Installing ESXi 4.1 on PowerEdge 1950 (USB Flash Drive???)

[vmintegrations]

I have a Dell PowerEdge 1950 51xx Server.  I'd like to install ESXi 4.1 on a USB drive.  The manual for the server talks about this server having a USB Flash Drive, and even has a USB Flash Drive Type in the system BIOS.  Yet when I go into the BIOS (which is current), this option isn't even there.  Anyone here familiar with 1950s that can explain what's going on here.  If my server doesn't actually have a USB Flash Drive, do I have any other options to run ESXi 4.1 on a USB Flash Drive?  Is it possible to use an external USB Flash Drive?  I don't see any options in the BIOS to boot from and external USB device.

[DSTAVERT]

There may be an internal USB port in the server for adding a USB flash drive. (check your documantation) If not you can use an external USB flash drive. Use 1GB or larger (anything over 1GB isn't used so a large one isn't better). Use the Dell version of the ESXi installer and the USB drive should be visible as a destination for installation.

[vmintegrations]

I didn't see anything in the documentation and I thoroughly looked over the inside of the server, and saw no place to plug in a USB Flash Drive nor any other type of Flash Drive.

I will try to external USB Flash Drive then - looking to use a SanDisk - 2GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive. Where would I get this Dell version of ESXi? From the Dell web site?

And lastly, if I use the external USB Flash Drive, would I install ESXi 4.1 from the DVD drive and install it on the USB Flash Drive, or would I need to go through the procedure of putting the ESXi 4.1 image on the USB Flash Drive and then running the installation from the USB Flash Drive?

[DSTAVERT]

Installing to USB is a straight forward install. Boot the server with the Dell installer CD and with the USB drive in place. The installer will show the flash drive as an install destination. The Dell version of ESXi is on the Dell website.

[vmintegrations]

Thanks for your help on this.  I'm up and running now with ESXi 4.1 installed to an external USB Flash Drive.  Install was easy and without any problems.  One thing to mention, is that now that I have a USB Flash Drive plugged into one of the external USB connections, it now has a section in the server's BIOS regarding the USB Flash Drive.  So that mystery is solved as well.

Couple changes I made in the BIOS, disabled the RAID controller (not needed), enabled Virtualization in the CPUs, and on the USB Flash Drive, the options were Auto, Hard Drive, and Floppy.  I just left it at Auto.  Does this all look good?  Am I missing anything that should be done in the BIOS?

[GlockandRoll]

What do you do if there is no optical drive?