hww3

OVH no longer provides an option to install SmartOS on its dedicated servers. Luckily, we can boot the machine using IPXE and use IPMI to run through the setup proces on the kvm console. The OVH/SoYouStart manager interface doesn’t give direct access to that, but luckily SYS and OVH have identical REST APIs.

First, set up a webserver somewhere and dump the platform directory you want to boot from into a folder on that webserver. For example, I’m using /smartos.

NOTE: if you don't need to boot a customized smartos platform image,  you might be able to use the hosted image discussed here: https://docs.smartos.org/pxe-booting-smartos/

NOTE: it seems these endpoints aren't available any more, but OVH has a document that  describes the new approach (the ipxe script goes in the "bootScript"attribute of your server's record):
https://docs.ovhcloud.com/en/guides/bare-metal-cloud/dedicated-servers/ipxe-scripts

The parts of the gist above and notes below are still valid in terms of the IPXE script and setup, just t