Ways to install OS on DL380 G3 without CD or floppy

[Josephine Fahy]

Hi there,

I have acquired three DL380 G3 servers. The CD and floppy drives appear to be faulty on all of them and so I need to find a way to install an operating system.

Can I simply plug in an external USB dvd drive and have it automatically recognise it and boot? Various forum posts imply this can be done.

If I can only boot from the network, can anyone point me to a simple tutorial on how to do this...that uses small words and would be useful for a noob like myself?

[Michael A. McKenney]

ILO port might be able to remote in. USB bootable thumb drive. It is a pain to setup but fast. It took me 45 minutes to create my Windows 7 bootable thumb drive. It takes 39 minutes to install from DVD.

USB DVD drive would be OK.

[Josephine Fahy]

>ILO port might be able to remote in. USB
>bootable thumb drive. It is a pain to setup
>but fast. It took me 45 minutes to create my
>Windows 7 bootable thumb drive. It takes 39
>minutes to install from DVD.
>USB DVD drive would be OK.

Thanks Michael,

According to quite a few threads I have read it seems the DL380 G3 servers can't be booted from a thumb drive...? http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/ProLiant-Servers-ML-DL-SL/Proliant-DL380-G3-USB-Boot/m-p/4114535#M72912

I am looking at buying an external dvd just to get these servers installed and need to be sure it is actually possible for my generation of servers before I pay the money.

I think I can only use iLO to boot from a virtual floppy if I have the advanced license. Finding reliable information on such old machines is proving really difficult.

[danobi]

Hi Josephine,

for temporary ILO access (to try it out) an evaluation license from HP has proven quite handy ;)

Regards,
Daniela

[Terry Hutchings]

HP has a USB key utility which will allow you to create a bootable USB key with Smart Start on it. SS is only for supported operating systems, so if you want to, for example, install the previously mentioned Windows 7 it won't work:

Smart Start 8.25
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=316529&swItem=MTX-d7672226b6284520b9e292b9bd&prodNameId=3288130&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&taskId=135&mode=4&idx=1

USB key utility
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&swItem=MTX-3a87c15fff7048979ec74975e6&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

I would say the using the iLO is probably the best option for getting the OS installed on these servers. The user guide and option to get a trial is available here:

http://h18013.www1.hp.com/products/servers/management/iloadv3/index.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN