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.
Copyright 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara, CA 95054 U.S.A. All rights reserved. Sun Microsystems, Inc. has intellectual property rights relating to technology embodied in the product that is described in this document. In particular, and without limitation, these intellectual property rights may include one or more U.S. patents or pending patent applications in the U.S. and in other countries. U.S. Government Rights – Commercial software.
Contents Preface ......................................................................................................................................................5 Related Books ..................................................................................................................................5 About This Documentation (PDF and HTML) ..........................................................................6 Related Third-Party Web Site References ........................................
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 ............................
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 FireTM X4640 server. These and additional support documents are available on the web at: http://docs.sun.
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 your server. Sun Fire X4640 Server Diagnostics Guide How to 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. Sun ILOM 3.
Change History Sun Welcomes Your Comments Sun is interested in improving its documentation and welcomes your comments and suggestions. To share your comments, go to http://docs.sun.com and click Feedback. Change History The following changes have been made to the documentation set. ■ October 2009, initial publication.
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. “Getting Started With Sun Installation Assistant 2.2” on page 11 Start and prepare SIA for deployment or recovery tasks from local or remote media.
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 firmware 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.
SIA Version 2.2 Features and Benefits SIA Version 2.2 Features and Benefits SIA version 2.2 provides the following features and benefits: ■ 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 flash drive), a remote redirected network drive (virtual CD-ROM or ISO image), or from an image available on your PXE network environment.
Supported Operating Systems Task Description HBA Firmware Upgrade Upgrades the firmware of the server’s integrated 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).
Starting SIA and Preparing for Deployment or Recovery Tasks 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 firmware 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 firmware from Sun. Choose a topic.
Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console 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 configures ILOM to send mouse events to the remote system using either “absolute” or “relative” mode.
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 “Performing an SIA PXE-Based Attended Installation” on page 39 or “Performing an SIA PXE-Based Unattended Installation” on page 43. Note – The instructions below assume local CD/DVD drive access.
Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console The Remote Update dialog appears. 4 In the Remote Update dialog, select Yes 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 firmware from Sun. 18 Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev.
Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console 5 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.
Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console a. Select the active network interface 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 files reside (whether this is the Sun remote update Internet site, or an internally mounted image on your company intranet). b.
Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console The Identifying the System dialog appears. 6 In the Identifying the System dialog, ensure that the appropriate hardware is installed and that there is sufficient 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. 7 In the Scanning for Storage Devices dialog, you will see the disks identified by SIA. Click Next to proceed. The Supported Option Cards dialog then appears. 8 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.
Mouse Settings When Using SIA with ILOM Remote Console The Task Selection dialog appears. 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. 9 In the Task Selection 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 24 ■ 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 firmware (BIOS/ILOM, HBA or disk expander), proceed to “Using SIA to Upgrade System Firmware” on page 33.
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 certified by Sun for optional accessory cards and other system hardware.
Installing Linux With SIA 1 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.
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.
Installing Linux With SIA d. Proceed to Step 6. 4 If you are installing from a redirected CD/DVD or ISO CD-ROM image using the server’s LOM (Lights Out Manager remote console feature, do the following: a. In the SIA Install Media Information dialog, click CD/DVD. b. Select the 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.
Installing Linux With SIA 5 If you are installing from a Network share, do the following in the Install Media Information page: a. Click Network. b. In the address bar, specify the nfs, ftp, or http accessible network address to the Linux ISO image media. See table below for examples and restrictions. For OSes requiring multiple images (CD1, CD2, etc.), multiple address fields are available. Note – The URL address can not contain spaces.
Installing Linux With SIA 7 30 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.
Installing Linux With SIA After setting up the pre-installation environment, the SIA Installing Additional Software dialog appears. 8 In the Installing Additional Software dialog, SIA installs additional platform-specific drivers, as needed. Review the information presented. 9 Remove the SIA media and click the Reboot button. The server reboots and continues with the installation of the operating system. If remote update was selected, SIA retrieves the latest files from the web.
Using SIA to Upgrade System Firmware This section explains how to upgrade system firmware (including system BIOS, ILOM service processor, disk controller HBA and disk expander) from local or remote SIA. SIA provides system BIOS and firmware certified by Sun for your Sun x64 server. Using SIA eliminates the need to obtain and run separate packages and programs to keep your system firmware up-to-date.
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. 3 34 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.
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. See Also ■ “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 fixes and enhancements to HBA firmware code.
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. 3 Select the identified controller(s)/HBAs to upgrade by placing a check mark in the Upgrade box.
Using SIA to Upgrade System Firmware 4 See Also 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.
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.
Performing an SIA PXE-Based Attended Installation 4 Copy the vmlinuz (the bootable Linux kernel) and initrd (initial ram disk) files 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 5 Use an editor to add the following SIA references to the pxelinux.
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. 2 As the system boots, do one of the following to start a network boot: ■ When prompted, press F12 to boot from the first network boot device found.
Performing an SIA PXE-Based Attended Installation 42 3 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. 4 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 “How to Start SIA and Prepare for Tasks Using Local or Remote Media”on page 16.
Performing an SIA PXE-Based Unattended Installation This section describes how to perform unattended (no user interaction required) installation tasks, such as firmware upgrades or operating system installations, utilizing a PXE-based image of SIA. 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.
Contents of the SIA State File Contents of the SIA State File The SIA state file provides the scripting variables required for carrying out an unattended session of SIA and performing the specified SIA tasks automatically without user intervention. A copy of the state file 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.
Contents of the SIA State File TABLE 1 SIA State File Variables (Continued) Variable Description (Defaults in Bold) apit.remoteUpdateURL If you specified “true” for remoteUpdate, tells SIA where to look for SIA software updates. Values supported: Any URL with updated SIA content files. 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.
Contents of the SIA State File TABLE 1 SIA State File Variables (Continued) Variable Description (Defaults in Bold) apit.networkconfig.netmaskedField If you selected “static” as the NetworkType, tells SIA to use the IP address value you provide. Example: apit.networkconfig.ipfield=n.n.n.n apit.http_proxy If, for example, you specified “true” for remoteUpdate, tells SIA to use a proxy server for internet access.
Contents of the SIA State File TABLE 1 SIA State File Variables (Continued) Required for Linux Install Variable Description (Defaults in Bold) apit.osid.kickstart Tells SIA where the kickstart file is located for a Linux X installation. This could be the URL to the Red Hat kickstart file or the SUSE autoyast file. Required for Firmware Upgrade Examples: apit.osid.kickstart=http://url_to_kickstart apit.osid.kickstart=ftp://url_to_kickstart apit.osid.kickstart=nfs://url_to_kickstart apit.enclosureID.
Preparing for an Unattended SIA Installation of Linux 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 file or SLES AutoYaST file. ■ You have configured the RHEL Kickstart or SLES AutoYaST PXE image with the following options: ■ ■ Additional drivers for your server not installed by SIA.
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_file apit.osid.
Preparing for an Unattended SIA Firmware Upgrade 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.
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.
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 file. You can also boot the installer from the network and perform a manual (attended) installation by removing the siaurl= argument from the PXE target.
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. 2 As the system boots, do one of the following to start a network boot: ■ When prompted, press F12 to boot from the first network boot device found.
Preparing for an Unattended SIA Firmware Upgrade 3 See Also 54 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 information on observing an unattended installation, proceed to the section “Observing an SIA PXE-Based Unattended Installation” on page 55. Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev.
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.
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 file is eight binary bytes.
Using a Serial Console 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. 1 Set a password as shown in “Set Up Passwords for Root and Virtual Access”on page 55.
Using a Serial Console 2 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. 3 Log in to the service processor and enter the following command to start the console: # start /SP/console 4 Reboot the system. 5 Select the Network Boot option.
Troubleshooting SIA This section provides information about Sun Installation Assistant (SIA) error messages, the SIA installation log file, as well as procedures for debugging an unattended PXE-based network installation.
SIA Installation Log File SIA Installation Log File An SIA log file is written to the root directory of the newly installed system. To review this log file, refer to the file SunInstallationAssistant.log (located at /root for Linux. ILOM Remote Console Mouse Issue With SIA The ILOM Remote Console has a mouse mode setting that configures ILOM to send mouse events to the remote system using either “absolute” or “relative” mode.
Debugging Unattended Installation Problems Problem What you will see The state file URL (siaurl) is incorrect. If the state file 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 file URL (siaurl) is incorrect.
Creating a Bootable SIA USB Flash Drive This section describes how to prepare a USB flash drive (also known as USB thumb drive, USB key drive, etc.) for booting SIA and how to boot the SIA USB flash drive to perform SIA deployment and recovery tasks.
Preparing the USB Flash Drive ▼ How to Get the Syslinux and SIA Software Note – Support for creating a USB flash 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 flash drive media. 1 Go to the SIA main page on the Sun web site: http://www.sun.com/systemmanagement/sia.jsp 2 Navigate to your server’s download page.
Preparing the USB Flash Drive Caution – Be sure to confirm and make a note of the device name of the USB flash drive (A:, B:, etc.). The instructions listed here require you to delete existing partition(s) on the USB flash disk. Making a mistake in identifying the device might cause you to erase a hard disk. 4 Right-click on the flashdisk icon in the list of hard disk drives, and then click Format. The format dialog box will be displayed.
Preparing the USB Flash Drive Where path is the folder to which you extracted syslinux and X is the drive letter for your USB flash drive (for example, A:, B:, etc.) This creates a file ldlinux.sys onto the drive and make it bootable. 10 Extract (unzip) the contents of the downloaded SIA-version.zip archive file to the USB flash drive. Where version represents the SIA version number. 11 To remove the USB flash drive, click the Safe to Remove Hardware icon and remove the flash drive from the system.
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 first. # umount /dev/sdX1 Where X is the drive letter for the USB flash drive (for example, /dev/sda or /dev/sdb), and 1 indicates the first partition. b.
Preparing the USB Flash Drive ■ (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 1 16.4kB 931MB (parted) ■ Size Type Filesystem Flags 1031MB primary fat32 boot, lba (parted): quit Quits the parted utility.
Setting BIOS Parameters and Booting Off 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.
Setting BIOS Parameters and Booting Off the SIA USB Flash Drive ▼ How to Set the BIOS Parameters and Boot Off the SIA USB Flash Drive Before You Begin 1 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 flash drive into an available USB 2.0 port. Note – Some servers might not have USB 2.0 support on all of their USB ports.
Index B BIOS upgrade, 33-35 installation CD/DVD, 13 installation methods, SIA, 15 C L compact flash, OS installation on, 12 configuring SIA to use the network, 19 Linux installation, 25-31 logfile for SIA, 60 D M device driver updates, 13 media, local or remote, 16-24 mouse issue when using ILOM with SIA, 60 E error messages, 59 N network configuration screen, 19 F flash drive support for SIA, 63 O operating system installation using SIA, Linux, 25-31 operating systems, supported with SIA, 13
Index R U Red Hat Enterprise Linux, installation using remote media from a PXE-based network procedure, 40-42 unattended firmware 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 firmware, 33-37 HBA firmware, 33-37 system BIOS, 33-37 system ILOM firmware, 33-37 S servers supported with SIA, 13 SIA confi
