Preliminary Tasks Before Installing an OS
Certain tasks must be done before you can install an operating system, depending on how you
are going to access the system console, and whether there is an OS already on your boot drive.
These tasks include:
■
“Accessing the Console During Installation” on page 13
■
“How to Configure the Serial Port” on page 14
■
“How to Erase Your Boot Hard Disk” on page 15
Accessing the Console During Installation
Installing the OS requires you to view the system console output. This can appear on both the
serial port and the video port.
Note –
This topic describes the default video and serial port outputs. Other settings, including
console commands and GRUB menu selections, can change this behavior.
Your server is equipped with a serial port and a video port.
■
Serial port – From the moment you start the SP until the OS assumes control of the display,
all output appears on the serial port.
There are two ways to connect to the serial port:
■
Physically, by connecting a cable to the serial port. See
■
Virtually, by configuring an SSH connection to the SP, then by issuing the
start
/SP/console
command. See
“Communicating With the ILOM and the System Console”
Sun Fire X2270 M2 Server Installation Guide
for more details.
■
Video port – After the SP startup is complete, the system begins POST/BIOS, and displays
all output on the video port. This continues until the OS assumes control of the display.
Most OS configurations continue to display information on the video port.
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