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Dell PowerEdge 1950 Setup
This article explains how you have to set up your Dell PowerEdge 1950 before you are able to install an OS on it.
RAID configuration
Boot up the server and press Ctrl-R to start the RAID configuration for a PERC 5/6 setup. This will by default open up the Virtual Disk Management. If an old configuration exists, navigate to Controller 0, click F2, and click Reset Config. If this option is grayed out, it could be possible that you are dealing with a foreign configuration. To clear this configuration navigate to Controller 0, click F2, click Foreign Config, and click Clear. Now you are able to create a new configuration, do this by clicking F2, and clicking on Create New VD.
This will open up a new window, in this window you are able to select your RAID level. It is recommended to go for at least RAID-1, this does require two disks. By doing this one drive is allowed to fail, without any data loss. Using higher RAID levels requires sometimes more drives, but does allow more drives to fail. After selecting the drives for your RAID configuration click OK.
A new window will open up and tell you that it is recommended that newly created configurations should be initialized, click OK to close the window. In most cases, the initialization starts automatically. If this is not the case navigate to Controller 0 – Disk Group 0 – Virtual Disks – Virtual Disk 0, and click F2. Now Select Initialization – Start Initialization. Take note that this process might take a while and you have to accept some warnings that you lose all your data. In order to view the process click again on F2, followed by Properties, this will open up a new window that shows the process of the initialization of your configuration.
Remote access configuration
Remote access can come in handy if you have to remotely change something in the server, which is not OS-related.
In order to set this up, boot the server and wait until you see Press <Ctrl-E> for Remote Access Setup within 5 sec.., and press Ctrl-E. This opens the configuration, if it is a second-hand server, you could decide to reset the defaults first. If you did this open the LAN Parameters, and either set up a Static or DHCP configuration. Now open the Advanced LAN Parameters, and either set up a Static or DHCP configuration. Finally, click Esc and click Save Changes and Exit.
Clear/view the system event log
The system event log contains information about when thermal limits are hit or when the server cover has been opened.
To view or delete this log, boot up the server and wait until you see Press <Ctrl-E> for Remote Access Setup within 5 sec.., and press Ctrl-E. Navigate to System Event Log Menu and open it. Now you are presented with the option to either view or delete the system event logs. Choose the option which fits your needs.
Add user defined string to the display
The Dell PowerEdge 1950 comes with a built-in display, you are able to show a user-defined string on this display.
In order to do this, enter the setup during boot by pressing F2. In the setup list, there is a topic called Embedded Server Management, open this topic. Set Front-Panel LCD Options to User-Defined String. Now you have to click the User-Defined LCD String and enter your desired text.
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