Imaging a DELL PowerEdge Rack Server computer with the Datto SIRIS Imager

Topic

This article describes the process for imaging the following Dell PowerEdge rack mount computers with the Datto SIRIS Imager:

  • DELL PowerEdge R740xd
    • 60TB
    • 2U rack-mount
  • DELL PowerEdge R640
    • 24TB
    • 1U rack-mount
  • DELL PowerEdge R640
    • 12TB
    • 1U rack-mount

Instructions

Set up

On the device intended to become a SIRIS Imaged BCDR device:

  1. Connect a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and appropriate power cables.
  2. Plug your Datto Utilities USB device into any available USB 3.0 port on the device.
  3. Connect to a network with access to the internet.by plugging an RJ45 network cable into the highest bandwidth copper network interface on the device. The rack-mount devices have a 10Gb/sec copper network interface card installed; these network interfaces are located near the top right corner of the device’s back panel.


Figure 1: Network Interface connections

Although Datto recommends that the device is connected to a network that provides DHCP IP addresses for the imaging process, the Datto Utilities stick will load to a network configuration page if a DHCP address is not provided.

You should only have one NIC from your new hardware connected to your network for the initial setup. The installer will display an error banner if more than one NIC connection is detected.

Note that the NIC that the imager initially connects to on your new hardware will automatically be designated as eth0 on your new SIRIS device and must be 10GbE. Additional detected NICs will be designated in sequence as eth1, eth2 etc.

Booting rack mount devices in Datto Utilities

  1. Once the setup of the device is complete, power on the device and access the UEFI utility Boot Manager The UEFI utility can be accessed on the 12/24TB 1U device (PowerEdge R640) and 60TB 2U device (PowerEdge R740xd) by pressing the F11 key the menu appears at the top of the screen. This menu may take a few moments to load, but will appear after the BIOS drivers for connected peripheral devices have loaded.


Figure 1: UEFI Utility Boot Manager

  1. From the Boot Manager Main Menu select One-Shot UEFI Boot Menu


Figure 2: One Shot UEFI Boot Menu

  1. From the Boot Menu select the storage media being used for Datto Utilities

The device should now boot into Datto Utilities

IMAGING RACK-MOUNT DEVICES

  1. When Datto Utilities main applications menu loads, click the SIRIS Imaged button.


Figure 5. Datto Utilities Welcome screen

  1. The 224GB disk is used as the OS drive for all three rack-mount hardware profiles. Click the radio button next to the 224GB disk, then click .Next.


Figure 5: Select OS Drive

  1. 3: The 447GB disk will be used as the SLOG drive for all three rack-mount hardware profiles. Click the radio button next to this disk, then click Next.


Figure 6: Select SLOG Drive

  1. The 12TB and 24TB capacity devices will have their only RAID option pre-selected and should not be changed. For the 60TB capacity device, click the radio button next to the RAID10 option. With the RAID option selected, click Next.


Figure 7: RAID Configuration

  1. Review and confirm that each disk targeted use is set accurately, then click BEGIN IMAGI

The progress of the imaging is displayed on the screen. If the process fails, , an error message will provide a link to the Datto Knowledge Base for troubleshooting instructions.

When the process completes, a FINISH & REBOOT button will appear in the upper right corner.


Figure 8: Finish & Reboot

  1. Click FINISH & REBOOT.
  2. When the screen goes black, remove the Datto Utilities USB device
  3. Access the UEFI utility Boot Manager

The UEFI utility can be accessed on the 12/24TB 1U device (PowerEdge R640) and 60TB 2U device (PowerEdge R740xd) by pressing the F11 key the menu appears at the top of the screen. This menu may take a few moments to load, but will appear after the BIOS drivers for connected peripheral devices have loaded.


Figure 9: F11: Boot Manager

  1. From the Boot Manager Main Menu select Launch System Setup


Figure 10: Launch System Setup

  1. From the System BIOS Settings menu select Boot Settings.


Figure 11: Boot Settings

  1. From the Boot Settings menu select UEFI Boot Settings.


Figure 12: UEFI Boot Settings

  1. From the UEFI Boot Settings menu select UEFI Boot Sequence.


Figure 13: UEFI Boot Sequence

  1. Within the resulting modal, select the AHCI controller with EFI Fixed Disk Boot Device.
  2. Using the plus button to the right of the boot device list, move the AHCI controller to the top of the list
  3. Click OK
  4. Navigate out of the System BIOS and System Setup menus. Save when prompted.