Bladewatch.com

I was speaking with Chris yesterday, we were both working, he was rebuilding three hundred blades with Windows 2008, so it was interesting hearing what challenges he had and also quiz him on his build process, he uses Altiris, we’ll go into that shortly, but first he had some questions about FindMyFirmware, they were unscripted and as ever Chris remains below the radar, but rest assured the continues to save servers for a large enterprise in the Canary Wharf area.

So why FindMyFirmware?

It’s a simple concept it’s an application designed to provide basic information to cover those typical questions:

• How old is my server
• What firmware should I be running
• What are the server specifications

The application therefore is the filter and loads our own in house xml with firmware versions which we update once a month, combined with external content from the HP Support site direct, it’s all public information and all non competitive – the concept is to empower the user.

So is it a money making exercise?

Not really, firstly we have yet to make a profit, we spent a lot of time putting the concept together and then managing the development and uploading to the iTunes store. The £0.59 price is simply to help pay towards the development costs. I’m more interested in a tool that helps me and fellow end users first – who produces it, who owns it is less of an issue, and I’m not convinced it will ever make a direct profit, that’s fine.

When are Dell and IBM being added?

Ah right we have had a few questions on this, the short answer is that we are putting together some target Dell/IBM servers we started off with HP because I have worked on them for years and have a bit more product and support knowledge in that space. They will be added once we’ve put everything together and of course the added servers will be free.

How often is it updated?

Once a month, it’s meant as a quick reference guide and is not supposed to be legally binding or accurate up to the last five minutes, as with any piece of content you should check with the vendor first, but we do try to keep it as up to date as possible.

Were any of the vendors involved in this?

No, we just thought we would go ahead and get on with it, with the believe that since we were always thinking of the end user in mind, that we used public information and that there was no alterior motive, that they wouldn’t mind. We’d be happy to speak to anyone who wants to take part, either by supplying their own feed or in helping with version 2.0 when we start work on that, we wanted the end users to get used to our current application and make recommendations.

The design is rather simple

Absolutely, look the more simple it is, the more transparent and open to use it can be, the last thing you want in an application web or pc or handset based to do is to load several minutes of flash simply to say welcome. We will work on the interface to make the screen look nicer, but for the meantime everything is there.

Can we request features?

Yes of course, we’re happy to look at that, email me: martinmacleod@mac.com

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IBM’s Remote Supervisor Adaptor is their systems management solution which allows you to manage the server independently of the operating system and includes support for remote systems management (power management/reset), virtual media and server information.

The default username is: USERID and the password: PASSW0RD

Again as with the Dell/HP or other vendors, be sure to check the version of firmware as this can provide extra functionality or resolve known issues, this may involve resetting the remote supervisor adaptor as part of the update process.

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The Dell DRAC or iDRAC is Dell’s remote systems management solution, their version of the ilo if you like, which allows you to manage the server (power cycle or reboot), mount virtual media and view system information.

The default username is set to root and the password calvin. So when setting up the DRAC or iDRAC for the first time you will need to log on with this account, you can then reset the account and password and change the level of access for the root account. Be sure to check the version of the iDRAC or DRAC firmware as that can resolve known issues or provide extra functionality, upgrading the firmware will cause the DRAC or iDRAC to reset, be sure to apply the updates to a test system first or consult Dell or your server provider if you have any questions or concerns.

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We’ve updated the content in the FindMyFirmware application, it now includes these HP servers:

• C-Class blade servers (BL260c, BL460c and BL860c to name a few)
• ML530 series servers
• ML570 series servers
• DL365 series servers
• DL385 series servers
• SL series (Scalable SL6000 and SL6500 System)

The firmware details have also been updated and format aligned across all servers for consistency. If you close and re-open the application the next time you have internet connectivity on your iPhone, it will download the updated content.

If you haven’t heard about our FindMyFirmware application, it’s our own in-house developed and managed application on the iTunes application store and there is more information here. We’re hoping to add Dell and IBM servers, in fact the plan is to contact a range of vendors in the near future and see if we can get them on board, the concept being making public information more accessible to all.

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http://www.finextra.com/News/Fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=22201

In a speech at a Tabb Group-organised event on derivatives, O’Malia accused CFTC chairman Gary Gensler of playing “budgetary chicken” with Congress.

The CFTC says that the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation has increased its workload but, like all government agencies, it has had its budget – $168.8 million – frozen this year.

Despite this, O’Malia says the Commission has upped its workforce from 605 to 682 full-time employees at a cost of over $15 million to the payroll.

I highlighted this article as it illustrates an issue that many CIOs have mentioned when we’ve spoken to them over the years the issue of slashing budgets, of the need to cut costs. As one CIO had mentioned “we just got an email reduce the budgets by 10% please and get back to us with a strategy of how you’re going to deliver this”, the concern being that of course cuts can be made, changes to operations, vendors can be asked to reduce their margins and elements of the service can be outsourced to reduce costs, however there is also an alternative view. One that I had been discussing with one CIO which I’m working on publishing shortly, the concept of the ever decreasing circle, by that I mean if we continue to reduce costs, we continue to abstract more value from the same processes, hardware and software, the same people and sites, without innovating how we operate, how we do business, then we’re going to be facing an ever poorer level of service, of agility and business empowerment.

It all comes back to that concept that the same CIO had explored with me which is running your IT as a business. It’s one of those phrases that can be so easily taken out of context, what we mean by that is that if your commodities or your sales team were ineffective or had budgets issues, you would invest in it, you would send in your top people to empower change, refreshing the teams doing what it took to get that department delivering. With IT, there tends to be more a cost based mindset which can be so easily linked to the departmental mindset rather than the organizational mindset, the aversion to adopting standards and dare I say it the greater good or doing what is best going forward for the department which is the organization.

What we need is to run the IT systems and the organization as one cohesive business, one in which we are making business decisions about how we purchase, deploy, re-use and recycle our IT platforms, with a key focus on efficiencies both financial and in terms of delivery and agility. We should be abstracting the application from the operating system, from the hardware and making it portable so that at the end of the warranty period, or even before we can migrate to the newest and most economic platforms. Moving towards technologies like web, grid and vitualization are great steps to this, but at the same time, we need to adopt thinking and an understanding at an organizational level, this does not mean following the corporate line and not thinking outside the box, it means understanding the cost of doing business, having IT translate these costs and illustrate the return on investment more effectively, so that we are seeing the application as a system or service which never stops, which continues to evolve with the platform, and in which I am looking at the latest technologies and opportunities and how they might fit the business need. A change in the rules of engagement, one of total cost and marginal cost combined, one in which when the pc or the laptop fails, we replace it, as it’s less disruptive and typically cheaper or the same cost as having someone sit and fix it, or call in an engineer to do so, one in which we change from capex and opex to something in between: if I can buy a laptop for £700 use it for a year and resell it for £350, is my per monthly hardware cost not £350, rather than view it as £700 which I have to pay, so let’s keep it until it is not economic to do so, a situation in which migration to another laptop becomes a long term and expensive concept emotionally and financially.

Even in the server space, if we take the book value cost of supporting a legacy server on a hardware support contract, it can in fact be cheaper to replace it, the challenge is two fold, are these values put in front of the business teams involved, and crucially are they being put in front of the right people – is it the middle part of the organization the keep calm and carry on, don’t change it because I’m not sure how it works scenario that could be hindering change – if it is, are we not better investigating these issues, discussing them, articulating them into business risks, priorities and establishing a way forward rather than adopting the keep calm and carry on scenario without understanding and innovating our cost base, our barriers to delivery and success.

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http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/33457.wss

ARMONK, N.Y., - 25 Jan 2011: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it is helping Bank of China in London drastically reduce its paper consumption by 95% while improving the efficiency of conducting financial transactions.

Bank of China had been implementing its business strategy, improving the efficiency of internal operations and service to its customers. It recently turned to IBM and IBM Business Partner Centric iSolutions to help the London branch and subsidiary automate the processing of the interbank, or SWIFT messages, that the branch receives on a daily basis.

The Bank of China in London needed to manually print and distribute roughly 3,000 interbank messages daily to the appropriate internal departments, which was, apart from being an avoidable operational risk, very costly in terms of manpower and paper consumption, requiring approximately 50 pounds of paper per day. In addition, employees had access to these transactions to monitor them for accuracy and normal business processing activity through limited search capabilities.

It’s always interesting to see how organizations have benefited from technology, and this article talks about how IBM is helping the Bank of China in London to reduce paper consumption and improve the efficiency of it’s financial transactions, do check it out.

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http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/enterprise/b/inside-enterprise-it/archive/2011/01/20/accelerating-virtualization-with-greater-throughput.aspx

Enabling customer choice and flexibility has always been a top priority at Dell, and the way we’ve designed and developed our PowerEdge blade portfolio is no exception. Dell continues to expand and refine our Blade offerings to reflect customer desires and technology adoption trends.

One of these trends is the movement towards 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) solutions as a way to facilitate network unification and consolidation, as well as supporting robust virtualized usage models by enabling greater throughput. With other modern technologies eliminating or reducing roadblocks to virtualization such as processing power and memory capacity, I/O throughput is quickly becoming THE hot topic for deploying virtualization-dense environments.

I had a great chat with the guys from Dell talking about their commitment and ongoing development of their PowerEdge servers and in particular their PowerEdge blade servers. It was great to hear the enthusiasm and how they are seeking to improve the I/O on their blade platform and do everything they can to make their blade servers more accessible, manageable and scalable, key issues when deploying blade servers in volume.  That they continue their product innovation both to meet customer needs and provide opportunities remains key and it was great to keep in touch with the team and see how Dell are seeking to improve their offering, empower user functionality and deliver change, very cool.

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http://h10124.www1.hp.com/campaigns/enterprise/instant-on/us/en/overview.html

PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 25, 2011 – HP today announced a suite of new products and services that enable businesses and governments to leverage the power of the cloud while ensuring they meet required levels of security, performance and availability.

Cloud computing is an important and growing platform for Instant-On Enterprises, where everything and everyone is connected. Instant-On Enterprises require IT environments that are flexible, automated and secure, and able to quickly adjust to changing demand.

While cloud computing delivers benefits such as faster deployment of new services, reduction in IT headcount and a pay-as-you-go model, it has traditionally lacked in areas that enterprises need, such as security, availability and ease of integration.

The new HP Hybrid Delivery solutions provide the benefits of enterprise-grade cloud computing, while meeting the specific needs of businesses and governments.

“Cloud computing is going mainstream and HP is leading the way,” said Ann Livermore, executive vice president, HP Enterprise Business. “HP has the enterprise experience, breadth of portfolio and global service delivery organization to lead our clients through this transformation.”

HP Hybrid Delivery cloud solutions: Cloud for the enterprise

HP Enterprise Cloud Services-Compute delivers “private cloud as a service” from HP’s state-of-the-art data centers. Governed by specified policies for service, performance, security and privacy, it provides clients with rapidly deployed, secure computing with scalable IT capacity. Built on HP’s leadership in Converged Infrastructure and the breadth of HP’s software portfolio for automation and management, it delivers all the resources necessary to access a hybrid private cloud.

HP CloudSystem is the most complete, integrated system to build, manage and consume services across private, public and hybrid cloud environments. It combines the strength of HP’s Converged Infrastructure with the established leadership of HP Cloud Service Automation software to deliver unified security, governance and compliance across applications, as well as physical and virtual infrastructure.

HP CloudSystem also supports HP Cloud Maps, an industry first that provides preconfigured catalog objects to automatically provision the optimized application and infrastructure resources. HP CloudSystem enables new cloud services to be up and running in minutes.

HP Cloud Discovery Workshop helps businesses and governments develop smart strategies and the optimal path for leveraging the cloud. The one- or two-day workshops have multiple modules that cover a wide range of topics, including business model implications, security and identifying the right services for the cloud. The workshops are led by seasoned HP professionals with experience and expertise in global cloud deployments.

HP Financial Services are available for clients building private cloud deployments who want to minimize capital requirements. HP can combine its cloud offerings with financial offerings from HP Financial Services helps clients maximize their financial goals in parallel with their pursuit of advanced technologies.

HP embracing the cloud, and creating a portfolio or products and services to empower organizations to adopt cloud as a business empowerment tool has to be a good thing for the cloud community and the end users alike. The more range of services and offerings in this space, the more choice and opportunities their will be for me and my business, that they are offering both private cloud services, and the technologies and tools to deploy your own in house cloud is good news, and something which I will need to read up more about.

The drive towards cloud is happening in small and large organizations not just for reasons of budget or organization, but in terms of business agility and service delivery, neither concepts need to represent a threat to IT directly, what we need is IT to be thinking of what we could do to improve delivery, what we could be doing if, and then helping the business decide on the direction and gain opportunities from dynamic infrastructure, and concepts like capacity on demand.

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I got asked how long it takes for an ILO card to reset if you’re changing the network settings or just pressing network apply to reset the card. The counter displays a count down for 60 seconds, time it takes to reset the ILO, but the ILO actually pings and is useable from the point at which the count down reaches 30 seconds. A very short post in response to George’s question:

Martin/Bladewatch,

I’ve got to raise a change to reconfigure the ILO on our DL380 G3 and I need to note how long the ILO will be down as part of filling in the change form, do you know how long it takes?

Cheers

George

The actual user guide for the ILO version one is here.

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I got asked to explain the differences between the different options in the ILO.  The ILO is the Integrated Lights Out or remote access card which allows you to manage the server independently of the operating system, IBM have their Remote Supervisor Adapter series of cards, and Dell have their DRAC offering. For more information on ILO, click here (our content) or the HP site on ILO here.

Anyway, there are different options (off the top of my head):

• Momentary press – like pressing the power button on your server should cause Windows to shut down the operating system
• Press and hold – like holding the power button will instantly power cycle the server
• Cold Boot of system – powers the server off by holding the button for a few seconds and then switches the server on
• Reset system – resets the system independent of the operating system
• There is also an option for the BL range of blades:
• Manual override for BL p-Class blades – I only ever used this if there was a problem where the blade would not power on because the enclosure believes there is a power problem.

The actual user guide for the ILO version one is here, it goes into more detail starting page 82.

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