Creating the sia unattended state file for linux – Sun Microsystems SUN FIRE X4640 User Manual

Page 48

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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. This provides you the full
supported feature set for installed server components (such as ACPI, video, network and
mass storage) as described in your server installation and Product Notes documentation.

Latest operating system installation patches available from the Linux vendor.

Required SIA display resolution. SIA should always boot with vga=0x314 from
CD-ROM or PXE.

The Kickstart or AutoYaST file is accessible through an FTP, HTTP, or NFS server.

Creating the SIA Unattended State File for Linux

The SIA state file is a text file that directs the unattended installation of your Linux operating
system and other SIA tasks to be performed (such as BIOS/SP firmware upgrade).

Consider these requirements when creating an SIA state file:

When SIA boots from PXE, the state file must identify the location of the OS media to be
installed and the transfer protocol method (FTP, NFS, or HTTP).

The state file must not contain extraneous spaces or punctuation of any kind.

The lines specified in the SIA state file must correspond to the steps you would see if you
were interactively using the SIA program to perform tasks.

The install location must be specified as a boot argument in the configuration file (described
in

“ How to Create the SIA Image and Prepare for PXE Boot” on page 51

).

Sample SIA State File for Linux

An SIA state file for an unattended Linux installation looks like the following sample, see

Table 1

for an explanation of each variable.

Note –

Not all servers support the taskList and firmware options in the SIA state file. Refer to

the SIA feature list for your server found on the Sun download site if you are in doubt about
support for these options.

[STATE_BEGIN noname apit]

apit.unattended=true

apit.welcome.acceptlicense=true

Preparing for an Unattended SIA Installation of Linux

Sun Installation Assistant 2.2 User's Guide for the Sun Fire X4640 Server • October 2009, Rev. A

48

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