R81.10 SMS Open Server .iso not booting

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Hi,

I'm tring to set up a new Smart Event Server on a clean Dell server. My access to the Dell server is only remote, through the iDRAC9 interface. I've downloaded the .iso image for Open Server, loaded it as virtual media - but it is not booting. 

Oddly enough, if I get the R81.20 .iso file and follow the exact same steps, I'm welcomed by GRUB and have the possibility to start the Gaia install. I have tried the R81 .iso as well, and that one isn't working either.

One other thing I tried, was creating a bootable USB with Isomorphic, then cloning the USB to an .img file and attempting to load that as Virtual drive - and as well, boot fails. 

What would make the R81 and R81.10 .iso files not be recognized as valid bootable media, and why is the R81.20 working in this case? All .iso images have been downloaded from the official Checkpoint repo. I am restricted to use R81.10 in my envirenment, and cannot just proceed with R81.20 

[_Val_]

Check the file hash, it was most probably corrupted during the download process. It is a bootable image.

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Hi @_Val_ !

Thanks for your fast reply! It doesn't seem to be a corrupted .iso file - please se attached.

BR,

Daniel

[_Val_ · Accepted solution]

Yes, the hash seems to be fine. This could be a Dell bug or something else. Did you check if you can mount the same ISO on another device?

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Yeah, the same .iso loads perfectly fine on a VM. 

I find it rather odd that R81.20 boots up on the Dell though, do you know if there are any differences in the bootloader?  

[_Val_]

I also downloaded and checked ISO file, it should be good to boot. Try re-attaching it to Dell or using ISOmorphic instead. 

The boot system should be the same on both R81.10 and R81.20 iso images

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Did that a few times now, still fails to boot from the virtual media. I might need to ask for onsite assistance and load it from a USB instead, but i was hoping I might get it running remote. I can't get myself in the datacenter, had a ski crash two weeks ago and I'm stuck at home - that's also why I missed the chance of meeting you guys in Munich.. 😞  

I'll see if anyone from the Dell forums has any tips and tricks at hand, otherwise it will need onsite install by the looks of it. 

[_Val_]

Sorry to hear that Daniel. I wish you a full and speedy recovery. Most probably a weird Dell side issue, I am afraid.

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Thanks @_Val_, i'll take it further with Dell!

All the best,

Daniel

[the_rock]

O man, skiing accident? That sucks...but you know, whats worse than that? When you get on skis for the first time in your life as a kid and your dad tells you "Best way to learn is just go down a hill" and then you break your leg...yea,,,,that happened to me, so I switched to tennis instead later, safer choice haha.

Hope you recover soon.

Cheers,

Andy

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

It is what it is, not much I can do about it now. The part that also sucks is that I was supposed to be at CPX in Munich, I've been wanting to join a live CPX event for a while now. Lesson learned, I won't be planning any ski vacations right before next year's event 😂

[the_rock]

All good mate, such is life. Things happen, you know what they say, its not what happens to you, its HOW you deal with it. Whoever said that was 100% correct.

[PhoneBoy]

R81.20:

• Uses grub2 bootloader
• Has a new installer
• Uses a newer Linux 3.10 kernel that supports additional hardware

I suspect your Dell server is not supported for R81.10 and earlier.
Refer to the HCL.
Why the ISOs don’t boot correctly in iDRAC is a question for Dell.

[Bob_Zimmerman · Accepted solution]

Just had a thought. The fact it says "Booting from Virtual Optical Drive" suggests the boot ROM found a boot block. The subsequent failure suggests the boot block didn't point to something which could boot the system.

I think this might mean the server is trying to boot UEFI mode with no BIOS compatibility. I verified the other day that R81.20 can be installed in a Hyper-V VM with hardware version 2, which is UEFI-only. I know R81.10 and earlier definitely don't support UEFI.

@Daniel_Cimpeanu Check your boot ROM config for "legacy boot mode", "BIOS boot", or something like that. Is it enabled?

[Daniel_Cimpeanu · Accepted solution]

This was indeed the solution! R81.10 ISO boots only when server is set for BIOS and not UEFI boot.

Thank you very much! 

Daniel

[Bob_Zimmerman · Accepted solution]

Nice. Good to hear the problem was that simple.

I still recommend installing R81.20, then downgrading in-place to R81.10. That gives you a fixed partition layout, which greatly improves storage performance. For example, jumbos install in about half the time.

[the_rock]

The image you are using is 100% valid, I used it few times before in ESXI server to set up brand new VMs. Its also odd that base R81 is failing, but R81.20 works. Are there any other errors or just that its not bootable?

Andy

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Hi,

I get nothing else besides - Boot Failed and No boot device available.

[the_rock]

It would be good if you are able to console into an appliance and run md5sum command to verify it it shows right hash for 3 images. Thats an odd one for sure, mate, sorry.

[Bob_Zimmerman]

Really, you should install R81.20, update CPUSE, then get the R81.10 CPUSE package and downgrade in-place to it. R81.10 and earlier have a bug in the installer which causes misaligned partitions, significantly reducing storage I/O performance.

[genisis__]

That is strange, because I have built dell servers (PowerEdge R740's) via iDRAC9 using R81.10 ISO.  Did you update the iDRAC firmware /dell drivers?

I have:

iDRAC firmware: 5.10.10.00
BIOS Version: 2.11.2

[the_rock]

Great point @genisis__ . Now that you mentioned that, I recall having weird issue accessling LOM on 6200 for the customer few months ago and as soon as firmware was upgraded, all worked just fine.

Andy

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Hi @genisis__ ,

I'm running on iDRAC firmware 6.00.30.00

BIOS 2.16.1

[genisis__]

Clearly a more updated version, silly questions are all the required ports open between the host where the ISO is and the iDRAC?  
Are there any interface errors along the path etc?

What is the actual Dell server you're using and is it on the HCL?

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Well, I can load and boot R81.20 but nothing below that.  No interface errors that I can see.

And the Dell server itself is indeed in the HCL: PowerEdge R740 / R740XD - Check Point Software

[the_rock]

Are you able to open TAC case to see if they can sort it out?

Andy

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Hi, 

I'm considering that, will be asking for a SR shortly.

[PhoneBoy]

Seriously, I'd take the advice of @Bob_Zimmerman and:

• Install R81.20 from ISO
• "Fresh Install" R81.10 from CPUSE

This way you get the benefit of the updated installer in R81.20 that appears to work.

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Hi @PhoneBoy !

Indeed, that will be the way to go. Thank you all for your suggestions! 

[Bob_Zimmerman]

One really important note: if I'm right and the server is booting in UEFI mode, you will probably be able to downgrade in-place to R81.10, but the resulting system won't boot.