Users Guide

132 Using and Configuring Virtual Media
The managed system is configured with a DRAC 5 card. The virtual CD and floppy drives are two
electronic devices embedded in the DRAC 5 that are controlled by the DRAC 5 firmware. These two
devices are present on the managed system’s operating system and BIOS at all times, whether virtual
media is connected or disconnected.
The management station provides the physical media or image file across the network. When you launch
the RAC browser for the first time and you access the virtual media page, the virtual media plug-in is
downloaded from the DRAC 5 Web server and is automatically installed on the management station.
The virtual media plug-in must be installed on the management station for the virtual media feature to
function properly.
When virtual media is connected, all virtual CD/floppy drive access requests from the managed system
are directed to the management station across the network. Connecting virtual media is identical to
inserting media into virtual devices. When virtual media is not connected, virtual devices on the
managed system appear as two drives without media installed in the drives.
Table 8-1 lists the supported drive connections for virtual floppy and virtual optical drives.
NOTE: Changing virtual media while connected could stop the system boot sequence.
Operating System Requirements on the Managed System
Virtual media is supported on systems running the following operating systems:
• Microsoft
®
Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 4
• Windows Server™ 2003
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, ES, and WS (version 3.0)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, ES, and WS (version 4)
•SUSE
®
Linux Enterprise Server (version 9) with Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Intel EM64T
See the DRAC 5 Readme and the Dell OpenManage™ Server Administrator Compatibility Guide for the
latest supported operating systems.
Table 8-1. Supported Drive Connections
Supported Virtual Floppy Drive Connections Supported Virtual Optical Drive Connections
Legacy 1.44 floppy drive with a 1.44 floppy
diskette
CD-ROM, DVD, CDRW, combination drive
with CD-ROM media
USB floppy drive with a 1.44 floppy diskette CD-ROM image file in the ISO9660 format
1.44 floppy image USB CD-ROM drive with CD-ROM media.