Q: Installing OSX 10.5 on Xserve using Intel based Macs
I have spent a long time the past few days trying to get this figured out as I recently aquired a DP G5 XServe (no graphics card!!) and wanted to re-install OSX 10.5 Server so I could get it running as a small home business server. Many threads online describe how you can do this using a Mac of similar architecture but none that tell you how to perform this task with a NEW Intel based Mac. I finally came up with what I think is an elegant solution to the poblem. If you have been searching how to do this to no avail, this is how I did it!! I hope this is of some help to someone somewhere!!!
What you need:
Xserve G5
Firewire 400/800 cable (depending on what port your newer mac has. The Xserve has one 400 on the front and two 800s on the back)
OSX 10.5 installation disk or .dmg file
SuperDuper! software for Mac
Spare Time and Patients!!
Step 1:
Power up the XServe putting it into Target Disk mode.
This is done by holding the System Identifier button and pressing the power button. Keep holding the Identifier button until until the top line of lights on the server flash sequentially back and forth. Now let go of the Identifier button and the bottom (furthest right) light should stay lit.
Each of the bottom lights represents an option for startup of the XServe.
Starting at number one (the light on the far right that is lit is 1) press the Identifier button until the light is on the 5th Light.
Once the 5th light is lit, press and hold the Identifier Button until the top row of lights have all lit back and forth then release the button. You will know you have got it into Target Disk mode as the system fans will run on full (it kind of soulds like a jet plane in TDM)
Once in TDM, connect the firewire cable to the back (or front of the Xserve depending on the cable type) and connect the other end to your Mac (should be powered on already and logged in to OSX)
Open Disk Utility and see if the XServe hard drives have mounted. They shoould appear as three separate drives. For each drive you need to perform the following task. Highlight the first Firewire drive and select the partition tab over on the right side of the Disk Utility. Under Volume Scheme select "1 Partition"
Now click "Options" at the bottom of the partition opening a dialogue window. Here you want to select the option that says:
"Apple Partition Map" This lets the XServe see the drive as a Bootable Drive. Click OK and then APPLY to partition and format the drive.
You must click YES or CONFIRM in anything that asks if you are sure you want to partition.
Repeat this for both the other drives. It is a good idea to name the drives when you partition them so you know which you are working with when you get further down the line. (Mine for example were named: Server Core, Server Drive1 & Server Drive2)
Once all three drives have been formatted you can move onto preparing the installation drive.
Using SuperDuper! we will create a bootable drive containing the installation .dmg file you have downloaded.
You can download SuperDuper free here: https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/13803/superduper!
Run SuperDuper and you will see 2 tabs at the top of the window. In the First one, select the inatallation image file (.dmg / .iso) and in the second tab select one of the Firewire drives on the XServe. (NB: the disk drive on the far left of the XServe is the one it will boot from when you have installed the OS thus naming them to identify them is quite important)
Once you set the source and the destination drive, click Copy Now and the software will create a bootable installation drive within the XServe.
Once this is complete, you can eject the Firewire drives and shut down the XServe. (Do this by pressing the power button. It should power off instantly as it was in TDM)
Now we want the XServe to boot from the newly created installation drive. To do this, we need to tell it to search for a boot medium.
We do this by Holding the Identifier button and pressing the Power button the same as we did to get it into TDM. When the far right light is lit on the bottom row, press the Identifier button until it is on the 4th Light from the Right.
Now press and hold the Identifier button and the server should boot from the Installation Drive you created.
On the back of the XServe, you should be able to find the Ethernet MAC addresses. Make sure your server is connected to your network and search for the MAC address in your routers GUI (you can use a netsniffer to find it as well. What we want from this is the DHCP IPAddress the server has been assigned.
Once you have the IP address of the server, on the working Mac, from the finder menu do the following:
Go>Connect to server
In the Server Address field type vnc://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (replace the xxx with the server IP address)
Click connect
If all has gone well, it should then prompt for a Username and Password.
Leave the Username field BLANK and you can find the password by looking at the back of the XServe and locating the SERIAL NUMBER.
THE PASSWORD IS THE FIRST 8 CHARACTERS OF THE SERIAL NUMBER
This should log you into a screenshare of the installation on the XServe.
Follow the rest of the installation using the VNC and there you have it. How to install OSX 10.5 Server on an XServe G5 using an Intel based Mac!!
I hope this was helpful to someone and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!!!
Xserve, Mac OS X (10.5), Server Remote installation
Posted on Dec 14, 2013 7:10 AM