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.
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.
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.
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![[NOTE: ]](images/note.gif) |
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. |
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When you edit a server profile, consider the following:
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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.
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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.
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BIOS settings are managed using the server profile and the settings on the server are overwritten when the server profile is applied.
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You cannot switch between virtual and physical identifiers for the following, unless you delete and recreate the profile connection:
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:
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Profile name
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Profile description
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Profile affinity
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Requested bandwidth of an existing connection
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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.
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Create, attach, and edit storage volumes.
NOTE: If the server is configured to boot using the storage path, that path cannot be disabled.
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Firmware and OS Drivers using Smart Update Tools
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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.
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.
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![[IMPORTANT: ]](images/important.gif) |
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. |
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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 |
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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:
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. |
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:
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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.
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The server hardware type of the hardware matches the server hardware type specified in the server profile.
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.
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:
You can manage local storage on server hardware using server profiles.
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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. |
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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.
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.
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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. |
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More information
| 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.
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RAID 0 |
Minimum of 1 drive, increments of 1. |
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RAID 1 |
Requires 2 drives. |
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RAID 10 |
Requires 4 drives, increments of 2. |
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RAID 1 ADM |
Requires 3 drives. |
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RAID 5 |
Minimum of 3 drives, increments of 1. |
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RAID 6 |
Minimum of 4 drives, increments of 1. |
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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.
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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.
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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 |
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Move server profile from one server hardware to another |
Move physical drives to new server hardware
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Assign a server profile to server hardware that has local storage configured |
A. Import existing drives and data
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B. Back up and copy data
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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:
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.
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 | ||||||
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General |
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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.
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Connections |
Connections are compared to identify if extra or missing connections are present. For similar connections, the following attributes are checked for differences.
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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.
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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 The Host OS type designated in a profile must match the server profile template to remain compliant.
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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. | ||||||
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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. | ||||||
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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.