Mailing Lists: Apple Mailing Lists

Image of Mac OS face in stamp
 
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Leopard Installer discs - no CDs, DVDs only




On Nov 21, 2007, at 7:23 PM, Brian Blood wrote:

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.


My retort:
From:
http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/specs.html
System Requirements

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.

Asking the Google, I find that text here:

http://db.tidbits.com/article/9243


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.


-- Brian Blood MacServe.net



What I've done in the past with Tiger DVDs is made an image of the DVD and restored it to a partition on a firewire drive. I would make two partitions on a small firewire drive. The first partition would be the installer DVD and the second partition would include updates and Auto Server Setup files.


Boot the Xserve to the external firewire drive and run the installer just like you would from the disc. It's much, much faster too. Works on any Xserve, no matter what kind of optical drive you have.

Kevin Anderson
_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
Macos-x-server mailing list      (email@hidden)
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/macos-x-server/email@hidden

This email sent to email@hidden
References: 
 >Leopard Installer discs - no CDs, DVDs only (From: Brian Blood <email@hidden>)



Visit the Apple Store online or at retail locations.
1-800-MY-APPLE

Contact Apple | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2007 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.