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Install the OS manually
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Install the OS manually

It is possible to install the OS manually:

When installing the OS manually from pre-prepared Selectel iso-images, you can randomly partition disks and install the OS on any disk. If this is not needed, we recommend install OS by autoinstall.

After installing the OS manually, configure the network interface on the server and synchronize the time with an external NTP server. Additional OS settings depend on the configuration of the image you are installing.

Install the OS from your image⁠

A script is used to install the OS from its image. It downloads the OS image to the server, starts the VNC server, and initiates the OS installation process.

  1. Install a VNC client (TightVNC, RealVNC, etc.) on the local computer.

  2. Copy the URL of the OS image you are going to install. Make sure that the image is hosted on a publicly available resource and that the image size in GB is smaller than the server RAM by at least 2 GB.

    In order to upload your image faster, we recommend placing your image in Selectel object storage.

  3. In Control Panel, go to Servers and Hardware → Servers.

  4. Open the server page → Operating System tab.

  5. Click Change Upload Template.

  6. In the Boot Template field, select Boot to Rescue.

  7. Click Save and Reload. The server will be rebooted.

  8. Open the command line interface. On a local Windows computer, use PowerShell.

  9. Connect to the server via SSH by forwarding the standard port for VNC — 5900:

    ssh -L 5900:localhost:5900 root@<ip_address>

    Specify <ip_address> — the public IP address of the server. You can look in Control Panel under Servers and Hardware → Servers → Server page → Operating System tab → IP field.

  10. Run the qemu-iso script. It will upload the installation files to the server, start the VNC server and initiate the OS installation process:

    qemu-iso <url>

    Specify <url> is the path to the image you copied in step 2.

  11. Wait for a message that the OS image has been uploaded to the server and the VNC server is running:

    VM has been created!

  12. Open the VNC client on the local computer.

  13. Connect to the server. The connection process depends on the selected VNC client. Parameters for connection:

    • The ip address of the server with the standard port for connection is localhost:5900;
    • password — leave the field blank.

  14. Go through all the steps of installing the OS.

  15. In Control Panel, go to Servers and Hardware → Servers.

  16. Open the server page → Operating System tab.

  17. Click Change Upload Template.

  18. In the Boot template field, return the previous template, for example — Boot default.

  19. Click Save and Reload. The server will be rebooted.

Install the OS from pre-prepared Selectel iso-images⁠

You can only install the OS manually from pre-prepared Selectel iso-images via Selectel Boot Menu.

All prepared images are net-install versions, during installation of which only the OS kernel and the temporary file system — initrd — are loaded. The rest of the files will need to be downloaded from a local or public repository.

  1. In Control Panel, go to Servers and Hardware → Servers.
  2. Open the server page → Operating System tab.
  3. Click Change Upload Template.
  4. In the Boot Template field, select Boot to Boot Menu.
  5. Click Save and Reload. The server will be rebooted.
  6. Connect to server via KVM console.
  7. In the Install Operating System box, select Install OS manually via netboot.xyz.
  8. Wait for the message Set network interface number and press Enter.
  9. Enter the network settings for your server. You can look in Control Panel under Servers and Hardware → Servers → Server page → Network tab → Subnet page;
  10. Select the OS image to install.
  11. Go through all the steps of installing the OS.
  12. Return the previous server boot template or reboot the server from the OS. When you reboot the server from the OS, the boot template will automatically change to the one that was set before change server boot template.