HP drive key boot utility for ProLiant servers Introduction......................................................................................................................................... 2 Replacement for the floppy drive ........................................................................................................... 2 BIOS support for USB devices ...............................................................................................................
Introduction The HP drive key boot utility is a Smart Component that can be downloaded from the HP website to create a bootable drive key. Some ProLiant servers support the ability to boot a drive key in the system BIOS. For those products, this Smart Component can also be used to make the drive key capable of flashing firmware or booting floppy images that already exist.
USB devices during installation. For more information on this and other related topics, refer to the USB ProLiant homepage. Usage for the drive key boot utility HP supports the use of a drive key as a premier method of transporting data, flashing firmware, and deploying operating systems. HP developed the drive key boot utility primarily to provide a newer method to maintain system firmware.
With the drive key boot utility, one of the primary features is the ability to flash and maintain system firmware. The drive key creates a boot environment and loads the offline ROM flash utility. By using this utility on a drive key, the user is able to control what firmware images are desired for flashing. Figure 2 shows how flashing firmware has transitioned from using floppy diskettes to using a drive key. Figure 2.
Running the application The application includes a series of menu screens that will prompt the user for input on how to format the drive key. A radio button will be selected on each page, by default, to guide the user on on HP recommendations. Insert the drive key and run the application by going to the extracted directory and running hpdkbu.exe. This is the drive key boot utility executable file, and will load the welcome screen shown in Figure 3. Click Next to go to the next screen. Figure 3.
From the Drive Letter dropdown menu, select the drive being used for the drive key. The drive letter you select refers to the drive that the running operating system has assigned to the drive key. Click Next. Figure 4. Select drive in use for drive key.
The Task screen allows the user to select what task they would like to perform using the drive key boot utility. There are three options: • Create New or Replace Existing Configuration: If this option is selected, the contents of the drive key will be completed erased, and you can select a checkbox item that will back up the contents on the drive key to a file.
The next screen is the Filesystem screen. The drive key does not have to be reformatted, but there are some operating systems that may not work properly with the filesystem that is on the drive key by default. For this reason, it is recommended that you select Create New Filesystem. After you make your selection, click Next. Figure 6.
The following menu provides the utility with information on drive geometry,and allows the user to select whether or not a partition is desired. The recommended path is to create a primary partition because this is the most compatible with the majority of operating systems. The user can also select not create a partition. This will allocate all available space on the key without creating a partition.
The following screen will prompt the user for what usage model they plan to use. There are two options: • HP Firmware Flash Package: This option will prepare the drive key for firmware flashing using the Offline ROM Flash utility as described in this document. This is the recommended usage for the boot utility. • Floppy Image: This option will add a floppy image and place it in the boot menu on the drive key. If this option is selected, the user will be required to provide the floppy to image.
If the previous steps were completed properly, the user will be prompted with a completion screen. Figure 9. Completion Screen The drive key is now capable of flashing firmware, but still requires offline ROM flash components from the HP website. Maintaining system firmware images To maintain system firmware images, run the application to make the drive key capable of flashing firmware. This will make the drive key bootable and install the application to flash firmware. Proceed to www.hp.
Once the drive key is bootable, capable of flashing firmware ,and the components are downloaded, the drive key can be inserted into the supported server. Power on the server and the utility will be loaded as shown in figure 10, below. By default, the area that shows “System ROM” (on figure 10, below), will display all firmware for which the utility finds a newer version and will also display the currently installed version.
Supported servers and devices All ProLiant servers do not support booting a USB drive key. Refer to the USB homepage for additional information on what servers support this functionality, and what minimum ROM is required for this support. The Offline ROM flash utility currently supports the ability to flash system BOIS, Integrated Lights-Out (iLo) firmware, Smart Array controllers, and hard drives. Other components may release components for offline firmware flash.
Additional Information Please refer to the USB home page at http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/platforms/usb-support.html for additional for additional information regarding USB support on HP ProLiant servers. © 2004 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services.
