Transferring Software ISOs to the Standby OS

To install the system software, at a minimum, you need the Automated Uptime Layer with Smart Exchange ISO and the VMware ESXi ISO.

The Automated Uptime Layer with Smart Exchange ISO is already preloaded into the Standby OS at the factory. To download the ESXi ISO, follow the instructions in Downloading VMware ESXi and VMware vSphere Software Components, and copy the ESXi ISO file to a USB storage device, such as a USB stick or portable hard drive.

After preparing a USB device that contains the ESXi ISO, mount the device in the Standby OS on compute module B and optionally copy the file into the Standby OS as described in the following procedures. You might want to copy the ESXi ISO into the Standby OS to expedite the installation process or to keep it available for troubleshooting purposes.

Notice: Use a known brand of USB device to ensure a successful software installation. For example, Stratus has successfully tested software installation with SanDisk® brand devices.

To mount a USB storage device in the Standby OS on compute module B

  1. Using the keyboard connected to compute module B, log on to the Standby OS as the zenadmin user with the default password zenadmin (or other credentials, if provided).

  2. Connect the USB device to one of the USB 3.0 ports on compute module B. To locate the USB 3.0 ports, see System Ports.

    Notice: Do not connect the USB device to the USB 2.0 port on the control-panel earClosed A module located at the front right of the ztC Endurance system. It houses a USB 2.0 port, power button for the ztC Endurance system, and LEDs that indicate system power status (PWR), fault conditions (ATTN), and module identification status (UID)..

  3. Run commands similar to those in the following example to:

    • Determine the device name of the USB device

    • Create a directory as a mount point, and mount the device

    • List the contents of the USB device to confirm that the ESXi ISO is present.

$ dmesg | tail -20
.
.
Vendor: Generic   Model: STORAGE DEVICE    Rev: 1033
Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 00
SCSI device sdb: 512000 512-byte hdwr sectors (262 MB)
sdb: Write Protect is off
sdb: Mode Sense: 02 00 00 00
sdb: assuming drive cache: write through
SCSI device sdb: 512000 512-byte hdwr sectors (262 MB)
sdb: Write Protect is off
sdb: Mode Sense: 02 00 00 00
sdb: assuming drive cache: write through
sdb: sdb1
sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sdb
sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
usb-storage: device scan complete
.
.
$ mkdir /mnt/usb
$ mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb

$ ls /mnt/usb
VMware-VMvisor-Installer-n.n-nnnnnnnn.x86_64.iso

To copy the ESXi ISO file to the Standby OS on compute module B

Run commands similar to those in the following example to:

  • Copy the ESXi ISO into the /opt/stratus/install directory on the Standby OS.

  • Confirm that the ISO is present in that directory. (Note that the following example shows only the ESXi ISO file, although the directory contains other files.)

  • Unmount the USB device so that you can safely disconnect it from the compute module.

$ sudo cp /mnt/usb/VMware-VMvisor-Installer-n.n-nnnnnnnn.x86_64.iso /opt/stratus/install

$ ls /opt/stratus/install
VMware-VMvisor-Installer-n.n-nnnnnnnn.x86_64.iso  
$ sudo umount /mnt/usb