http://web.mac.com/martinmacleod/iWeb/Site/Blog/ilomanagement.pdf
I’ve written a quick ILO user guide. It’s simply an overview of the options and shows how you upgrade the firmware. I hope I haven’t missed anything or made any mistakes. In the meantime click the above url to view/download it and feel free to comment.
http://web.mac.com/martinmacleod/iWeb/Site/Blog/ilosticker.jpg and http://web.mac.com/martinmacleod/iWeb/Site/Blog/bladewatchbl30p.pdf
Some more information on the HP BL30p, I’ve included a PowerPoint version as well as it seems to be smaller than the PDF. The single page document has a picture of the blade with the different components highlighted, a picture of the typical default ILO sticker values, and finally information about the jumpers. I’ve used the iLO Security Override option before when configuring blade chassis in volumes, just remember to put the jumper back when you’ve finished otherwise the ILO is effectively unlocked. Setting 6 is also a good way of resetting the blade if you’re trying to troubleshoot an issue, it’s basically is the same as a NVRAM reset as I understand it. I’ve used this when trying to rule out an issue with the sleeve or blade backplane.
The overriding rule is, if the backplane light is red at the back you have an issue, you can unplug the bar at the back of the enclosure and re-seat it to try and clear the error, but as with anything, if you’re not sure call your hardware engineer and consider it might be best to do this out of core business hours.
The quickspecs for this blade are here: h18004.www1.hp.com/products/
If you need to tell the ILO firmware version on a HP server there are several ways:
The latest version is currently 1.91B which includes some improvements and fixes for known issues.
I got a question by email:
Is there a way to ‘reset the ILO?’ I’ve had times when the ILO thinks someone’s logged in, or when it’s not quite behaving?
Great question, check you’ve got the latest firmware, this resolves several known issues. Anyway, the easiest way to reset the ILO, as in ‘reboot’ the card is to to the ILO settings tab, go to networks and press apply. The ILO will then set the network settings and reboot it. After about 40 seconds the ILO should be ready to use.
If this doesn’t work you can always try re-applying the firmware to the ILO.
http://www.bladewatch.com/2007/12/28/introducing-allen-or-hp-part-number-367243-405/
So I did a post earlier on about purchasing a refurbished HP BL30P blade server so that I could put up some HP specific and generic blade content. To give you the basics on blade servers, typically you have an enclosure where the networking and power bits are, and into that you plug in a blade server which is in essence your mini 1u server sitting on it’s side.
Here it is:
So at the front of the unit (to the left of the picture) you have the handle and space to fit two hard drives, we then have the fans, the two processors, some memory and the network cards.
I’m putting together some pictures of the different components with a few tips on how to replace components/reset the system etc without having to plug it into the diagnostic kit or have an operating system loaded.
Allen is my HP BL30p Blade server which I purchased from a reseller in the US no less from ebay.
I’d been wanting to buy a blade, so that I could take some pictures, go over the basics of the platform as well as write about and document work arounds for issues I experienced with that model (some of which were related to me, not the kit). Also we’d had some questions at work about how they work, what they plug into, and this kind of thing is ideal.
Anyway, the specification are:
I’ve yet to buy one of these (230743-B21 - the diagnostic kit), it’s $2000 so am building myself up to it. The diagnostic kit allows you to connect and run a blade independently of the blade enclosure.
Regardless once Allen is safely delivered, I’ll be doing some content about setting it up, the basics for testing them and those secret hints I learned deploying them in volume. Like which jumper switch to flick so that it returns to factory default, or where the ILO username/password is.
At this point, my disclaimer.
In the interests of remaining vendor neutral, I want to do the same kind of thing for the Dell and IBM blades, but have started with the BL30p because I’ve deployed 500 or so of them, and it was the most affordable at the time on ebay. So sometime next year, after our first meet up, I’ll buy a Dell, IBM and any other blades I can think off and do the same. I Want to also try out the newer blades too.
