Tag: ProLiant

This guest post is brought to you by Armin Kerl, if you fancy trying you hand at blogging check out our guest posting opportunities.

Principle:

The Gen10 servers now have a 1GB reserved space in the NVRAM for firmware and driver files with iLO 5, it’s called The iLO Repository. We are now able to upload firmware and drivers direct to the iLO NVRAM. This can be *.bin, *.fwpkg for firmware, *.zip for ESX, *.exe for Windows, or *.rpm for Linux.

The Integrated Software Update Manager (iSUT) service in the OS can monitor the iLO repository content. If there is something new, it pulls the update and then installs firmware and drivers inside the OS. A reboot is usually necessary afterwards. No more booting from the SPP ISO Image for firmware updates and you can specify several server stages or even reboot a number of times.

You can get more information at the HPE SUT Site here and in the User Guides

The iLO can be fuelled with updates in several ways, I will explain the most common.

1. Upload individually in iLO under the Firmware Tab.
2. Launch the Software Update Manager (SUM) from the Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP), and deploy.
3. Distribute the SPP with iLO Amplifier.

I will now explain 2 and 3 by using an ESXi server as an example.

Prepare

First, the iSUT must be installed on the target server and set to AutoDeploy. The iSUT should already be installed with HPE ESX Image.

Check It:

[root@SRVESX1:~] sut -status

System Update Manager...................: OS Administrator

Task Status.............................: Bios:N/A; LocalStorage:N/A; Deploy:Idle

Staging Directory.......................: /tmp/sut/stagingdirectory

Baseline URI............................: None

Baseline Version........................: Waiting for staging

Mode of Operation.......................: OnDemand

Polling Interval In Minutes.............: 5

Force Deploy............................: No

Optional Components.....................: None

EnableiLOQueuedUpdates..................: true

User Action Needed......................: To perform the firmware updates import the server to OneView or use iLO Amplifier Pack. If imported into OneView create a server profile with a firmware baseline and apply the profile to the server.

iLO Security Mode.......................: Production

iLO CAC Smartcard Authentication........: Off

iLO CAC Strict Mode.....................: Off



Now set iSUT to Deploy Updates:

[root@SRVESX1:~] sut -set mode=AutoDeployReboot

Set Mode: AutoDeployReboot

Service will be registered and started

Service already registered

SUT Service started successfully

Registration successful

You can set the iSUT mode to AutoDeployReboot mode.

However, iSUT reboots the VMware ESXi host only if the host is in maintenance mode.

If it is not Installed, Download HPE Utilities Offline Bundle for ESXi 6.7

https://vibsdepot.hpe.com/

Use Service Pack for ProLiant

Mount the SPP ISO on the deployment PC/server and start SUM with launch_sum.bat.

Select Nodes and add your Target Server using the iLO IP, not the OS IP.

Node Type:      iLO

Baseline:           Your Service Pack ProLiant

Now, first Start an Inventory and then choose Deploy.

Chose to Deploy and the SUM will copy the Firmware and Drivers to the iLO NVRAM.

You can watch this in the iLO GUI:

The iSUT Service in the OS will now pick-up software from iLO and install.

When all is done, reboot the host, and you are done.

With iLO Amplifier

https://iloamplifierpack.itcs.hpe.com/

First, we must upload the SPP to the iLO Amplifier Repository.

This is done, by Firmware Baseline > Import Baseline:

Now we can Rollout the SPP to the Servers.

Select “Server Updates”:

If you see “SUT mode not supported, SUT not running. Host OS type not supported, AMS not Running.” the server is usually powered Off.

If you see “SUT mode not supported. SUT not running or “ iSUT is not enabled, you need to refresh the Server state using Assets > Servers > Select Server > Action > Refresh.

From this point, it is the same as with SUM.

The Files are being copied to the iLO NVRAM, iSUT will see and then install them.

Armin Kerl

HPE iLO 5 Update

This guest post is brought to you by Armin Kerl, if you fancy trying you hand at blogging check out our guest posting opportunities.

iLO5 is now over a year old and quietly HPE have implemented some nice enhancements. Let me describe some of the new features.

With iLO Firmware 1.40 the “iLO Advanced Premium Security” licensed features moved to the “iLO Advanced” license. So, the iLO ASPE License have gone.

To get all the following new features, the update of iLO Firmware alone is not enough. You need some more updates. Here is an overview, that works for me:

Security Dashboard

The Security Dashboard collects some security settings and displays an overview of the security status. Most systems will now display a red warning.

You can set the first three to ignore and it goes to yellow.

To get the green status the only way is to change the required to minimum.

Virtual NIC

Now, take a look at Security > Access Settings > iLO
You will find a new entry: “Virtual NIC”

What happens if you enable it? Example on Windows (support for Windows 2016, 2019, SLES 12, 15, RHEL 7.6). The OS will detect a new NIC and this NIC will get a fixed IP address: 16.1.15.1 (this an HPE reserved IP)

This IP is internal only to the Server and does not go outside.
Now you are able to connect to the iLO with this fixed IP address.

Why would you need to do this?
– If you need access to the iLO and have no iLO network connection
– If you need access to the iLO and don’t want to Install the iLO OS driver

When not to use this feature. I have had some trouble when setting up a Windows Cluster and the cluster detected this NIC.

Update Service Settings

Scroll Down to Security > Access Settings > Update Service

This prevents a firmware downgrade to an compromised version.
Attention: permanently means for ever, there is no way to go back.

Intelligent System Tuning

The Performance Monitoring show some historical performance data.

On the bottom page you can set Threshold Alerts. The Workload Performance Advisor compares the historical performance and recommends BIOS settings to enhance the performance.

Secure Erase

At the end the best. This has been a customer request for some time to secure erase the complete system. This would be useful If for example you want to resell you old server or have reached the end of your lease and need to wipe the whole system.

Start Intelligent Provisioning

If needed, skip the “First Time Wizard” > Perform Maintenance

Here it is, the “One-button secure erase.”

It not only deletes the volume, it:
– Resets the server to factory defaults
– Wipes the NAND (all ILO settings, logs)
– Erases all secondary storage
– Is compliant to NIST 800-88r1
O.K., this are the main new Features, thanks’ for reading.

Armin