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# About server profiles

- Capturing best-practice configurations

- About editing a server profile

- About moving a server profile

- Working with server profiles to control remove-and-replace behavior

- About assigning a server profile to an empty device bay

- About server profile connections

- About server profile connections and changing server hardware types

- About server profiles and local storage

- About attaching SAN volumes to a server profile

## Capturing best-practice configurations

After setting up your data center, you can create server profiles to provision hundreds of servers as easily as you provision one server. A server profile is the configuration for a server instance. Server profiles and server profile templates capture the entire server configuration in one place, enabling you to replicate new server profiles and to modify them to reflect changes in your data center.

A server profile includes:

- Basic server identification information

- Connectivity settings for Ethernet networks, network sets, Fibre Channel, and FCoE networks

- Firmware versions

- Local storage settings

- SAN storage settings

- Boot settings

- BIOS settings

When you create a server profile, you can specify the server hardware to which you want to apply the profile. Leave the server hardware unassigned if the server hardware is not yet installed. Typically, you capture best-practice configurations in a server profile template, and then create individual server profiles. Similar to virtual machine (VM) templates, profiles enable you to create a provisioning baseline for server hardware types in an enclosure.

When you create a server profile, it is designated for a server hardware type and enclosure group (for server blades), whether the profile is assigned or unassigned. Server hardware can have only one profile assigned to it.

By default, the server profile controls the server boot behavior. The server hardware type determines the available options you can select in the server profile. If applicable, you can select the boot mode and PXE boot policy. You also have the option of specifying the order in which the server hardware attempts to boot. HPE ProLiant Gen9 servers support both legacy BIOS and UEFI for configuring the boot process while HPE ProLiant Gen8 are legacy BIOS mode servers only. For more information about UEFI, see UEFI FAQs at Unified Extensible Firmware Interface Forum.

By selecting to manage BIOS settings through the appliance, you can view all settings, only those you have modified, or only those that are different than the default values. The BIOS settings displayed depend on the supported server hardware.

Applying the sections of a server profile to server hardware is a sequential process. The screen displays the current section being applied, followed by other sections that have been applied successfully. If a server profile needs to be reapplied due to an error, only the unconfigured sections and unapplied sections are reapplied. For example, if a firmware update succeeds, but the subsequent BIOS portion of the apply operation fails, the firmware is not applied a second time when the profile is reapplied. This helps to prevent unnecessary and time-consuming updates for the profile.

Best practice: Perform server profile management tasks on one enclosure at a time For best performance, create, delete, edit, copy, or move server profiles for server hardware on one enclosure before managing server profiles on a different enclosure.

## About editing a server profile

Edit a server profile to change the settings associated with that profile. You can edit a server profile any time after it has been created. You can also edit a server profile with an `Error` condition to make corrections.

When you edit a server profile, the state of the server changes. The appliance analyzes the changes and determines the actions to update the server. For example, if you change the BIOS settings but not the firmware baseline, the firmware is not updated. Only the requested changes are applied.

| NOTE: If you change the server settings or state using tools other than the appliance, the changes are not detected or managed. These changes might be overwritten the next time the profile is edited.

When you edit a server profile, consider the following:

- Editing a profile is an asynchronous operation. Name and description changes take effect immediately, but other changes might take time to complete. If a profile is associated with a server profile template, changes can cause the profile to be out of compliance with its template. See About server profile consistency validation for more information.

- Profile names must be unique.

- When unassigning a server profile with local storage configured, the logical drive contents are at risk of being lost. To preserve the logical drive, physically remove the disk drives or make a copy of the contents of the logical drive so that you can reassign the profile at a later time.

- BIOS settings are managed using the server profile and the settings on the server are overwritten when the server profile is applied.

- You cannot switch between virtual and physical identifiers for the following, unless you delete and recreate the profile connection:

  - Serial number/UUID

  - MAC address

  - WWN

To edit some server profile settings, the server hardware must be powered off; for others, the server hardware can remain powered on. You can edit the following settings with the server hardware powered on:

- Profile name

- Profile description

- Profile affinity

- Requested bandwidth of an existing connection

- Network and network set of an existing connection except when the connection is bootable

  | NOTE: You cannot change an existing connection between an Ethernet network or network set and a Fibre Channel network. A Fibre Channel network can only be changed to another Fibre Channel network on the same interconnect.

- Create, attach, and edit storage volumes.

  | NOTE: If the server is configured to boot using the storage path, that path cannot be disabled.

- Firmware and OS Drivers using Smart Update Tools

- Firmware only using Smart Update Tools

The profile cannot be modified while the server hardware is powered on if the previous modification were not successfully applied, unless the failure was solely due to SAN storage.

## About moving a server profile

You can move a server profile to another piece of server hardware; for example, if you are removing one piece of server hardware and replacing it with another that is similar. The move operation enables you to quickly change the hardware destination without rebuilding the entire server profile.

If you cannot move a server profile directly to the new server hardware, you can change it to `unassigned`. This enables you to retain server profiles that are not currently assigned to any server.

| IMPORTANT: When you move a server blade profile to a different enclosure, and the profile is configured to boot from a direct attach storage device, you must manually update the boot connection of the profile to specify the WWPN that is used for the storage device that is directly attached to the destination enclosure. Each enclosure connects to a different port of the direct attach storage device, so the WWPN for that storage device is different for each enclosure. If you do not specify the correct WWPN and LUN for the device, the server does not successfully boot from that boot target.

| IMPORTANT: When you move a server profile to a different server, and the profile is managing internal local storage, you must manually move the physical disks from the original server to the new server in order to preserve your data.

## Working with server profiles to control remove-and-replace behavior

In a server profile, the Affinity control sets the remove-and-replace behavior for server blade. If you apply a server profile to a server blade and the server is subsequently removed from the device bay, the Affinity setting controls whether the server profile is reapplied when you insert a server blade into the empty bay. Server profiles for rack servers do not have affinity.

Affinity value | Description
--- | ---
Device bay | The server profile you assign to the (empty) device bay is applied to any server blade you insert into the bay, provided the server hardware type of the inserted server blade matches the server hardware type specified in the server profile. Device bay affinity is the default.
Device bay + server hardware Device bay + server hardware UUID | The server profile you assign to the (empty) device bay is not applied if you insert a different server into the bay. The serial number and server hardware type of the inserted server blade must match the values in the server profile. Affinity between the server profile and the server hardware is established when one of the following conditions is met: The server profile is assigned to server hardware in a device bay. The server profile is assigned to an empty device bay and you subsequently insert a server blade with a matching server hardware type into the bay. Editing a server profile resets its server hardware affinity. If you assign the server profile to a populated device bay, the server hardware in the bay becomes associated with the profile. If the server profile is unassigned or assigned to an empty device bay, any current association is cleared.

## About assigning a server profile to an empty device bay

You can assign a server profile to an empty bay. The server profile is applied automatically to the server hardware when the server is inserted into the bay and meets the following criteria:

- The enclosure bay is not assigned by another server profile (for example, you cannot assign a profile to bay 9 if a profile for a full-height server hardware type is assigned to bay 1). This is checked when the profile is assigned.

- The server hardware type of the hardware matches the server hardware type specified in the server profile.

## About server profile connections

The maximum number of connections supported by a profile is dependent on the total number of virtual ports defined by the server hardware type and enclosure group associated with the profile. The total number of virtual ports is determined by multiplying the number of virtual ports per FlexFabric adapter by the number of FlexFabric adapters defined by the server hardware type. The maximum number of connections is 50 or the total number of virtual ports (plus two for unassigned connections), whichever is greater.

## About server profile connections and changing server hardware types

When changing the server hardware type on a server profile with deployed connections, the new server hardware type must define enough ports to allow automatic port assignment of all currently deployed connections. If the new server hardware type does not have sufficient port capacity, automatic port assignment fails when applied to a server and results in the failure of the profile edit operation. To avoid this condition, do one of the following:

- Delete connections so that the remaining number can be automatically assigned.

- Edit the connections and set the port assignment to `None` so that those connections are not deployed.

## About server profiles and local storage

You can manage local storage on server hardware using server profiles.

- Logical drives and unique identifiers

- About RAID level and controller

- RAID levels and number of physical drives

- About local storage and integrated storage controllers

| NOTE: HPE OneView does not erase data from physical drives when the server profile that specifies the drives is deleted or unassigned. It might be possible to access the data, so if you want to ensure the data is inaccessible, erase all sensitive data before you delete the server profile or the local storage configuration.

### Logical drives and unique identifiers

If you configure new logical drives in your server profile or import the existing logical drives from the server hardware, HPE OneView stores a unique identifier for each logical drive in the server profile configuration when the server profile is applied.

On subsequent server profile apply operations, HPE OneView checks for the existence of the identifier on the physical drives of the assigned server hardware. If the identifier is missing, the apply operation fails in order to ensure that if the server profile is re-assigned to new server hardware, the physical drives are inserted correctly.

HPE OneView erases the current identifier in a server profile apply operation if any of the following conditions exist:

- Re-initialize internal storage is selected.

- The Logical drive has been deleted from the server profile.

- The storage controller is set to managed manually.

### About RAID level and controller

You can use RAID to define logical drives or HBA to present drives directly to the controller. The RAID levels which the controller can support are defined in the specifications of each controller. You must check the specifications of each controller to verify which RAID levels the controller supports. Supported RAID levels depend on the server hardware type and on the physical server configuration. Ensure you have enough physical drives present for the selected RAID level.

| NOTE: Although RAID 50 and RAID 60 are supported by some controllers, they are not supported by HPE OneView. To use RAID 50 or RAID 60, set the controller to manage manually in HPE OneView.

#### More information

RAID levels and number of physical drives

### RAID levels and number of physical drives

See the HPE OneView Support Matrix for information on the number of drives supported by specific server hardware.

RAID 0 | Minimum of 1 drive, increments of 1.
RAID 1 | Requires 2 drives.
RAID 10 | Requires 4 drives, increments of 2.
RAID 1 ADM | Requires 3 drives.
RAID 5 | Minimum of 3 drives, increments of 1.
RAID 6 | Minimum of 4 drives, increments of 1.

### About local storage and integrated storage controllers

- HPE OneView is not aware of existing local storage configuration in the integrated storage controller unless you import the local storage when applying a server profile to the server hardware.

- The import option is not a guarantee that no data will be lost. For example, if the server is currently in HBA mode, you must change it to RAID mode before it can be imported, and that change in controller mode can cause data loss.

- Once you create a logical drive and apply it to server hardware, that logical drive can no longer be modified.

While deleting or unassigning a server profile does not directly delete local storage data from the server hardware, data can be lost if a server profile that contains changes to the local storage configuration is applied to the server hardware in the future. The table below describes how to preserve your data when making profile or hardware changes.

Make a change to server hardware/server profile and preserve integrated local storage data

Change in server hardware | Procedure | Result
--- | --- | ---
Move server profile from one server hardware to another | Move physical drives to new server hardware Unassign server profile from the current server hardware. Physically remove the local storage drives from the server hardware. Insert the local drives into new server hardware. Do not select Re-initialize internal storage when you apply the server profile to the new server hardware. | The appliance verifies that the physical drives have been inserted correctly by validating the saved unique identifier.
Assign a server profile to server hardware that has local storage configured | A. Import existing drives and data Delete or unassign the current server profile. Select Import existing logical drives when applying the new server profile. | The unique identifier is preserved. The existing logical drives and data are imported.
B. Back up and copy data Back up data. Delete or unassign the server profile. Select Re-initialize internal storage when applying the new server profile. Copy the backed-up data to the new logical drive on the server hardware. | A new logical drive is created with a new unique identifier. The backed-up data is copied to the new logical drive.

## About attaching SAN volumes to a server profile

Volumes are associated with server profiles through volume attachments. Attaching a volume to a server profile gives the server hardware assigned to the server profile access to storage space on a storage system.

As you create or edit a server profile, you can attach an existing volume or dynamically create a new volume to attach.

Newly created volumes can be marked as permanent so that they continue to exist after they are removed from the profile or if the profile is deleted. Otherwise, a nonpermanent volume is deleted when the server profile is deleted.

Properties for attaching a volume can be configured through the server profile. For example, you can enable and disable storage paths from the server to the SAN storage.

#### Storage targets

Within a server profile, storage target ports for volume attachment can be assigned automatically or you can manually assign available ports. The target ports that are assigned automatically will belong to same port group. Target ports that you assign manually can belong to the same or different port groups. Port groups are created when you add a storage system to HPE OneView.

Manual target selection is supported for Fabric attach paths only, not Direct attach paths.

#### Existing HPE 3PAR volumes

On 3PAR StoreServ Storage systems, a host sees VLUN allows only a specific host to see a volume and a matched set VLUN allows only a specific host on a specific port to see the volume.

To reuse a host sees configuration in HPE OneView when adding an existing 3PAR volume to a profile, you must enter the exact LUN value as configured on the 3PAR array.

In HPE OneView, use the Manual LUN option to add the exact LUN value in the Add Volume dialog. To reuse end-to-end connectivity for the volume, manually specify the following:

- LUN value (matching the LUN on the 3PAR storage system)

- Target ports

Also, to attach (export) a 3PAR volume as host sees, all storage paths to that volume must be enabled or disabled together. Some paths cannot be enabled while some are disabled. For more information, download the HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage Concepts Guide from the HPE Storage Information Library http://www.hpe.com/info/storage/docs.

## About server profile consistency validation

Consistency checking is validating a server profile to ensure that it matches the configuration of its parent server profile template. The appliance monitors both the server profile and server profile template, compares the two, and checks the following for consistency.

Profile section | Consistency checking
--- | ---
General | Server hardware type Enclosure group Affinity
| NOTE: Server hardware type and enclosure group inconsistencies must be fixed manually; that is, you must edit the profile and change the hardware type and enclosure group to match the template.
Firmware | If firmware is not managed by a server profile template, then a firmware server profile configuration is not validated for consistency. Otherwise, the following configurations are validated for consistency. Firmware baseline Installation method
| NOTE: Forcibly installed firmware is compared only if the firmware baseline is inconsistent. Otherwise, forcibly installed firmware is not checked for consistency.
Connections | Connections are compared to identify if extra or missing connections are present. For similar connections, the following attributes are checked for differences. Port Network Requested bandwidth Connection boot settings
| NOTE: Extra connections in the server profile with port id `None` are not considered inconsistent.
Local Storage | If local storage is not managed by server profile template, then local storage server profile configuration is not validated for consistency. Otherwise, the following configurations are validated for consistency. Controller mode Logical drives
| NOTE: Inconsistencies in local storage are not fixed automatically by Update from Template. They must be fixed manually.
SAN Storage | If SAN storage is not managed by server profile template, then SAN storage server profile configuration is not validated for consistency. Otherwise, for volumes with sharing type `private`, the profile requires the same number of private volumes as defined in the server profile template from the same storage pools, and that LUN numbers remain consistent. Any differences in the number of private volumes, their storage pool, or a LUN number will be flagged as an inconsistency. For volumes with sharing type `shared`,the profile must be attached to all the shared volumes associated to the server profile template with matching LUN numbers and storage paths to remain consistent. Additional shared volumes can be attached without causing a consistency state. The Host OS type designated in a profile must match the server profile template to remain compliant.
| NOTE: Extra attachments in the server profile do not cause inconsistency.
Boot Settings | If Boot settings are not managed by server profile template, then server profile configuration for boot settings is not validated for consistency. Otherwise, all configurations must match the server profile template.
BIOS Settings | If BIOS settings are not managed by server profile template, then BIOS server profile configuration is not validated for consistency. Otherwise, all configuration must match the server profile template.
Advanced | “Hide unused FlexNICs” instruction must match the server profile template.

If configurations match, the server profile Consistency state field is set to `Consistent` and is considered to be compliant.

Any inconsistency results in an alert for the server profile and the Consistency state field is set to `Inconsistent with template`.

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