SOLVED headless install, no kb, no mon, only serial - how?

[deltona]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to install FreeNas 8 on a headless server and am struggling trying to make it work.

The server is headless, no keyboard, no monitor. it has an onboard gpu but no vga port. all I have for connectivity is a serial port.

Alternatives? yes, solder a vga port to the mbd but i'd rather not for several reasons.

So, right now I'm stuck at the menu. If you're wondering how I got this far, I made a bootable 2GB USB drive and luckily, the server is already configured to boot from removable media first.

My question is if headless install over serial console is supported. If so, what changes are required?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

you can flash an image onto the usb and just plug it in. I've never done it that way, but I know it's possible.

 

[deltona]

Hi there,

That is what i did. I'm stuck at the menu and can't continue because there is no tty, serial console for the installation. I take it that's because the next step is launched in a GUI.

 

[raulfg3]

Use an old & cheap VGA ( PCI or PCI-e depending of your free Slot), use it to do the first config and enable serial console in menu, next boot try to work whitout VGA and Try the serial console , please tell us if works ( i don't know anybody doing it before).

 

[deltona]

there are no slots on the mbd...

 

[raulfg3]

I'm not sure that this works, but , try it....

Install on other PC that have monitor & keyboard, Enable "use serial console" see manual here: http://www.freenas.org/images/resources/freenas8.0.3/freenas8.0.3_guide.html point 4.2b)

shutdown, insert USB key on headless PC, perhaps can boot and works ( if dosen't boot at least do not lose anything).

 

[deltona]

Thanks, that seems to have worked. What i did was boot the USB on my desktop then opened the DHCP address i got in FreeNAS in a browser on my laptop. From there i went into Settings > Advanced and checked "Use Serial Console".
I then shutdown the desktop from withing FreeNas' web console, took out the USB, plugged it into the server and booted it. At first it didn't seem to work but then i thought FreeNas may be using another serial console speed, maybe 9600 instead of the default 115200 configured on the console. Well, i then closed the putty session, started a new one with 9600 speed and i can now see the Console Setup :) However, there is not install option in there.

It's all conf parameters for:

1. Configure Network Interfaces
2. Configure Link Aggregation
3. Create VLAN Interface
4. Configure Default Route
5. Configure Static Route
6. Configure DNS
7. Reset WebGUI login credentials
8. Reset to factory defaults
9. Shell
10. Reboot
11. Shutdown

The previous menu i saw earlier before enabling serial console allowed me to see another menu, one that displayed installation options? I can't seem to get that one back.
Anyway, thanks for the super tip, it got one step closer to getting FreeNas installed on a system that was going to be trashed. All i need now is to figure out how to install (not run) to local disk using shell and also, changing the serial console speed to be the same as the server port. If i manage to get these two right then i could put some out of service servers to good use!

 

[William Grzybowski]

You don't install freenas, it is just "decompress the image on a bootable disk and start using it" kind of thing.
The partition tables are pre-defined.

 

[deltona]

What happens when the USB disk dies? I am not willing to take that chance. I'd rather install it onto a set of disks RAIDed into 5. I read somewhere that you actually can install it onto disks but that can only take place via the installer GUI.
By the way, the system i am installing FreeNas on is this one:

The 1U array has 4 disks. It was my plan to install FreeNas on disk, that way i also have some sort of redundancy. I hope it can be done...

 

[William Grzybowski]

Currently FreeNAS cannot be installed in a raid...

But FreeNAS runs pretty much on RAM, you probably would not notice until reboot...
What people do is regularly save the configuration database and have a spare usb key around to swap...

 

[deltona]

Got it, thanks!

I think i'll use the suggested setup. Glad that I got it running to begin with.
This really should be put in the FAQ for other people trying to run FreeNas on headless systems, putting life back into out of service/maintenance hardware.

 

[William Grzybowski]

Got it, thanks!

I think i'll use the suggested setup. Glad that I got it running to begin with.
This really should be put in the FAQ for other people trying to run FreeNas on headless systems, putting life back into out of service/maintenance hardware.

Your could write the steps you took and your experience in the wiki, anyone can edit it. I think a lot of people could benefit from it.

 

[deltona]

Done :) It should be posted in the Wiki shortly.