Before You Begin

Welcome to the OS Deployment Guide for your EnGenius AI Server (EAS series). This guide is designed to help you get your server hardware configured and ready for an operating system.

Let's start by making sure you have everything you need.

Who this guide is for

This guide is for IT professionals who are comfortable with general networking and OS concepts but are new to hands-on server hardware setup.

We assume you already understand basic technical concepts (like what a CPU or IP address is), so we'll focus on the practical steps, best practices, and common mistakes involved in the physical and firmware-level configuration of this server. Our goal is to help you build confidence and turn your knowledge into practice.

What you'll need

To complete the tasks in this guide, you'll need to have the following ready.

Physical equipment and access:

• You need physical access to the server Chassis and the Rack where it will be installed.

• A standard Phillips-head screwdriver.

• An enterprise-grade laptop or "crash cart" for direct connection.

• A network cable to connect your laptop to the server's dedicated management port.

• The power cables included with the server.

Software and files:

• A terminal emulation application. We recommend Tera Term, but others like PuTTY also work.

• The OS installation image file (ISO) for the operating system you plan to install (Windows Server, Ubuntu Server, or RHEL).

• A network connection with access to your organization's internal network and the internet.

Understanding the server components

Before we start, let's clarify the core terms we'll use throughout this guide. For a complete list and more detailed, contextual definitions, please refer to the Chapter Glossary .

• Node: An individual server unit. Your chassis may contain multiple nodes.

• Chassis: The physical enclosure that houses one or more server nodes, PSUs, and the cooling solution.

• GPU (Graphics Processing Unit): The primary accelerator for AI and high-performance computing workloads.

• PSU (Power Supply Unit): The component that supplies power to the entire chassis.

• Management Interface (BMC): The Baseboard Management Controller is a dedicated microcontroller that allows you to manage the server remotely, even if it's powered off. You'll access it through a web browser.

• BIOS: The low-level software that initializes the hardware during the boot process. You'll configure it to ensure the server boots correctly.