Typical  operating  system  installation 
The  ServerGuide  program  can  reduce  the  time  it  takes  to  install  an  operating 
system.  It  provides  the  device  drivers  that  are  required  for  your  hardware  and  for 
the  operating  system  that  you  are  installing.  This  section  describes  a  typical 
ServerGuide  operating-system  installation. 
Note:  Features  and  functions  can  vary  slightly  with  different  versions  of  the 
ServerGuide  program. 
1.  After  you  have  completed  the  setup  process,  the  operating-system  installation 
program  starts.  (You  will  need  your  operating-system  CD  to  complete  the 
installation.) 
2.  The  ServerGuide  program  stores  information  about  the  server  model,  service 
processor,  hard  disk  drive  controllers,  and  network  adapters.  Then,  the  program 
checks  the  CD  for  newer  device  drivers.  This  information  is  stored  and  then 
passed  to  the  operating-system  installation  program. 
3.  The  ServerGuide  program  prompts  you  to  insert  your  operating-system  CD  and 
restart  the  server.  At  this  point,  the  installation  program  for  the  operating  system 
takes  control  to  complete  the  installation.
Installing  your  operating  system  without  ServerGuide 
If  you  have  already  configured  the  server  hardware  and  you  are  not  using  the 
ServerGuide  program  to  install  your  operating  system,  complete  the  following  steps 
to  download  the  latest  operating-system  installation  instructions  from  the  IBM  Web 
site. 
Note:  Changes  are  made  periodically  to  the  IBM  Web  site.  The  actual  procedure 
might  vary  slightly  from  what  is  described  in  this  document. 
1.  Go  to  http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/. 
2.  Under  Product  support,  click  System  x. 
3.  From  the  menu  on  the  left  side  of  the  page,  click  System  x  support  search. 
4.  From  the  Task  menu,  select  Install. 
5.  From  the  Product  family  menu,  select  System  x3500. 
6.  From  the  Operating  system  menu,  select  your  operating  system,  and  then  click 
Search  to  display  the  available  installation  documents.
Using  the  baseboard  management  controller 
The  baseboard  management  controller  provides  environmental  monitoring  for  the 
server.  If  environmental  conditions  exceed  thresholds  or  if  system  components  fail, 
the  baseboard  management  controller  lights  LEDs  to  help  you  diagnose  the 
problem  and  also  records  the  error  in  the  system  event/error  log. 
The  baseboard  management  controller  also  provides  the  following  remote  server 
management  capabilities  through  the  OSA  SMBridge  management  utility  program: 
v  Command-line  interface  (IPMI  Shell) 
The  command-line  interface  provides  direct  access  to  server  management 
functions  through  the  IPMI  protocol.  Use  the  command-line  interface  to  issue 
commands  to  control  the  server  power,  view  system  information,  and  identify  the 
server.  You  can  also  save  one  or  more  commands  as  a  text  file  and  run  the  file 
as  a  script. 
v  Serial  over  LAN 
 
Chapter  3.  Configuring  the  server  57