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Creating bootable media

You can create a new bootable image using one of the supported bootable media: ISO image, CD, DVD, USB flash drive, or PXE files.

Complete the following procedure to create bootable media.

  1. On a command line, enter the command name with no options to start the Bootable Media Creator wizard.
    The command name varies and is based on the operating system from which you are running the command. The following table lists the name of the command for each supported operating system. For more information about the supported operating systems, see Supported operating systems.
    Operating systemCommand name
    Microsoft Windowslnvgy_utl_lxce_bomcxxx_xx.x.x_windows_indiv.exe
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.X AMD64/EM64T and abovelnvgy_utl_lxce_bomcxxx_xx.x.x_linux_indiv.bin
    SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.X AMD64/EM64T and abovelnvgy_utl_lxce_bomcxxx_xx.x.x_linux_indiv.bin
  2. On the Welcome page, type a description in the Descriptive name field. The descriptive text is displayed on the screen when you use the bootable media.
  3. Click Next.
  4. On the Media Purpose page, complete these fields, and click Next:
    Updates
    Select this check box to bundle LXCE UpdateXpress and firmware updates for the targeted systems on the bootable media.
    Notes
    • If you create bootable media on a system that is the same machine type as the target system or a system that is in the supported systems list, the machine type is automatically highlighted and selected.
    • Updating firmware is performed using LXCE UpdateXpress.
    • This function updates only firmware. Device drivers must be updated separately.
    • IBM Intellistation Pro is no longer available or supported.
    Include firmware updates in the bootable media
    This option is displayed only if you have selected Deployment. By default, the Lenovo ServerGuide Setup and Installation CD includes only device driver updates. Select this check box to include firmware updates on the CD. The firmware updates are deployed after the operating system deployment has finished.
    Diagnostics
    Select this check box to bundle Dynamic System Analysis on the bootable media.
    Note
    This option is disabled if you select Deployment.
    Deployment
    Select this check box to create a Lenovo ServerGuide Setup and Installation CD. This option is disabled if you select Diagnostics.
    Create media to use a text-based (non-graphical) user interface
    Select this check box to start the tools in a text user interface. If this check box is not selected, the tools start in a graphical user interface. This option cannot be selected with Deployment.
  5. On the Acquire Location page, complete these fields, and then click Next:
    Check the Lenovo Web site
    Select this radio button to acquire the latest updates from the Lenovo Web site before creating the bootable media.
    UpdateXpress System Pack (UXSPs)
    This is preferred method to obtain updates.
    Select this radio button to acquire complete UpdateXpress System Packs. Each UpdateXpress System Pack contains an integration-tested bundle of online, firmware updates for each ThinkSystem, System x, and BladeCenter system.
    Latest available individual updates
    Select this option to acquire individual updates.
    Look in a local directory
    Select this option to acquire updates, tools, and boot environment from the local system. Type the fully qualified path and file name in the given field, or click the Browse to select the file.
  6. On the HTTP Proxy page, complete the following steps:
    1. Select a proxy option:
      Do not use proxy
      Select this option if you do not require an HTTP proxy server to connect to the Web.
      Use proxy
      Select this option if you require an HTTP proxy server to connect to the Web, and then complete these fields:
      Host name
      The host name, IP address, or domain name of the HTTP proxy server.
      Port
      The port number for the HTTP proxy server.
    2. If credentials must be specified to authenticate to the HTTP proxy server, select the Authenticate using the following credentials check box and enter the following credential information:
      User name
      The user name to use for authenticating to the HTTP proxy server.
      Password
      The password for the specified user name.
    3. To test the connection to the specified HTTP proxy server, click Test Connection.
  7. Click Next to go to the Targeted Systems page.
  8. On the Targeted Systems page, select one or more machine types that you want the bootable media to support and then click Next.
    Use Update List to update the system support list for all functions.

    Use Rollback to roll back to the original system support lists bundled with each function.

    Tips
    • Click Select All to select all machine types or click Unselect All to cancel to select all machine types.
    • You can manually add or delete machine types for Lenovo systems using the Add or Delete button.
    • If a function is not supported by a system, selection of the unsupported function is disabled for that system.
    • To add support for new systems or updates released after the current version of the Bootable Media Creator, use Update List to update the support list from the Lenovo Web site.
  9. On the Target Directory page, specify the directory where you want to store the downloaded files.
  10. Click Next. On the Media Format page, specify the format to use for the bootable media.
    • To create an ISO image:
      1. For Device type, select CD/DVD.
      2. Select Write to image file and then type the fully qualified path and file name for the ISO image in the given field.
        Note
        To copy all update packages to system memory before update starts, select Copy payloads to system memory.
    • To create a USB flash drive:
      1. For Device type, select USB.
      2. Select Write directly to device to write the bootable medium to the specified USB flash drive.
      3. For Disk, select the letter associated with the USB flash drive for Windows (such as E:) or the device name for Linux (such as /dev/sdb).
    • To create PXE files:
      1. For Device type, select PXE.
      2. For PXE TFTP server address, specify the IP address of the TFTP server to use for PXE boot.
      3. For Directory to write PXE files to, select the fully qualified path or click Browse to select the path where you want to write the PXE files in the given field.
  11. Click Next.
    If you selected Update functions on the Media Purpose page, the Unattended Mode Configuration page is displayed. Complete the following applicable fields:
    Reboot BMC after updating BMC firmware automatically
    Do not use unattended mode
    Select this radio button to disable unattended mode.
    Use unattended mode
    Select this radio button to enable unattended updates. If you select this option you must complete the following additional fields:
    Upload log files to:
    Use this list to choose where to place the log files when unattended updates are complete. Your choices are:
    • TFTP Server
    • FTP Server
    • NFS Share
    • Samba Server
    • USB Drive
    • SFTP Server
    Note
    1. To upload log files to a TFTP, FTP, Samba, or SFTP server, or to an NFS share, the directory where the files are to be uploaded must already exist (it will not be created as part of the upload process), and it must allow anonymous access.
    2. To upload the unattended log package to the specified location, you must ensure that you can perform the following actions, if you are using the Rhel6.4 x86-64 operating system environment:
      • For Samba shares: mount -t cifs //$address/$directory $mount_point -o user=anonymous, password=anonymous
      • For NFS shares: mount -t nfs $address:$directory $mount_point
      • For FTP and TFTP uploads, ensure that the local file can be uploaded to the address and directory specified in the FTP or TFTP command.
    3. Considering the security, users should input the credential of the FTP/Samba/SFTP server in the unattended mode.
    Server Address
    The address of the server where the log files will be loaded.
    Save to directory
    The directory where the logs are saved.
    Action after update is completed.
    Your choices are:

    • Shutdown

    • No action

    • Reboot

  12. On the Confirm Choices page, review the configuration information you provided for creating the bootable media.
  13. Optional: Click Save to save this configuration information to a file, which you can import into this tool to recreate this bootable media at a later time.
  14. On the Update Selection page, select the packages to be updated.
    Note
    To filter the packages, select Group by Machine Type/Group by category/All Updates, or search the target machine in the search box.
  15. Click Next.

    The Creation Progress page is displayed. Bootable Media Creator acquires UpdateXpress System Pack updates, Update tool and Maintenance Mode OS, additionally acquires Dynamic System Analysisand Advance System Utility if System X server and FULL function are selected on the Media Purpose page, and then creates the bootable media. A progress bar indicates that the acquisition and creation are in progress and shows the percentage of progress.

    To create a new USBKey, you can select an existing USBKey, and click Create Again. The same USBKey will be created.

  16. When the bootable media is finished, click Next.
    Note
    You can also copy and run the commands generated in Step 15.
  17. Click Finish.
Related concepts
Related reference