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Technical Notes: Dell OpenManage™ Remote Install User's Guide

	Storage Issues		Reserved Directories
	Compatibility of Target Systems and Images During Deployment		Agents
	Multiple Partitions and Disks in a Target System		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 WPA Process
	Compatibility With the Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD		Log Files

Storage Issues

• If you have storage shares on the image server (at the same IP address), the storage will not function properly if you change the image server's IP address. If you must change the IP address of the image server, use the Settings→ Storage→ List→ Edit function to change the storage IP address to that of the image server. You can also use the following manual procedure:
  
  
  1. Delete the storage share.
     
     
  2. Change the IP address of the image server.
     
     
  3. Reboot the image server.
     
     
  4. Create a new storage share with the same pathname as the original share. Remote Install automatically imports the images found in the shared folder.
     
     

Conversely, if you use the Settings→ Storage→ List→ Edit function to change the IP address of local storage on the image server, you effectively change the IP address of the image server. You must restart the OpForce and Server Administrator services to update the DHCP server. You can restart these services using the Services shortcut under the Admin Tools icon in the Microsoft® Windows® operating system control panel.

• When adding storage, ensure that the storage is on the same network as the target systems.
  
  
• Setting up multiple storage locations on different servers could result in faster performance if you intend to perform multiple captures and deployments.
  
  
• You can import only images that have been exported by Remote Install.
  
  
• Importing an image can require a significant amount of time.

Compatibility of Target Systems and Images During Deployment

When deploying an image to a target system, the source system should be similar to the target system. For example, it is best if the source system has the same processor architecture, RAID type, disk type, and so on. For sector mode capture and deployment, ensure that the hard drive size of the source system are equal to or smaller than that of the target system. For file mode capture and deployment, ensure that the total size of all partitions on the source system is equal to or smaller than the hard drive space on the target system.

Multiple Partitions and Disks in a Target System

If a target system has multiple logical drives (partitions), Remote Install captures all partitions on all physical hard drives into an image; when deploying the image to a target system, Remote Install deploys all of those partitions. If the image is smaller than the target system's hard drive, Remote Install expands the last partition to fill the available space. 

In a system that you are going to capture from, Dell recommends that you leave some unused space when you set up the target system's partitions. Leaving unused space allows for differences in the actual formatted size in nominally equivalent drives. If the formatted size of a target system's hard drive is even slightly smaller than the image, the deployment will fail. For a detailed example of how to set this up, see "Capturing an Image."

Compatibility With the Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD

You can use both the Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD and Remote Install to install operating systems to target systems. If a target system is connected to the Remote Install management network and its PXE boot order is set to "Before hard drive," then Remote Install supercedes the Server Assistant CD when installing the operating system. If you want to use the Server Assistant CD to install the operating system, perform one of the following workarounds:

• Disconnect the target system from the Remote Install management network, use the Server Assistant CD to install the operating system, and then reconnect the target system to the management network.
  
  
• Set the PXE boot order to "After hard drive", use the Server Assistant CD to install the operating system, and then reset the PXE boot order to "Before hard drive."
  
  
• Manually skip PXE boot during the reboot process by pressing <Esc> when the PXE boot prompt appears on the screen.

Reserved Directories

Remote Install is installed in several directories, such as: InstallDrive:\dell or InstallDrive:\Program Files\dell where InstallDrive is the drive letter of the drive on which Remote Install is installed.

Do not modify or delete files in these directories unless specifically instructed to do so in the user documentation. Also, always use the Remote Install browser-based GUI to access the image server to modify or delete images or packages. Do not directly delete or modify files in the shared storage directories.

Agents

Two types of Remote Install agents are used: preoperating-system agents and postoperating-system agents. The preoperating-system agents (also collectively called the active operating system) and postoperating-system agents run on the target systems at different times.

Remote Install downloads the preoperating-system agents using PXE and then runs them in the target system's RAM to boot the system. After booting the target system from this active operating system in RAM, Remote Install can determine the target system's state (bare metal, local install, or preinstall).

The postoperating-system agents run on the target system after an operating system image has been deployed to its hard drive. Postoperating-system agents run "on top of" the target system's operating system and enable Remote Install to continue to manage the target system.

The Remote Install agents installed on a Dell preinstalled target system are the postoperating-system agents.

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 WPA Process

Windows Server 2003 normally requires activation after it is installed. Activation is performed through the Windows Product Activation (WPA) process. The installation requires user intervention to enter a license code.

• When you capture or deploy an image for deployment, the system must be activated, whether or not it was activated previously.
  
• Systems with Dell-installed Windows Server 2003 can bypass this process when performing captures and deployments for backup, to avoid interruptions during capture and deployment.
  
  
• If you have a non-Dell-installed system, and you deploy a backup image to a system that is not the original system from which the image was captured, activation may be required if the system hardware differs from the original. Otherwise, a backup image retains the activation status of the system at the time the image was captured.
  

Log Files

In addition to the logs you can access through the user interface using the Logs→ Properties→ Activity function, the Logs→ Properties→ Application function, and the Logs→ Properties→ Command function, you can view some log files directly on your image server:

• server.log, the system's application log, a file in the InstallDrive:\dell\openmanage\netstart\oem\jboss\log directory 
  
  
• KSDebug.txt, a debug log file in the InstallDrive:\dell\openmanage\netstart\kickstart directory
  
  
• DDHCP.log, a debug log file in the InstallDrive:\dell\openmanage\netstart\ddhcp directory

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