I am gettting an error 18 from invoking format when trying to provision a repository for my DL4000A appliance for the first time. Any ideas why? 8 Drives raid 6. This is a sever 2012 standard.

Hi droseth:
There is not enough information to determine what caused the error. Have you already renamed the machine and added it to a domain before running the ftbu (first time boot utility)? If you already have done this and you do not feel like creating a case with support, you can attempt a factory restore:

Configure the DRAC for remote access on the DL 4000
Connect to the DRAC console and perform all operations from there
Reboot the DL 4000
When it begins the boot phase "scanning for devices" click the F8 key
Choose the option to "Repair your computer"
Enter the admin password for the server when prompted
Select the option to go to a command prompt
At command prompt enter diskpart to find the current volume configurations. "diskpart list vol"
Exit diskpart
Change volumes to the recovery partition (which should be mounted as C:\)
Change directories to the BMR folder (cd C:\bmr)
Run the batch script "factory_reset.bat"
In the batch script, choose the DL 4000 OS volume (should be about 250 GB)
Choose recovery volume (should be fairly small)
Confirm your choices by entering yes at the next prompt
Apply the image
After the image is successfully applied you will be prompted to delete virtual disks or not. DO NOT DELETE THE RECOVERY PARTITION. You cannot recover from that.
Select the virtual disk of the OS (default is 0)
Do we want to delete the virtual disk? Choose No
Reboot into the operating system
The DL 4000 is now restored to factory defaults. At this point ensure that you run through the AppAssure Appliance Configuration wizard. You must set the hostname you want and bind the system to the domain using this wizard. If you do not, you will experience permissions issues on the appliance tab that can only be fixed by a factory reset.

Before doing anything else at this time I would suggest downloading the RUU recovery and update utility from support.quest.com/.../download-new-releases and run it. Once it is done, download and install the RapidRecovery Core installer 6.1.2 (support.quest.com/.../download-new-releases) to bring Rapid recovery to the newest version.

Update the storage drivers and firmware. It makes sense to update the harddisk firmware as well. (You can get them from the Dell support site; the underlying server model for your DL4000 is R620).

Please let us know how it goes.

Hi droseth:
There is not enough information to determine what caused the error. Have you already renamed the machine and added it to a domain before running the ftbu (first time boot utility)? If you already have done this and you do not feel like creating a case with support, you can attempt a factory restore:

Configure the DRAC for remote access on the DL 4000
Connect to the DRAC console and perform all operations from there
Reboot the DL 4000
When it begins the boot phase "scanning for devices" click the F8 key
Choose the option to "Repair your computer"
Enter the admin password for the server when prompted
Select the option to go to a command prompt
At command prompt enter diskpart to find the current volume configurations. "diskpart list vol"
Exit diskpart
Change volumes to the recovery partition (which should be mounted as C:\)
Change directories to the BMR folder (cd C:\bmr)
Run the batch script "factory_reset.bat"
In the batch script, choose the DL 4000 OS volume (should be about 250 GB)
Choose recovery volume (should be fairly small)
Confirm your choices by entering yes at the next prompt
Apply the image
After the image is successfully applied you will be prompted to delete virtual disks or not. DO NOT DELETE THE RECOVERY PARTITION. You cannot recover from that.
Select the virtual disk of the OS (default is 0)
Do we want to delete the virtual disk? Choose No
Reboot into the operating system
The DL 4000 is now restored to factory defaults. At this point ensure that you run through the AppAssure Appliance Configuration wizard. You must set the hostname you want and bind the system to the domain using this wizard. If you do not, you will experience permissions issues on the appliance tab that can only be fixed by a factory reset.

Before doing anything else at this time I would suggest downloading the RUU recovery and update utility from support.quest.com/.../download-new-releases and run it. Once it is done, download and install the RapidRecovery Core installer 6.1.2 (support.quest.com/.../download-new-releases) to bring Rapid recovery to the newest version.

Update the storage drivers and firmware. It makes sense to update the harddisk firmware as well. (You can get them from the Dell support site; the underlying server model for your DL4000 is R620).

Please let us know how it goes.