Reinstalling your dedicated server
This page will help you reinstall Bytemark dedicated host via the network boot system
There are two ways to install your server: the quick way (via our imaging system) and the proper way (via a distribution’s own installer).
We recommend using our imaging server where at all possible – it is how we deliver servers when customers order them, and keeps older distributions up to date with support for our hardware.
If you go ahead and use the distribution installer, you may find the process more familiar but even relatively new distributions will unfortunately have trouble supporting our motherboards. They may fail to detect either the hard drive interface or network, or both. However if you’re confident about fixing these issues and want full control over your installation, we won’t stop you.
Distribution installer (not recommended)
Instead of running the netboot-rescue shell, you can boot directly into a distribution’s own installer from the network boot prompt.
The full list can be obtained by pressing Ctrl+F 3 (that’s the letter F, then the digit 3, not the function key F3 which won’t register over a serial line).
Imager
Assuming you’ve booted into the netboot-rescue system, a minimal example would be:
InstallMeADedicatedServer --hostname=bma2.dev.bytemark.co.uk
you should then see the script confirm the installation details with you:
arch : i386
broadcast : 80.68.87.255
cpu : AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 2800+
disc_count : 1
disk1 : /dev/sda
gateway : 80.68.87.1
hostname : bma2.dev.bytemark.co.uk
ip : 80.68.87.61
memory : 488Mb
netmask : 255.255.255.0
The IP address and other details should be automatically filled in for you, so you only need to tell it the hostname. Also the system will default to installing Debian/etch – I’ll go through some other options in a second.
If you confirm by typing ‘yes’ the system will have its drives wiped and the new OS installed within about 5 minutes:
Setting up disks Mounting new system at: /tmp/target Disk setup complete Making request for image from server. Image Request : [1/20] Image Request : [2/20] Image Request : [3/20] Image Request : [4/20] Image generation complete - downloading image. Image for new system downloaded successfully System Installed ---------------- Root password: xxx123
At this point you can press ctrl+D a couple of times to exit and reboot, and watch the system boot up normally.
Choosing Your Distribution
In the previous example we didn’t specify a distribution to install, so the imager defaulted to the Etch release of Debian GNU/Linux.
If you wish to specify a different distribution you should make use of the —dist parameter. This specifies the distribution you would like to be installed.
Here is a quick list:
| —dist=centos4 | CentOS 4 |
| —dist=centos5 | CentOS 5 |
| —dist=dapper | Ubuntu’s Dapper Release |
| —dist=edgy | Ubuntu’s Edgy release |
| —dist=etch | Debian’s Etch release |
| —dist=fedora-core-4 | Fedora Core v4 |
| —dist=fedora-core-5 | Fedora Core v5 |
| —dist=fedora-core-6 | Fedora Core v6 |
| —dist=fedora-core-7 | Fedora Core v7 |
| —dist=feisty | Ubuntu’s feisty release |
| —dist=gutsy | Ubuntu’s gutsy release |
| —dist=hardy | Ubuntu’s hardy release |
| —dist=sarge | Debian’s Sarge release |
| —dist=etch | Debian’s Etch release |
Advanced Usage
There are many more parameters you can use, each of which should be documented if you run:
InstallMeADedicatedServer --help
The most useful options are passwd to specify a password for your new installation, and reboot to reboot automatically post-install.
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