Random Thoughts by Paul

The M-series boxes from Sun are a joint venture with Fujitsu and bring some nice features to the middle tier server platform for Sun. For those who haven't worked with big boxes like these before it can be a little intimidating to get them setup and running. Here is a quick guide to get the service processor setup so that you can get things going.

You will need to connect to the service processors serial port at 9600,8,N,1,None (serial settings)

Now you need to put the key in service position and type default as the login, the system will tell you to hit enter a few times and have you change the key position a couple of times, follow those directions till you get to a command prompt.

Now you are ready to configure the XSCF (service processor)

This tutorial is working with the assumption that you are in 192.168.1.x network with a gateway of 192.168.1.1, dns/ntp servers of 192.168.1.10 and 192.168.1.20, and a service processor ip of 100. Adjust these values to those appropriate to your network.

Start by setting up the network information:

setnetwork lan#0 196.168.1.100
setnetwork -c up lan#0
sethostname -d domainname.com
sethostname xscf#0 mgmthostname
setroute -c add -n 0.0.0.0 -g 192.168.1.1 lan#0

Now setup name resolution:

setnameserver -c add 192.168.1.10
setnameserver -c add 192.168.1.20

Now lets get ntp configured (these commands take awhile):

setntp -c add 192.168.1.10
setntp -c add 192.168.1.20

Now that we are done with all networking related settings, you need to apply those settings, even though they won't take effect till you reboot.

applynetwork -y

The next concept may be a little foreign to those who haven't worked on big boxes, but since these boxes have a concept of domains you need to configure the DSCP (Domain to Service Processor Communication Protocol) so that the running domains can communicate with the XSCF, this is an interactive command, it will prompt you for several pieces of data, more or less depending on the size of your box (number of domains you can have). Just make sure that the subnet information you pick doesn't and will never exist on your routable network.

setdscp

Lets not forget about remote access, time to configure ssh (this command will take awhile):

setssh -c enable -y

And if you remember you logged in with "default" you will need to create a user for yourself unless you like physically swapping the key position every-time you access the server. Hey who knows, maybe it's a good workout routine! (one of these takes awhile)

adduser yourusername
setprivilieges yourusername useradm platadm
password yourusername

Now you should be ready to reset the xscf to make your changes take effect.

rebootxscf -y

After a few minutes you should be able to ping and ssh into the xscf using the username and password you just created.

I won't go into much detail here about commands to manage the actual domains but here are a couple of important ones.

Sending breaks to domains, this one sends one to domain 0 (the default domain all resources are in when shipped), you should end up at an ok prompt after this command. NOTE: you must have the key in the service position for this command to work. There's another way if you don't I'll cover that in a future article.

sendbreak -d 0

Connecting to the console, this example connects to domain 0:

console -d 0

The last couple cover starting and stopping a domain, in this example domain 0:

poweron -d 0
poweroff -d 0

You should now be ready to rock and roll with your Solaris configuration, if you are like me you will re-install from scratch instead of using the default install configuration. Make sure you pick the DEC VT100 option from the terminal type when using the xscf, I've had the most luck with that one.