How to Load Custom ISO to a Bare Metal Server?

From this article, you will know how to load Custom ISO at a dedicated server.

IMPORTANT! To install a custom OS, you need to have JAVA installed on your computer.

You also need to download a custom OS to your computer. If you want to download a Linux distribution OS, you can use this link.

In this example, we will use CentOS 8 as our custom OS.

STEP 1. First, access the dedicated server IPMI to install a custom OS.

1. Go to Terminal > Bare Metal > Dedicated Servers > your server.

2. Click Virtual Console.

3. Click the link to open a new window and use the provided Username and Password to log in.

4. Next, open the virtual console. Check if the power is on. If it is not, click Power On (it might take a few seconds to load).

5. Click on the Remote Console Preview black screen to open the virtual console. Note that the black screen might be white. Regardless, the action will work the same.

6. Once the file named launch.jnlp is downloaded, the browser will ask if you want to keep or discard the file. Choose to keep and then open the file.

STEP 2. Next, you need to mount your custom OS.

1. Once the virtual console is open, click Virtual Media > Virtual Storage.

2. Open the Logical Drive Type menu and select ISO File.

3. Click Open Image.

4. Find the downloaded custom OS file, select it and click Open.

5. Click Plug in and if the connection status states Device1: VM Plug-In OK!!, click OK.

STEP 3. Once you mount your custom OS successfully, you need to restart the server to start a new installation.

1. Click Power Control > Set Power Reset.

2. While the server is restarting, keep pressing the F11 button on the keyboard until you access the Please select boot device menu.

NOTE: If you do not have a keyboard or the Remote Console fails to detect your keyboard input, you can use a virtual keyboard (Virtual Media > Virtual Keyboard).

3. Use arrow keys on the keyboard to select ATEN Virtual CDROM YSOJ and press the Enter key.

4. Follow the on-screen instructions to continue the installation process.

STEP 4. Once you select Install CentOS Linux 8, the installation process begins.

ATTENTION! After the last window, you will see a black window. It might take 5-10 minutes, depending on the server location and Internet speed, until the next interactive screen appears. Please wait patiently.

While the necessary software is being loaded, you do not need to do anything. When the black screen changes to an interactive screen with the CentOS logo, you can select the basic CentOS installation settings. It is recommended that you configure the network card and set a root password.

NOTE: If you do not configure your network card, you can do it later using the Network card configuration guide.

ATTENTION! While using the virtual console/JAVA window, do NOT close the IPMI browser window as that will close the console itself.

Once the installation is completed, we recommend unmounting the Custom ISO image and then rebooting the server.