Datasheet

Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Chapter 9
Additional Software Included
Sun Installation Assistant
The Sun Installation Assistant software on CD-ROM is included in the ship-kit with every Sun Fire X4100 M2 and X4200 M2 server. Sun
Installation Assistant is a Linux installation utility that reduces the complexity of installing supported Linux distributions on new
hardware. A newly released platform seldom has a certified set of drivers already in a current Linux distribution. Typically, the result
is that an administrator will be required to generate driver disks for each of the supported Linux distributions that they plan to
install. Additionally, Linux distributions do not contain support for
non-platform drivers such as the Service Processor.
A complete Linux installation on a Sun Fire X4100 M2 or X4200 M2 server can be easily performed using the Sun Installation Assistant
CD-ROM either locally or remotely using the remote KVMS features provided by ILOM and the JavaRConsole.
Once the system has been booted from the media or image, a boot kernel is loaded and probes the platform configuration. Upon rec-
ognition that the server is a supported platform, a list of the currently supported Linux distributions is displayed and the user is
prompted to insert disk 1 of the supported Linux distribution of their choice. Disk 1 can be either a physical CD-ROM disk or a JavaR-
Console redirected iso disk image. The Linux distribution installation continues as usual until completion. Following installation com-
pletion, the certified platform and device drivers are installed and the complete installation is completed without necessitating cum-
bersome driver installation procedures. The Sun Installation Assistant manages the software installation of:
• Supported Linux operating systems
• Platform-specific software
• Diagnostic and fault management software
• Add-on components such as the JES middleware stack
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