Question to my Apple Authorized dealer that I just ordered Leopard
Server from to install on an Xserve G4:
can you find out for me how I can get CD versions of the Leopard
Server installer?
we have some xserves that do not have DVD capable optical drives.
His Reply:
From what I understand it doesn't exist, one of the requirement of
Leopard is a DVD drive. I'm guessing you'll have to
boot from another computer that has a DVD drive in Firewire Target
mode.
Mac server or desktop computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or
PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor; 1GB of physical RAM; 20GB
of available disk space.
His Reply (looks like text pulled from somewhere)
This is the first release of Mac OS X that's not available in any
form on CD, as all consumer-class computers that are capable of
running Leopard also have at least a Combo Drive (DVD reading plus
CD writing). Some Xserve models can run Mac OS X Server 10.5 but
have only a CD-ROM drive; for such machines, you can perform a
network installation using another computer running Leopard Server,
or put the computer into Target Disk Mode and install Leopard
Server from another computer that has a DVD reader.
So, installing Leopard Server on an Xserve G4 requires some sort of
external piece of hardware. (Which of course, won't be supplied by
Apple (-; )
Target Disk Mode is not really an option as TGM on an Xserve G4 only
exposes the device in Bay 1. Since we always build our Xserve G4s out
with Mirrored arrays, we couldn't start with a fresh pair of disks to
install onto as a RAID pair. Perhaps a single drive RAID mirror might
work and then add in second disk once booted up.
Ugh. I hate having to perform convoluted workarounds just to install
an OS.
I guess all machines are equally supported for Leopard, just some are
more equal than others.
