Install Custom ISO on your Dedicated Server
At Snel.com you can install a custom operating system of your choice into your Dedicated Server. You can easily upload the ISO file and install the OS through your My.snel.com client area. ISO files are bootable disks that contain a file system of CD/DVD, in our case, the operating system installer.
In this tutorial, we will go through how to upload ISO into your My.snel.com client area and boot from it using the KVM console of your Dedicated Server. We will also look at installing the OS through the console and detaching the ISO after installation.
Prerequisites
- An active Dedicated server.
- Custom ISO image available on your computer or a direct URL of the ISO file available on the internet.
Step 1: Log in to your client area
Log in to your client area via https://my.snel.com/clientarea/.
Step 2: Select the server
Click on the server where you want to mount an ISO file.
Step 3: Open Upload ISO
In the left sidebar menu click on Upload ISO .
Click on the Upload ISO button. It should open up a pop-up, in which you can either upload the ISO file from your computer or you can also provide a direct link to your ISO. If you choose to provide a link to the ISO, it will download the ISO directly from the internet.
After clicking the Submit button, wait for ISO to become ready. You can monitor the status of ISO on the same Upload ISO tab. You should see Ready status once the ISO file is ready to use.
Step 4: Connect to your Dedicated Server using KVM
Open the KVM page by clicking on KVM . Here, you will get credentials required to connect to your Dedicated server using KVM. Click on the Visit the KVM page button in order to visit the KVM page of your server.
Enter the credentials obtained from the KVM tab into the KVM console(Dell iDRAC interface) and click the Login button.
Once you are successfully logged in, you will see the KVM (Dell iDRAC) Dashboard for your Dedicated Server.
Step 5: Mount the ISO to the Server
Launch a virtual console by clicking Launch Virtual Console on the dashboard.
On Virtual Console, click on the button Connect Virtual Media from the top bar.
This will connect the Virtual Media Device to your dedicated server. To mount the ISO file we uploaded, click on Choose file under Map CD/DVD.
Under the file browser, navigate to ISO directory and you should see the ISO image that you have uploaded earlier. Double click on the ISO image file to select it.
After selecting the ISO image file, click on the Map Device button to mount the Custom ISO as a Virtual Media device.
Click the Close button on the Virtual Media pop and you should see the message on top saying your custom ISO is mapped to CD/DVD drive.
Step 6: Boot from Virtual CD/DVD
Since we have mounted the custom ISO, we can go ahead and boot from the Virtual CD/DVD. To do so, click on the Close button on the top bar.
This will open the pop-up for Boot Controls. Click on Virtual CD/DVD/ISO to set the boot control to boot from ISO. Click Yes if it asks for any confirmation.
Now, click on the Power button on the top bar. It should open up the power menu. Click on Reset System(warm boot). Click Yes if it asks for any confirmation.
It should reboot your server and you should see that it is booting from Virtual CD.
Step 7: Install Operating System
Use the virtual console to install the operating system from the ISO. Since installation steps for every operating system vary individually hence it is not covered in this tutorial.
After operating system installation, if there is an automatic reboot, the server will boot from SSD Disk, not ISO image.
Step 8: Disconnect Virtual Media
Once you have successfully installed the operating system, you can remove the Virtual Media Device as it is no longer required.
Click on the Virtual Media button on the top bar.
Now, click on the Disconnect Virtual Media button to disconnect. Click Yes if you get any confirmation prompt.
This will disconnect the Virtual Media Device and unmap the ISO image you had mapped.
Conclusion
Congratulations, you have installed a custom operating system of your choice on your Dedicated Server. In this tutorial, we have learned how to install a custom operating system on Snel Dedicated Server. We looked at how to upload the ISO file and boot from ISO file using the KVM console. We also looked at installing the OS using the KVM console and detaching the Virtual Media Device after the installation.
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