Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers Linux Installation Guide
Linux Installation
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Linux Installation

This chapter includes the following sections:

Installing Linux on an Internal Drive

This procedure describes how to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) on an internal drive using Cisco UCS Manager GUI and the KVM Console.

Before You Begin
  • Make sure you have completed the prerequisites described in Installation Prerequisites Checklist and Service Profile Configuration Prerequisites.
  • If the hard drive in the server does not use the Itanium (ia64) architecture, make sure that it uses DOS MBR partitioning format for its boot device. RHEL 4 and 5 provide support for drives that are larger than 2.2TB through the alternative partitioning scheme GUID partition table (GPT). However, the legacy PC BIOS is unable to boot off of GPT-partitioned disks and so the boot disk must use the DOS MBR partition table if it does not use the Itanium (ia64) architecture.
Procedure
    Step 1   If you are installing the OS or drivers from virtual media, launch the KVM Console and mount the media as described in Mounting the Installation ISO Image.
    Step 2   Power cycle the server using one of the following methods:
    • In the KVM Console, go to the KVM tab and select Macros > Ctrl-Alt-Del.
    • In Cisco UCS Manager GUI, click Reset in the Actions area of the General tab.
    • On the physical server, press the Power button.
    Tip   

    If the server does not boot from the installation media, verify that the correct boot order is set in the associated service profile as described in Service Profile Configuration Prerequisites.

    Step 3   To override the normal boot order and boot from the installation media, in the KVM tab of the KVM Console, watch the boot messages and press F6 when prompted to enter the Boot Menu.
    Step 4   On the Boot Menu screen, do one of the following:
    • If you are using an ISO image, select Cisco Virtual CD/DVD and press Enter.
    • If you are using a physical install disk, select the disk drive in which that disk resides and press Enter.

    The server reboots from the selected device and begins installing the OS from the image or disk.

    Step 5   When the installation splash screen displays, press Enter to install Linux in graphical mode.
    Step 6   Complete the installation according to the requirements and standards of your company by continuing to monitor the installation progress and answering prompts as required.

    After the installation is complete, the installer software ejects any physical disks, unmaps any virtual drives, and reboots the server again. The installation target that is first in the boot order is booted with the OS.

    For information about customizing the OS, see your OS documentation.

    Installing Linux on a Bootable SAN LUN

    This section describes how to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) on a bootable SAN LUN logical disk or RAID volume using Cisco UCS Manager GUI and the KVM Console.

    Before You Begin
    Procedure
      Step 1   If you are installing the OS or drivers from virtual media, launch the KVM Console and mount the media as described in Mounting the Installation ISO Image.
      Step 2   Power cycle the server using one of the following methods:
      • In the KVM Console, go to the KVM tab and select Macros > Ctrl-Alt-Del.
      • In Cisco UCS Manager GUI, click Reset in the Actions area of the General tab.
      • On the physical server, press the Power button.
      Tip   

      If the server does not boot from the installation media, verify that the correct boot order is set in the associated service profile as described in Service Profile Configuration Prerequisites.

      Step 3   To override the normal boot order and boot from the installation media, in the KVM tab of the KVM Console, watch the boot messages and press F6 when prompted to enter the Boot Menu.
      Step 4   On the Boot Menu screen, do one of the following:
      • If you are using an ISO image, select Cisco Virtual CD/DVD and press Enter.
      • If you are using a physical install disk, select the disk drive in which that disk resides and press Enter.

      The server reboots from the selected device and begins installing the OS from the image or disk.

      Step 5   When the installation splash screen displays, press Enter to install Linux in graphical mode.
      Step 6   At the boot prompt on the first installation screen, enter the kernel modifier command.

      boot: linux pci=nomsi mpath

      Step 7   When prompted for an installation number, skip this step and continue with the installation.
      Step 8   When prompted, select install instead of upgrade.
      Step 9   When the Partitioning dialog appears:
      1. Select Remove all partitions on selected drives and create default layout from the pull-down menu.
      2. Disable sda by clearing that check box.
      3. Select Review and modify partitioning layout.
      4. Click Next to continue, then click Yes to confirm your selections.
      Step 10   Review and modify your partitioning layout or click Next to continue.
      Step 11   When you are prompted for boot loader configuration, select Configure advanced boot loader options and click Next.
      Step 12   When prompted, click Change Drive Order.
      Step 13   On the Edit Drive Order screen, move /dev/mapper/mpath0 to the top of the list and click OK.
      Step 14   Complete the installation according to the requirements and standards of your company by continuing to monitor the installation progress and answering prompts as required.

      After the installation is complete, the installer software ejects any physical disks, unmaps any virtual drives, and reboots the server again. The installation target that is first in the boot order is booted with the OS.

      For information about customizing the OS, see your OS documentation.

      Installing Linux Using a PXE Network Environment

      This section describes how to boot RHEL or SLES from a PXE network environment using Cisco UCS Manager GUI and the KVM Console.

      Before You Begin
      • Make sure you have completed the prerequisites described in Installation Prerequisites Checklist and Service Profile Configuration Prerequisites.
      • To use PXE to boot the installation media over the network:
        • Configure the network server (NFS, FTP, or HTTP) to export the installation tree.
        • Configure the files on the TFTP server that are necessary for PXE booting.
        • Configure the MAC network port address to boot from the PXE configuration.
        • Configure the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) on your DHCP server.
        Follow the PXE network installation instructions in the administration guide for your OS. If you are installing Red Hat, the administration guide is available at: http://www.redhat.com/docs/. If you are using SUSE Linux, the administration guide is available at: http://www.novell.com/documentation/.
      • Create a KickStart or AutoYaST image to perform the installation. This image can be burned on a physical disk or stored on a PXE server available on the network. Follow the KickStart installation instructions in the administration guide for your OS.

        Note

        KickStart is Red Hat’s automated installation tool. AutoYaST is SUSE Linux’s automated installation tool. These tools enable a system administrator to create a single image that contains the settings for some or all installation and configuration parameters that are normally provided during a typical installation. Typically, a pre-boot image is placed on a single network server and is read by multiple systems for installation, but you can also burn the image to a DVD if you want to install from physical media.

      Procedure
        Step 1   If you are installing the OS or drivers from virtual media, launch the KVM Console and mount the media as described in Mounting the Installation ISO Image.
        Step 2   Power cycle the server using one of the following methods:
        • In the KVM Console, go to the KVM tab and select Macros > Ctrl-Alt-Del.
        • In Cisco UCS Manager GUI, click Reset in the Actions area of the General tab.
        • On the physical server, press the Power button.
        Tip   

        If the server does not boot from the installation media, verify that the correct boot order is set in the associated service profile as described in Service Profile Configuration Prerequisites.

        Step 3   To override the normal boot order and boot from the installation media, in the KVM tab of the KVM Console, watch the boot messages and press F6 when prompted to enter the Boot Menu.
        Step 4   On the Boot Menu screen, do one of the following:
        • If you are using a KickStart or AutoYaST image residing on a network server, select the network adapter that is configured to communicate with your PXE network install server and press Enter.
        • If you are using a physical install disk, select the disk drive in which that disk resides and press Enter.

        The server reboots from the selected device and begins installing the OS from the image or disk.

        Step 5   Complete the installation according to the requirements and standards of your company by continuing to monitor the installation progress and answering prompts as required.

        After the installation is complete, the installer software ejects any physical disks, unmaps any virtual drives, and reboots the server again. The installation target that is first in the boot order is booted with the OS.

        For information about customizing the OS, see your OS documentation.