Server Computer

FIRST General Forum
1

I know this is not where to ask this but I am also not sure where to ask this.

I have a Dell PowerEdge 6300 SCSI Server computer, donated to our team.

I need to know of a way to wipe every hard drive without destroying them
(I wish to still use the server)
I also need to know how to install a new Server OS

The main problem I keep running into is that it says there are no SCSI Bios, can someone help me with this problem?

2

You can use DBAN to zero fill the drive. Or buy a degausser.

You could probably use Ubuntu Server edition. They have pretty in depth directions for installing.

3

I have used DBAN on all 14 drives, I also have Ubuntu Server Edition 12.10 but the SCSI Bios keeps popping up not allowing me to install it. I think I am just doing something wrong, is the server computer supposed to run through how much data it can hold before it does anything each time you start it up?

4

Had a few 6350’s

First if it has not been running, update all of the bios’s to the lastest revisions. If I remember there are 3 of them, system bios, scsi bios, and maybe backplane bios. The all need to be flashed to the latest, or they will not play nice with each other.

2nd, see what controller the system has, and where the drives are connected to, again I think there are scsi built in that handles cd natively, adaptec that OS will recognize, but there is typically a raid controller, and you may need to set up the raid array in the raid bios screen at boot and initialize the array before you can install the os.

https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~brecht/servers/docs/PowerEdge-2600/en/Perc2si/introduc.htm

You should be able to find directions on dell site, but I think it was pretty straight forward, you have to hit “F12” or something when the scsi bios flashes on screen, then set up the drives in the controller card.

Hope it helps?

Also in my searches, win2003 said it has drivers for the perc/2 built in, so you do not have to do the floppy “F6” routine. Best to check what OS you are planning to load and see if it supports the raid controller natively.

5

Thank you for the info, also is there a place I can download the newest FIRMWARE and bios? so I can install them? or how can I update the bios?

6

Dell is very good about archiving SW updates. http://downloads.dell.com/Pages/Drivers/poweredge-6300.html