Boot Solaris x86 and Linux Systems Over a 10GbE Network

1. Obtain the MAC address of the first ExpressModule port by checking the label of the card.

   For the ExpressModule, the MAC address on the label is for the first port. The second port’s MAC address is the MAC address from the label, plus 1.

2. Set up the PXE boot server with the MAC addresses.

3. Plug the Ethernet cable into the ExpressModule port.

4. Power on the system.

5. Press the F2 key or the Control-E keys to go to the BIOS menu.

6. Go to the Boot - Boot Device Priority screen and ensure that the boot order of the network devices is higher than the hard drive.

7. Press the F10 key to save the boot configuration changes and exit BIOS.

   The system should reboot after saving the boot configuration.

8. Press the F12 key to install the OS from the network.

   If the cable is connected to the correct port, you should see the MAC address that you assigned to your PXE server displayed by BIOS.

   image : pxe-mac-addr
   PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
   PXE-MOF: Exiting Intel Boot Agent.
    
   NVIDIA Boot Agent 217.0513
   Copyright (C) 2001-2005) NVIDIA Corporation
   Copyright (C) 1997-2000) NVIDIA Corporation
   PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
   PXE-MOF: Exiting Intel Boot Agent.
    
   NVIDIA Boot Agent 217.0513
   Copyright (C) 2001-2005) NVIDIA Corporation
   Copyright (C) 1997-2000) NVIDIA Corporation
   PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
   PXE-MOF: Exiting Intel Boot Agent.
    
   Intel (R) Boot Agent GE v1.2.43 Beta-1
   Copyright (C) 1997-2006) Intel Corporation
    
   CLIENT MAC ADDR; 00 15 17 13 90 00 GUID: 00000000 0000 0000 0000 00144F26E0B7

9. Install the ixgbe driver and configure the Ethernet ExpressModule.

10. After the Linux OS installation completes, use the BIOS to change the boot device priority to Boot from Hard Disk in order to boot up the newly installed OS.

    Unless the boot device priority is changed, the OS installation process will repeat.

Related Information

• Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations

• Solaris 10 System Administrator Collection