Installing the SLES Operating System

C H A P T E R 3

This chapter provides instructions for installing the SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) onto a Sun Blade X6275 server module.

There are three methods for installing the SLES 10 SP2 and SLES 11 OS onto your server. They include:

Using the SLES distribution CD/DVD in a local CD/DVD drive.

Using the SLES distribution CD/DVD in a remote CD/DVD drive, or an equivalent ISO file. You can access either using the ILOM’s Remote Console application.

Using a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) image stored on a PXE server on your local network or from an image stored elsewhere on your network.

For a list of supported operating systems, see Things You Must Decide.

This chapter contains the following sections:

Installation Overview

Installing the SLES OS From the Distribution Media

Installing SLES From a PXE Server

Updating the SLES Operating System

Installing OFED Software for InfiniBand Devices

Installation Overview

The following list provides an outline of the installation procedure, including prerequisites. See the actual procedures for installation details.

1. Verify that you have the correct hardware. You need:

Sun Blade X6275 server module.

If you are doing a local installation (not a RKVM session) you need:

i. USB keyboard and mouse

ii. USB CD/DVD drive

iii. Monitor

iv. Dongle connector to plug into the front slot of the server module.

2. Obtain a copy of the SLES media and documentation:

SLES CD/DVD set or equivalent ISO file.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Installation and Administration Guide or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Installation and Administration Guide.

3. For SLES 10 only: Obtain a copy of the Sun Blade X6275 Linux driver package from the Sun web site:

http://www.sun.com/servers/blades/downloads.jsp

These drivers are required for the Intel e1000e network interface and IB network interface. Refer to the README file in the package for more details.

4. Install the SLES software and the Sun Linux driver package. See either:

Installing the SLES OS From the Distribution Media.

Installing SLES From a PXE Server.

5. Update the SLES OS. See Updating the SLES Operating System.

6. If you are installing the SLES OS from distribution media, install the OFED software for InfiniBand devices. See Installing OFED Software for InfiniBand Devices. If you are installing the SLES OS from a PXE server, this is included in the initial procedure.

SLES Installation and Configuration Documentation

TABLE 3-3 lists resources to help you install SLES onto your server. These documents are located at:

http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles10/

http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles11/

TABLE 3-3 SLES Installation Resources
Document	Description
Installation Quick Start	Provides information on a quick install of SLES.
Release Notes	Provides late-breaking release-specific information about the SLES version on your distribution CD/DVDs.
Deployment Guide	Provides information on installation and deployment of the server.
Administration Guide	Provides information for a SLES server that is in operation.
Linux Audit Self Start	Provides initial information on enabling call auditing for the first time.
Security Guide	Provides information on security administration for a SLES system.
High Availability Extension Guide	Provides administration information for high availability Linux clusters.
Administration Guide	Provides administration information for the SLES server.
Virtualization with Xen Administration Guide	Provides overview information installation procedures on virtualization on the SLES server.
AppArmor Quick Start guide	Provides information on configuring AppArmor profiles.
Novell Customer Center	Provides user information on managing your Novell products.
SLES Library	Provides a library of white papers.

Installing the SLES OS From the Distribution Media

SLES provides an easy-to-use graphical interface for installing and configuring the operating system. Whether you are using distribution CD/DVDs to install SLES from a locally attached CD/DVD drive or from an ISO file on a remote CD/DVD drive attached via RKVM, the installation procedure is fundamentally the same.

To Install SLES From the Distribution Media

1. Connect your CD/DVD drive.

If you are using a CD/DVD drive connected to the USB:

a. Connect the USB CD/DVD drive to the USB port of the dongle for the corresponding node.

b. Insert the first SLES Distribution CD/DVD into the CD/DVD drive connected to the server module.

If you are using a RKVM, mount the CD/DVD drive or an equivalent ISO image using RKVM, as described in Using a Remote Control Application (RKVM).

2. Power on the system.

a. Press F8 during POST to access the BBS pop-up menu.

A boot device list appears.

b. Select the CD/DVD drive from the boot list.

If you are connecting over a physical USB CD/DVD drive, select USB CD/DVD.

If you are connecting over a RKVM, select Virtual CD/DVD.

The server boots from the selected media and displays a boot: menu.

3. Follow the installation instructions provided with the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Installation and Administration Guide to complete the installation of the system software.

Note - Make sure your installation includes the development tools. You will need them later to install the drivers.

4. Download the Sun Blade X6275 Linux driver package from the Sun web site to your host:

http://www.sun.com/servers/blades/downloads.jsp

5. For SLES 10 only: Download and install the Intel 82567 e1000e driver:

a. Transfer the e1000e driver from the Sun Blade X6275 Linux driver package.

b. Untar or decompress the file.

c. Follow the instructions in the readme file to install the driver. You can also build an rpm file.

6. Update the OS, as described in Updating the SLES Operating System.

7. For SLES 10 SP2: Install the OFED software required for the InfiniBand network.

See Installing OFED Software for InfiniBand Devices.

Installing SLES From a PXE Server

This procedure describes the final step of installing the SLES boot image on your Sun Blade X6275 server module.

Before You Begin

Before you configure your server to install SLES from a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) server, you need to do the following:

Configure your network to support a PXE server.

Install a SLES image on that PXE server.

To Install SLES From a PXE Server

1. Download the Sun Blade X6275 Linux driver package from the Sun web site:

http://www.sun.com/servers/blades/downloads.jsp

2. For SLES 10 SP2: Patch the PXE images server with the Intel 82567 e1000e driver.

3. For SLES 10 SP2: Patch the PXE server with OFED software for the IB network interface.

4. Connect the PXE client to the same network as the PXE server.

5. Press the F8 key and select the nic interface of your choice.

6. At the boot: prompt, type the label you gave the image when you installed the image on the PXE server.

The install image is downloaded onto the target Sun Blade X6275 server module.

7. When you are prompted at the boot prompt, type the label you gave the image when you installed the SLES image on the PXE server.

For information about how to configure SLES, refer to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Installation and Administration Guide or to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Installation and Administration Guide on the SLES distribution media.

8. Perform an online software update to update the operating system files.

Updating the SLES Operating System

The operating system installation media shipping with SLES software might not contain the most up-to-date versions of the software. Since the media was released, there might have been many updates to the SLES operating system that you should install. This procedure describes how to update the operating system on your Sun Blade X6275 server module after you have installed it from a PXE server or from distribution CD/DVDs.

To Configure Your SLES Operating System to Work With A Proxy Server

Note - If you are behind a network firewall and need to use a proxy server to access the Internet, you must configure YaST with the correct proxy information.

1. Open the YaST utility.

2. Select the Network Services tab on the left, and then the Proxy screen on the right. Enter the correct proxy URLs in both the HTTP and HTTPS fields.

Note - For the online update service to function correctly through a network HTTP proxy, the following additional configuration step must be performed.

3. Exit the YaST utility and enter the following command:

rug set-prefs proxy-url proxy URL

where proxy URL is the fully qualified URL of your proxy server (for example, http://proxy.yourdomain:3128/).

To Update Your SLES Operating System Online

1. Log in as the superuser.

2. Type the following command to run the YaST Online Update:

# you

3. Register with the Novell Customer Center. Select the Software tab on the left, and then select Novell Customer Center Configuration and follow the directions.

Use your Novell Customer Center user name and password, as well as a SLES product activation code.

4. Once registered, select the Online Update tab to perform the software update.

Installing OFED Software for InfiniBand Devices

This procedure applies to SLES 10 SP2. (IB drivers are bunded with SLES 11.)

To Install OFED Software

You can perform this procedure using an RKVM session. See Using a Remote Control Application (RKVM) for details.

For additional information, see the Mellanox documentation located in the docs directory on the ISO image.

1. Download the Sun Blade X6275 Linux driver package from the Sun web site to your host:

http://www.sun.com/servers/blades/downloads.jsp

2. Mount the ISO image.

From the Tools and Drivers DVD: Copy the OFED ISO from the /linux/drivers/ofed directory and run the mount command from the directory in which the file was copied.

From Linux tar file: You can download a Linux-only tar file that contains the driver, extract the contents, navigate to /linux/drivers/ofed, and run the mount command.

The mount command:

mount -o ro,loop ISO_image_name.iso /mnt

For example:

mount -o ro,loop <MLNX_OFED_LINUX-1.4-sles10.sp1_sp2.iso /mnt

3. Run the installation script mlnxofedinstall.

Use the command:

/mnt/mlnxofedinstall

The script displays a question.

4. Type y to continue.

The installation starts. Messages about installing RPMs scroll by. When it is done, the installation is complete.

The installation performs the following actions:

Discover the currently installed kernel.

Uninstall any software stacks that are part of the standard operating system distribution or another vendor's commercial stack.

Install the MLNX_OFED_LINUX binary RPMs, if they are available for the current kernel.

Note - See the Mellanox documentation for information on how to add your kernel version.

Identify currently installed InfiniBand adapter and automatically upgrade the firmware.

The following display shows an example of the installation process:

linux-host# /mnt/mlnxofedinstall
This program will install the MLNX_OFED_LINUX package on your machine.
Note that all other Mellanox, OEM, OFED, or Distribution IB packages will be removed.
Do you want to continue?[y/N]: y
 
Uninstalling the previous version of OFED
 
Starting MLNX_OFED_LINUX-1.4 installation ...

The script displays messages about installing RPMs. When it is done, it displays text similar to the following:

Device (15b3:6732):
        07:00.0 InfiniBand: Mellanox Technologies MT26418 [ConnectX IB DDR, PCIe 2.0 5GT/s] (rev a0)
        Link Width: 8x
        Link Speed: 5Gb/s
Installation finished successfully.
The firmware version 2.6.0 is up to date.
Note: To force firmware update use '--force-fw-update' flag.
Configuring /etc/security/limits.conf.

5. We recommend that you reboot your host when the installation is finished.

6. Configure the ib0 port IP address.