Xserve: How to remotely mount a CD in "headless" configuration

  • Last Modified: August 15, 2008
  • Article: HT2814
  • Old Article: 106931

Summary

A CD inserted into an Xserve computer does not automatically mount when a user is not logged in locally. If you use a "headless" Xserve (one without a display connected to it), follow these steps to mount a CD.

Products Affected

Xserve

  1. Open an ssh connection to the computer. Instructions on how to establish an ssh connection to your server are found in the guide Setting Up Mac OS X Server for Xserve.
  2. Execute the mount command, which will display the available volumes. Make note of the highest disk number of the mounted volumes, such as disk3s2.
  3. Execute the disktool -m diskx command, where the value x is one greater than the highest number of the currently mounted volumes. In our example you would choose 4 for your x value. The command should respond with the message "Disk Mounting Completed."
  4. Execute the mount command again. This time the CD should appear in the list. In our example, you would see /dev/disk4, followed by the rest of the information about the mounted volume.
  5. To eject the CD, execute disktool -e diskx, where x is the same value used in step 3. In our example, you would enter disktool -e disk4. The command will respond with a list of completed tasks that ends with "***Disk Ejected ('diskx')."
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