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DELL (TM) DIAGNOSTIC DISTRIBUTION PACKAGE FOR MICROSOFT(R) WINDOWS(R)
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This readme file contains information about the Diagnostic Distribution
Package (DDDP) for Dell PowerEdge(TM) and Dell PowerVault(TM)
systems running Microsoft Windows operating systems.
The Diagnostic Distribution Package offers new levels of ease and
flexibility for creating bootable media for running diagnostics
outside of the customer operating system.
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CONTENTS
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* CRITICALITY
* MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
* USAGE
* KNOWN ISSUES
* ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
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CRITICALITY
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Optional
Dell recommends that the customer review specifics about the update to
determine if it applies to your system. The update contains changes
that impact only certain configurations, or provides new features that
may/may not apply to your environment.
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MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
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These DDDPs support Dell systems running the following Windows operating
systems:
* Windows 2000 Server (includes Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000
Advanced Server) SP1 or later, and Windows Small Business Server
[SBS] 2000, SP1 or later.
* Windows Server(TM) 2003 (includes Web, Standard, and Enterprise
Editions) and Windows SBS 2003.
* Windows Server 2003 for 64-bit Extended Systems (Standard and
Enterprise)
* Windows XP (Professional Edition), SP1 or later.
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USAGE
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The DDDP application will start automatically after all files are
extracted and when the diagnostic package which was downloaded from the
Dell support website is executed. You can restart just the distribution
package by running "DDDP.exe" in the folder where the download package
extracted the files. When the application starts, a dialog box is
displayed where you can choose the media type to be created. Supported
media types include: USB flash drives, diskettes, CDs, and a bootable
hard-drive image that can be used as a Preboot Execution Environment
(PXE) boot image. Details for each media type are presented in the
sections that follow. Note that in order to boot the media you create,
you may need to change the boot sequence for your computer so that
the media type you create is first in the boot sequence. See the
User Guide for your system for more information on changing the boot
sequence.
Install to a USB Flash Drive
Selecting this option will bring up a dialog box where you can select
a USB flash drive to install the diagnostics from a drop-down list box.
Flash drives can be hot plugged and will automatically be detected and
added to the list without the need to restart the DDDP application. The
drop-down list includes the drive letter (if assigned) in parentheses
followed by the volume name in brackets "[]" followed by the size and
description of the flash drive.
Selecting the "Cancel" button will return to the main window and nothing
will be written to the flash drive. Selecting "OK" will cause the flash
drive to be reformatted to make it bootable, and the diagnostic files will
be copied to it. All data that is already on the flash drive WILL BE
ERASED.
Local administrator rights are necessary to create a bootable flash
drive from DDDP. Only flash drives up to 2 GB in size are supported by
DDDP. Boot functionality has been tested with Dell-branded USB flash
drives on x8xx (and later) systems and also on PowerEdge 700 and 750
systems. Other flash drive products may or may not work correctly even
if DDDP can successfully write the image to them.
Create a Bootable Diskette Set
Only 1.44 MB diskettes are supported by this option. Drives supporting
1.44 MB diskettes may be selected by a drop-down list box. USB diskette
drives can be hot plugged and will automatically be detected and added
to the list without the need to restart the DDDP application.
If the user clicks "Cancel", nothing will be written to the diskette drive
and the application will return to the main window. If the user clicks
"OK", then the "Diskette x of y" dialog will be displayed.
This dialog will be updated for each diskette in the set to indicate the
current diskette number and the total number of diskettes in the set. You
may click the "Cancel" button to return to the main DDDP window if you
want to abort the operation. After "OK" is clicked, the diskette will be
formatted and the diagnostic files will be copied to it. All existing data
on the diskettes used WILL BE ERASED.
Create a Bootable CD
By default, this option will write an ISO image file to a user-selectable
location. The full path to the file can be entered directly in the edit
box at the bottom of the dialog, or the user can select the "..." button
to bring up a dialog box to select the location and the filename to use.
Once created, the ISO image can be used along with commercial CD creation
software to burn a CD or it may be used with Dell Remote Access Cards
(DRAC4/DRAC5) for remote booting through the DRAC.
The user also has the option of burning a CD-R or CD-RW media directly
from the DDDP application by clicking the "Burn Image..." check box.
The checkbox will be grayed out if the system does not have a drive
capable of burning CD-R or CD-RW media. Other media types are not
supported by the application.
If the user clicks the "Cancel" button, then the image file or CD will
not be created, and the application will return to the main window. If
the user clicks "OK", then the image file will be saved to the filename
and location selected. Or, if the "Burn Image..." check box has been
checked, then the "Burn CD" dialog will be displayed.
From the "Burn CD..." dialog, you can select a CD recorder to use to
create the CD from a drop-down list box. After the user selects OK, the
CD will be erased, if needed, and if the media type is CD-RW. After that,
the diagnostic data will be copied to the CD. This option only supports
CD-R and CD-RW media. The user must have a drive capable of writing to
one or both of these media types.
The capability of burning a CD directly from DDDP is not intended to
support a wide variety of different CD burners and configurations. If
the direct burn capability does not work in a particular hardware
configuration, then it is best to create an ISO image and use commercial
CD creation software to burn the image to a CD.
Local administrator rights are necessary to burn a CD directly from DDDP.
Create a Bootable Image
When this option is selected, a dialog box will appear so that the
location and name of the image file can be selected. The full path to
the image file can be entered directly in the edit box at the bottom of
the dialog or you may select the "..." button to bring up a dialog box
to select the location and the filename to use. Depending on your needs
you may also select whether a hard drive or diskette image will be
created.
If you click the "Cancel" button, then the image file will not be written
and the application will return to the main window. If you click "OK",
then the image file will be saved in the filename and location selected.
An image created by this option can be used as a PXE boot image or for
remote booting via a Dell Remote Access Card (DRAC 5 only), you must use
the diskette option. The Hard Drive option will not create a bootable
image that can be uploaded to the virtual flash drive. The files will be
visible but the drive will not boot correctly. You can however run DDDP
on the server with the DRAC 5 and create a bootable virtual flash drive
using the "Install to USB Flash Drive" option. DRAC4 does not support
bootable images created with this option instead try the bootable CD or
ISO image type instead. See the DRAC documentation for additional
information regarding the use of these features.
Use of the resulting image to PXE boot into the diagnostics requires
additional software and network infrastructure including a TFTP server,
a DHCP server, and a boot loader capable of network booting. Specific
instructions about how to do so on your network are beyond the scope
of this readme file. However, a high-level overview of the steps to set
this up using the pxelinux boot loader is described below. Consult your
documentation or contact your local network administrator for additional
information. The resulting image from this package may not be compatible
with all PXE configurations.
Pxelinux (http://syslinux.zytor.com) is one example of an open source
boot loader capable of booting DOS boot images. If you already have a
TFTP server and a DHCP server configured on your network, you can easily
use pxelinux to boot the hard-drive image created by DDDP. The basic
steps to perform this task are as follows:
1. Download the SYSLINUX package.
2. On the TFTP server, create the directory "/tftpboot" and copy the
files "pxelinux.0" and "memdisk" (from the SYSLINUX distribution) to
that directory.
3. Using the DDDP application, create a HDD image file called "diags.img"
and copy it to the "/tftpboot" directory.
4. Create a directory called "/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg" on the TFTP server.
In that directory, create an empty text file called "default" (with no
extension) and add the following text to the file:
DEFAULT diagnostics
LABEL diagnostics
kernel memdisk
append initrd=diags.img
5. Consult the documentation for your DHCP server and configure the
following scope options:
043 Vendor Specific Info 01 04 00 00 00 00 ff
066 Boot Server Host Name <Enter the IP address of your
TFTP server>
067 Bootfile Name pxelinux.0
You may also need to configure the following additional options:
013 Boot File Size <Take the size in bytes of the
pxelinux.o file / 512 and put
the resulting number here>
060 ClassID PXEClient
PXE booting should now be enabled. Try booting a client and selecting
the boot time option to PXE boot (usually F12) and the system should
boot to the diagnostic image. Note that the network interface on the
system has to be set to "Enabled with PXE" in order to PXE boot. In
the case of built-in network adapters, this option is configured in
BIOS setup.
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KNOWN ISSUES/LIMITATIONS
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1. Local administrator access is required to create bootable USB flash
drives and to burn CD media from within the DDDP application. You
can still create an ISO image of a bootable CD and burn that image
from commercial CD creation software to create a bootable CD.
2. Diskettes and diskette images take a long time to boot. Dell recomends
that you use one of the other media types when running diagnostics.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
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See the Dell Support website at "support.dell.com" for the most
current information.
==========================================================================
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
Copyright (C) 2005-2006 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission
of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text: "Dell", "PowerEdge", and "PowerVault"
are trademarks of Dell Inc.; "Windows Server" is a trademark and
"Microsoft" and "Windows" are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation.
Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer
to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products.
Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade
names other than its own.
June 2006
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.