILOM)
-> start /SP/AgentInfo/Console (for ELOM)
Complete the following steps if you are going to use the serial port to view console output during the installation:
1. Connect either a terminal or a laptop running terminal emulation software directly to the serial port.
Use the following terminal settings:
| Note - If you are accessing the system through the SP with SSH, skip this step. |
3. Boot the system, and press F2 (F4 on the remote keyboard) to enter the BIOS.
4. Use the Right Arrow key to navigate to the Server tab.
The left and right arrow keys allow you to access the BIOS Setup Utility menu tabs.
5. Use the Down Arrow key to highlight the Remote Access Configuration option, and press Enter.
The Configure Remote Access type and parameters submenu screen appears.
6. Use the Down arrow to highlight the External Serial Port option.
7. Use the - and + key to change the External Serial Port setting from SP to System.
8. To save the change and exit BIOS, press the F10 key.
The system is now configured to send console output to the serial port.
Your Sun Fire X4150, X4250, and X4450 servers server might have the Solaris 10 OS preinstalled on the hard drive, depending on your hard drive configuration. If you want to install a different OS, or reinstall the Solaris 10 OS, use the Erase Primary Boot Hard Disk option on the Tools and Drivers CD main menu. This option enables you to erase previously installed operating systems to make room for the new installation.
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1. Back up all data that you want to save on the hard drive.
2. Insert the Tools and Drivers CD into the server’s optional CD/DVD drive.
If you have a system that does not have a CD/DVD drive, see your service manual for instructions on booting the Tools and Drivers CD from a PXE server.
3. Boot the system from the Tools and Drivers CD.
The Tools and Drives CD main menu appears.
4. From the main menu, select the following option from the Tools and Drivers CD main menu:
This option erases all partitions currently located on the primary hard drive, except for the diagnostic partition. If the diagnostic partition is present, it is not erased.
Your Sun Fire X4150, X4250, and X4450 servers server supports the Sun StorageTek and the LSI SAS3081E-INT RAID controller cards. More information about these two cards is available in the following sections:
| Note - The LSI SAS3081E-INT card is also known as the LSI SG-XPCIE8SAS. |
The Sun StorageTek RAID card supports a number of hardware RAID configurations (see TABLE 1-1). All your server’s operating systems support this card. See the chapter that corresponds to the OS that you want to install for further information about configuring RAID using the StorageTek controller card.
The LSI SAS3081E-S SAS card supports all operating systems for SAS hard disks, and several RAID levels (see TABLE 1-1).
The following is needed for LSI RAID support:
For additional information, see:
| Note - The LSI SAS3081E-S card is also referred to as the LSI SG-XPCIE8SAS-I-Z card. |
This section provides an overview of the four OS installation methods:
The Sun Installation Assistant (SIA) is a convenient, front-end application designed to assist you in installing supported versions of Linux and Windows on your server. SIA supplements the standard installation utilities and procedures that ship with your operating system; it does not replace them. For more information about SIA, see the Sun Installation Assistant for Windows and Linux User’s Guide, at:
http://www.sun.com/systemmanagement/sia.jsp
This method includes installing the OS directly onto the server, using the server’s CD/DVD drive, and a keyboard, video, mouse and storage (KVMS) attached to the system.
For information about CD/DVD installation for your OS, see the instructions included in your installation software or the online documentation referenced in the specific OS chapters in this document.
This method involves setting up an installation on a host server, and then installing the OS using the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) Protocol over the network. Network installation methods include:
For information about network installation for your OS, see the instructions included in your installation software or the specific OS chapters in this document.
This method includes using a remote networked system to install the OS onto the your server. The CD/DVD drive of the remote system (virtual CDROM) is used to access the OS media, and all output of your server is displayed on the remote system (remote console). Information about using KVMS over IP (remote KVMS) can be found in the ELOM or ILOM documentation, the instructions included in your installation software, or the specific OS chapters in this document.
| Sun Fire X4150, X4250, and X4450 Servers Operating System Installation Guide | 820-1853-16 |
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Copyright © 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
To Erase the Primary Boot Hard Drive