Windows Server Installation Using a PXE Network Boot

This section explains the initial information you will need to install the Windows Server 2008 (SP2 or R2) operating system over an established PXE-based network using a customer-provided Windows Imaging Format (WIM) image.

Topics included in this section:

• Before You Begin

• Install Windows Server 2008 (SP2 or R2) Using PXE Network Boot

Note that the procedure presented in this section documents the initial steps to install Windows Server 2008 over the network using a Windows Deployment Services (WDS). Specifically, it explains the steps for selecting the server PXE network interface card that will communicate with your WDS installation server. For further information about using WDS to install the Windows Server 2008 operating system, see Microsoft's Windows Deployment Services documentation.

Before You Begin

• To use PXE to boot the installation media over the network, you must:

  • Configure the network (NFS, FTP, HTTP) server to export the installation tree.

  • Configure the files on the TFTP server that are necessary for PXE booting.

  • Configure the server's MAC network port address to boot from the PXE configuration.

  • Configure Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).

• To use WDS to perform the installation, you must:

  • Add the required system device drivers to the install.wim image and, if necessary, the boot.wim image.

    For guidelines for adding drivers to the WIM installation image(s), see Appendix D, Incorporating Device Drivers Into Windows Server 2008 WIM Images for Windows Deployment Services.

  • Obtain the WIM Administrator password.

Install Windows Server 2008 (SP2 or R2) Using PXE Network Boot

1. Reset or power on the server.

   ---

   Note - The following steps use Oracle ILOM 3.1 command syntax. If you are using Oracle ILOM 3.0, refer to the Oracle ILOM 3.0 Documentation Collection at http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=ilom30.

   ---

   For example:

   • From the Oracle ILOM web interface, select Host Management > Power Control in the navigation tree. Then, select Power Cycle from the Select Action list box and click Save.

   • From the local server, press the Power button (approximately 1 second) on the front panel of the server to turn off the server, then press the Power button again to power on the server.

   • From the Oracle ILOM CLI, type: reset /System

   The BIOS screen appears.

   ---

   Note - The next events occur very quickly; therefore, focused attention is needed for the following steps. Watch carefully for these messages as they appear on the screen for a brief time. You might want to enlarge the size of your screen to eliminate scroll bars.

   ---

2. Press F8 to specify a temporary boot device.

   The Please Select Boot Device menu appears.

3. In the Please Select Boot Device menu, select the appropriate PXE installation boot device and press Enter.

   The PXE installation boot device is the physical network port configured to communicate with your network installation server.

   The Boot Agent dialog appears.

4. In the Boot Agent dialog, press F12 for a network service boot.
5. Continue the normal Windows Server 2008 SP2 or 2008 R2 WDS network installation.

   For additional information, consult Microsoft's Windows Deployment Services product documentation.

6. When the installation completes, proceed to Chapter 4, Post Installation of Windows Server 2008 to perform the post installation tasks.