Installing W2K8 R2 on a Dell Poweredge 2850

There's an Intel driver for W2K3 but not W2K8 on Dell's web site. You probably need to go to Intel's web site to check for a W2K8 driver there for that NIC.

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProductFamily=Network+Connectivity&ProductLine=Intel%c2%ae+Server+Adapters&ProductProduct=Intel%c2%ae+PRO%2f1000+MT+Server+Adapter&ProdId=879&LineId=405&FamilyId=38

As for the second part of your question, you can use the Dell SUU (server update utility) to update firmware and drivers on the server or you can use the DRM (Dell repository manager) to build your own update bundle:

http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cat=sup&cs=04&k=suu&rpp=12&p=1&subcat=dyd&rf=all&nk=f&sort=-date&ira=False&~srd=False&ipsys=False&advsrch=False&~ck=anav

Openmanage as suggested above is a great tool that I think MUST be installed on any compatible Dell server that give information and allows configuration of more than just the RAID controller. However the Megaraid Storage Manager allows more control of the RAID controller than Openmanage or even accessing the RAID controller BIOS.

To get the utility, look at Dell's support pages for older servers fitted with the PERC5/6 such as the Poweredge 29xx or Rxx0. (obviously you need to match your operating system).

The later version of the utility installs on the server to be administered. The older version (if you can find it) seems to be split into a server and client part. When installing the package on a server with a PERC it installs both server and client. If installing on a pc without a PERC it only installs the client.

The advantage in the older version is that you can have one client on your normal desktop and connect this to any of the servers as and when required.