Apple Xserve User Manual

							Xserve Verification of Basic Services - 4
 How to Discover Xserve on Your Network
How to Discover Xserve on 
Your Network
Follow the steps outlined below to remotely administer Xserve.
Note: This procedure veriÞes basic connectivity to Xserve, which can help isolate 
hardware versus software issues. 
Preliminary Steps
Make sure that you are doing these steps on an Admin computer with Mac OS X 10.1.5 
Server or Mac OS X 10.1.5 remote admin utilities. You must be logged in to that computer 
with an Admin account. Also, make sure that the server you want to remotely discover is 
started up from the Installer CD. 
Procedure
Option A 
If you already know your Xserves IP address you can quickly verify network connectivity 
by using the following command from a remote admin system using the Terminal 
application: 
ping 17.XXX.XXX.XXX (the X characters represent numerical IP addresses) 
Or
ping  
Your domain extension will resemble something like: .com, .edu, .org 
Option B 
If you wish to automatically discover your Xserve using the Server Assistant, follow these 
steps:
1. Open Server Assistant from a remote admin computer. 
2. Select the Install Mac OS X Server Software option. The Remote installation 
screen appears. All Xserve computers on the same TCP/IP subnet appear in a list 
format. 
3. Select the appropriate Xserve. 
						

							5 - Xserve Verification of Basic Services
 How to Discover Xserve on Your Network Note: To continue, the Þrst 8 characters of the Xserve serial number are required to 
authenticate. The password is case-sensitive. If you encounter difÞculty using this 
password please see technical document 61644: Xserve: Initial Password Is Case 
Sensitive. 
Option C 
As an alternative to using Server Assistant, the following procedure may be performed 
using the Terminal application.
1. Open the Terminal application on the Admin computer. 
2. Type: cd/System/Library/ServerSetup 
3. Press Return. 
4. Type: ./sa_srchr 224.0.0.1 
5. Press Return. 
6. Verify that Xserve shows its correct IP address, hardware (MAC) address, and DNS 
name (if applicable).  
						

							Xserve Verification of Basic Services - 6
 How to Check for Local Hard Drive Issues
How to Check for Local Hard 
Drive Issues
Follow the steps outlined below if you suspect issues with Xserves hard disk, and you 
have physical access to the server.
Preliminary Steps
In order to follow these steps, you must have physical access to Xserve. You cannot 
perform this procedure remotely. A keyboard and monitor must be connected to the server 
before you begin. If you wish to check the startup disk (or volume), you must start up 
Xserve from its Installation CD Þrst, then open Disk Utility from the Þrst Installation screen.
Procedure
1. Log in to Xserve using the connected keyboard and monitor.
2. Open Disk First Aid, which is located in /Applications/Utilities.
3. Select the volume you wish to examine.
 Note: You cannot select the startup volume unless you started up the server from 
the Installation CD.
4. Click Verify to check the disk.
5.  If there were any issues found by Disk First Aid, answer y to any prompts presented.
6.  Repeat steps 4 and 5 until no issues are reported. If Disk First Aid reports the same 
error(s) after repeating the process, you should reformat the hard disk.
Warning: Reformatting or reinitializing the hard disk erases all information stored on it. 
Make sure you have a backup of all Þles you may have created and any preinstalled 
software that came with Xserve. 
						

							7 - Xserve Verification of Basic Services
 How to Remotely Check for Hard Drive Issues
How to Remotely Check for 
Hard Drive Issues
Follow the steps outlined below if you suspect issues with Xserves hard disk, and you do 
not have physical access to the server.
Preliminary Steps
You must have the servers IP address and Admin (or root) password before performing 
this procedure. Xserves default password is the Þrst 8 characters of its serial number.
Procedure
1.  Log in to Xserve.
2.  Type: mount
3. Press Return. A list of volumes that are available to the Þle system appears. Look for 
the volume that is at the root level /. This is the servers startup volume, or 
/dev/rdisk0s10.
4. Type: fsck_hsf -n 
 For example: fsck_hsf -n /dev/rdisk0s10
5. Press Return. A Þle system check is performed. This is basically the equivalent of 
using Disk First Aid.
6. If fsck Þnds any issues, type y to continue.
7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 until fsck Þnds no errors. If fsck reports the same error(s) 
after repeating the process, you should reformat the hard disk.
Warning: Reformatting or reinitializing the hard disk erases all information stored on it. 
Make sure you have a backup of all Þles you may have created and any preinstalled 
software that came with Xserve 
						

							Xserve Verification of Basic Services - 8
 How to Erase (Reformat) a Local Xserve Hard Drive
How to Erase (Reformat) a Local 
Xserve Hard Drive
Follow the steps outlined below if you wish to reformat Xserves hard disk and you have 
physical access to the server.
Preliminary Steps
In order to follow these steps, you must have physical access to Xserve. You cannot 
perform this procedure remotely. A keyboard and monitor must be connected to the server 
before you begin.
Procedure
1. Start up Xserve from the Installation CD Þrst and open Disk Utility from the Þrst 
Installation screen.
2. Click the Erase tab from the Disk Utility screen.
3. Select appropriate options from this screen and click OK to begin reformatting the 
hard disk.
Warning: Reformatting or reinitializing the hard disk erases all information stored on it. 
Make sure you have a backup of all Þles you may have created and any preinstalled 
software that came with Xserve. 
						

							9 - Xserve Verification of Basic Services
 How to Remotely Erase (Reformat) a Hard Drive
How to Remotely Erase 
(Reformat) a Hard Drive
Follow the steps outlined below if you wish to reformat Xserves hard disk, and you do not 
have physical access to the server.
Preliminary Steps
You must have the servers IP address and Admin (or root) password before performing 
this procedure. Xserves default password is the Þrst 8 characters of its serial number.
Procedure
1. Log in to Xserve.
2. Type: mount
3. Press Return. A list of volumes that are available to the Þle system appears. Look for 
the volume that is at the root level /. This is the servers startup volume, or /dev/
rdisk0s10. Note: You cannot reformat the startup volume.
4. Type: umount 
For example: umount Scratch
5. Press Return. This makes the volume unavailable to the Þle system, or unmounts it, 
which is required prior to reformatting it.
6.  Type: newfs_hfs -v  
For example: newfs_hfs -v Scratch /dev/disk0s11
7. Press Return. The disk is reformatted.
8. Type: shutdown -r now
9. Press Return. Xserver restarts.
Warning: Reformatting or reinitializing the hard disk erases all information stored on it. 
Make sure you have a backup of all Þles you may have created and any preinstalled 
software that came with Xserve. 
						

							Xserve Verification of Basic Services - 10
 How to Verify Xserve Is Accepting Connections
How to Verify Xserve Is 
Accepting Connections
There are several methods for determining if Xserve has successfully started up and is 
providing basic services. Using a terminal connection to accomplish this task provides the 
most ßexibility. 
Note: You will not be able to perform this procedure if the Xserve is not fully started up. 
Preliminary Steps
You must have the IP address and an Admin (or root) password of the server you wish to 
start up before performing this procedure.
Procedure
1. At the Admin computer, type the following command:
 ssh @ 
2. You should be presented with a password prompt. At this prompt, type the admin 
password. The Xserves default password is the Þrst 8 characters of the Xserves 
serial number, and is case sensitive. 
3. The following should appear if you have logged in correctly:
Welcome To Darwin!
:~] admin% 
4. To determine if any additional drives are available to the Þle system, at the command 
prompt type: df 
5. To verify more information about the Xserves volumes, including which volume the 
Xserve was actually started up from, open Apple System ProÞler from the Terminal 
application by typing: AppleSystemProfiler | grep boot
You may also run Apple System ProÞler with no options for a complete report of the 
Xserve system conÞguration information.  
						

							11 - Xserve Verification of Basic Services
 How to Connect Using Server Monitor
How to Connect Using Server 
Monitor
Follow the steps outlined below any time you need to verify that you can remotely 
administer Xserve. 
Prelimary Steps
You must have the IP address and an Admin (or root) password of the Xserve you wish to 
start up before performing this procedure.
Note: Xserves default password is the Þrst 8 characters of its serial number. 
Procedure
1. From the Admin computer, open Server Monitor (/Applications/Utilities). 
2. A list of all Xserve servers that have been previously added by Server Monitor 
appears. 
3. Locate the Xserve you wish to administer from the list. 
4. If the Xserve you wish to administer appears in the list, select it, then click the 
appropriate tab at the bottom of Server Monitor. 
5. If the Xserve you wish to administer does not appear, then click Add Server. Type the 
IP address, login name, and password for the Xserve server. The server should 
appear in the list. If it does not appear, you may have network or hardware issues. 
6. Use the tabs at the bottom of the Server Monitor window to check status of Xserves 
various systems.
Note: If the logic board has been replaced, see technical document 106924: ÒXserve: How 
to Remotely Install Mac OS X Server After Logic Board Replacement.Ó 
						

							Xserve Verification of Basic Services - 12
 How to Start up the Server Using an External Drive
How to Start up the Server Using 
an External Drive
Starting up Xserve from an external drive is useful when you need to run diagnostics or 
isolate internal CD-ROM drive issues.
Preliminary Steps
In order to start up the server from an external drive, you must have:
¥ another FireWire drive or system, such as an external FireWire hard drive, or a 
Macintosh computer that is capable of starting up using Target Disk Mode (for 
example a PowerBook or iBook) 
¥ a version of Xserve software (Mac OS X Server 10.1.5) capable of starting up Xserve 
already installed on the external drive
¥  a keyboard and display connected to server
¥ physical access to the server
¥ a keyboard to locally select a volume
Procedure for Local External Drive
1.  Make sure that Xserve is turned off.
2. Connect a FireWire cable between the external FireWire drive or computer and 
Xserve. 
3. Hold down the T key on the keyboard of the external FireWire-capable computer 
while it starts up to put it into FireWire Target Disk Mode.
4. Turn on Xserve while holding down the Option key on Xserves keyboard. The Startup 
Manager appears.
5. Select the appropriate drive you wish to start up from in the Startup Manager window, 
and then click the right arrow button.
6.  Xserve should start up to the external FireWire drive or computer.
Procedure for Remote External Drive
1. Open the Terminal application on a remote computer.
2. Log in as an Admin user on the Xserve. 
						

							13 - Xserve Verification of Basic Services
 How to Start up the Server Using an External Drive 3. Type: bless -folder /Volumes/