Install Windows 2003 on Sun Blade X6250

In this post, i will show you some screenshot to complement what already documented in this link.

According to the Sun document, there are 3 ways for us to load additional SCSI driver and there are floppy local, floppy remote and floppy image. Here i will use floppy image as physical floppy is getting extinct nowadays. You can easily obtain this floppy image from Sun download website. or you can download from this link, which is from module 3.0. Please note if the download link is not working, just leave a comment and i will fix it.

According to the Sun document, you need to have ILOM in order to use floppy image, if you still have ELOM, you should upgrade to ILOM. Once you are in ILOM, to redirect into floppy image is straight forward. From Sun ILOM menu toolbar, just go to Devices and select Floppy Image as shown. Things to take note here is this step must be performed before you boot from your Windows installation CD.


From the popup windows, select where is your floppy image and after you click open, the floppy drive will be redirected to this floppy image and you can see the floppy image at the bottom right corner is no longer greyed out.


You can proceed to boot the system from Windows installation CD and follow the steps listed on the Sun document to proceed.

Sun Storage 7210: Default router setting using CLI

If you happen to be like me, where using GUI to change the default router doesn't seems to work, then you have to fall back to use CLI.
There are few ways to access CLI. Firstly, if you still able to connect to the machine using the IP network, using putty is the easiest one. If you can't, you might need to use serial connection or net management connection. (For net management connection, you must have DHCP server and you need to identify the IP address assigned by your DHCP server)

Serial management and network management port

To use serial connection, you need to get a normal ethernet cable and plug it into the converter provided as shown below.

Serial converter

If you are running windows, open your hyperterminal program and choose the correct interface port (Usually is COM1) and set the setting as shown:

COM port settings

Once you in the terminal, it will prompt you for user name and password. If it is not a console login as shown below

UM7210 console login:

Then you might need to type this to go into console:

start /SP/console

Type y when prompt with this:

Are you sure you want to start /SP/console (y/n)?

Then you will be prompted by the console login.

Once you login, type the following command to go to the routing service:

UM7210:> configuration
UM7210:configuration> services
UM7210:configuration services> routing

Create a new routing by issue the following command

UM7210:configuration services routing> create
UM7210:configuration services route (uncommitted)> set gateway=xxx.yyy.zzz.1
gateway = xxx.yyy.zzz.1 (uncommitted)
UM7210:configuration services route (uncommitted)> set interface=nge0 //depends on which interface used
interface = nge0 (uncommitted)
UM7210:configuration services route (uncommitted)> set family=IPv4
family = IPv4 (uncommitted)
UM7210:configuration services route (uncommitted)> commit
error: cannot create route: must specify "destination" property
UM7210:configuration services route (uncommitted)> set destination=0.0.0.0
destination = 0.0.0.0 (uncommitted)
UM7210:configuration services route (uncommitted)> set mask=0
mask = 0 (uncommitted)
UM7210:configuration services route (uncommitted)> commit

After commit the changes, you can use this command to verify your default routing configuration

UM7210:configuration services routing> list
ROUTE DESTINATION GATEWAY INTERFACE TYPE
route-000 0.0.0.0/0 xxx.yyy.zzz.1 nge0 static
route-001 ...

When finish, just type done all the way.

Why Qlogic CTRL-Q doesn't show up when i boot my SUN x6250

If you also encounter this problem, problem most likely lie on your BIOS setting.

1. Go into your BIOS menu, press F2 while system is power on.
2. Go to Boot -> Boot Settings Configuration
3. And change the EM0 FUN0 OPTION ROM to enable (I have doubt on why there is FUN0 to FUN7 and i only need to enable FUN0, search internet but can't seems to find any explanation, if you know please post on the comments. However, i do know the Qlogic card plug at EM x.0 where x is the slot number)
4. Finally reboot and you should be able to see the CTRL-Q

Enable EM0 FUN0 OPTION ROM

Can see CTRL-Q

ELOM to ILOM for Sun Blade x6250

First of all, you need to download necessary files for this upgrade. Go to this link and look for sun blade x6250 entry. At the time of this writing, the latest firmware version is 2.0.4. After you downloaded the file, extract it out and look for this folder "Elom to Ilom". There are 2 important files inside:

• Telom_x6250-053_040.ROM - Traditional version of ILOM
• 6250i203.bin - ILOM image file

According to SUN documentation, you should upgrade your server module to the traditional version of ELOM before migrating it to ILOM.

Initially i like to do this upgrade through web GUI but it always give me the page error when i click the upgrade firmware button. Give up on web GUI, i turn to using command line and surprisingly, is not as hard as i thought.

For command line interface, the extra step you need to do is to prepare TFTP server if you don't have one. For my case, i use SolarWinds Free TFTP server to do it. After finish setup the TFTP server, just copy the 2 files mentioned above to the directory where you put it as root directory on your TFTP server.

The next step is to login to the command line of your server module and execute the following steps:

• cd /SP/TftpUpdate
• set ServerIP=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (your TFTP IP address)
• set FileName=Telom_x6250-053_040.ROM (the traditional ELOM)
• show (optional: just to make sure you provide correct information)
• set Update=action (and the update process begins)

Below shows the screen capture for the update process. Need to wait for couple of minutes before the server module up again.


The steps taken to update to ILOM are similar to steps taken to update to traditional version of ELOM mentioned above.

The video clip below shows what happen to the sun blade x6250 while updating.

MPXIO In Action

My Environment

Brocade switch:
Port 4, 5 connected to HBA and port 10, 11 connected to storage.

How i simulate?
1. Initiate a file copy process.
2. Simulate link breakdown by disable (portdisable) port 4 while file is still copying.
3. Simulate link recovery by enable back (portenable) port 4 while file is still copying.

From the video, you can see the drop of throughput on port 4 when i disable port 4 and the throughput on port 4 climbs up again when i enable back port 4.

Configuring MPXIO

My Environment:
Server: Sun Blade T6320
Storage: EMC CX3-20

Steps taken:

• Use format to inspect the luns that had been assigned to your system. In my test system, disk 4,5 and disk 6,7 are actually same lun with 2 paths.

# format
Searching for disks...done


AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
0. c0t0d0
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/LSILogic,sas@0/sd@0,0
1. c0t1d0
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/LSILogic,sas@0/sd@1,0
2. c0t2d0
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/LSILogic,sas@0/sd@2,0
3. c0t3d0
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/LSILogic,sas@0/sd@3,0
4. c1t5006016841E034F6d0
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@9/SUNW,emlxs@0/fp@0,0/ssd@w5006016841e034f6,0
5. c1t5006016841E034F6d1
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@9/SUNW,emlxs@0/fp@0,0/ssd@w5006016841e034f6,1
6. c2t5006016941E034F6d0
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@9/SUNW,emlxs@0,1/fp@0,0/ssd@w5006016941e034f6,0
7. c2t5006016941E034F6d1
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@9/SUNW,emlxs@0,1/fp@0,0/ssd@w5006016941e034f6,1
Specify disk (enter its number):

• You need the information of vendor ID and product ID and these information can be obtained through format > inquiry.

# format
Searching for disks...done


AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
0. c0t0d0
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/LSILogic,sas@0/sd@0,0
1. c0t1d0
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/LSILogic,sas@0/sd@1,0
2. c0t2d0
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/LSILogic,sas@0/sd@2,0
3. c0t3d0
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/LSILogic,sas@0/sd@3,0
4. c1t5006016841E034F6d0
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@9/SUNW,emlxs@0/fp@0,0/ssd@w5006016841e034f6,0
5. c1t5006016841E034F6d1
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@9/SUNW,emlxs@0/fp@0,0/ssd@w5006016841e034f6,1
6. c2t5006016941E034F6d0
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@9/SUNW,emlxs@0,1/fp@0,0/ssd@w5006016941e034f6,0
7. c2t5006016941E034F6d1
/pci@0/pci@0/pci@9/SUNW,emlxs@0,1/fp@0,0/ssd@w5006016941e034f6,1
Specify disk (enter its number):4

selecting c1t5006016841E034F6d0
[disk formatted]



FORMAT MENU:
disk - select a disk
type - select (define) a disk type
partition - select (define) a partition table
current - describe the current disk
format - format and analyze the disk
repair - repair a defective sector
label - write label to the disk
analyze - surface analysis
defect - defect list management
backup - search for backup labels
verify - read and display labels
save - save new disk/partition definitions
inquiry - show vendor, product and revision
volname - set 8-character volume name
! - execute , then return
quit
format> inquiry
Vendor: DGC
Product: DISK
Revision: 0324
format>

• Modify /kernel/drv/scsi_vhci.conf and add the array type (product ID/vendor ID) to the device-type-scsi-options-list

#
# Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
# Use is subject to license terms.
#
#pragma ident   "@(#)scsi_vhci.conf     1.9     04/08/26 SMI"
#
name="scsi_vhci" class="root";
#
# Load balancing global configuration: setting load-balance="none" will cause
# all I/O to a given device (which supports multipath I/O) to occur via one
# path.  Setting load-balance="round-robin" will cause each path to the device
# to be used in turn.
#
load-balance="round-robin";
#
# Automatic failback configuration
# possible values are auto-failback="enable" or auto-failback="disable"
auto-failback="disable";
#
# For enabling MPxIO support for 3rd party symmetric device need an
# entry similar to following in this file. Just replace the "SUN     SENA"
# part with the Vendor ID/Product ID for the device, exactly as reported by
# Inquiry cmd.
#
device-type-scsi-options-list =
"DGC     DISK", "symmetric-option";

symmetric-option = 0x1000000;

• If there are other adapters other than FC (in my case i got SAS adapter), use the following command to reboot.

# stmsboot -D fp -e
Checking mpxio status for driver fp
WARNING: This operation will require a reboot.
Do you want to continue ? [y/n] (default: y)y
The changes will come into effect after rebooting the system.
Reboot the system now ? [y/n] (default: y)

• After reboot, this is what i get

# format
Searching for disks...done

AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
     0. c0t0d0 
        /pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/LSILogic,sas@0/sd@0,0
     1. c0t1d0 
        /pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/LSILogic,sas@0/sd@1,0
     2. c0t2d0 
        /pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/LSILogic,sas@0/sd@2,0
     3. c0t3d0 
        /pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/LSILogic,sas@0/sd@3,0
     4. c3t600601607DA11A00E4E37EFA3C98DD11d0 
        /scsi_vhci/ssd@g600601607da11a00e4e37efa3c98dd11
     5. c3t600601607DA11A001E14AA5F3398DD11d0 
        /scsi_vhci/ssd@g600601607da11a001e14aa5f3398dd11
Specify disk (enter its number):

Sun Solaris 10 Network Install (LAN)

My environment:
Sun Blade T6320, Platform Group: sun4v
Install Server: x86 with Sun Solaris 10
Install Server and Client (Target system for installation) sit on the same subnet

Sun Official Documentation:

Solaris 10 6/06 Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations

http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/819-5776

Steps taken applicable to my environment:

1. Create install server

# mkdir -p install_dir_path ;Create a directory to save the image
# cd /cdrom/sol_10_1008_sparc/Solaris_10/Tools  ;the keyword here is Tools folder
# ./setup_install_server install_dir_path  ;execute the script, it might take some time here

2. Modify ur hosts file (/etc/inet/hosts)at your install server.
Example, if your new client (target system for installation) is named
hostname: newsol10
IP Address: 10.0.0.123

Your hosts file (/etc/inet/hosts) should have the following entry
10.0.0.123 newsol10

3. Create a file with the following path and name -- /etc/ethers and this file should have the following entry
0:14:fc:xx:yy:zz newsol10

You can obtain your machine MAC address by looking at the information while it is booting as below:

Sun Blade T6320 Server Module, No Keyboard
Copyright 2007 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
OpenBoot 4.27.10, 32640 MB memory available, Serial #xxxxyyyy.
Ethernet address 0:14:4f:xx:yy:zz, Host ID: xxxxyyyy.

or

from ILOM, type show /HOST

-> show /HOST

/HOST
Targets:
bootmode
diag

Properties:
autorestart = reset
autorunonerror = false
hypervisor_version = Hypervisor 1.5.6 2007/11/30 08:29
macaddress = 00:14:4f:xx:yy:zz
obp_version = OBP 4.27.10 2007/12/07 10:45
post_version = POST 4.27.10 2007/12/07 11:14

send_break_action = (none)
status = Running
sysfw_version = Sun System Firmware 7.0.9.c 2008/01/14 21:47


Commands:
cd
set
show

->

4. Add system to be installed using add_install_client

# cd /install_dir_path/Solaris_10/Tools
# ./add_install_client newsol10 sun4v

bash-3.00# ./add_install_client newsol10 sun4v
saving original /etc/dfs/dfstab in /etc/dfs/dfstab.orig
Adding "share -F nfs -o ro,anon=0 /solaris10sparc" to /etc/dfs/dfstab
making /tftpboot
enabling tftp in /etc/inetd.conf
Converting /etc/inetd.conf
enabling network/rarp service
enabling network/rpc/bootparams service
updating /etc/bootparams
copying boot file to /tftpboot/inetboot.SUN4V.Solaris_10-1

5. Boot your client into OBP session (OK prompt) and at the ok prompt, type
ok boot net - nowin    ;into console mode installation

* I encoutered "timed out waiting for tftp reply" after typing the command above,
i not sure why but after i restart the install server as well as my client, the error goes away.

Result from boot net - nowin

Boot device: /pci@0/pci@0/pci@c/network@0  File and args: - nowin
1000 Mbps full duplex  Link up
Requesting Internet Address for 0:14:4f:c7:55:3e
Requesting Internet Address for 0:14:4f:c7:55:3e
1000 Mbps full duplex  Link up
SunOS Release 5.10 Version Generic_137137-09 64-bit
Copyright 1983-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
Use is subject to license terms.
Configuring devices.
Using RPC Bootparams for network configuration information.
Attempting to configure interface e1000g1...
Skipped interface e1000g1
Attempting to configure interface e1000g0...
Configured interface e1000g0
Reading ZFS config: done.
Setting up Java. Please wait...
Serial console, reverting to text install
Beginning system identification...
Searching for configuration file(s)...
Search complete.
Discovering additional network configuration...

6. Once you reach the stage above, you have successfully completed the network boot and from here,
you can start doing the normal Solaris installation.