so, I have been trying all day to install 2011 on my EX495. I took all the drives out. I have a new (empty) drive that I put into the first slot for a clean install. I followed instructions found on this site, homeserver.net and in Terry's ebook on building a bootable USB key for installing unattended. I tested the USB key I made on my production machine and it is able to boot from it. So the USB key works. Next I created the cfg.ini file and placed it on the root of the USB drive. I plugged this into the USB in back of the EX495. I read in another article (on homeserver.net) that I needed to delete any partitions on the HD to force the HP EX495 to boot off the USB. I did this with the drive connected to my production machine. I fired up the server, but it is not booting. I then read I could connect a USB keyboard and press F12 during the first ten seconds as it starts. I did this for several seconds, then pressed the down arrow 7 times and ENTER. (The article said that this would choose the USB as the boot device). No luck.
So I tried doing the install part way in another machine approach instead. I took the drive, placed it in another machine (with a monitor) and booted and ran the installer. I installed to the point where it said it needed to reboot. Shut it down at that point and transferred the drive to the server. Problem is, the install wizard never asked me for a sever name, so even if it completes the installation how would I access the server when it is done? I know I need to browse to http://servername/connect, but if it never asked me for the name, I don't know what to type in.
So. I either want to figure out a way to make the USB key approach work or figure out how to make the install in a separate computer approach work.
All ideas welcome. Thank you very much!