topic Re: Erase iLO - how secure? in ProLiant Servers (ML,DL,SL)

Erase iLO - how secure?

Donal Rogers_1 — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 11:11:49 GMT

All,

I have a customer requirement to verify that any and all information stored in the ILO card in a number of ProLiant and blade servers has been securely erased by the HP System Erase Utility. In the case of the ProLiants, I used the System Erase Utility on SmartStart. In the case of the blades, I wiped the CMOS using the DIP switches located on the motherboard as stated in the Maintenance and Service Guide.

Is there any written verification available from HP that the System Erase utility can and does perform a full non-recoverable wipe of the iLO and that the blades CMOS memory cannot be recovered in any way once it has been erased?

Thanks.

Donal.

Re: Erase iLO - how secure?

Jimmy Vance — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 11:10:05 GMT

Unless it has been changed, the system erase utility doesn't touch iLO, just NVRAM and the Smart Array settings. The iLO can be reset to factory default and that will clear out all the settings and user accounts.

Re: Erase iLO - how secure?

Donal Rogers_1 — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 11:12:40 GMT

Thanks for the quick reply Jimmy. I was editing the question while you were replying - sorry!

Re: Erase iLO - how secure?

Donal Rogers_1 — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 11:16:34 GMT

My apologies for the confusion. I wiped the servers several weeks ago and have forgotten the exact details. Apart from running System Erase, I also went in to the iLO setup page and reset it to defaults.

I suppose arising from that, my question is whether it can be verified that the information stored in the iLO has gone for ever and can never be recovered and whether HP can issue a statement to that effect?

Re: Erase iLO - how secure?

Johan Guldmyr — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 07:32:46 GMT

If you want official HP statements you need to go through the support (and quite likely an elevated case).