Install SLES9(x86-64) via bootable USB stick or external USB HD

[Jun Yu]

Hello,

I'm trying to install multiple servers with SLES9(x86-64) but have problem
here.

background: there are no cdrom/floppy drive on these servers, and no
PXE+DHCP allowed in this server center.A NFS server is available in the LAN.All the servers has been certified under SLES9(x86-64)and have hp support.


Q1: I can simply use dd if=bootdisk.img of=/dev/sda(my 32MB USB stick) to
create a bootable USB stick and help to boot the system, connect to NFS
server and install the RedHat Enterprise Linux 4.0U2. But on SLES9, no.

I've checked the admin guide of SLES9, only floppy images provided from the
installation media(3 bootdisk images + 5 modules images). It's impossible to
have a single bootdisk image that support SLES9(x64) installation.So i just
wonder if anyone here have tried it successfully?

Q2: According to the above description, i have two sets of SLES9
installation medias.One is for x86 and the other is for x86-64. I can only
found those floppy images(totally 8 diskette images) from x86 CD1, there are
no such files on x86-64 CD1.As you know the boot images contain the
corresponding kernel/driver_modules specific to certain infrastructure.How
can i use x86's floppy images(if i were approved to use floppy drive in data
center) to install a x86-64 SLES9 that locates on NFS server?

I've searched Novell/SuSE sites and ofcoz googled as well but no more
answers appeared.I think this is a normal deployment method because we do it
with RHEL, Debian without problems.

Appreciate if anyone could share your experience on it.

Best Regards,

Joe Yu
LinuxTea Professional Group

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom Joe,

the steps for creating a bootable diskette image should be usable on a usb device.

SEP

[Jun Yu]

Thanks Steven,

I've tried dd those floppy images on USB sticks. The bootdisk1.img can help boot the server and launch the installation, when linuxrc appears, i have to activate the Giga NIC of the server by dd if=modules3.img to the USB stick but failed because the installation routine can't accept USB disk but still look for real floppy drive(open another console and checked this status)

So, the bootdisk floppy image works but modules image not.This is why i want a single image contains boot files and modules files.

Joe Yu,

[Alan_152]

What model of server is this?

[Jun Yu]

DL145, no floppy and dvdrom.

[Alan_152]

You should be OK with an external USB DVD or CD drive.