RedHat 9 and Windows 2000 on Compaq Proliant 1600

[Jonathen]

Can someone point me in the right direction?

I need to put two OS's on my compaq 1600, Im pretty new to the whole server setup. Does smart start support installation of two OS's?

Is there anywhere I can go to explain how to do this like documentation for smart start?

[Martin Breidenbach]

SmartStart doesn't support that. This requires a manual installation - at least of the 2nd OS.

[Jonathen]

Martin,

I need to know if it can be done and how I would go about doing that? I just purchased the server and I want to make sure that I can run two OS's otherwise my use for the server is pointless.

I need to test PHP applications on a Linux background as well as a Windows background for my clients.

Is there a manual for smart start or something?

[Martin Breidenbach]

Since I've never installed Red Hat Linux on a Proliant 1600 I can't tell you which problems you might expect.

What is your hard disk configuration ? Do you have a Smart Array controller ?

There should be some info on the CD. I've got Compaq/HP course manuals but they are not available online (AFAIK).

Which SmartStart version do you have ? 5.50 is the last one that supports P1600 servers.

Do you have any experience with SmartStart ? Here's a short summary:

To use SmartStart to install a server the server must be 'unconfigured'. This can be done with the System Erase Utility.

SmartStart offers three installation modes:
Integrated Installation - installs operating system including all drivers and system management apllications. It's not difficult to use; just follow instructions.

Replicated Installation - install several identical systems using a replication profile

Manual Installation - does some basic configuration like running system configuration, configuring drive array, create system partition and offer to create driver disks.

[Jonathen]

Martin-

The copy of Smart Start that I have is version 5.5 so that is good.

Can I run the integrated install with un-supported OS's because to my knowledge I dont think you can?

You have been a great help so far, and I have been reading in alot of forums and the word seems like REDHAT 9 will run pretty flawlessly on my 1600.

Have you hear anything like this?

[Jonathen]

Martin sorry I didnt include some info in the prevouis message that you requested.

I have a Smart Array Controller and I do not have any exprience with Smart Start.

The drive config is:
1 floppy drive
A CD ROM
4 9.3 Wide Ultra SCSI hard drive.

[Martin Breidenbach]

Automatic OS installation only works with 'supported' configurations - for example Win2K server is supported, Win2K pro not.

I'd install Win2K via Smartstart and do a manual installation for Red Hat. I've never installed Red Hat 9 but some time ago I did a test install of SuSE Enterprise 7 on a DL380G2. OS installation itself was easy. Installation of Insight Manager Agents and ACU-XE (web based array configuration utility) was more difficult but it worked after I read the docs and then followed instructions :)

To get familiar with SmartStart I suggest you try it. If it fails run System Erase to 'unconfigure' the server (also erases the drives).

BTW Smartstart will ask for a profile disk. If you don't have it just format a floppy disk and create an empty file named SPD.INI.

[Jonathen]

Martin you've been a great help so far.

I heard however from someone that you cant boot from a Raid drive and that I would have to install the OS's on a seperate IDE drive(with 2 partitions one for Linux and one for Win2k).

I need clarification on this, is this true?

Thanks
Jon

[Martin Breidenbach]

There is hardware RAID and there is software RAID.

Win2K cannot boot from a SOFTWARE RAID 5 (disk striping with parity) drive. It can boot from SOFTWARE RAID 1 (mirrored) drive.

Hardware RAID with SMART RAID controller works different. The RAID controller takes the physical drives and depending on the configuration reports logical drives to the operating system. The OS will only see these logical drives and will not notice that there actually are several physical drives.

So if you've got a SMART RAID controller then you can install the OS on any RAID level that is supported by the controller. Different RAID levels offer different performance and logical disk size and it depends upon the purpose of the server (file server, database server, application server, terminal server...) what is best for that specific configuration.

Before you install the OS SmartStart will execute the Array Configuration Utility (ACU) where you can assign physical drives to arrays and create logical drives. The OS will see these logical drives as if they were 'real' drives.

Examples:
4 9GB drives configured as RAID 0
OS will see one 36 GB drive
If one drive fails everything is lost.

4 9GB drives configures as RAID 0+1 (mirrored)
OS will see one 18 GB drive.
Up to two drives can fail without data loss.

4 9GB drives configured as RAID 5
OS will see one 27 GB drive.
One drive can fail without data loss.

4 9GB drives configured as RAID 5 + HotSpare
OS will see one 18 GB drive.
One drive can fail without data loss. The Hotspare will be used automatically to replace failed drive and rebuild data. After rebuild is finished another drive can fail without data loss.

[Jonathen]

Martin-

I cannot tell you how much you've helped me.

Besides to say again I apprecaite the time that you've spent dealing with my issues.

Again I cannot thank you enough.

If I have any other questions I will be sure to post them.

Thanks.
Jon