I am about to purchase a handful of R320's with DP SOUNDWAVE 5.1 sound cards. We have to install Windows 7 on them. Has anyone been successful with installing Windows 7 on this particular server? I've searched the forums but found nothing pertaining to this particular server.
Thanks
It is not supported but will "probably" work. In most cases, you can use Server 208 R2 drivers with Windows 7.
can you post the link to the customized image you downloaded please?
www.dell.com/.../poweredge-t420
This was the link in the Enterprise Solutions section for ESXi 5.1 for my service tag.
I was able to apply the .Bin file on Cent5.5 however have never been able to get it working on SL6, any reason why Dell is unable to release a binary which would work on any flavor of Linux? Same error.
Executing update...
WARNING: DO NOT STOP THIS PROCESS OR INSTALL OTHER DELL PRODUCTS WHILE UPDATE IS IN PROGRESS.
THESE ACTIONS MAY CAUSE YOUR SYSTEM TO BECOME UNSTABLE!
....
Device: BIOS
Application: BIOS
Unable to get the System Generation.
I tried this on a couple of systems, one had a single SD card and one had a dual sd card setup. Both worked well after the installations, but the caveat here is that one system was an R720 and the other was an R520. The R520 had the dual SD setup. I should have access to a T420 tomorrow and I can try that too, but it shouldnt make a difference due to the similar nature of the R520 and T420. Now one thing I have seen in the past is that the iso that is downloaded becomes corrupt (stay with me here), and some files are affected and other files are not, which could explain why the USB key works and the SD cards dont. I would suggest downloading this util called digital volcano hash tool from www.digitalvolcano.co.uk/.../md5-hash This will allow you to verify that the file came down correctly and with no errors. the MD5 hash for this file is MD5: 85f6d119ec7c1d200c4e5c56c72dd0e4
SHA1: 47b9a7bb3288c705e042ac434e31324b84b5db19
The tool can do either one. I like to start with this because if the iso is bad, it wont matter how much tshooting we do, it will always have problems. The next steps we can do will be to verify the version of iDrac and LifeCycle controller you have on the system, and that they are the latest. if the system is able to connect to ftp.dell.com, on bootup, press f10, and then enter the Firmware Update>Launch Firmware Update area to perform an update of the system firmwares. if the system cant connect to the dell ftp site, thats ok, we can still go into Firmware Update> View Current versions to see the version of the bios, idrac and LC versions.
Thanks for trying things out and the pointer to the md5 hash utility - I'd been copying it to a Mac and using the md5 command line program.
I re-downloaded the image, checked the MD5 and SHA1 hashes and they match; I also copied the CD back to an ISO file and checked it as well and it matched. I re-installed to the internal SD cards and it failed:
Loading /tboot.b00
Error loading /tboot.b0
Fatal error: 6 (Buffer too small)
The versions are:
BIOS: 1.4.6
IDRAC: 1.30.30
Lifecycle Controller: 1.1.10.1108,A00
I was unable to get LC to connect to the Dell server. LC was trying to connect to 143.166.135.12 but did not receive any replies; I also couldn't ping it from another machine that I have.
BTW, I really like iDRAC although I haven't tried the VirtualMedia yet.
Hi all,
I've been given a new (3 week old) T110 ii to sort out for a customer. I'm going to put ESXi 5.1 on there, hopefully!!
When I load up the normal (non Dell) ESXi 5.1, it installs fine but fails to show my storage. I believe this is because, but haven't confirmed that it has a S100/S300 Software Raid Controller which is not supported by ESXi 5.1. I will probably upgrade this or I can passthrough the storage in Non RAID mode and see the full 1TB (although this will not offer anything in the way of redundancy.
I have been pointed to the Dell ESXi 5 image:
VMware-VMvisor-Installer-5.0.0-504890.x86_64-Dell_Customized_RecoveryCD_A01
But this, I assume, won't work either still due to the RAID controller. Also it's ESXi 5.0
So my questions are:
What benefit is there in using the Dell ESXi 5.0 iso over the standard ESXi 5.1 version?
I've seen mention of having the server in UEFI mode. Is this an option or a prereq for ESXi?
Anything I else I should watch out for?
Thanks
Mark
Afternoon All,
I was able to get my hands on a cheap re-conditioned PowerEdge SC1435. I plan on using it as a test lab with a number of virtual machines on it.
I would like to install Windows Server 2012. But I was unable to get that work, now I am trying 2008 R2 and all though it is currently installing it’s taking a very very long time! I would say at least 90 minutes now and it’s only on the expanding stage and at 50%.
So first of, is this normal? Should it really take this long to install an operating system?
Should I be able to install windows server 2012?
An the noise! I have worked with servers before and they make a noise on power up. But this is spinning at consistent full speed since power up! Will the never level drop once the OS is installed?
Should I be running some sort of Dell build cd for this server?
Any information on these would be great!
Thanks in advance!
"So first of, is this normal? Should it really take this long to install an operating system?"
No, that is not normal. As you probably know, 2008/2012 takes usually no more than 15 minutes for the base install. I have seen this on occasion, where the install takes an inordinate amount of time, but then, once installed, performs just as you would expect ... could be media related, drive related, etc. I would examine logs, drivers, and firmware once installed for any oddities. Which RAID controller does it have? Drives? Installing via USB or DVD?
"Should I be able to install windows server 2012?"
Not necessarily. Dell does not support 2012 on the SC1435. That doesn't mean it won't work, just that it may not, and it is up to you to find drivers and troubleshoot any issues. In most cases, 2008R2 drivers can be used. You didn't say what problems you were encountering trying to install 2012, so I"m afraid I don't have any additional thoughts on how you might get it to "work".
"An the noise! I have worked with servers before and they make a noise on power up. But this is spinning at consistent full speed since power up! Will the never level drop once the OS is installed?"
No. Having an installed OS should make no difference on the fan noise. It is normal for the fans to ramp up when powered on, but they should drop down to their "normal" level after a few seconds (it is part of the ESM initialization). If the fans do not ramp back down, then you probably have a problem - a failed fan, the lid is off, etc. The server configuration (RAM, add-in cards, RAID cards, etc.) can all determine what is "normal" for this server. Also, updating the ESM (which controls the fans) can help them run more efficiently (usually quieter/slower). However, keep in mind that servers are usually louder than desktops, especially older servers, and 1U servers are notoriously loud because of the small fan size.
"Should I be running some sort of Dell build cd for this server?"
There will not be one that will help with 2012 (since it is not supported), but the latest version of SMTD (Systems Management Tools and Documentation) would work for 2008R2. There is, however, very little reason to use SMTD to install 2008 and later.
Hi Flash,
As for the installation time it could be down to DVD drive I am using. The media worked fine on a testing workstation. It should complete any time soon, I hope.
The 2012 install would not work due to the the first screen never loading. But saying that, 2008 R2 took around 20 minutes for that screen to load as well.
I think once the 2008R2 is installed I will run the BIOS updates and then try upgrading to 2012.
It is a 1U server, So ill have alook online see if i can get some better fans. I am aware the fan connection needs to be considered on this.
Thanks for the information
I'd suggest to start with the Dell customized 5.1.0 ISO from ftp.dell.com/.../VMware-VMvisor-Installer-5.1.0-799733.x86_64-Dell_Customized_RecoveryCD_A00.iso.
The S-series PERCs will never work with ESXi. You'll need to go straight SATA (no redundancy) or get a PERC H200 (supports raid 1 (and 0 or 10)). The higher end PERCs (H700/H710) may work too, but I don't think the T110 servers were ever certified for that card (the raid controller is more expensive than the base price of a T110, so Dell probably never bothered to test it, but it may work).
Thanks. Can't go straight SATA. I'll have to go for an h200. Seems if you are nice to Dell they will swap for free.
I wasnt able to make it into the office today, and probably not tomorrow either, so I didnt get to try the T420. In the mean time, could i trouble you to download the latest bios from the link below and update the bios, it just came out today (though I doubt it will resolve the issue), and also please download the Dual SD card iso update, (This one could be the problem, the release notes say: Fixed an issue where slower MLC media caused timeouts resulting in loss of communication to IDSDM controller. www.dell.com/.../poweredge-t420
To install the below bios, the easiest is to download the Windows .exe file, then place it in the root of a USB key, enter the LC> firmware update, then choose USB as the source, type in the full name of the package you downloaded and it will update the bios.
Thanks for the info.
I downloaded and installed the new BIOS and the Dual SD card iso update. I verified the version number changed for the BIOS but couldn't find a way to verify that the Dual SD card firmware changed.
I switched back to UEFI (needed to switch to BIOS to install the updates). When installing ESXi, the VMware installer got the following error:
Error: Bad write of gzippped file /vmfs/volumes/0e5ff5e7-c3f47e78-49a5-9082b8d51747/onetime.tgz
I rebooted and tried again and this time the installer completed but on the subsequent reboot I got the following error:
A system restart is required. BIOS rev 1.5.0
The system detected an exception during the UEFI pre-boot environment.
Press ENTER on the serial console (@115200 8-N-1) for detailed exception info.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type: Invalid opcode (06) Source: Software (UEFI0004)
... dump of registers ...
LBRfr1 B6275DCD mboot_em64t.efi +002DCD
LBRfr0 B6275E30 mboot_em64t.efi +002E30
-->rip B6275DD5 mboot_em64t.efi +002DD5 <-- Crash occurred here
Stack Trace not available for this exception
I switched to BIOS again and re-installed ESXi. On the subsequent reboot I got the following:
Scanning for devices. Please wait, this may take several minutes...
SYSLINUX 3.86 EBIOS Load error - Boot error
The system never proceeded beyond this point. Subsequent reboot produces the same result.
Questions:
1. Even though at the moment it isn't working under either BIOS or UEFI, I was wondering: is the Internal Dual SD card reader supported under UEFI?
2. Is there a way to check the firmware for the Internal Dual SD card reader? Is it possible the upgrade didn't work? I switched to BIOS to boot the upgrade CD-ROM since it wouldn't boot under UEFI. A version of Linux came up and seemed to be running the upgrade process and then the system rebooted so my assumption is that it upgraded correctly.
3. Is it possible that the reader itself is malfunctioning?
Thanks,
1. I will have to check on that, I dont know for sure, I will ask the Platform team that one.
2. I will confirm on how to check, but I believe going into the LifeCycle controller, Firmware Update> View current versions should show the version of the SD. I havnt used that iso myself, so I dont know if it was supposed to reboot automatically, I will check that as well.
3. definitely possible the reader is bad, with all the tshooting you have done, I would think tech support would dispatch a replacement for you. I dont recall there being any diags for that unit that they would ask you to run.
the main reason is that the resources required to test every flavor of Linux would be huge. the main focus is to support the top tier versions of OS's.
So most of this can be automated, if I recall correctly, why not open up the binary to the opensource community. In this day and age, every thing can be automated, maybe the resources need to go towards how to automate every flavor of Linux so we (customers) are not stuck with the top tier versions of OS's.
All good in theory, but companies dont want to trust open source to perform updates on their systems, especially when running large clusters or if the systems handle sensitive data, they are afraid someone might alter the payload as well, and thats never a good thing. Sooo many security risks to deal with, and if we make a mistake that costs someone data, we can get sued quick!
So, the point is Automation, more than opensource, with the talented people Dell has, and the fantastic product Dell produces, things would be 100% (rather than 85% today), where the support for every flavor of OS is shared with your customers.