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July 26th, 2011 14:00
Rebuilding a PE2950
Hello,
I am trying to rebuild a PE 2950 server. I re-configured the raid arrays, via the CTRL +R at boot up, (Two Raid 1 arrays each with two physical drives).
My hope was that I could put a Dell management cd in and boot from that to continue my server rebuild, like when it just comes out of the box, but I'm not having any luck. It will not boot from the cd drive, it says there is no utility partition. When I try an older cd (server assistant 8.40) it will read the cd but then stops at 'Booting the system, please wait . . . To begin replication, please insert your replication floppy. Replication will begin once the system has booted. Replication? Floppy?
I'm sorry I'm sure you will need more info from me and I'm happy to provide it. I'm sure I'm not using the correct terminology here either!
Thanks in advance!
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theflash1932
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July 26th, 2011 14:00
What OS are you hoping to install? What Service Pack does your OS media have? I would download the latest installation utility (SBUU if installing 2003, SMTD if installing 2008).
KBeau
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July 26th, 2011 15:00
Will be installing W2K3 R2. I will download SBUU. Also, I seem to remember something about these servers having dvd's and the media needed was a cd and I had to use an external cd rom? That memory is a littly fuzzy but it does stop me and make go hmmmmmmm.
theflash1932
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July 26th, 2011 18:00
Using SBUU to install 2003R2, you will need to have Service Pack 2 on your installation media (if you don't, you can use nLiteOS.com to integrate it) - SBUU will not accept non-SP2 media.
The latest SBUU is DVD format and many older versions were CD format - if using the latest version [recommended], you will need a DVD drive for it (external is ok on the 2950). If you only have a CDROM, you can download the older CD version of SBUU, but the drivers will be really out of date.
You can also install the OS directly from the OS CD.
KBeau
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July 27th, 2011 06:00
Yeah, I don't think we have SP2, so I may have to get the older version of the SBUU after all.
Also, I did try booting with the OS cd in the drive but it said it found no hard drives so I figured I needed to start from scratch with the dell cd.
I'm going to take a fresh look at it today and figure it out. I know it's something I'm doing (or not doing)! Wish me luck!
KBeau
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387 Posts
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July 27th, 2011 06:00
Well sure enough, when I plugged in an external cd/dvd drive, everything worked just fine. (I think the server has a cd drive and I needed a dvd drive) Unbelievable! Thanks to all who tried to help this dummy through this!
theflash1932
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July 27th, 2011 08:00
Yeah, I don't think we have SP2, so I may have to get the older version of the SBUU after all.
You would have to be careful to pick the correct version ... I believe it would be 4.5. The BEST alternative would be to use nLite to slipstream/integrate Service Pack 2 into the installation files, creating a new CD.
Also, I did try booting with the OS cd in the drive but it said it found no hard drives so I figured I needed to start from scratch with the dell cd.
While the installation utility gets around the OS not seeing any hard drives, the reason it does not find any drives is because it needs the RAID driver fed to it in order to talk to the RAID controller and see the drives connected to it. 2003 can only obtain drivers during the install at the F6 prompt during Setup from a floppy. A better alternative to a floppy is (again) nLite, which can also slipstream/integrate drivers into the installation media. Also, even with the correct driver, the RAID MUST be configured prior to attempting to install or even with the right driver, it will not see any "drives" to install to.
Glad you got it sorted though.