About This Documentation (PDF and HTML)
Shell Prompts in Command Examples
Introduction to Sun Installation Assistant
Getting Started With Sun Installation Assistant
SIA Version 2.3 Through 2.4 Features and Benefits
Supported Servers and SIA Media Availability
Starting SIA and Preparing for Deployment or Recovery Tasks
Local and Remote Media Options
How to Start SIA and Prepare for Tasks Using Local or Remote Media
How to Create a RAID Volume Using SIA
How to Delete a RAID Volume Using SIA
How to Install Windows With SIA Using Local or Remote Media
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 Expander Firmware
Using SIA to Recover a Service Processor
How to Recover a Service Processor
Performing an SIA PXE-Based Attended Installation
Obtain the SIA PXE Image Files
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
Obtain the SIA PXE Image Files
Contents of the SIA State File
How to Prepare for an Unattended SIA Installation of Linux
How to Prepare for an Unattended SIA Installation of Windows Server
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 Virtual Console or Secure Shell (SSH) Connection
Debugging Unattended Installation Problems
Creating a Bootable SIA USB Flash Drive
Setting BIOS Parameters and Booting Off the SIA USB Flash Drive
Identifying a Linux Boot Device on a Sun Fire X4500 Server
How to Identify a Linux Boot Device on a Sun Fire X4500 Server
How to Install Service Tags in Linux
You can PXE-boot SIA to do an unattended system firmware upgrade on your Sun server. You can choose tasks such as system BIOS and ILOM upgrade, HBA firmware, and SP recovery. The basic steps for setting up an unattended installation include:
Note - Your server must support firmware upgrades through SIA to use the firmware upgrade option. If you enable an unattended firmware upgrade and an upgrade is not required on the target server (because the upgrade firmware image is either the same or earlier than what’s on the server being upgraded), the unattended install will stop at that point, prompting user intervention to continue. To avoid this, confirm that the firmware image you are using for the upgrade is later than what is already on the target server(s). The firmware version (build number) of the upgrade image is included in the README file. The firmware version (build number) on a target server can be viewed by logging into the server’s service processor and viewing the information through the LOM web interface, or by entering the version command through the CLI.
Create the SIA Unattended State File for firmware upgrade.
The SIA state file is a text file that directs the unattended installation of your upgraded firmware. Consider these requirements when creating an SIA state file:
The state file must not contain extraneous spaces or punctuation of any kind.
The lines specified in the SIA state file must correspond to the steps you would see if you were interactively using the SIA program to perform tasks.
Each variable with its value must be on a separate line in the state file without line breaks.
An SIA state file for an unattended firmware upgrade looks like the following sample, see Table 4 for an explanation of each variable.
Sample SIA State File for firmware upgrade:
Note - Not all servers support the taskList and firmware options in the SIA state file. Refer to the SIA feature list for your server found on the Oracle download site if you are in doubt about support for these options.
[STATE_BEGIN noname apit] apit.unattended=true apit.networking=true apit.welcome.acceptlicense=true apit.networkconfig.needNetwork=true apit.networkconfig.useDHCP=true apit.networkconfig.needProxy=false apit.taskList.selectedTask=SP/Bios Firmware Upgrade apit.remoteUpdate=true apit.remoteupdateURL=http://sia-updates.sun.com/remoteUpdate apit.http_proxy=path_to_my_http_proxy apit.firmware.spIP=n.n.n.n apit.firmware.spPasswd=password_for_sp [STATE_DONE noname apit]
When done, proceed to How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot.