Some of the Dedicated Servers provided by Cybercon are able to install the Operating System (OS) via the network. For those servers, there is an option of installing the OS from a pre-built template. With that option, the time require to install, patch and update the OS is significantly lowered. If that feature is available to your Dedicated Server, you can setup your server with the pre-built template by following this procedures. If your Dedicated Server do not have it and you are interested in getting it, please contact Cybercon Sales department for more information.
Here are the steps for installing Windows Server 2008 R2 from a template.
1. Boot your server via PXE Boot. If it is a new server setup or there is no operating system (OS) installed previously in the server hard disk, the server should boot via the PXE automatically. Otherwise, you may need to press a key to instruct the server to do so. For HP blade server, you need to press F12 while booting.
2. Once you boot to the Main menu, use your up/down arrow keys and navigate to Client Area and hit Enter. In order to go to the Client Area, you need to enter the word “acknowledge” to acknowledge that tools inside the client area COULD ERASE DATA ON THE SERVER HARDDISK(s). If you are not sure if you have important data you need to save in the server hard disk, you should STOP NOW AND REBOOT THE SERVER.
3. In the next menu, choose Operating System Installation and press Enter.
4. Select Win Svr 2008 R2 installation from pre-built template and hit Enter.
5. The server should now booting to a Windows environment. And after it finish booting, it should start the apply the template to your server. However, before the actual server image being apply to the hard disk, it will create a partition first.
6. Once the partition is created, the installer will start applying the template image to the server. You will see progress on the screen. For a 5GB image, it takes about 5-7 mins. Time required varies from server to server and also depends on the actual template image size.
7. Once the template imaging is done, the server should reboot by itself. DO NOT REBOOT or RESET the server right away manually, let it reboot by itself. The server may just sit there at the command prompt and take up to 2 minutes before it actually reboot.
8. When Windows Server boots, it will boot to a Windows Boot Manager. Just choose the default option “Windows Server 2008 R2” and hit enter to continue. Or you can just wait until it time out and boot from the default selection.
9. Windows will start the require services
10. Then it will install devices.
11. After that, it will apply new system settings.
12. Once that is done, the server will automatically reboot by itself.
13. Windows will reboot to a first time setup screen. Select the “Country or region”, “Time and currency” and “Keyboard layout”. Click Next to continue.
14. Read the Microsoft Software License Terms and check the box next to “I accept the license terms” if you agree and click the “Start” button.
15. Since this is the first time you try to log in to the server, the Windows Server will ask you to create a password for the Administrator account. Just press OK to continue.
16. Enter the password in the 2 boxes provided and hit Enter.
17. The server will boot the Window Desktop GUI. Once it is done, take a look at the bottom right hand corner. You may need to wait for a minute or two until everything is loaded. If after everything is loaded and you still see a red “X” on the Network Icon, please proceed to the next step. Otherwise, if the network icon looks normal, please skip to step 24.
18. If network is not working, click the Start button, then right click Computer and choose Properties.
19. In the System window, click Device Manager.
20. In the Device Manager window, right click the “HP NC532i Dual Port ……” and choose “Uninstall”
21. In the Confirm Device Uninstall window, be sure you check the box next to “Delete the driver software for this device” and click OK to continue. Repeat step 20 and 21 for the 2nd network card.
22. Now, click Action from the drop down menu and select “Scan for hardware changes”
23. Windows should find the Network cards again and supply them with the correct driver this time.
24. Once the Network is up and running, you can now check the server for new updates.
25. For the first time to run Windows Update, you need to choose how you want your server update. You can choose “Turn on automatic updates” or “Let me choose my settings”.
26. Install the updates if needed.
27. After the update, make sure you change the server name, Product Key and activate the Windows. Typically you have 3 days grace period.
28. By default, the server Network TCP/IP settings for the network interface are obtained automatically (DHCP client), it is highly recommended you change it to static IP.