topic Re: Getting up to speed on blade technology? in BladeSystem - General

Getting up to speed on blade technology?

Doug O'Leary — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:52:07 GMT

Hey;

I knew I was getting behind the 8 ball on this; but, to date, I've never had to play with anything even remotely blade related.

That's apparently about to change. I've got some BL860ci2's coming in some time soon.

From what little I've heard, I'm assuming I can't just attach a null modem cable to the console port, put a dvd in the drive and start installing.

I've checked out doc.hp.com and found literally hundreds of docs but I'm not sure where to start.

Does anyone have some useful links on the initial setup of a blade system? Once I can get to the point of installing an OS, I'm good - I just need to get there.

In the meantime, while waiting for responses, I'll keep pouring through the links in docs.hp.com...

Thanks for any hints/tips/tricks/suggestions

Doug O'Leary

Re: Getting up to speed on blade technology?

Emil Velez — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:09:54 GMT

WHy not take the Integrity Blade Administration course. You get your own blade, configure it, use ILO, configure Virtual connect and get a introduction to SIM

http://www.hp.com/education/courses/hc590s.html

Otherwise there is tons of documentation at

http://www.hp.com/go/blades

Re: Getting up to speed on blade technology?

Torsten. — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:25:44 GMT

I assume the i2 looks like the first generation, but I have not seen this yet.

If you have a c3000 chassis, you can directly use the internal DVD.

Another option is to map the virtual DVD (from your PC) to the blade, connect to the console (via OA, network or serial) and start installing.

If the internal SAS controller is still the same, I recommend to set up a hardware RAID on the 2 internal disks!

Re: Getting up to speed on blade technology?

Torsten. — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:56:55 GMT

... and I'm sure you need the march 2010 release of hp-ux as minimum for this hardware.

Re: Getting up to speed on blade technology?

gregersenj — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:08:39 GMT

I'm not a shark on integrety blades. But I will share my knowledge with you.

Basically, it's just another Intgrety server, like any other RX.
So You don't need a lot of new knowledge.

You've got an Ilo, like on other later RX servers, wich give you access to a virtual serial console, and you still can telnet to the MP.
You can browse the ILo directly or you can connect through the Onboard Administrator.
You can mount a virtual DVD through the ILo.

Also there's a connector in the front of the blade. Using a cable, you can connect a serial port, 2 USB connectors and a VGA.

So it's not that spooky :)

BR
/jag

Re: Getting up to speed on blade technology?

Sheanshar — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:31:36 GMT

Hello,

I hope you find this information useful

HP Integrity Server Blade management software

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/servers/integrity-bl/c-class/860c/compmatrix.

Manuals (guides, supplements, addendums, etc)

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=101&prodClassId=-1&contentType=SupportManual&docIndexId=64255&prodTypeId=3709945&prodSeriesId=3331044

Bladesystem C- Class enclosures

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Product.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=101&contentType=SupportManual&docIndexId=64255&prodTypeId=3709945&prodCatId=3722812

Re: Getting up to speed on blade technology?

Michael Leu — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:21:49 GMT

Management architecture of HP BladeSystem c-Class systems
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00814176/c00814176.pdf

Re: Getting up to speed on blade technology?

Doug O'Leary — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 13:26:49 GMT

Hey;

Thanks for the links; I'm slowly making my way through them. The training class is particularly helpful. I'll be attending the next one.

Thanks again.

Doug O'Leary