TableOfContents

Documentation

There's almost no documentation coming with the system, it's all available online only:

http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/hardware/docs/Servers/Workgroup_Servers/x4100/index.html

Getting the ILOM going is described in the Servers Setup Guide which is coming in printed form, though.

ILOM (Service Processor) Setup

To get the IP interface going without having dynamic DHCP for it available, use the serial port:

1. find a notebook or a system nearby with a 9-pin SUB-D serial port
2. attach the adaptor coming with the server to this port

3. use an RJ45 cable (a normal patch cable works) to connect the adaptor to the serial management port of the server

4. fire up the terminal emulation software (linux: minicom) and configure the port correctly:
   • 9600,8N1 (on a notebook, the port ist /dev/ttyS0, on a server it may be ttyS1)

   • no flow control, neither hardware nor software

5. you should now be able to log in as root (password: changeme)

6. set the IP interface to a static address as described in the Servers Setup Guide:

    cd /SP/network
    set pendingipaddress=141.34.42.xyz
    set pendingipnetmask=255.255.255.0
    set pendingipgateway=141.34.42.1
    set pendingipdiscovery=static
    set commitpending=true

   The last step takes a couple of seconds and produces some error messages. Don't panic. Verify if it worked by pinging the service processor afterwards. You should now be able to log in with ssh or https. All other steps can be done from your desktop. See ["Remote Management"].

Changing the Service Processor Password

Log in as root with ssh (initial password: changeme). Then:

 -> set /SP/users/root password 
 Changing password for user /SP/users/root/password...
 Enter new password: ********
 Enter new password again: ********
 New password was successfully set for user /SP/users/root

Changing the password is also possible on the SP's Website (User Management -> Select "root" and click "Edit").

Enabling Passwordless ssh Access

This is not foreseen by SUN, but all information needed to do it is publicly available. Anyway, since SUN may not appreciate public documentation of this little hack, it is documented in the restricted page ["Host Initialisation/Sun x4100/Secrets"].

Host Information Retrieval

The information is retrieved by the use of ipmitool. Here's the script that's called ipmi (it has to be called on a host where ipmitool is available, e.g. a):

host=$1
shift

ipmitool -I lan -H sp-$host -U root -P <password> $*

System serial number

for i in galaxy{25..30}; do
  serial=`ipmi $i fru | grep 'Product Serial' | head -n 2 | tail -n 1 | awk -F : '{print $2}' | sed 's| ||'`
  vamos_cmd -m host $i host.serial_number=$serial
done

SP mac address

for i in galaxy{25..30}; do
  mac=`ipmi $i fru | grep 'Product Serial' | head -n 1 | awk -F ' : ' '{print $2}'`
  vamos_cmd -m host sp-$i interface.ether=$mac
done

System mac address (first nic)

for i in galaxy{25..30}; do
  mac=`ipmi $i fru | grep 'Product Serial' | head -n 4 | tail -n 1 | awk -F ' : ' '{print $2}'`
  vamos_cmd -m host $i interface.ether=$mac
done

RAID Controller Setup

During the boot hit Ctrl-C when the LSI RAID controller is initializing. Select the first (and only) adapter, then choose Create IS Volume. If you don't need the data on the disks you can ignore the warning. Change RAID disk for both disks to YES to create a RAID 0 stripe. Commit with C. After that leave the controller setup.

BIOS

This server's BIOS has very many options, and most have not been explored or even understood yet.

Some that matter:

• Legacy USB (default: enabled)BR Can be a problem under Linux if enabled (instability). If off, the keyboard (USB only, no PS/2 ports) will work in the BIOS, but not in the bootloader. This should probably be set to auto.

• Chipset -> SouthBridge Configuration -> Restore on AC/Power LossBR Make sure it's set to Power Off. Default was changed to Last State in Firmware 1.1

• Advanced -> Remote Access Configuration (default: 9600 baud on ttys0)BR Make sure that serial redirection is enabled, and all the speed settings match (by default, all are 9600, which works but is slow):

  • serial redirection
  • service processor serial port speed (external and internal)
  • operating system parameters: grub and agetty

    • CF_CONMGR_TTY=ttyS0

    • CF_ConMgr_BaudRate=9600

System Serial Number Retrieval

Log into the SP as root, and run

-> show SYS/MB

Or use dmidecode. Or the web interface or ...