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Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server     Sun Fire X4640 Server Documentation Library
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Document Information

Preface

Product Information Web Site

Related Books

About This Documentation (PDF and HTML)

We Welcome Your Comments

Change History

Introduction to Sun Installation Assistant

Getting Started With Sun Installation Assistant 2.2

SIA Version 2.2 Features and Benefits

SIA Task List

Server Support and SIA Media Availability

Supported Operating Systems

Starting SIA and Preparing for Deployment or Recovery Tasks

Local and Remote Media Options

Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console

How to Start SIA and Prepare for Tasks Using Local or Remote Media

Installing Linux With SIA

How to Install Linux With SIA Using Local or Remote Media

Using SIA to Upgrade System Firmware

How to Upgrade the System BIOS and ILOM Firmware

How to Upgrade HBA Firmware

Performing an SIA PXE-Based Attended Installation

How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot

How to Boot SIA From a PXE Server for an Attended Installation

Performing an SIA PXE-Based Unattended Installation

Contents of the SIA State File

Preparing for an Unattended SIA Installation of Linux

Preparing for an Unattended SIA Firmware Upgrade

How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot

How to Boot SIA From a PXE Server and Perform an Unattended Installation

Observing an SIA PXE-Based Unattended Installation

Set Up Passwords for Root and Virtual Access

Using a System Console

Using a Virtual Console or Secure Shell (SSH) Connection

Using a VNC Viewer

Using a Serial Console

Troubleshooting SIA

SIA Error Messages

SIA Installation Log File

ILOM Remote Console Mouse Issue With SIA

Debugging Unattended Installation Problems

Creating a Bootable SIA USB Flash Drive

Requirements

Getting the Software

Preparing the USB Flash Drive

Setting BIOS Parameters and Booting Off the SIA USB Flash Drive

Index

How to Install Linux With SIA Using Local or Remote Media

Before You Begin

  1. You should have already started SIA and prepared it for tasks as described in Starting SIA and Preparing for Deployment or Recovery Tasks. At the Task Selection dialog, select Operating System Installation, and then click Next.

    This dialog will only appear if your server supports more tasks than OS installation. The dialog lists only task options supported for your server. For example, your list may include operating system installation, server BIOS/SP firmware upgrade, or other tasks.


    image:Graphic showing Operating System Installation task selected.
  2. As the Operating System installation process begins, you see the Install Media Information dialog.
    image:Graphic showing Install Media Information screen.

    At this dialog, you need to specify the location of your OS installation media. Choose one of the following:

    • CD/DVD—This option allows you to install the OS source from:

      - a local CD/DVD, or

      - a redirected CD/DVD or ISO CD-ROM image

    • Network (Linux)—This option allows you to install the OS source from a network share.


      Note - SIA might not recognize the Linux installation media if you chose to use a CD/DVD ROM device other than the one you previously used to boot the SIA program. Therefore, it might be necessary to insert the Linux OS media into the same device that you used to boot the SIA program.


  3. If you are installing from a local CD/DVD, do the following:
    1. In the Install Media Information dialog, click CD/DVD, then select the server’s CD/DVD drive from the CD Location drop-down list.
    2. Eject the SIA CD/DVD from this drive then insert the first CD of the operating system distribution into the drive.
    3. In the Install Media Information dialog, click Next to continue.

      The Identifying Distribution dialog appears.

    4. Proceed to Step 6.
  4. If you are installing from a redirected CD/DVD or ISO CD-ROM image using the server’s LOM (Lights Out Manager remote console feature, do the following:
    1. In the SIA Install Media Information dialog, click CD/DVD.
    2. Select the virtual CD-ROM from the CD Location drop-down list.
    3. In the server’s LOM (Lights Out Manager) Remote Console, redirect the operating system installation media (CD-ROM or CD-ROM Image) using one of the following methods.
      • If you booted SIA from a CD/DVD drive, eject the SIA CD from this drive and insert the first disk of the operating system into the drive. In the service processor LOM Remote Console, select the CD-ROM option from the appropriate menu (see graphic below for an integrated LOM example).

      • If you booted SIA from an ISO CD-ROM image, unmount the SIA ISO CD-ROM image from the service processor LOM Remote Console by deselecting CD-ROM Image from the appropriate menu (see graphic below for an integrated LOM example), then select CD-ROM Image and specify the location of the ISO OS CD-ROM image.

        image:Graphic showing ILOM and ELOM remote console device selection.
        Figure Legend
        1
        From an ILOM Remote Console, use the Devices menu to mount and unmount devices such as a CD or ISO CD image.
    4. In the SIA Install Media Information dialog, click Next to continue.

      The Identifying Distribution dialog appears.

    5. Proceed to Step 6.
  5. If you are installing from a Network share, do the following in the Install Media Information page:
    1. Click Network.
    2. In the address bar, specify the nfs, ftp, or http accessible network address to the Linux ISO image media. See table below for examples and restrictions.

      For OSes requiring multiple images (CD1, CD2, etc.), multiple address fields are available.


      Note - The URL address can not contain spaces.



      OS Source
      Transfer Method
      What to Type
      Content extracted from an ISO image to a directory
      HTTP
      Path to directory containing the extracted OS install files. Example:

      http://hostname_or_IPaddress/extractedISOdirectory

      FTP
      Path to directory containing the extracted OS install files. Example:

      ftp://hostname_or_IPaddress/extractedISOdirectory

      NFS
      Path to directory containing the extracted OS install files. Example:

      nfs://hostname_or_IPaddress/extractedISOdirectory

      Single ISO image file in a directory
      NFS
      Path to directory containing the OS install ISO image file. Example:

      http://hostname_or_IPaddress/ISOimagedirectory


      Note - The directory can not contain more than one ISO image file.


      Where hostname_or_IPaddress is either the hostname or the IP address of the server containing the ISO image, extractedISOdirectory is the directory containing the extracted Linux OS installation ISO image files, and ISOimagedirectory the directory containing the Linux OS installation ISO image file. For Linux, only the path to the directory containing the ISO image source should be used; individual files (including .iso) cannot be part of the URL path.

    3. Click Next.
  6. In the Identifying Distribution dialog, review the information presented in the dialog then click Next to start the OS installer.
    image:Graphic showing example of an installation using SUSE Linux Enterprise Server media.
  7. If you are installing RHEL, you will see the Pre–installation Environment setup page (shown below). Select a boot disk on which SIA will create the Red Hat pre–installation environment partition and click Next.
    image:Graphic showing Red Hat Pre–Installation Environment screen.

    After setting up the pre-installation environment, the SIA Installing Additional Software dialog appears.

  8. In the Installing Additional Software dialog, SIA installs additional platform-specific drivers, as needed. Review the information presented.
    image:Graphic showing Installing Additional Software screen for Linux.
  9. Remove the SIA media and click the Reboot button.

    The server reboots and continues with the installation of the operating system. If remote update was selected, SIA retrieves the latest files from the web. Otherwise it uses the files on the OS distribution media. Follow the on-screen instructions and perform reboot(s) as prompted.

Next Steps

After completing the OS installation, do the following: