Latest Post By martin237 0 Comments
July 2011 27

HP brings us next generation firmware and driver packs

So I’ve been writing the blog since 2006, during that time I’ve played with nearly all of the Compaq/HP Proliant servers from the olden days Compaq Proliant 4500s (Pentium 90) through to their latest and greatest BL460 G7 blades.  The one common theme which we learned quite quickly and which I have written about was the driver and firmware thing, my interest even resulted in our infamous server firmware spreadsheet (which we love) and our FindMyFirmware iPhone application.

If you’ve never owned a server, had a fault with a server or managed servers in volume this may not be something with which you are overly familiar, however in the server world drivers and firmware are key. When you log a call to either any of the big vendors or a service provider they will ask:

  1. Have you upgraded the firmware?
  2. Are the drivers up to date?
  3. Please supply a diagnostic report.

My pain point as a server support guy, as someone who has written about driver and firmware over the years is not so much upgrading the drivers and firmware as much as it is version management. I know that I need to have the latest and greatest, but as an engineer and working for an enterprise you quickly come to realize that you end up aiming instead for N-1, so you’re not quite the latest and greatest but not out of date, so that when you have to log a call there are not a series of updates that need to be applied to the server before we can progress through to getting the parts we need or the assistance we need to fix our problem. With this in mind I actually developed with some of my colleagues the bladewatch bundle, this was quite simply, a folder which contained firmware which I had downloaded once a month, plus a copy of the HP Diagnostic utilities (online) and ISO, as well as copies of the PSP and firmware dvd (in case it was needed), a bundle that an engineer could carry around on a USB, and know when you’ve got the downtime or if you’re doing maintenance, run this against it so we know it’s all up to date.

Anyway back to the purpose of this post, HP appear to have made further innovations in this space which is brilliant news. Their service pack includes support for Windows, Linux and VMWare:

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/servers/management/spp/index.html

HP Service Pack for ProLiant is an enhanced, re-packaging of ProLiant systems software and firmware and is based on the rich legacy of Windows and Linux ProLiant Support Packs (PSPs) and HP Smart Update Firmware DVD that were found in the Insight Foundation suite for ProLiant. It is comprehensive systems software and firmware release offered as a tested solution on all ProLiant and BladeSystem servers.

It provides a single image for combined firmware and systems software for a single step installation instead of a two step installation of HP Windows and Linux PSPs and the HP Smart Update Firmware DVD. It repackages firmware, drivers, utilities, agents, non-agents, and other utilities that are required to keep pace in today’s rapidly expanding technology infrastructure as well as improves process for releasing these products to HP customers. Additionally, VMware drivers and offline firmware will be supported.

They had already made in roads with the work that they had done on the blade firmware bundle:

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/blades/bladesystemupdate.html

NOTE: HP BladeSystem c7000 enclosures properly configured with redundant Onboard Administrator and Virtual Connect modules can be updated online without disruption to production workloads. Firmware and PSP updates to blade components may require individual blades to be rebooted, which can be scheduled during an appropriate maintenance window for each server blade workload.

It’s great to see ongoing investment and effort being made in the systems management, driver and firmware space, anything HP can do to help their customers and end users maintain their systems not only empowers customers to learn and take interest in running their products, but also reduces the complexity for the customer in terms of systems management and should hopefully reduces’ HP’s support costs and time to resolution which works for everyone both sides of the sales and support space.

Some example articles about drivers and firmware that I’ve written over the years:

My the innovation from HP and their competitors continue, the more we break down the barriers, make the product support information more accessible and empower the user, the more we can further empower how users use their equipment and their confidence in using it, creating opportunity for vendor and end user alike.

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July 2011 27

HP TouchPad applications and general thoughts

I was talking to colleagues about the HP TouchPad, the iPAD and Blackberry’s Playbook, I wanted to know what applications they want to see on it, I was more interested outside of the BBC iPlayer or Facebook applications to see what they needed in a work context, how we could in essence make it a work tool an alternative to carrying a laptop around the office or data center.  I got some great feedback:

  • Virtual vCenter – so we can manage the virtual servers
  • Citrix client so we can connect to systems/published applications
  • Exchange connectivity or web mail support out of the box
  • Some kind of remote desktop tool
  • HP Systems Insight Manager/IBM Director/Dell OpenManage
  • HP Cloud Matrix interface so that we can natively run the app and have it
  • HP Product Bulletin – so that we can do quick reference searches and manage the server estate
  • Call logging facility application so I can log straight into our HP account site and log a call “with interactive feedback in the app logo, so when it’s in progress it goes orange or something?”
  • Gateway to the HP community which can display the content and help further the community dialog and discussion
  • An interactive version of the PSTools – so I can run a gui thing which says PSKill, now enter servername, process and credentials to remotely kill a process or use an equivalent PSTool utility

Anyway, that was a few brainstorm ideas, whether it’s on the radar or not will depend on target markets home user vs technologist, enterprise vs small business. It was at a network event where I met some guys working in the front office sales team where the conversation got my interest.  The consensus was that increasingly organizations are finding that it’s the sales guys the people going out meeting customers that are asking for these devices ‘they have one, I had to use a laptop or printed PowerPoint presentations and documents, it didn’t look good’. Enterprises looking for business want to provide the impression that they are articulate, keeping up to date with market trends and benefiting from these technologies which provide possibilities of always on, want to re-calculate that offering or including that within the pricing, sure I can use my internal pricing application for that, not phone front office and go through the whole formal pricing thing again when it’s speculative. These devices, these applications not only offer marketing and extra routes into platforms, they can also be the buffer, the bridge between your outside front door, and the club class offering through which your important prospective customers or sales team can get access to those related applications, services and platforms, you deal in currency with us as a bank, why not use our free research tool, and did you want access to our market trading tool, click here to creating a trading account, all through an iPad, through a corporate app, giving that sleek interactive and ‘real time’ perception. It might not be appropriate for all your customers, but for the ones that use it, it could be the differentiators between business, trading and transactions or not.

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July 2011 27

iPad2 on Vodafone looks interesting

My brother Ewan had done a great post on twitter about Vodafone’s iPad2 offer:

For a few days I’ve seen the phone number 0808-something call my main handset. I haven’t been able to answer. I thought it might be someone from a utility company. British Gas, maybe? Or perhaps an insurance company.

This afternoon I had a spare few minutes when the phone rang again from that number. I picked up.

It was a chap from Vodafone. He introduced himself politely (“my name is Aminul”) and asked if I had a few minutes to talk — noting that I’d been specially selected for an offer.

“Go on then,” I said. We went through the usual security questions and then delved into the offer.

It was about iPads.

Would I like to buy an iPad, he asked, at a highly attractive rate. I listened.

The deal was simple and, I do have to admit, pretty attractive to me.

Normally Vodafone charge £229 for a 16GB 3G+WiFi iPad 2, along with the line rental on 18-month or 24-month agreements. Today’s special offer waived the £229 up-front cost on the basis of an entirely reasonable £26.60 per month deal, including 2GB of UK data. ‘Overages’ are charged at 5p per megabyte.

I have to say I find myself tempted, love the concept, will need to see if there is anything they can do for me.

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July 2011 27

Dell and the OpenStack offering

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/26/idUS384468683320110726

On Tuesday Dell announced a reference architecture, open-source software and services offering designed to make deploying an OpenStack-based cloud as easy as following directions. Called the Dell OpenStack Cloud solution, the collection of tools shows that OpenStack will be a driving force in the private-cloud space but also that there will be plenty of competition among vendors trying to sell companies their particular flavor of OpenStack. More and more, the Rackspace-led project looks like the Linux of cloud-computing software.

An interesting announcement from Dell who are improving their offering in the cloud space with a focus on systems management and administration, anything Dell and the other vendors can do to further empower users with their internal or external cloud projects has to be a good thing.  I’m off to check out more on the Dell site, there is a whitepaper from Dell here.

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July 2011 27

Thinking of alternative hosting strategies

http://www.cloudpro.co.uk/iaas/1375/microsoft-suggests-cloud-servers-heat

Microsoft has this week published a research paper suggesting relocating data centre servers for the heat they generate.

Examining the practicality of these so called ‘data furnaces’ (DFs), the paper zeroes in on the potential for servers used in cloud computing data centres to act as primary heat sources when rented to consumers for use in their homes and offices.

Most computer users are aware of how hot IT hardware can get when running for long periods. However, rising energy costs are making the huge cost of powering data centres a powerful driver of enterprise cloud adoption.

An interesting read from cloudpro talking about Microsoft’s research paper. I remember mentioning to dad that companies could achieve a similar thing in the hpc space asking users if they would consider hosting a server, in their garage/their loft rather than pay for a rack space. Free broadband for life in exchange for hosting a HP MicroServer which I could then as a company use as a mini cloud for grid or even virtualization?

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July 2011 17

What alternatives are there to the HP Proliant DL360?

Got a call from one of my small business friends, he was after a “HP Proliant DL360 G7″, at that point I asked him what he was using it for and he mentioned that IT guy had said DL360 but he wondered what else he could look at in the same space. So off the top of my head without prior investigation I mentioned to check out Dell, Fujitsu, IBM and Oracle (though possibly not quoting server models):

I’ve since done a little more research on the web, each vendor has their own offering in the 1u rack server space comprising of SAS/SATA servers with 1 and 2 socket support, different memory and system configurations. For example in the Dell space there is the R210 II, or the Fujitsu RX100 S6, the IBM System X3250 M3, the Oracle Sun Fire X2270 M2 indeed HP offer their Proliant 100 series, such as the Proliant DL120 G6.

When thinking about a rack server, look around at the options, my priorities would be:

  • Built in lights out functionality
  • Dual socket support
  • Redundant power supplies
  • Memory support
  • PCI type slots for upgrading
  • Operating system support for VMware ESX or ESXi / Linux / Microsoft Windows including Hyper-V.

But then my thoughts may well differ from yours, that said do look at what each vendor has to offer in your space and select based on your criteria, everything else is just noise.

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July 2011 17

Where is the SPARC platform going?

I’ve been having conversations with colleagues about the road-map and scope for the SPARC processor with interesting feedback varying from the SPARC loving will last forever comments through to statements about it being a legacy platform.  With this in mind I thought that it was time to check out both the Oracle and Fujitsu sites to see what was going on in this space and came across their joint road-map announcement, which are in the links below.

Processor platforms in terms of user commitment are one of those topics which mean most to the end user community, to those heavily invested in SPARC or Itanium or Cell/B.E, those platforms are component parts of their server platforms and therefore road-maps and strategies are very important, to everyone else living in other platform spaces such as x64 or POWER, the interest or relevance may be less an issue. That said, the innovation of platforms to maintain innovation, end user choice and opportunities, diversity of processors and operating system remains good for the end user community, good for revenue opportunities and the vendors themselves both as a USP and revenue generator and as a vehicle to offer features and opportunities which others might not.

For some statements about the SPARC platform, check out:

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July 2011 17

KACE M300 – asset discovery from Dell with SMB users in mind

http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/press-releases/2011-07-14-kace-m300-launch.aspx

Today Dell KACE today announced an innovative new line of systems management solutions developed specifically for small businesses. Applying its established technology to a new market segment, Dell KACE’s latest desktop management product eases the repetitive tasks small business IT departments deal with every day, giving them the freedom to focus on more strategic projects.

Dell KACE’s new line of appliances offers small business IT managers an easy, cost-effective and reliable solution for routine IT tasks such as: hardware and software inventory, software license compliance and asset tracking and management. In addition, it gives them increased visibility into their IT network, enabling them to proactively address configuration issues before they undermine security. With a strong focus on ease-of-use, the new appliance is a true “plug-and-play” solution that virtually eliminates the repetitive and time-consuming tasks of software and hardware inventory management.

Dell continues to improve its offerings in the small business space, offering a small business tools to empower effective systems management and decision making has to be a good thing for both IT and business uses in understanding their infrastructures and making the right decisions to innovate and create opportunity.

These kind of asset discovery appliances have been getting increasing exposure as the different vendors and service providers seek to offer their end users not only the chance to effectively inventory the infrastructure but also extend to include application mapping, linking the infrastructure to the application so we can understand the impact of changes to the infrastructure.

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July 2011 17

Cisco helps end users optimize low latency platforms

http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=438486

Cisco Live, LAS VEGAS, NV – July 15, 2011– Across the global financial markets industry, new trading strategies, fragmented liquidity venues, and requirements for highest trading execution are driving the need for optimal reliability, predictability and ultra-low-latency connected data centers.  Delays to transactions–even fractions of seconds– can cost millions of dollars, prompting the most successful investment firms to seek out stock exchanges that have the highest performing networks.    To meet these needs, The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc., the world’s No. 1 provider of technology to exchanges, clearinghouses and regulators, has selected the Cisco Data Center Business Advantage portfolio to evolve NASDAQ OMX PHLX, the Philadelphia-based, high-performance options trading exchange.

It’s always great to read what range of technologies customer and end users are using in order to meet business requirements or create opportunity for revenue generation in the low latency space. Whether it’s moving to fibre channel over ethernet, (wire once) or improving network capacity, reducing complexity, anything we can do to make it easier to prevent, isolate and resolve issues has to be a good thing.

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July 2011 12

Talking about HP’s BL620c G7 / BL680c G7 and SL335s G7

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/15351-15351-3896136-3896139-4236125-4337682.html

The HP ProLiant SL335s G7 Server is part of the latest family, the HP ProLiant SL6500 Scalable System, of HP server solutions optimized for scale-out customers to greatly reduce costs and maximize power efficiency by sharing power supplies and fans, while providing an infrastructure that is easy to access and service. Customers can deploy up to eight independent HP ProLiant SL335s G7 Servers into the 4U HP ProLiant SL6500 Chassis.

The server supports up to two AMD® Opteron® processors with 12 DDR3 DIMM sockets (128 GB) and 4 large form factor (LFF) or 8 small form factor (SFF) hard drives. With the SL335s G7 Server you can redefine your data center with the high efficiency multi-node chassis which offers shared power and cooling, with front I/O cabling that is easier for servicing. The HP ProLiant SL335s G7 Server is ideal for environments needing high density compute at a low cost.

I had a briefing during the week from one of the guys at HP talking about their BL620c G7 and BL680c G7 blade servers for virtualization and hpc solutions; as well as their new Proliant SL335s G7 Scale Out servers. It was great to hear about what innovations and improvements HP are bringing to both the blade and scale out platforms to aid customers with their business challenges and requirements in consolidation or scale out computing projects.

I’m off to check out the new blades, they do sound ideal for virtualization, anything the vendors can do to improve the scalability and performance of the blade format for virtualization has to be a good thing for competition in the market place and end user choice alike.

The blade information is here and here.

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