Mac servers are seeing more and more adoption in the enterprise, and demand for support is therefore increasing.
The following howto will describe the different headless boot modes that are achievable on an Intel Xserve using a combination of the power button and the system identifier button (the exclamation point inside the triangle).
1. In order to enter the headless command mode, hold the identifier button while you power the Xserve on.
2. Keep pressing the identifier until you see the top row of blue lights on the Xserve blinking.
3. Stop pressing the identifier button. You'll notice that the right-most blue LED on the bottom row is lit up - this indicates that the system will start from the system disk.
4. At this point you can press the system identifier button in order to cycle through the boot options. They are as follows (right to left)
- System Disk
- Network Boot
- Start from leftmost drive
- Boot next disk (other than startup disk)
- Target Boot Mode
- Reset PMU
5. Release the button once again and the system will boot into your desired mode.