Operating System Installation Overview

C H A P T E R 1

This chapter gives an overview of the operating system (OS) installation process. For additional information about disk management and monitoring utilities, see the Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) documentation. (Note that there are multiple versions of ILOM. Be sure to refer to the guide that matches your server’s installed version of ILOM.)

Preparing to Install an OS on a Sun Fire X4540 Server

There are several supported OS distributions and several ways to install each. This section is intended only as a general guide that refers you to detailed procedures.

Prerequisites

You must complete the following before you can begin the installation:

Install the server hardware.

(Optional) Configure the service processor (you can do this after installation if you prefer).

(Solaris OS only) Install and set up the software on the preinstall image and the Bootable Diagnostics CD.

Gather needed information, such as the IP address and netmask. If you need to identify the server’s physical network interface names for a Linux installation, see Appendix A. If you need to identify the server’s physical network interface names for a Solaris installation, see Appendix B.

Things You Must Decide

Before you begin installing the OS, answer the following questions.

Which OS are you installing on your Sun Fire X4540 server?

A list of supported operating systems for the Sun Fire X4540 series servers is available at http://www.sun.com/servers/x64/x4540/os.jsp

Are you configuring the server for diskless booting?

Operating System	Relevant Documentation on Diskless Configurations
Solaris 10	See About Solaris OS Installation or Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations at `http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/1236.6`
Red Hat Linux	See About RHEL Installation or Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Administration Guide at `https://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/.`
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10	See About SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Installation, or go to `http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles10/index.html`

Which installation method can you use?

Method	Solaris	Red Hat	SUSE
Preinstalled on disk	YES	NO	NO
Install from distribution media (CD/DVD) on the server	YES	YES	YES
Install from distribution media (CD/DVD) via KVMS	YES	YES	YES
Install from network using PXE (Preboot Execution Environment	YES	YES	YES
Install using Sun Installation Assistant (SIA)--a graphical operating system installation tool that assists you in the installation of supported versions of Linux	NO	YES	YES
Install on to Compact Flash	YES	YES	YES

Note - The Sun Fire X4540 server supports industry-standard remote KVMS (keyboard, video, mouse, and storage) operation with the Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) Remote Console application. For more information on setting up a remote KVMS connection to your server, see the Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) documentation. (Note that there are multiple versions of ILOM. Be sure to refer to the guide that matches your server’s installed version of ILOM.)

Will you need to update the OS?

In general, you might need to perform updates once the OS has been installed. For details, see the appropriate chapter for your particular OS.

Optional Software

Additional software is available for Linux and Solaris operating systems to aid in the operation and management of your server.

Hardware Error Report and Decode (HERD) Utility

HERD is a utility that runs on Linux for monitoring, decoding, and reporting correctable hardware errors. For more information, refer to the x64 Servers Utilities Reference Manual (820-1120) available with your server’s documentation at:

http://docs.sun.com

hd Hard Disk Mapping Utility

The hd utility runs on Solaris, Linux and Windows and provides a logical-to-physical mapping of the server’s 48 hard disk drives. For more information, refer to the x64 Servers Utilities Reference Manual (820-1120) available with your server’s documentation at http://docs.sun.com.

Note - The examples shown for the hd utility in the x64 Servers Utilities Reference Manual are for the Sun Fire X4500. Disk mapping for the X4540 will be different.

Disk Control and Monitoring Utility (DCMU)

The Disk Control and Monitoring Utility (DCMU) is a program for the Sun Fire X4540 server running the Red Hat Linux, or SUSE Linux operating systems. DCMU assists with drive insertion and removal, reports changes in disk configuration and synchronizes the disk FRU (Field Replaceable Unit) information with information stored in the Sun Fire X4540’s Service Processor.

For details, refer to Chapter 6 (for Red Hat), or Chapter 7 (for SLES).

IPMItool

The IPMItool is a command line utility that reads the sensor data repository (SDR) and displays sensor values, System Event Log (SEL), Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) inventory information, gets and sets LAN configuration parameters, and performs chassis power control operations via the server’s Service Processor. For information about using the IPMItool, refer to your Sun Integrated Lights Out Manager 2.0 User’s Guide (820-1188).

Drivers for Option Cards

Option cards supported by operating systems are listed on the platform-specific product web page under Companion Products. To check if the driver of your option card is available for download, check the Option Cards link on the Product Page.

For example, Sun Fire X4100 M2 platform page and related option card are:

http://www.sun.com/servers/entry/x4100/

http://www.sun.com/servers/entry/x4100/optioncards.jsp

For complete platform listings please visit:

http://www.sun.com/servers/index.jsp?tab=2

Next Steps

See the appropriate chapter for your OS:

Installing Solaris 10 Operating System

Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Installing SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10

Or, for assisted OS installation of Linux using Sun Installation Assistant, proceed to Using the Sun Installation Assistant (SIA).

Or, for installing Solaris or Linux on Compact Flash, proceed to Installing and Booting an OS on Compact Flash.

Gather the installation, administration, and configuration documentation. See the chapters in this guide for pointers to relevant documentation.