windows installation on x4170 server.

A small tale about the installation of windows on x4170 server from sun microsystems.
why i said "tale" becoz the installation of windows on this x series server is not same as what we do on the normal pc,i assumed this way and asked my customer to boot the server after inserting the windows cd and follow the instructions.Later he called me and said he was not able to continue the installation as he was encountering some unusual errors .

now i am listing out the errors and few possible solutions to overcome the issue.since this was happened a month ago and i cannot give the exact error messages printed at that time,but rough lines which resembles or gives the same meaning.


assuming you have a brand new x4170 server unpacked from the carton.

step1: configuring SP (service processor) or ILOM (Integrated Lights Out Manager) network parameters
you need to have an serial cable and usb-to-serial cable,(i guess few ibm laptops have serial port on their laptop ,i have toshiba so i go for the com port cables )and an terminal emulator program would be fine rather than using hyperterminal. if you do not have it then download from here and install it on your laptop.

now connect an RJ45 cable to the "ser mgt" port behind the server and the usb com port cable to your laptop.
open the teraterm application and click on the serial option and select the respective cable from the drop down list.(it was "huge pine" in my case).

you will get a window which rolls down the service processor's information and stops at login prompt.As we assumed this is a brand new server ,the defalut password will be "changeme".

login:root
password:changeme

--> this arrow will be the prompt of service processor .

type the following commands for the network configuration.

-->cd /SP/network setpendingipdiscovery=static
-->cd /SP/network setpendingipaddress=10.0.0.99
-->cd /SP/network setpendingipnetmask=255.255.255.0
-->cd /SP/network setpendingipgateway=10.0.0.138
-->cd /SP/network commitpending=true


above values belongs to my network and you can use values corresponding to your network.


Step2: launching the redirection console.
java 1.6 or higher version is an prerequisite for this step.If you do not have it ,please install and continue.
remove the cable from "ser mgt " port and connect an cross cable between your laptop and "net mgt" port behind the server,check the connectivity by pinging to the SP from laptop

ping 10.0.0.99 -t

from the step1 we know that SP address is 10.0.0.99 ,now so open an browser in your laptop and type the following address

http://10.0.0.99

accept the security certificate if it prompts ,then you should see the welcome screen of ILOM.

login with root and passoword changeme.

change the password as soon as you login to the ILOM browser from the system administration tab.

click on the remote management tab , and launch redirection tab.


after this you can see a blank black window showing nothing.

step3: mapping the drivers .

along with server SUN MICROSYSTEM ships you the tools and drivers cd 2.1 version ,it contains all the necessary drivers and packages for all the platforms .

insert the cd into the laptop's drive .

click on the devices tab on the top of the redirection(blank black )window and tick the floppy image option.as soon as you click on this it asks you the location of the image.

select the image by navigating to the tools and drivers cd.

packages > w2k8 > floppy > img > intelsmlsi

intelsmlsi is the floppy image which contains drivers for the raid configuration.


step 4: configuring raid and installation of windows.

insert the proper windows cd,click on the following link to check which version it supports http://www.sunsolve.sun.com/handbook_pub/validateUser.do?target=Systems/SunFireX4170/SunFireX4170&source=


at the booting stage press ctrl+a to arrive at adaptec configuration utility.

and create the arrays of your choice (x4170 has 8 disks,i did an mirror for boot disk and remaining raid 5)

after this press 'f6' to specify the mass storage drivers

you can find two options ,press 's' and enter.

and from now the installation is just the same process on an normal pc.


**i used an win2003 sp1 32 bit and faced an problem .

till format stage the process was smoother but after that it used to show

"set up cannot copy arcsas.sys file"

if you get the above error (no need to get the error regarding the same file)
with different file names also,see the supported operating system list and use the exact media .


refer the following pdf for more details and exact pictorial representatio