Sun Microsystems X4640 User Manual

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server

Sun Microsystems, Inc. 4150 Network Circle Santa Clara, CA 95054 U.S.A.

Part No: 821–0551–10 October 2009, Rev. A

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091211@23031

Contents

Preface ......................................................................................................................................................5

Related Books ..................................................................................................................................5

About This Documentation (PDF and HTML) ..........................................................................6

Related Third-Party Web Site References ....................................................................................6

Sun Welcomes Your Comments ...................................................................................................7

Change History ...............................................................................................................................7

Introduction to Sun Installation Assistant ..........................................................................................9

Getting Started With Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 ........................................................................ 11

SIA Version 2.2 Features and Benets ....................................................................................... 12

SIA Task List ................................................................................................................................. 12

Server Support and SIA Media Availability ............................................................................... 13

Supported Operating Systems .................................................................................................... 13

Starting SIA and Preparing for Deployment or Recovery Tasks ................................................... 15

Local and Remote Media Options .............................................................................................. 15

Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console ............................................. 16

How to Start SIA and Prepare for Tasks Using Local or Remote Media ................................ 16

Installing Linux With SIA ................................................................................................................... 25

How to Install Linux With SIA Using Local or Remote Media ............................................... 25

Using SIA to Upgrade System Firmware .......................................................................................... 33

How to Upgrade the System BIOS and ILOM Firmware ........................................................ 33

How to Upgrade HBA Firmware ............................................................................................... 35

Performing an SIA PXE-Based Attended Installation .................................................................... 39

How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot ........................................................ 39

How to Boot SIA From a PXE Server for an Attended Installation ........................................ 40

Performing an SIA PXE-Based Unattended Installation ................................................................ 43

Contents of the SIA State File ..................................................................................................... 44

Preparing for an Unattended SIA Installation of Linux .......................................................... 48

Preparing for an Unattended SIA Firmware Upgrade ............................................................ 49

Contents

How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot ........................................................ 51

How to Boot SIA From a PXE Server and Perform an Unattended Installation .................. 52

Observing an SIA PXE-Based Unattended Installation .................................................................. 55

Set Up Passwords for Root and Virtual Access ......................................................................... 55

Using a System Console .............................................................................................................. 56

Using a Virtual Console or Secure Shell (SSH) Connection ................................................... 56

Using a VNC Viewer ................................................................................................................... 57

Using a Serial Console ................................................................................................................. 57

Troubleshooting SIA ........................................................................................................................... 59

SIA Error Messages ...................................................................................................................... 59

SIA Installation Log File .............................................................................................................. 60

ILOM Remote Console Mouse Issue With SIA ........................................................................ 60

Debugging Unattended Installation Problems ......................................................................... 60

Creating a Bootable SIA USB Flash Drive ........................................................................................ 63

Requirements ............................................................................................................................... 63

Getting the Software .................................................................................................................... 63

Preparing the USB Flash Drive ................................................................................................... 64

Setting BIOS Parameters and Booting O the SIA USB Flash Drive ..................................... 69

Index ......................................................................................................................................................71

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A4

Preface

This preface describes related documentation, submitting feedback to Sun, and a document change history.

■

“Related Books” on page 5

■

“About This Documentation (PDF and HTML)” on page 6

■

“Related Third-Party Web Site References” on page 6

■

“Sun Welcomes Your Comments” on page 7

■

“Change History” on page 7

Related Books

The following is a list of documents related to your Sun FireTMX4640 server. These and additional support documents are available on the web at:

http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/server.x64#hic

Document Description

Sun Fire X4640 Server Getting Started Guide Pictorial setup quick reference.

Sun Fire X4640 Server Installation Guide How to install, rack, and congure the server up to

initial power-on.

Sun Fire X4640 Server Product Notes Important late-breaking information about the Sun

Fire X4640 server.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server

Sun Fire X4640 Server Solaris OS Installation Guide How to install the Solaris OS on your server.

Sun Fire X4640 Server Linux OS Installation Guide How to install a supported Linux OS on your server.

Sun Fire X4640 Server Windows OS Installation Guide How to install supported versions of Microsoft

A Sun tool used to perform an assisted installation of a supported Windows or Linux OS, upgrade rmware (regardless of OS), and other tasks.

Windows on your server.

About This Documentation (PDF and HTML)

Document Description

Sun Fire X4640 Server ESX OS Installation Guide How to install supported versions of the ESX OS on

Sun Fire X4640 Server Diagnostics Guide Howto diagnose problems with your server.

Sun Fire X4640 Server Service Manual How to service and maintain your server.

Sun Fire X4640 Server Safety and Compliance Guide Safety and compliance information about your server.

your server.

Sun ILOM 3.0 Supplement for the Sun Fire X4640 Server

Sun x64 Server Utilities Reference Manual How to use the available utilities included with your

Sun x64 Server Disk Management Overview Information about managing your server's storage.

Version-specic supplemental information for your server's Integrated Lights Out Manager.

server.

Translated versions of some of these documents are available at the web site described previously in Simplied Chinese, Japanese, and French. English documentation is revised more frequently and might be more up-to-date than the translated documentation.

About This Documentation (PDF and HTML)

This documentation set is available in both PDF and HTML. The information is presented in topic-based format (similar to online help) and therefore does not include chapters, appendices or section numbering.

RelatedThird-Party Web Site References

Third-party URLs are referenced in this document and provide additional, related information.

Note – Sun is not responsible for the availability of third-party web sites mentioned in this

document. Sun does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products, or other materials that are available on or through such sites or resources. Sun will not be responsible or liable for any actual or alleged damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, goods, or services that are available on or through such sites or resources.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A6

Sun WelcomesYour Comments

Sun is interested in improving its documentation and welcomes your comments and suggestions. To share your comments, go to

Change History

The following changes have been made to the documentation set.

■

October 2009, initial publication.

Change History

http://docs.sun.com and click Feedback.

Introduction to Sun Installation Assistant

This section introduces the Sun Installation Assistant (SIA) version 2.2 and describes how to get started using SIA to perform deployment or recovery tasks on your Sun Fire X4640 server.

Description Link

Learn about requirements and tasks that can be performed using SIA.

Start and prepare SIA for deployment or recovery tasks from local or remote media.

Perform an assisted operating system installation of Linux.

Perform a system rmware upgrade (system BIOS/ILOM or disk controller HBA).

Perform an SIA task (OS install or rmware upgrade) using a PXE-based SIA image in attended mode.

Perform an SIA task (OS install or rmware upgrade) using a PXE-based SIA image in unattended mode.

Troubleshoot an SIA installation. “Troubleshooting SIA” on page 59

“Getting Started With Sun Installation Assistant 2.2” on page 11

“Starting SIA and Preparing for Deployment or Recovery Tasks” on page 15

“Installing Linux With SIA”on page 25

“Using SIA to Upgrade System Firmware” on page 33

“Performing an SIA PXE-Based Attended Installation” on page 39

“Performing an SIA PXE-Based Unattended Installation” on page 43

Getting Started With Sun Installation Assistant

2.2

The Sun Installation Assistant (SIA) is a tool designed to be used with x64 Sun Fire and Sun Blade servers to assist in the deployment of supported Linux operating systems (OS), as well as system rmware upgrades. With SIA, your deployment tasks can be completed using the graphical wizard-based interface or in unattended mode.

Note – As of the release of this document, SIA can not be used to install Windows Server 2008

R2. You will need to perform a manual installation of Windows. For more information on performing a manual installation of Windows, see the

Installation Guide

■

For operating system installation, when used in interactive mode by booting the SIA

interface, SIA assists in the OS installation process. You will need to provide a retail version of OS distribution media and SIA will hand you o to the OS native installer as required. SIA will automatically inventory your system hardware and download the latest device drivers supported by Sun. This means you will not need to create a separate drivers disk. SIA does that work for you.

■

For system rmware upgrades, SIA can be used to upgrade the system BIOS, service processor, and optional HBA (host bus adapter used for disk control) rmware with the latest xes and enhancements.

■

For automated deployment, SIA can be used in unattended mode to automate the process of OS installation or system rmware upgrades. A special text-based SIA state le is used to automatically answer prompts you would have answered in interactive (attended) mode.

Sun Fire X4640 Server Windows

Note – As of the release of this document, SIA can not be used to install Red Hat Enterprise

Linux versions 4.8 or 5.3 in unattended mode. You can use a normal PXE-based installation of these operating systems that does not use SIA. For more information on performing a PXE installation of RHEL, see the

Sun Fire X4640 Server Linux Installation Guide.

For more information about SIA, see:

■

“SIA Version 2.2 Features and Benets” on page 12

■

“SIA Task List” on page 12

■

“Server Support and SIA Media Availability” on page 13

■

“Supported Operating Systems” on page 13

SIA Version 2.2 Features and Benets

SIA version 2.2 provides the following features and benets:

■

Multiple media options. SIA is available on a variety of bootable media. You can boot SIA from either a local drive attached to the server (CD/DVD or USB ash drive), a remote redirected network drive (virtual CD-ROM or ISO image), or from an image available on your PXE network environment.

■

Remote update option that updates the SIA software from the Sun download site to ensure your SIA session has the latest drivers and rmware.

■

Assisted installation for supported Linux operating systems. This includes the most recent Sun-supported device drivers required for your system. Supports OS installation on hard disk, solid state disk, or compact ash.

Note – SIA does not provide the operating system software. You must have a licensed retail

version of the operating system software available during the SIA installation.

■

System BIOS and device rmware upgrade capabilities. Upgrade options are server-specic.

■

Attended or unattended installations (including OS installation and rmware upgrades) using PXE-based SIA.

■

An SIA session event log is created for troubleshooting issues. The log le located at the /root for Linux.

SIA Task List

SIA can perform the following server-specic deployment and recovery tasks. The table below provides a list of tasks that may be performed in SIA from the Task Selection dialog screen, however the list of tasks is server-dependant and not all tasks are available for all servers.

Task Description

Operating System Installation Assisted operating system installation of supported versions of Linux.

System BIOS and ILOM Upgrade Upgrades the system BIOS and ILOM Service Processor rmware.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A12

Displays the installed version and what version is available for an upgrade. These components are upgraded together so that tested version levels are matched Requires a server reboot to use the new version.

Task Description

HBA Firmware Upgrade Upgrades the rmware of the server’sintegrated HBA (Host Bus

Adapter). Displays the installed version and what version is available for an upgrade. Requires a server reboot to use the new version.

Server Support and SIA Media Availability

The SIA CD/DVD is available for Sun servers that support the x64 processor architecture (might come with the server or be available as an X-option). For a complete list of supported Sun server platforms, refer to the SIA information page at:

http://www.sun.com/systemmanagement/sia.jsp

An ISO CD-ROM image or a USB ash drive image of SIA is also available for download from the Sun download page (select “View by Category” and then “x64 Servers & Workstations”):

http://www.sun.com/download/index.jsp

Updates to the SIA program can be obtained easily during the SIA installation by using the Remote Update option in the SIA.

Supported Operating Systems

SIA is available for supported Linux installations. A list of supported operating systems is available on the SIA information page:

http://www.sun.com/systemmanagement/sia.jsp

Starting SIA and Preparing for Deployment or RecoveryTasks

This section explains how to start the Sun Installation Assistant (SIA) and prepare it to perform deployment tasks, such as operating system installation or system rmware upgrades (BIOS/ILOM, HBA or disk expander), or a service processor recovery.

Note – SIA has a Remote Update feature that allows you to remotely update your current SIA

session with the latest server drivers and rmware from Sun.

Choose a topic.

■

“Local and Remote Media Options” on page 15

■

“Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console” on page 16

■

“How to Start SIA and Prepare for Tasks Using Local or Remote Media” on page 16

Local and Remote Media Options

Use SIA to install an operating system or upgrade system rmware on supported your Sun Fire X4640 server using one of the following methods:

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Locally at the server using the SIA CD/DVD or a USB ash drive prepared with SIA software. Boot SIA from a CD/DVD in the server’sCD/DVD drive, or via USB ash drive prepared with SIA software (as described in

) directly connected to one of the server’s USB ports.

page 63

■

Remotely using a remote console through the server’s service processor. This method allows you to boot SIA from a virtual CD/DVD-ROM. Refer to your server’s Lights Out Manager (Integrated LOM or Embedded LOM) documentation for information on the LOM remote console. (Note that there are multiple versions of LOM, be sure to refer to the guide that matches your server’sinstalled version). Also see

ILOM Remote Console” on page 16

■

Remotely over the network using a PXE network boot image. Using this method can signicantly reduce the installation time. Instructions for conguring PXE network boot can be found in

“Performing an SIA PXE-Based Attended Installation” on page 39 or

“Performing an SIA PXE-Based Unattended Installation” on page 43.

“Creating a Bootable SIA USB Flash Drive” on

“Mouse Settings When Using SIA with

Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console

The ILOM Remote Console feature allows an administrator to redirect a server’s keyboard, video, and mouse to their management system. This feature is very convenient when the server and management system are not at the same location.

The ILOM Remote Console has a mouse mode setting that congures ILOM to send mouse events to the remote system using either “absolute” or “relative” mode. For the ILOM Remote Console to work properly with SIA, you must congure the mouse setting to relative mode. If your mouse is set to absolute mode, your mouse will not work when using SIA.

After using SIA, you may consider switching your ILOM Remote Console mouse setting to absolute mode; it provides a smoother mouse experience when using a Solaris or Windows host OS. However, if you are using a Linux host OS, absolute mode may not work properly and you should use the relative mode setting.

Your mouse mode settings can be set using the ILOM web interface in the Mouse Mode settings tab under the Remote Control tab. Note that some versions of ILOM require the service processor (SP) to be reset before the change will take eect. You will be prompted by an ILOM message if your SP needs to be reset.

▼

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

This section guides you through the initial steps of identifying the system hardware, setting up network access, updating SIA software, and preparing you for a deployment task (such as assisted operating system installation or system rmware upgrade) or recovery task (such as service processor recovery).

Note – In the instructions that follow, example dialog screen shots have been provided as a

reference. Information displayed in each dialog may dier depending on your server model.

Start SIA using one of the supported methods:

■

Locally using a CD/DVD: Insert the SIA CD/DVD into the server’s CD/DVD drive and power on or reboot the server.

■

Locally using a USB ash drive: Plug the USB ash drive prepared with SIA software directly into one of the server’s USB ports. Redirect the server to boot from the USB ash drive as described in

■

Remotely from a CD/DVD or image le: Log in to the server’s service processor from a

“Creating a Bootable SIA USB Flash Drive” on page 63.

remote console (or KVMS) using its LOM (Lights Out Manager) interface and use the Remote Control Launch Redirection feature to redirect the server to the virtual CD/DVD-ROM that contains the SIA CD/DVD image. Then, reboot the server and direct it to boot from your virtual CD/DVD-ROM (typically done using the F8 menu available during server boot).

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A16

Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console

■

Remotely using a PXE-based image: If you are using PXE network booting to load the Sun Installation Assistant image from a Linux-based PXE server, proceed to

PXE-Based Attended Installation” on page 39 Unattended Installation” on page 43

Note – The instructions below assume local CD/DVD drive access. Be sure to modify the

or “Performing an SIA PXE-Based

“Performing an SIA

instructions accordingly if you are using a local USB ash drive prepared with SIA software, or if you are running SIA from a remote console (or KVMS) with CD-ROM redirection.

As SIA starts, you will see various start up messages and then the Software License Agreement dialog will be displayed.

In the Software License Agreement dialog, click Accept to accept the license agreement, and

then click Next.

The SIA Welcome dialog appears identifying the tasks that the Sun Installation Assistant performs.

In the SIA Welcome dialog, click Next to proceed with the installation.

Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console

The Remote Update dialog appears.

In the Remote Update dialog, selectYes or No to allow a remote update, and then click Next.

Remote Update is used to download updates to the SIA program. These updates can include server device drivers and rmware from Sun.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A18

Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console

If you select Yes to perform a remote update of the current SIA session to obtain the latest SIA

software, the Gathering Information screen is displayed. Do the following:

Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console

a. Select the active networkinterface on your server (for example: eth0).

This will enable the network interface used to access the update image. If your server has multiple network cards, be sure to use the network-connected interface that enables access to the host where the update image les reside (whether this is the Sun remote update Internet site, or an internally mounted image on your company intranet).

b. Selectthe network interface conguration method (DHCP or Static IP).

If static method is selected, provide the necessary information (for example, your server’s IP address, netmask address, gateway address, and so on).

c. Provide proxy information if an HTTP proxy is needed for Internet access (proxy host and

port for client connections), for example:

Proxy Host: webproxy.mycompany.com

Proxy Port: 8088

d. ClickNext to establish a connection to the Sun SIA Remote Update web site.

The remote update process checks for updates to the SIA program (see example below). If updates are available the update components are listed.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A20

Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console

The Identifying the System dialog appears.

In the Identifying the System dialog, ensure that the appropriate hardware is installed and that

there is sucient memory for your operating system, then click Next.

Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console

SIA then scans the systems for disk drives and displays a list at the Scanning for SCSI Devices dialog.

In the Scanning for Storage Devices dialog, you will see the disks identied by SIA. Click Next to

proceed.

The Supported Option Cards dialog then appears.

In the Supported Option Cards dialog, if you plan on using SIA to install an operating system

select the option cards for which you want SIA to install drivers. Click Next when done.

SIA automatically selects option cards it nds installed in your system. If you want to install operating system drivers for other option cards, you will need to select them.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A22

The Task Selection dialog appears.

Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console

Note – The Task Selection dialog will only appear if your server supports more SIA tasks than OS

installation. If it does not, SIA will proceed to OS installation.

In the TaskSelection dialog, choose a deployment or recovery task to perform. Refer to the

appropriate section for more information.

Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console

The dialog lists only task options supported for your server. For example, your list may include operating system installation, server BIOS/ILOM upgrade, or other tasks.

See Also

■

If you need to install a supported operating system for your server, proceed to “Installing

Linux With SIA”on page 25

■

If you need to upgrade system rmware (BIOS/ILOM, HBA or disk expander), proceed to

“Using SIA to Upgrade System Firmware” on page 33.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A24

BeforeYou Begin

Installing Linux With SIA

This section explains how to install a supported Linux operating system using the Sun Installation Assistant (SIA). SIA assists in the installation of supported operating systems and requires a licensed retail version of the operating system distribution media to be available locally or remotely to complete the task.

SIA provides OS-level device drivers that are certied by Sun for optional accessory cards and other system hardware. Using SIA eliminates the need to obtain and prepare OS-level device drivers on separate media before installing the operating system.

Note – For a complete list of system and OS-level device drivers that are provided and installed

by SIA, refer to the SIA CD/DVD README.html le and the Product Notes for your server.

■

“How to Install Linux With SIA Using Local or Remote Media” on page 25

▼

How to Install Linux With SIA Using Local or Remote Media

■

If your server ships with an integrated RAID controller (LSI-based) and you want to include your boot drive as part of a RAID conguration, you will need to congure a RAID volume on it using the controller’s setup utility (accessible by pressing Ctrl-C when prompted during server boot) before you install the operating system. Consult your platform installation guide for instructions on how to do this.

■

If you have a Sun StorageTek RAID disk controller (Adaptec-based), you must congure an array volume through the Adaptec RAID Conguration Utility (accessible by pressing Ctrl-A when prompted during server boot) before it can be accessed by SIA. This must be done whether you intend to use RAID or not. Consult your platform installation guide for instructions on how to do this.

■

The instructions below assume local CD/DVD drive access. Be sure to modify the instructions accordingly if you are using a local USB ash drive prepared with SIA software, or if you are running SIA from a remote console (or KVMS) with CD-ROM redirection.

Installing Linux With SIA

You should have already started SIA and prepared it for tasks as described in “Starting SIA and

Preparing for Deployment or Recovery Tasks”on page 15

. 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 rmware upgrade, or other tasks.

As the Operating System installation process begins, you see the Install Media Information

dialog.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A26

Installing Linux With SIA

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.

If you are installing from a local CD/DVD, do the following:

a. In the Install Media Information dialog, click CD/DVD, then select the server’s CD/DVD drive

from the CD Location drop-down list.

b. Ejectthe SIA CD/DVD from this drive then insert the rst CD of the operating system

distribution into the drive.

c. In the Install Media Information dialog, click Next to continue.

The Identifying Distribution dialog appears.

Installing Linux With SIA

d. Proceed to Step 6.

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:

a. In the SIA Install Media Information dialog, click CD/DVD.

b. Selectthe virtual CD-ROM from the CD Location drop-down list.

c. 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 rst 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.

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.

d. Inthe SIA Install Media Information dialog, click Next to continue.

The Identifying Distribution dialog appears.

e. Proceed to

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A28

Step 6.

Installing Linux With SIA

If you are installing from a Network share, do the following in the Install Media Information

page:

a. Click Network.

b. Inthe 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 elds 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

Single ISO image le in a directory

HTTP Path to directory containing the extracted OS install les.

Example:

http://hostname_or_IPaddress/extractedISOdirectory

FTP Path to directory containing the extracted OS install les.

Example:

ftp://hostname_or_IPaddress/extractedISOdirectory

NFS Path to directory containing the extracted OS install les.

Example:

nfs://hostname_or_IPaddress/extractedISOdirectory

NFS Path to directory containing the OS install ISO image le.

Example:

http://hostname_or_IPaddress/ISOimagedirectory

Note – The directory can not contain more than one ISO

image le.

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 les, and ISOimagedirectory the directory containing the Linux OS installation ISO image le. For Linux, only the path to the directory containing the ISO image source should be used; individual les (including .iso) cannot be part of the URL path.

c. Click Next.

In the Identifying Distribution dialog, review the information presented in the dialog then click Next to start the OS installer.

Installing Linux With SIA

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.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A30

Installing Linux With SIA

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

In the Installing Additional Software dialog, SIA installs additional platform-specic drivers, as needed. Review the information presented.

Next Steps

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 les from the web. Otherwise it uses the les on the OS distribution media. Follow the on-screen instructions and perform reboot(s) as prompted.

After completing the OS installation, do the following:

■

Install and congure additional drivers and utilities for your server not installed by SIA. This provides you the supported feature set for installed server components (for example, additional drivers may include ACPI, video, network and mass storage).

■

Install Sun-specic optional software available on your server’sTools and Drivers (also known as Resource) CD/DVD as described in your server OS installation and Product Notes documentation.

■

Download and install the latest Linux operating system updates and xes from the Linux operating system vendor’sweb site.

Using SIA to Upgrade System Firmware

This section explains how to upgrade system rmware (including system BIOS, ILOM service processor, disk controller HBA and disk expander) from local or remote SIA.

SIA provides system BIOS and rmware certied by Sun for your Sun x64 server. Using SIA eliminates the need to obtain and run separate packages and programs to keep your system rmware up-to-date.

Note – For a complete list of systems that support the rmware upgrade capabilities of SIA, refer

to the SIA CD/DVD README.html le and the Product Notes for your server.

■

“How to Upgrade the System BIOS and ILOM Firmware” on page 33

■

“How to Upgrade HBA Firmware” on page 35

▼

How to Upgrade the System BIOS and ILOM Firmware

Note – In the instructions that follow, example dialog screen shots have been provided as a

reference. Information displayed in each dialog may dier depending on your server model.

You should have already started SIA and prepared it for tasks as described in “Starting SIA and

Preparing for Deployment or Recovery Tasks”on page 15

and the TaskSelection dialog should

be displayed.

Note – The instructions below assume local CD/DVD drive access. Be sure to modify the

instructions accordingly if you are using a local USB ash drive prepared with SIA software, or if you are running SIA from a remote console (or KVMS) with CD-ROM redirection.

Select the System BIOS and ILOM Upgrade task, and then click Next.

Using SIA to Upgrade System Firmware

SIA compares the system BIOS and ILOM versions on the server against the available BIOS and ILOM versions in the current SIA session.

If there is a later version of code available, click Next to begin the upgrade.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A34

See Also

Using SIA to Upgrade System Firmware

Follow the on-screen instructions until the upgrade has completed. Upgraded code will not be used by the system until after a reboot.

■

“How to Upgrade HBA Firmware” on page 35

▼

How to Upgrade HBA Firmware

Host bus adapters control internal or external disks connected to the server. SIA has the capability to upgrade supported HBAs to allow for xes and enhancements to HBA rmware code.

Caution – Though the upgrade of HBA rmware should not be destructive to connected storage,

Sun recommends doing a full backup of HBA connected storage before performing the upgrade.

Note – SIA can perform rmware upgrades only. It cannot downgrade rmware.

You should have already started SIA and prepared it for tasks as described in “Starting SIA and

Preparing for Deployment or Recovery Tasks”on page 15

and the TaskSelection dialog should

be displayed.

Note – The instructions below assume local CD/DVD drive access. Be sure to modify the

instructions accordingly if you are using a local USB ash drive prepared with SIA software, or if you are running SIA from a remote console (or KVMS) with CD-ROM redirection.

Select the HBA Firmware Upgrade task, and then click Next.

Using SIA to Upgrade System Firmware

SIA displays the current version(s) and the available upgrade version for discovered HBAs.

Note – If you selected the Remote Update feature (described in “How to Start SIA and Prepare

for Tasks Using Local or Remote Media” on page 16

), SIA will have obtained the latest code

from the Sun software download site.

Select the identied controller(s)/HBAs to upgrade by placing a check mark in the Upgrade box.

Note – Sun recommends that in a multi-controller system, all controllers should be at the same

rmware level.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A36

See Also

Using SIA to Upgrade System Firmware

After selecting the HBA/controllers to upgrade, click the Upgrade Firmware button.

Follow the on-screen instructions until the upgrade has completed. Upgraded code will not be used by the system until after a reboot.

■

“How to Upgrade the System BIOS and ILOM Firmware” on page 33

Performing an SIA PXE-Based Attended Installation

This section explains how to boot the Sun Installation Assistant (SIA) from a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) and run it in attended (interactive) mode.

SIA is a Linux-based program that can be booted from a Linux-based PXE server. You can create an SIA image on your Linux-based PXE server, boot from it, and use SIA to perform deployment tasks in attended or unattended mode. In attended mode, you use SIA as you normally would to perform tasks using the interactive graphical interface. In unattended mode, SIA will automatically perform server installation tasks, such as operating system installation or rmware upgrades, without user intervention.

Note – As of the release of this document, SIA can not be used to install an image of Windows

Server 2008 R2. You will need to perform a Windows Deployment Services–based installation of Windows. For more information on creating a WIM image and doing a remote WDS installation of Windows, see the

■

“How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot” on page 39

■

“How to Boot SIA From a PXE Server for an Attended Installation” on page 40

Sun Fire X4640 Server Windows Installation Guide.

▼

How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot

Precongure your network to support a Linux-based PXE server network installation.

You may refer to the Linux distribution documentation for more information on conguring a PXE server.

In the PXE Linux directory, create a new subdirectory for the SIA image(s).

On a Linux system, for example, the following command line creates a subdirectory for

suninstall images:

# mkdir /home/pxeboot/suninstall

Insert the SIA CD/DVD into a CD/DVD drive of a Linux-based PXE server and mount the CD/DVD.

Performing an SIA PXE-Based Attended Installation

Copy the vmlinuz (the bootable Linux kernel) and initrd (initial ram disk) les from the SIA

CD/DVD to the suninstall subdirectory that you created.

Use the correct path to the mounted CD image. This example uses /mnt/cdrom:

# cp /mnt/cdrom/boot/isolinux/vmlinuz /home/pxeboot/suninstall

# cp /mnt/cdrom/boot/isolinux/initrd.img /home/pxeboot/suninstall

Use an editor to add the following SIA references to the pxelinux.cfg/default le that is

stored in the /home/pxeboot directory.

default suninstall

label suninstall

kernel suninstall/vmlinuz

append initrd=suninstall/initrd.img vga=0x314 ramdisk_size=900000 root=/dev/ram netboot

Type the append command line from append initrd= to netboot as one continuous string with no returns.

Save the le, and then unmount and remove the SIA CD/DVD from the CD/DVD drive.

You image is now ready to be booted from.

▼

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

The following procedure explains the initial steps you must perform to boot SIA from a PXE Linux-based server. After SIA boots, you perform your installation tasks interactively using the graphical user interface (GUI).

Ensure that the target Sun server is congured on the same network as the PXE server, and then

reset the Sun server. For example:

■

From the service processor (Lights Out Manager) Remote Console web interface, click Remote Control->Remote Power Control then select Reset to reset the host server.

-or-

■

Press the Power button on the front panel of the server to turn it o (hold the button in until the server powers o), then press the Power button to turn on the server.

The BIOS screen appears. An example is shown below (your server’s BIOS screen might look dierent).

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A40

Performing an SIA PXE-Based Attended Installation

Tip – The next events occur very quickly; therefore, focused attention is needed for the

following steps. Watch carefully for these messages, as they appear on the screen for a brief time. You might want to enlarge the size of your screen to eliminate scroll bars.

As the system boots, do one of the following to start a network boot:

■

When prompted, press F12 to boot from the rst network boot device found.

■

When prompted, press F8 to display the boot menu and specify the network boot device.

Tip – On a Sun Blade server module, you can determine the PXE interface boot device by (1)

matching the PXE:Slot# (listed on the Please Select Boot Device menu) with the physical NEM or EM slot number label on the chassis, and (2) matching the F# (listed on the Please Select Boot Device menu) with the physical NIC port number label on the NEM (ports

0.0 to 9.0 and 0.1 to 9.1) or EM (ports 0 or port 1).

After the network boot device is specied, the system attempts to get the IP address from the DHCP PXE boot server. After the PXE server is found, the PXE boot prompt appears.

Performing an SIA PXE-Based Attended Installation

At the PXE boot prompt, press Enter or type: suninstall

The SIA installation image downloads to the server and the dialog for “Launching the Sun Installation Assistant” appears.

For further instructions about how to continue an attended installation after booting SIA from a

PXE server, follow the steps (beginning at Step 2) in the procedure

forTasksUsing Local or Remote Media”on page 16

“How to Start SIA and Prepare

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A42

Performing an SIA PXE-Based Unattended Installation

This section describes how to perform unattended (no user interaction required) installation tasks, such as rmware upgrades or operating system installations, utilizing a PXE-based image of SIA.

Note – As of the release of this document, SIA can not be used to install an image of Windows

Sun Fire X4640 Server Windows Installation Guide.

Note – As of the release of this document, SIA can not be used to install Red Hat Enterprise

Sun Fire X4640 Server Linux Installation Guide.

Support for PXE-based installations are available as follows:

■

SIA v2.0.1 (and later versions) added the ability to do an SIA PXE-based unattended installation of a supported Linux operating system.

This section contains the following topics. Refer to the topics that apply to your installation.

■

“Contents of the SIA State File” on page 44

■

“Preparing for an Unattended SIA Installation of Linux” on page 48

■

“Preparing for an Unattended SIA Firmware Upgrade” on page 49

■

“ How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot” on page 51

■

“How to Boot SIA From a PXE Server and Perform an Unattended Installation” on page 52

Contents of the SIA State File

The SIA state le provides the scripting variables required for carrying out an unattended session of SIA and performing the specied SIA tasks automatically without user intervention. A copy of the state le with all of the possible parameters can be found at the root level on the SIA CD and is accessible by command prompt during an SIA session.

To access the command prompt from SIA, do the following:

1. Boot SIA (locally or through the remote console).

2. At the rst screen, press Ctrl-Alt-F2.

A command prompt will be displayed.

3. At the command prompt enter the command:

# cd /root# ls

Look for the externalStateVariables.txt le.

The following table describes the state le variables for the automated tasks that may be performed.

Note – Each variable with its value must be on a separate line in the state le without line

breaks. Due to width restrictions in the table below, some examples may show variables breaking across multiple lines.

TABLE 1 SIA State File Variables

Variable Description (Defaults in Bold)

apit.unattended Tells SIA to run in unattended mode. Values

supported: true | false

Example: apit.unattended=true

apit.welcome.acceptlicense Acceptsthe SIA license agreement. Values supported:

true | false

Example: apit.welcome.acceptlicense=true

apit.remoteUpdate Tells SIA to look for SIA software updates. Sun highly

recommends performing a remote update to ensure you always install the latest software and rmware. Values supported: true | false

Example: apit.remoteUpdate=true

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A44

Required

Required for Linux Install

for Firmware Upgrade

TABLE 1 SIA State File Variables (Continued)

Variable Description (Defaults in Bold)

Required for Linux Install

Contents of the SIA State File

Required for Firmware Upgrade

apit.remoteUpdateURL If you specied “true” for remoteUpdate, tells SIA

where to look for SIA software updates. Values supported: Any URL with updated SIA content les. You only need to specify this variable if you are not using the default url.

Default url:

http://sia-updates.sun.com/remoteUpdate

apit.networking Tells SIA it has permission to work over the network.

If true, SIA will congure network settings based on networkcong variables. Values supported: true |

false

Example: apit.networking=true

apit.networkcong.needNetwork If you specied “true” for network, tells SIA whether

network access is required for a particular task. Values supported: true | false

Example: apit.networkcong.needNetwork=true

apit.networkcong.activeNic If you specied “true” for network, tells SIA which

network interface is connected to the active network. Values supported: eth0 | eth1 | eth2 | eth3 ... etc.

Example: apit.networkcong.activeNic=eth0

apit.networkcong.NetworkType Ifyou specied “true” for network, tells SIA the

conguration of the active network interface. Values supported: static | dhcp

Example: apit.networkcong.NetworkType=dhcp

X (if remote Update is true and default url is not used)

X (if networking is true)

apit.networkcong.useDHCP If you selected “dhcp” as the NetworkType, tells SIA

to obtain the server’s address from the DHCP server. Values supported: true | false

Example: apit.networkcong.useDHCP=true

apit.networkcong.ipeld If you selected “static” as the NetworkType, tells SIA

to use the server’s IP address value you provide.

Example: apit.networkcong.ipeld=n.n.n.n

apit.networkcong.gatewayField If you selected “static” as the NetworkType, tells SIA

to use the IP address value you provide.

Example: apit.networkcong.gatewayeld=n.n.n.n

X (if networking is true)

X (if static IP is used)

X (if networking is true)

X (if static IP is used)

Contents of the SIA State File

TABLE 1 SIA State File Variables (Continued)

Variable Description (Defaults in Bold)

Required for Linux Install

Required for Firmware Upgrade

apit.networkcong.netmaskedField If you selected “static” as the NetworkType, tells SIA

to use the IP address value you provide.

Example: apit.networkcong.ipeld=n.n.n.n

apit.http_proxy If, for example, you specied “true” for

remoteUpdate, tells SIA to use a proxy server for internet access.

Examples:

apit.http_proxy=n.n.n.n (IP address)

apit.http_proxy=le://web-proxy-congle

apit.http_proxy=http://web-proxy-server

apit.http_proxy=http://internal-host:portnumber

apit.taskList.selectedTask Tells SIA which task to perform (only one task can be

run per unattended session). This variable is required in the state le. Values supported: SP/Bios Firmware Upgrade | Operating System Installation | HBA Firmware Upgrade | Expander Firmware Upgrade | SP Recovery

Example: apit.taskList.selectedTask=Operating System Installation

apit.osid.installLoc Tells SIA where the network image of the Linux

operating system to be installed is located. The path is to the directory containing the image (ISO or extracted ISO), not the image itself. The directory cannot contain more than one image.

Example: apit.osid.installLoc=http://path_to_imagedirectory

X (if static IP is used)

X (if proxy used)

apit.osid.installMedia Tells SIA where the CD or .iso le for the OS

installation software is located. Values supported: cdrom | networkLinux

Example: apit.osid.installMedia=cdrom

apit.osid.installMethod Tells SIA which le transfer protocol to use during

the installation. Values supported: http | ftp | nfs

Example: apit.osid.installMethod=http

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A46

TABLE 1 SIA State File Variables (Continued)

Variable Description (Defaults in Bold)

Required for Linux Install

Contents of the SIA State File

Required for Firmware Upgrade

apit.osid.kickstart Tells SIA where the kickstart le is located for a Linux

installation. This could be the URL to the Red Hat kickstart le or the SUSE autoyast le.

Examples:

apit.osid.kickstart=http://url_to_kickstart

apit.osid.kickstart=ftp://url_to_kickstart

apit.osid.kickstart=nfs://url_to_kickstart

apit.enclosureID.oldEnclosureID Used as part of a two-step process that allows you to

replace a Sun Blade 6000 disk module. The value for this variable must be the old enclosure ID number (also called WWN) that can be found on the circuit board of the blade being replaced.

apit.enclosureID.newEnclosureID Used as part of a two-step process that allows you to

replace a Sun Blade 6000 disk module. This value for this variable must be the new enclosure ID number (also called WWN) that can be found on the circuit board of the replacement blade.

apit.rmware.enabled Tells SIA to enable or disable its rmware update

function. Values supported: true | false

Typically used in a test environment, this variable is not required to upgrade rmware.

apit.rmware.spIP Part of a rmware upgrade task. Tells SIA the IP

address of the server’s service processor.

Example: apit.rmware.spIP=n.n.n.n

apit.rmware.spPasswd Part of a rmware upgrade task. Tells SIA the

password of the server’s service processor.

Example: apit.rmware.spIP=changeme

apit.done.notifyUrl Tells SIA to access the specied URL following the

completion of enabled SIA tasks. This is currently only supported for Sun N1 System Manager.

Example: apit.done.notifyUrl=http://my_destination_url

Preparing for an Unattended SIA Installation of Linux

The procedures presented in this section assumes the following:

■

You are familiar with RHEL or SLES Linux unattended installations.

■

You have created a RHEL Kickstart le or SLES AutoYaST le.

■

You have congured the RHEL Kickstart or SLES AutoYaST PXE image with the following options:

■

Additional drivers for your server not installed by SIA. This provides you the full supported feature set for installed server components (such as ACPI, video, network and mass storage) as described in your server installation and Product Notes documentation.

■

Latest operating system installation patches available from the Linux vendor.

■

Required SIA display resolution. SIA should always boot with vga=0x314 from CD-ROM or PXE.

■

The Kickstart or AutoYaST le is accessible through an FTP, HTTP, or NFS server.

Creating the SIA Unattended State File for Linux

The SIA state le is a text le that directs the unattended installation of your Linux operating system and other SIA tasks to be performed (such as BIOS/SP rmware upgrade).

Consider these requirements when creating an SIA state le:

■

When SIA boots from PXE, the state le must identify the location of the OS media to be installed and the transfer protocol method (FTP, NFS, or HTTP).

■

The state le must not contain extraneous spaces or punctuation of any kind.

■

The lines specied in the SIA state le must correspond to the steps you would see if you were interactively using the SIA program to perform tasks.

■

The install location must be specied as a boot argument in the conguration le (described

“ How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot” on page 51).

Sample SIA State File for Linux

An SIA state le for an unattended Linux installation looks like the following sample, see

Table 1 for an explanation of each variable.

Note – Not all servers support the taskList and firmware options in the SIA state le. Refer to

the SIA feature list for your server found on the Sun download site if you are in doubt about support for these options.

[STATE_BEGIN noname apit] apit.unattended=true apit.welcome.acceptlicense=true

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A48

Preparing for an Unattended SIA Firmware Upgrade

apit.networking=true

apit.networkconfig.needNetwork=true

apit.networkconfig.useDHCP=true

apit.networkconfig.needProxy=false

apit.remoteUpdate=true

apit.remoteupdateURL=http://sia-updates.sun.com/remoteUpdate apit.http_proxy=path_to_my_http_proxy

apit.taskList.selectedTask=Operating System Installation

apit.osid.installMedia=networkLinux apit.osid.installMethod=http, ftp or nfs apit.osid.installLoc=path_to_PXE_le apit.osid.kickstart=path_to_conguration le

[STATE_DONE noname apit]

Setting Up an Unattended Conguration File and PXE OS Install Image for Linux

To set up an unattended conguration le and PXE install image of the OS, refer to the following OS documentation for creating an unattended conguration le and PXE install image, for example:

■

Novell AutoYaST unattended installation documentation at http://www.novell.com

■

Red Hat’s Kickstart unattended installation documentation at http://www.redhat.com/docs

When done, proceed to

“ How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot” on page 51.

Preparing for an Unattended SIA Firmware Upgrade

You can PXE-boot SIA to do an unattended system rmware upgrade on your Sun server. You can choose tasks such as system BIOS/ILOM upgrade, HBA rmware, and SP recovery. The basic steps for setting up an unattended installation include:

■

“Creating the SIA Unattended State File for Firmware Upgrade” on page 50

■

“ How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot” on page 51

Preparing for an Unattended SIA Firmware Upgrade

Note – Your server must support rmware upgrades through SIA to use the rmware upgrade

option. If you enable an unattended rmware upgrade and an upgrade is not required on the target server (because the upgrade rmware image is either the same or earlier than what’son the server being upgraded), the unattended install will stop at that point, prompting user intervention to continue. To avoid this, conrm that the rmware image you are using for the upgrade is later than what is already on the target server(s). The rmware version (build number) of the upgrade image is included in the README le. The rmware 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.

Creating the SIA Unattended State File for Firmware Upgrade

The SIA state le is a text le that directs the unattended installation of your upgraded rmware.

Consider these requirements when creating an SIA state le:

■

An SIA PXE boot image must exist on a Linux-based PXE server, see “ How to Create the

SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot” on page 51

■

The state le must not contain extraneous spaces or punctuation of any kind.

■

The lines specied in the SIA state le must correspond to the steps you would see if you were interactively using the SIA program to perform tasks.

Sample SIA State File for Firmware Upgrade

An SIA state le for an unattended rmware upgrade looks like the following sample, see

Table 1 for an explanation of each variable.

Note – Not all servers support the taskList and firmware options in the SIA state le. Refer to

the SIA feature list for your server found on the Sun 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

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A50

Preparing for an Unattended SIA Firmware Upgrade

apit.firmware.spIP=n.n.n.n apit.firmware.spPasswd=password_for_sp

[STATE_DONE noname apit]

▼

How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot

After you have prepared for an unattended installation as described in the previous sections, follow the steps below to set up a PXE image to boot SIA and perform an unattended installation.

Tip – For additional information about setting up an SIA PXE boot image, consult the PXE

sample target in the /boot/isolinux/isolinux.cfg le on the SIA CD/DVD.

Precongure your network to support a Linux-based PXE server network installation.

You may refer to the Linux distribution documentation for more information on conguring a PXE server.

In the PXE Linux directory, create a new subdirectory for the SIA image(s).

On a Linux system, for example, the following command line creates a subdirectory for

suninstall images:

# mkdir /home/pxeboot/suninstall

Insert the SIA CD/DVD into a CD/DVD drive of a Linux-based PXE server and mount the CD/DVD.

Copy the vmlinuz (the bootable Linux kernel) and initrd (initial ram disk) les from the SIA

CD/DVD to the suninstall subdirectory that you created.

Use the correct path to the mounted CD image. This example uses /mnt/cdrom:

# cp /mnt/cdrom/boot/isolinux/vmlinuz /home/pxeboot/suninstall

# cp /mnt/cdrom/boot/isolinux/initrd.img /home/pxeboot/suninstall

Post your modied SIA state le (externalStateVariables.txt) on a web server that the PXE

server can access (or on the PXE server itself, if it is congured as a web server).

Use an editor to include the following SIA references in the pxelinux.cfg/default le that is

stored in the /home/pxeboot directory:

default suninstall

label suninstall

kernel suninstall/vmlinuz

append initrd=suninstall/initrd.img vga=0x314 ramdisk_size=900000 root=/dev/ram0 splash=silent siaurl=http://URL_to_ externalStateVariables.txt

Preparing for an Unattended SIA Firmware Upgrade

Note – Type the append command line from append initrd= to siaurl= as one continuous

string with no returns. initrd= must point to the location of the initrd.img on your PXE server that you copied from the SIA CD/DVD and siaurl= must point to the URL for the state le.

You can also boot the installer from the network and perform a manual (attended) installation by removing the siaurl= argument from the PXE target.

Save the le, and then unmount and remove the SIA CD/DVD from the CD/DVD drive.

You image is now ready to be booted from.

To boot the SIA PXE image from the PXE server and begin the unattended installation, follow the

steps presented in

on page 52

▼

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

Installation

Ensure that the target Sun server is congured on the same network as the PXE server, and then

reset the target Sun server. For example:

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

■

From the service processor (Lights Out Manager) Remote Console web interface, click Remote Control->Remote Power Control then select Reset to reset the host server.

—Or—

■

Press the Power button on the front panel of the server to turn it o (hold the button in until the server powers o), then press the Power button to turn on the server.

The BIOS screen appears. An example is shown below (your server’s BIOS screen might look dierent).

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A52

Preparing for an Unattended SIA Firmware Upgrade

Tip – The next events occur very quickly; therefore, focused attention is needed for the following

steps. Watch carefully for these messages, as they appear on the screen for a brief time. You might want to enlarge the size of your screen to eliminate scroll bars.

As the system boots, do one of the following to start a network boot:

■

When prompted, press F12 to boot from the rst network boot device found.

■

When prompted, press F8 to display the boot menu and specify the network boot device.

Tip – On a Sun Blade server module, you can determine the PXE interface boot device by (1)

9.0 and 0.1 to 9.1) or EM (ports 0 or port 1).

After the network boot device is specied, the system attempts to get the IP address from the DHCP PXE boot server. After the PXE server is found, the PXE boot prompt appears.

Preparing for an Unattended SIA Firmware Upgrade

At the PXE boot prompt, press Enter or type: suninstall

The SIA installation image downloads to the server and the dialog for “Launching the Sun Installation Assistant” appears.

See Also

For information on observing an unattended installation, proceed to the section

SIA PXE-Based Unattended Installation” on page 55

“Observing an

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A54

Observing an SIA PXE-Based Unattended Installation

Observing an unattended network installation enables you to view the progress of the installation, as well as any diagnostic messages that might appear if problems are encountered during the installation.

The four ways of observing an unattended network installation include:

■

Viewing messages from a system console

■

Viewing messages from a virtual console or secure shell connection

■

Viewing messages from a virtual network computing (VNC) viewer

■

Viewing messages from a serial console

If you plan to use a virtual console or VNC viewer to observe the unattended network installation, you must establish passwords for root and VNC.

■

“Set Up Passwords for Root and Virtual Access” on page 55

■

“Using a System Console” on page 56

■

“Using a Virtual Console or Secure Shell (SSH) Connection” on page 56

■

“Using a VNC Viewer” on page 57

■

“Using a Serial Console” on page 57

Set Up Passwords for Root andVirtual Access

Passwords are provided as boot arguments to the installer, either manually when booting from CD or through PXE, or in the PXE boot target:

/home/pxeboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

You will need to set passwords to observe the installation using a virtual console or virtual network computing (VNC) viewer.

Note – When booting from CD, watch for the boot: prompt, as it is displayed for only ve

seconds. Press any key when the boot: prompt is displayed to allow time to enter the password arguments.

For maximum security, use the following password arguments at the CD boot: prompt:

Using a System Console

■

rootpw=des-crypted-password

The rootpw=des-crypted-password argument enables SSH remote access on a PXE boot without passing a plain text password across the network.

Create des-crypted-password using the following perl script:

# perl -e ’print crypt("password","42"). "\n"’

The string output is what to supply after the rootpw=argument.

■

vncauth=hex-string

This argument enables a password for VNC access.

The remote VNC authorization le is eight binary bytes. You create those eight bytes with vncpasswd and then convert them to a hex-string to be entered here.

Create the hex-string using the following commands:

# vncpasswd /tmp/vncauth # od -t x1 /tmp/vncauth | awk ’/0000000/ \ {print $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 $8 $9}’

The string output is what to supply after the vncauth=argument.

■

ptextpass=password

The ptextpass=password argument provides a way of passing a plain text password that is to be used for both the root password and the VNC password.

Using a System Console

Typically the system console displays a splash screen during an unattended network installation that prevents you from viewing the console messages. To dismiss the splash screen and view the console messages, press the Esc key.

Using a Virtual Console or Secure Shell (SSH) Connection

The installation interface runs a Linux kernel and provides virtual console access. To access the virtual console, press Ctrl-Alt-F2. You can also use Ctrl-Alt-F3 and Ctrl-Alt-F4 for additional console screens.

Before logging into a virtual console, you must set a root password as a boot argument to the installer. For more information see

After you have established a connection to a virtual console, you can determine the VNC server IP address and view the standard log les. Alternatively, you can also establish a SSH connection through a serial console using the VNC IP address.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A56

“Set Up Passwords for Root and Virtual Access” on page 55.

Using a VNC Viewer

When you perform an unattended network installation, virtual network computing (VNC) is enabled by default. If you perform an unattended network installation, you can enable VNC by adding display=vnc as a boot argument.

▼

To Establish Connection Using a VNC Viewer

Follow these steps to establish a connection using a VNC viewer.

Using a Serial Console

Set a password as shown in

Press the Esc key shortly after the SIA splash screen appears.

Console messages appear. After the VNC server has started, a message appears providing the IP address to connect using VNC.

Connect to the VNC viewer using the IP address displayed in Step 2.

For example:

# vncviewer IP_address:1.0

When prompted, enter the password that you set in Step 1 and VNC starts.

The installer interface appears when performing a manual installation. The screens automatically move forward as the installation progresses. The VNC screens are active for input and you will disrupt the installation if you do anything in the VNC window.

Using a Serial Console

You can redirect the system console to a workstation or laptop to connected to the server's serial management port to view an unattended installation.

■

“To Establish a Connection Using a Serial Console” on page 57

“Set Up Passwords for Root and Virtual Access”on page 55.

▼

To Establish a Connection Using a Serial Console

Follow these steps to establish a connection using a serial console.

Use the boot argument console=ttyS0,9600 to have console output redirected to the serial

console.

This is helpful when debugging and you want to be able to scroll back to see messages. This will disable output to the VGA console.

Using a Serial Console

Set up the serial console through the serial port.

For more information about using a serial console, see the service processor (Lights Out Manager) documentation. The default setup is for the service processor to be available through

the serial port.

# start /SP/console

Reboot the system.

Select the Network Boot option.

Select your SIA target, and then observe the progress of the unattended network installation.

After booting SIA, the serial console is sometimes left in a state where it is writing black text on a black background. If this occurs, reset your terminal to view the text.

See Also

For additional information about debugging an unattended network installation, see

“Debugging Unattended Installation Problems” on page 60.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A58

Troubleshooting SIA

This section provides information about Sun Installation Assistant (SIA) error messages, the SIA installation log le, as well as procedures for debugging an unattended PXE-based network installation.

Topics in this section include:

■

“SIA Error Messages” on page 59

■

“SIA Installation Log File” on page 60

■

“ILOM Remote Console Mouse Issue With SIA” on page 60

■

“Debugging Unattended Installation Problems” on page 60

SIA Error Messages

If SIA encounters an error or an unexpected condition, it generates an error message. You might encounter a number of straightforward error messages such as the following:

You have inserted Disc 3 but the system requires Disc 2. Please insert Disc 2.

You might also attempt to use SIA with versions of Linux or Microsoft Windows that are not supported. In that case you might see error messages such as the following:

The media you have provided is not a release that is supported by Sun

Microsystems, Inc. on this platform. You cannot use the Sun Installation

Assistant to install this product and associated software.

In this case, choose one of the following options:

■

To install a supported product, click Back and then insert the appropriate media.

■

To install a product not supported by SIA, click Exit to exit the Sun Installation Assistant and reboot the system. You can now install the unsupported product as you normally would without SIA.

For a list of supported operating systems, see

“Supported Operating Systems” on page 13.

SIA Installation Log File

An SIA log le is written to the root directory of the newly installed system.

To review this log le, refer to the le SunInstallationAssistant.log (located at /root for Linux.

ILOMRemote Console Mouse Issue With SIA

“Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console” on page 16.

Debugging Unattended Installation Problems

This section includes procedures for debugging common problems that might occur when setting up an unattended network installation:

■

“How to Debug a PXE Image That Does Not Boot” on page 60

■

“SIA Boot Starts, Then Stops” on page 61

■

“VNC Password Does Not Get Set” on page 61

▼

How to Debug a PXE Image That Does Not Boot

Check the DHCP and TFTP server areas and the integrity of the initrd.img and vmlinuz les.

Verify that the kernel boot arguments are correct by consulting the PXE-example conguration (boot/isolinux/isolinux.cfg) provided on the SIA CD/DVD.

Verify that the URLs in the SIA state le, Kickstart le, or AutoYaST le are correct. To determine whether the URLs are correct:

a. Test the URL with the command wget URL.

b. Verify that the DNS is working or use IP addresses instead of host names.

c. Check the following table for URL errors that you might encounter.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A60

Debugging Unattended Installation Problems

Problem What you will see

The state le URL (siaurl) is incorrect. If the state le URL (siaurl) is incorrect, the

installation appears to hang.

Check the console for the following error message that appears after the VNC information:

Unable to fetch unattended statefile: URL

The InstallLoc in the state le URL (siaurl)is incorrect.

The Kickstart entry in state le URL (siaurl)is incorrect.

A parameter in the URL le is incorrect. When connecting to VNC, you will see that the

The system reboots without an error message and the console displays messages such as the following message before rebooting:

Can’tMD5...

The installation appears to hang and the console displays the following message:

apit-magic: run: /installer/..."

unattended network installation stopped and is waiting for input.

SIA Boot Starts,Then Stops

The initrd.img le used by SIA is over 100 megabytes. The Solaris TFTP daemon is unable to support the size of the image.

If the SIA starts to boot, then stops with a blank screen and displays a time-out error message, switch to a TFTP server with a dierent operating system.

VNC Password Does Not Get Set

If the VNC password was not set, the following message displays on the console:

mv /dev/tty /dev/tty-node ln -s /proc/self/fd/0 /dev/tty echo password /usr/X11R6/bin/vncpasswd.real /installer/vncpasswd echo password They don’t match. Try again.

This issue is a timing problem. To resolve this problem, reboot the system and restart the installation.

Creating a Bootable SIA USB Flash Drive

This section describes how to prepare a USB ash drive (also known as USB thumb drive, USB key drive, etc.) for booting SIA and how to boot the SIA USB ash drive to perform SIA deployment and recovery tasks.

Preparing and booting an SIA USB ash drive is described in the following sections:

■

“Requirements” on page 63

■

“Getting the Software” on page 63

■

“Preparing the USB Flash Drive” on page 64

■

“Setting BIOS Parameters and Booting O the SIA USB Flash Drive” on page 69

Requirements

■

SIA version 2.0.144 or later (USB ash drive support is not available on earlier versions of SIA)

■

Syslinux utility version 3.52 or later

■

1 GB or larger USB 2.0 ash drive

■

A system running Windows XP or Linux with a USB 2.0 compatible port

■

Internet access (to download the necessary software)

■

Sun server that you will be using SIA on must have USB 2.0 compatible ports

Getting the Software

This section describes where to get the syslinux and SIA software. You must have the syslinux software to prepare the USB ash drive in order to boot SIA. You can use either a Windows or Linux machine to download the syslinux and SIA software and prepare the USB ash drive for booting.

■

“How to Get the Syslinux and SIA Software” on page 64

Preparing the USB Flash Drive

▼

How to Get the Syslinux and SIA Software

Note – Support for creating a USB ash drive version of SIA was introduced with SIA version

2.0.144 and is provided as a downloadable package from the Sun download site. Earlier versions of SIA will not support running SIA from USB ash drive media.

Go to the SIA main page on the Sun web site:

http://www.sun.com/systemmanagement/sia.jsp

Navigate to your server’s download page.

Select and download the following les to a convenient le folder on a Windows XP or Linux

(Red Hat or SUSE) system.

■

syslinux-version.zip (where version is 3.52 or later)

sia-version.zip (where version is 2.0.144 or later)

Note – These les may be available separately or bundled in a single package.

Preparing the USB Flash Drive

This section describes how to prepare the USB ash drive in order to use it to run the SIA software on your server. You can use either a Windows or a Linux system to prepare the USB ash drive. The procedure is dierent for Windows and Linux systems; both procedures are described below.

■

“How to Prepare the USB Flash Drive on a Windows XP System” on page 64

■

“How to Prepare the USB Flash Drive on a Linux (Red Hat/SUSE) System” on page 66

▼

How to Prepare the USB Flash Drive on a Windows XP System

Extract (unzip) the contents of the downloaded syslinux-version.zip archive le.

Where version represents the Syslinux version number.

Insert the USB ash drive into a USB 2.0 port.

After Windows has found the new hardware, double-click on My Computer from the desktop.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A64

Preparing the USB Flash Drive

Caution – Be sure to conrm and make a note of the device name of the USB ash drive (A:, B:,

etc.). The instructions listed here require you to delete existing partition(s) on the USB ash disk. Making a mistake in identifying the device might cause you to erase a hard disk.

Right-click on the ashdisk icon in the list of hard disk drives, and then click Format.

The format dialog box will be displayed.

From the File system drop-down menu, select FAT32 and enter a descriptive volume label (such

as“SIA FlashDisk”).

Click the Start button.

The ash disk is formatted.

After the formatting has completed, click the Close button.

The Format dialog box closes.

Click the Start button from the Windows taskbar, and then click Run.

The Run dialog box is displayed.

Run the syslinux executable using the -ma option to make the drive bootable by entering the

following command:

path\syslinux\win32\syslinux.exe -ma X:

Preparing the USB Flash Drive

Where path is the folder to which you extracted syslinux and Xisthe drive letter for your USB ash drive (for example, A:, B:, etc.)

This creates a le ldlinux.sys onto the drive and make it bootable.

Extract (unzip) the contents of the downloaded SIA-version.zip archive le to the USB ash

drive.

Where version represents the SIA version number.

To remove the USB ash drive, click the Safe to Remove Hardware icon and remove the ash

drive from the system.

The USB ash drive is now ready to boot SIA. To begin the OS installation using the SIA USB ash drive, see

page 69

▼

How to Prepare the USB Flash Drive on a Linux (Red Hat/SUSE) System

BeforeYou Begin

This procedure requires the use of parted utility version 1.8.6 or later. Do not use earlier versions of parted.

Extract (unzip) the contents of the syslinux-version.zip archive le.

# unzip syslinux-version.zip

“Setting BIOS Parameters and Booting O the SIA USB Flash Drive” on

Where version represents the Syslinux version number.

Insert the USB ash drive into a working USB 2.0 port.

Use the tail command to identify the USB ash drive’s device name.

# tail /var/log/messages

You should see the device name (such as, sda or sdb). Example output is shown below:

Nov 12 13:19:29 server kernel: scsi 4:0:0:0: Lexar, Inc. USBdisk PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS Nov 12 13:19:29 server kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 1030750208 512-byte hardware sectors (1030 MB) Nov 12 13:19:29 server kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off Nov 12 13:19:29 server kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through Nov 12 13:19:29 server kernel: sdb: Nov 12 13:19:29 server kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk Nov 12 13:19:29 server kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0

Caution – Be sure to conrm and make a note of the device name of the USB ash drive

(/dev/sda, /dev/sdb, etc.). The instructions listed here require you to delete existing partition(s) on the USB ash disk. Making a mistake in identifying the device might cause you to erase a hard disk.

Create a single bootable partition on the USB ash drive using parted, as follows:

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A66

Preparing the USB Flash Drive

Note – This procedure requires the use of parted utility version 1.8.6 or later. Do not use earlier

versions of parted.

Note – These steps require superuser (su - root) access.

a. If Linux has automounted the device, unmount it rst.

# umount /dev/sdX1

Where X is the drive letter for the USB ash drive (for example, /dev/sda or /dev/sdb), and 1 indicates the rst partition.

b. Use parted to delete all partitions and create a new bootable FAT32 partition:

# /sbin/parted /dev/sdX

Where X is the drive letter for the USB ash drive (for example, /dev/sda or /dev/sdb).

The parted command prompt displays.

c. Enter the following commands in the order listed and follow the prompts to create your

bootable primary partition:

■

(parted): mklabel

You will be prompted to create a disk label type. If msdos is not listed as the default, you will need to enter msdos at the appropriate prompt, as shown in the example below:

Warning: The existing label on sdx will be destroyed and all data on this disk will be lost. Do you want to continue? Yes/No: yes New disk label type? msdos

■

(parted): mkpartfs

Creates a new partition on the disk. Answer the prompts to conrm that this will be the primary partition, fat32 format, spanning the entire disk minus the last megabyte (starting at 1, and ending at -1). Example output is shown below:

Partition type? primary/extended? primary File system type? [ext2] fat32 Start? 1 End? -1

■

(parted): set 1 boot on

Sets the boot ag for this partition.

■

(parted): set 1 lba on

Sets the lba (Linear Block Addressing) ag for this partition.

Preparing the USB Flash Drive

Navigate to the Syslinux mbr directory:

# cd path/mbr

Where path is the folder to which you extracted Syslinux.

Locate the Syslinux master boot record le mbr.bin in the mbr directory and write it to the disk

using the following command:

# cat mbr.bin > /dev/sdX

■

(parted): print

Displays the current settings for the new partition. Example output is shown below:

Model: Lexar, Inc. USBdisk (scsi)

Disk /dev/sdb: 1031MB

Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B

Partition Table: msdos

Minor Start End Size Type Filesystem Flags

1 16.4kB 931MB 1031MB primary fat32 boot, lba

(parted)

■

(parted): quit

Quits the parted utility.

Where X is the drive letter for the USB ash drive (for example, /dev/sda or /dev/sdb).

Navigate to the Syslinux unix directory:

# cd path/unix

Where path is the folder to which you extracted Syslinux.

Note – For later versions of Syslinux, the unix directory might be replaced with a linux

directory. If so, replace the unix directory name with linux.

From the Syslinux unix directory,enter the following command:

# ./syslinux /dev/sdX1

Where X is the drive letter for the USB ash drive (for example, /dev/sda or /dev/sdb), and 1 indicates the rst partition.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A68

Setting BIOS Parameters and Booting O the SIA USB Flash Drive

Note – In the next step you will need to specify the mount point. If autofs is running, it might

have auto–mounted the drive partition to some other mount point. If this happens, unmount it by entering the command:

umount /dev/sdX1

Mount the drive to a mount point by entering the command:

# mount -t vfat /dev/sdX1 /mnt

Where X is the drive letter for the USB ash drive (for example, /dev/sda or /dev/sdb), and 1 indicates the rst partition. For this example, the mount point is /mnt.

Extract the contents of the SIA-version.zip archive le to the USB ash drive by entering the

following command:

# unzip -q -d /mnt ~/path/SIA-version.zip -x “source/*”

Where path represents the path to the directory where the .zip le is located, and version represents the SIA version number. The “source/*” parameter excludes the source les from the extraction to save time and disk space.

Unmount the USB ash drive:

# umount /mnt

Remove the ash drive from client machine.

The USB ash drive is now ready to boot SIA. To begin the OS installation using the SIA USB ash drive, see

page 69

“Setting BIOS Parameters and Booting O the SIA USB Flash Drive” on

Setting BIOS Parameters and Booting O the SIA USB Flash Drive

This section describes how to set the BIOS parameters on your server and boot SIA o the USB ash drive. The procedures in this section refer to the server upon which you are installing an OS.

Note – You must be set up to view the system console boot messages.

■

“How to Set the BIOS Parameters and Boot O the SIA USB Flash Drive” on page 70

Setting BIOS Parameters and Booting O the SIA USB Flash Drive

▼

How to Set the BIOS Parameters and Boot O the SIA USB Flash Drive

BeforeYou Begin

Check the Sun Fire X4640 Server Product Notes for any issues related to USB support. Note any restrictions before attempting this procedure.

Insert the SIA USB ash drive into an available USB 2.0 port.

Note – Some servers might not have USB 2.0 support on all of their USB ports. To ensure the best

performance, check your server documentation to make sure you use a port that supports USB

2.0.

Reboot the system, watch the display for the BIOS prompt, and when prompted enter the BIOS

setup.

The BIOS Setup screen appears.

Navigate to the Advanced -> USB Conguration -> USB controller setup screen, and congure

the controller for USB 2.0 (high speed) mode.

Navigate to the Boot -> Hard Disk setup screen, and make your USB ash drive the rst boot

device.

The USB ash drive must be the rst listed boot device.

To save your changes and boot SIA, select Save and Exit.

The system exits the BIOS setup and will then boot from the SIA USB ash drive.

Note – If you use the SIA USB ash drive for operating system installation, once the OS is

initially installed from OS distribution media on the server hard disk, a reboot is required to nish the installation. At that point, the USB ash drive must be either unplugged or its boot priority lowered in the BIOS settings to ensure the server boots from the hard disk to nish the installation.

Proceed to “Starting SIA and Preparing for Deployment or Recovery Tasks”on page 15 for

instructions on how to use SIA.

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A70

Index

BIOS upgrade, 33-35

compact ash, OS installation on, 12 conguring SIA to use the network, 19

device driver updates, 13

error messages, 59

ash drive support for SIA, 63

gathering network information, 19

installation CD/DVD, 13 installation methods, SIA, 15

Linux installation, 25-31 logle for SIA, 60

media, local or remote, 16-24 mouse issue when using ILOM with SIA, 60

network conguration screen, 19

operating system installation using SIA, Linux, 25-31 operating systems, supported with SIA, 13

ILOM rmware upgrade, 33-35

PXE installation

RHEL or SLES Linux

procedure, 40-42

Index

Red Hat Enterprise Linux, installation

using remote media from a PXE-based network

procedure, 40-42

servers supported with SIA, 13 SIA

conguring network information, 19 description, 11-13 features and benets, 12 Linux installation prerequisites, 25-31 media and updates, 13 obtaining the latest version, 13 starting and preparing for tasks, 16-24 supported OSes, 13 supported servers, 13 tasks, 12

USB ash drive support, 63 SIA local media installation, 15 SIA media installation options (remote or local), 15 SIA remote installation, 15 SUSE Enterprise Linux Server, installation

using remote media from a PXE-based network

procedure, 40-42

unattended rmware upgrade using PXE-based

SIA, 43-54 unattended install, observing using a serial console, 57 unattended installation troubleshooting, 60 unattended OS installation using PXE-based

SIA, 43-54 updates

for drivers, 13, 22

for SIA, 13, 18 upgrades

expander rmware, 33-37

HBA rmware, 33-37

system BIOS, 33-37

system ILOM rmware, 33-37

task list for SIA, 12 tasks

installing Linux using SIA, 25-31 preparing for SIA tasks, 16-24

troubleshooting, 59-61

debugging unattended installs, 60 error messages in SIA, 59 mouse problems when using SIA and ILOM remote

console, 60

SIA logle, 60

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A72

Sun Microsystems X4640 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server

Preface

Related Books

About This Documentation (PDF and HTML)

RelatedThird-Party Web Site References

Sun WelcomesYour Comments

Change History

Introduction to Sun Installation Assistant

SIA Task List

Server Support and SIA Media Availability

Supported Operating Systems

Starting SIA and Preparing for Deployment or RecoveryTasks

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

Observing an SIA PXE-Based Unattended Installation

Set Up Passwords for Root andVirtual Access

Using a System Console

Using a Virtual Console or Secure Shell (SSH) Connection

Using a VNC Viewer

To Establish Connection Using a VNC Viewer

Using a Serial Console

To Establish a Connection Using a Serial Console

Troubleshooting SIA

SIA Error Messages

SIA Installation Log File

ILOMRemote Console Mouse Issue With SIA

Debugging Unattended Installation Problems

How to Debug a PXE Image That Does Not Boot

Creating a Bootable SIA USB Flash Drive

Requirements

Getting the Software

Preparing the USB Flash Drive

How to Get the Syslinux and SIA Software

How to Prepare the USB Flash Drive on a Windows XP System

How to Prepare the USB Flash Drive on a Linux (Red Hat/SUSE) System

Index