Creating USB Flash Boot Media

This document describes the steps to set up your own USB flash media to boot Swarm storage nodes. Booting from USB flash media is an alternative to PXE network booting. This method requires standard USB flash devices for each Swarm storage chassis intended to boot.

Required and Recommended Components

• Windows 7+ or Linux computer with an available USB port

• USB flash device of 256MB or greater capacity

• Syslinux utility; download from the Internet or ask DataCore support

Steps to Prepare USB Device on Windows

1. Install the syslinux.exe utility on the Windows computer.

2. Plug the USB flash device into the Windows computer.

3. Verify that the drive letter is assigned to the USB device. (the example uses X:)

4. Open a command prompt as an administrator:

   1. a. Windows Start Menu Search: "cmd"

   2. Ctrl-Shift-Enter to open as an administrator, agreeing to the security prompt.

5. Format the USB key by typing the following at the command prompt: 'format X:'. This may take a while to complete.

6. Run the syslinux.exe utility from its installed location, passing the drive letter of the USB flash device as a parameter as well as the following additional command parameters: Example: "C:\temp\syslinux.exe -i -m -f X:"

7. Ensure the USB device has been marked as bootable.

   1. Windows Start Menu Search: "Disk Management"

   2. Find the USB Device in the list and ensure its status is listed as 'Active'

   3. If it is not, right-click on the status portion of the row and select 'Mark Partition as Active'.

8. Copy the contents of "software" directory to the USB device. The "kernel" and "fsimage" files will be at the top level of the USB device and should not be in a sub-directory.

9. Edit the node.cfg file and add a license file in the /caringo directory as appropriate.

10. "Eject" or "Safely Remove" the USB flash device. The eject option can be found by right-clicking the drive device icon within Windows Explorer. You must not just pull the device out; you must cleanly unmount it to verify that all data is written to it.

11. Plug the USB flash device into a Swarm node.

Steps to Prepare USB Device on Linux

1. Plug the USB flash device into the Linux computer.

2. Verify that the device name assigned to the USB device. (Examples use /dev/sdc1)

3. In a terminal window as a root user, format the USB device:

   1. Verify that USB device is not mounted, if it is then unmount it: 'umount /dev/sdc1'

   2. Format the drive: 'mkfs.vfat /dev/sdc1'

   3. Make a mount point (/media/Swarm in this example): 'mkdir -p /media/Swarm'

   4. Mount the USB device: 'mount /dev/sdc1 /media/Swarm'

4. Run the syslinux utility, passing the device name of the USB flash device as a parameter with the following additional command option: Example: 'syslinux -i /dev/sdc1'

5. Copy the contents of "software" directory to the USB device. The "kernel" and "fsimage" files will be at the top level of the USB device and should not be in a sub-directory:

6. Edit /media/Swarm/caringo/node.cfg and add a license file in the same /caringo directory as appropriate.

7. "Eject" or "Safely Remove" the USB flash device.

8. Plug the USB flash device into a Swarm node.