Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 And Suse Linux Enterprise Server 11; Vmware Vsphere Esxi 4.1 - IBM System x3850 X5 Implementation Manual

7.9.4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11

IBM System x3690 X5 with MAX5 memory expansion fully supports the latest version of two
major Linux server distributions: RHEL6 from Red Hat and SLES11 from Novell.
The installation of RHEL6 and SLES11 is a straightforward process, because all of the
required drivers for System x3690 X5 are included in the kernel. However, use the following
general tips when installing either of these OSs:
The x3690 X5 supports only the 64-bit version of RHEL6 and SLES11.
RHEL6 and SLES11 are UEFI-compliant OSs. Each product adds its boot file on top of the
system's UEFI boot order.
We recommend not to attach SAN storage to the server during the installation process.
Attach the SAN storage after the OS is up and running.
You can access more information about the installation and configuration of Red Hat
Enterprise Linux at the following website:
https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/docs/manuals/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/
You can download Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 evaluation software from the following
website:
https://access.redhat.com/downloads/
You can access more information about the installation and configuration of SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server at the following website:
http://www.novell.com/documentation/suse.html
You can download SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 evaluation software from the
following website:
http://www.novell.com/products/server/eval.html

7.9.5 VMware vSphere ESXi 4.1

The installation of VMware vSphere ESXi 4.1 on an x3690 X5 with an attached MAX5
requires the installation media of the OS and an available logical drive. It is possible to use a
hard drive RAID array or a USB flash drive for the logical drive. The small footprint of the ESXi
makes it possible to run ESXi from a USB flash drive, which eliminates the need for a
dedicated RAID controller and addresses the reliability problem of a mechanical drive. This
way, you avoid the relatively higher investment of SSD drives.
An IBM System x3690 X5 attached to MAX5 allows the use of interleaved NUMA nodes. In
order to boot and run ESXi on this system, you must enable the allowInterleavedNUMAnodes
boot option.
Use the following steps to install ESXi 4.1 on an x3690 X5 server scaled with MAX5:
1. Boot the server using ESXi installation media.
2. At the VMware VMvisor Boot Menu panel, place the cursor on ESXi Installer, and then
press Tab to edit the boot options.
3. Add the allowInterleavedNUMAnodes=TRUE parameter at the boot options line, so that the
line reads:
> mboot.c32 vmkboot.gz allowInterleavedNUMAnodes=TRUE --- vmkernel.gz ---
sys.vgz --- cim.vgz --- ienviron.vgz --- install.vgz
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IBM eX5 Implementation Guide