C H A P T E R  3

Installing Solaris 10 Operating System

This chapter describes the installation process for the Solaris 10 operating system.


About Solaris OS Installation

This chapter describes some of what you need to know to install the Solaris Operating System (Solaris OS) on a Sun Fire X4500 server and points you to the Solaris OS documentation for more detailed information you need to complete the installation.

This chapter contains instructions for installing the Solaris 10 OS from network or media. If you are configuring the preinstalled Solaris 10 OS that is shipped with the server, refer to the Sun Fire X4500 Server Guide for Preinstalled Solaris 10 Operating System.



Note - This chapter is intended for experienced system administrators who are familiar with using the Solaris OS on an x86/x64 platform.


Overview

In this document the term “x86” refers to the Intel 32-bit family of microprocessors and compatible 64-bit and 32-bit microprocessors made by AMD. The supported x86 based systems appear in the Solaris Hardware Compatibility List at http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl.

The minimum Solaris OS for a Sun Fire X4500 server is Solaris 10. The Solaris 10 OS box contains the DVD media and documentation that you need to install the Solaris OS software for both SPARC and x86 platforms. For a Sun Fire X4500 server, use the media for x86 platforms.

The Sun Fire X4500 server supports the following Solaris OS installation methods:



Note - On the Sun X4500 Server, there are two possible boot locations: c5t0 (physical drive slot 0) and c5t4 (physical drive slot 1). These device identifiers are the default with the server configured to boot off of the factory installed SATA storage. If you add additional storage devices (such as a USB storage device), the device identifiers may change depending on which device the operating system looks at first during boot. See TABLE 3-4 for default drive mapping.


Use TABLE 3-1 to identify the steps you need to perform to install the Solaris OS.


TABLE 3-1 Task Map for Initial Solaris OS Installation

Task

Description

Instructions

Set up your server.

Install your server hardware and configure the service processor.

Sun Fire X4500 Server Installation Guide

 

Review requirements specific to the Sun Fire X4500 server.

Verify that your server meets the minimum system requirements.

See Minimum System Requirements for a Solaris OS Installation and the Sun Fire X4500 Server Guide for Preinstalled Solaris OS

Review the Sun Fire X4500 Server Product Notes.

The product notes contain late-breaking news about the Solaris OS software and patches.

Sun Fire X4500 Server Product Notes

Gather the information you need to install the Solaris OS.

The type of information you need to collect depends on your environment and the method you choose to install the Solaris OS.

About Solaris OS Installation

Locate the Solaris OS documentation.

The Solaris OS documentation included with your software contains most of what you need to know about installation.

Where to Find Solaris 10 Information

Install the Solaris OS.

Choose an installation method and locate the installation instructions.

See Installation Methods.

Install patches, if necessary.

Patches are available from the SunSolve Patch Portal at http://www.sunsolve.sun.com.

Sun Fire X4500 Server Product Notes



TABLE 3-2 Minimum System Requirements for a Solaris OS Installation

Requirement

Description

Hardware requirements

The server hardware and the initial service processor configuration (if used) must be installed before you install the Solaris OS.

Minimum Solaris OS

Solaris 10 for x86 and x64 platforms or later compatible versions.

Memory to install

256 Mbytes is the recommended size. 64 Mbytes is the minimum size.

Disk space

12 Gbytes or greater.

Swap area

512 Mbytes is the default size.

x86/x64 processor requirements

x86/x64 120-MHz or faster processor is recommended. Hardware floating point support is required.

BIOS

Industry standard x86/x64 BIOS (resident in FLASH). The BIOS must be able to boot from CD/DVD media.



TABLE 3-3 Installation Methods

Method

Description

Instructions

Install from CD/DVD media.

Use the Solaris Installation Program on the CD/DVD media to install one server interactively.

Follow the instructions for x86 installation in Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Basic Installations at

http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-0544.

Install from the network by using PXE.

You need to use PXE to install the Solaris OS over the network from remote CD/DVD images or to automate the installation process and install several systems with a JumpStart installation.

To boot over the network by using PXE, you need to set up an install server, a DHCP server, and configure the BIOS on each server to boot from the network.

Follow the instructions for an x86 PXE installation, in Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations at

http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-5504.

Boot from the preinstalled image.

Depending on your configuration, a Solaris OS image might be preinstalled on a hard drive.

Sun Fire X4500 Server Guide for Preinstalled Solaris OS

Install from a serial console.

Use a serial console to install the Solaris OS in a PXE-based network installation.

Follow the instructions for an x86 PXE installation in Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations at

http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-5504.

Perform a diskless boot.

Boot the Solaris OS on a Sun Fire X4500 server without a hard drive. Use this method with a PXE-based network installation.

Follow the instructions for an x86 PXE installation in Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations at

http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-5504.




Note - The Solaris OS provides additional programs for installation, such as booting over a wide area network (WAN), but the Sun Fire X4500 server supports only those methods listed in this document.


Use TABLE 3-4 to see the default disk mapping and boot disk locations for the Sun Fire X4500 server with ILOM 2.0.2.5 or later:


TABLE 3-4 Sun Fire X4500 Disk Mapping

Device

Slot Number

Device Node

Device

Slot Number

Device Node

sata3/0

0 *

c5t0

sata3/2

24

c5t2

sata3/4

1 *

c5t4

sata3/6

25

c5t6

sata2/0

2

c4t0

sata2/2

26

c4t2

sata2/4

3

c4t4

sata2/6

27

c4t6

sata5/0

4

c7t0

sata5/2

28

c7t2

sata5/4

5

c7t4

sata5/6

29

c7t6

sata4/0

6

c6t0

sata4/2

30

c6t2

sata4/4

7

c6t4

sata4/6

31

c6t6

sata1/0

8

c1t0

sata1/2

32

c1t2

sata1/4

9

c1t4

sata1/6

33

c1t6

sata0/0

10

c0t0

sata0/2

34

c0t2

sata0/4

11

c0t4

sata0/6

35

c0t6

sata3/1

12

c5t1

sata3/3

36

c5t3

sata3/5

13

c5t5

sata3/7

37

c5t7

sata2/1

14

c4t1

sata2/3

38

c4t3

sata2/5

15

c4t5

sata2/7

39

c4t7

sata5/1

16

c7t1

sata5/3

40

c7t3

sata5/5

17

c7t5

sata5/7

41

c7t7

sata4/1

18

c6t1

sata4/3

42

c6t3

sata4/5

19

c6t5

sata4/7

43

c6t7

sata1/1

20

c1t1

sata1/3

44

c1t3

sata1/5

21

c1t5

sata1/7

45

c1t7

sata0/1

22

c0t1

sata0/3

46

c0t3

sata0/5

23

c0t5

sata0/7

47

c0t7


* Possible boot disk location.

Note - If you add additional storage devices (such as a USB storage device), the device identifiers may change depending on which device the operating system looks at first during boot.


Where to Find Solaris 10 Information

Solaris 10 OS documentation is available at http://docs.sun.com/.

Select Solaris 10 to display the list of documents in the Solaris 10 Documentation Collection. Make sure to follow instructions specific to x86 systems, where specified.

Solaris 10 documentation is also available on the Solaris Documentation DVD included with your Solaris OS software.