Installing Debian GNU/Linux 6 from network using a USB flash drive and HP firmware for HP DL380 G7

This is the easiest way to do the job (of course, it is not a new procedure but I need to register it).

This Debian webpage shows us the propietary firmware available and this webpage shows how to prepare you flash drive to install Debian GNU/Linux 6 in your server!

The procedure

First, download the image from the Debian's repository with propietary firmware.

Second, download the image to format the flash drive from here, in my case amd64 for the HP DL380 G7.

Third, prepare your flash drive in other Linux machine. Let /dev/sdX be the place where your flash drive is mounted.

zcat boot.img.gz > /dev/sdX
mkdir -p /mnt/pendrive
mount /dev/sdX /mnt/pendrive
cp firmware-6.0.2.1-amd64-netinst.iso /mnt/pendrive
umount /mnt/pendrive

Fourth, boot your server with the flash drive inserted to install the system from network. The firmware for the network card will be available (plus some others).

Enjoy!