Sun Microsystems X4640 manual Performing an SIA PXE-Based Attended Installation

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 firmware 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 Sun Fire X4640 Server Windows Installation Guide.

■“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

▼How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot

1Preconfigure your network to support a Linux-based PXE server network installation.

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

2In 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

3Insert the SIA CD/DVD into a CD/DVD drive of a Linux-based PXE server and mount the CD/DVD.

39