How to boot a proliant dl380 g1

[aphesa]

Hi all,

i can successfully configure (smartstart 5.5) a proliant sl380 g1 and i can successfully install linux ubuntu server from the CD but it never boots (i get a non-bootable disk error).

How can i make the server boot the linux? Grub is installed but does not react.

I have the impression that HP/COMPAQ forces us to buy one of the sponsored operating systems otherwise it will never boot.

Thank you.
Arnaud.

 

[aphesa]

btw, i have read a lot of forums that talk about this but none has ever provided a solution.

 

[TheLad]

Have you looked at your boot order? It would seem that your boot order is looking in a place where it cannot find your installed OS.

Check the boot order to ensure that it is looking at the RAID controller first - I presume that is where you have performed your OS install?

You are incorrect about the sponsored operating systems, you can put anything on the server and it will work providing it is compatible of course.

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"Insert funny comment in here!"
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[aphesa]

The boot sequence was FLOPPY -> CD -> HDD and it was indeed going through this sequence as i could see the LEDs flash.

I have found out that GRUB does not work on this machine but LILO does. So i reinstalled everything again and forced LILO in various locations until i got the machine to boot.

The issue comes from the virual ROM or configuration area of the PROLIANT which is located on the first logical RAID volume as a first partition in FAT16. Linux was installed in the second and third partitions, i had to force the ext3 partition to be the boot device with LILO installed in the same logical RAID volume, i think it is finally in the MBR.

PROLIANTs are quite hard to work with the first time. I had never encountered a ROM-less / BIOS-less design before.

 

[blister911]

The way the array controller works is that it looks to array A logical volume 1 as the boot volume. If you have multiple array controllers, you can specify which to boot from, however, as far as I remember you cannot change which array to boot from once you've selected the controller.

You have to plan it out that way when you're doing the install/configuration of the hardware.

 

[Noberndo]

Ok Im having the same problem you did, I have the newest version of Ubuntu server, and I have spent some time trying just about every approach I can think of but have been unsuccessful and I was wondering about the LILO.

I have the same Smart Start version and Ubuntu, I was wondering if you could walk me through how you put the LILO in because I have seen no option to do so as far as I have seen,

Aphesa

 

[aphesa]

Install Ubuntu in expert mode, don't take the simple wizard. You will do it a thousand time before getting the right parameters but somewhere it will propose various boot options and boot loader options.

 

[Noberndo]

Thanks I will give it a try in about 4 hours from now, and I will post on how things worked.

 

[Noberndo]

Sweet, Ok Im happy that I can now boot Linux up with no disk, the only problem I have is that Im sitting in the Commad Prompt which is ok I know how to use it but I was wondering if you knew how I could get it to put me in the GUI. Well if you know that I would be appreciative... Thanks

 

[aphesa]

There is no X server and no window manager on Ubuntu server. It is a server! If you want a user interface and you don't want to manually install X and a window manager i would suggest to install Ubuntu for workstations instead. But then you will need to manually install server features.

 

[Noberndo]

So do you know where I could get the Stuff to download the window manager for ubuntu 8.10?

 

[pldl380]

what is your favorite window manager?
without knowing the specs of the server I'm not sure what to recommend. however it being a server I'd recommend xfce since it's a very light window manager that looks alot like gnome without the bulk that gnome adds.
you can install this by typing the following at the command prompt:
sudo apt-get install xfce