How to migrate your c-Class enclosures into HPE OneView

[Lee_Archer]

HPE OneView offers a simple and straightforward way to manage your infrastructure. Using a comprehensive and clear dashboard, you can efficiently manage or monitor your HPE server and enclosure infrastructure. 

It’s easy to add your C7000 enclosures into HPE OneView and doing so offers benefits like server mobility, firmware management and centralised server access amongst others.  Some features are only available if the enclosure is managed by HPE OneView but great features are available with just monitoring.  I’m going to assume that you have deployed HPE OneView and are familiar with its use, but if you need help with using HPE OneView please visit the interactive demo site where you can go through guided and interactive demonstrations of various features and functions. 

An important thing to note, is whilst you can add a new enclosure to be managed or monitored with any version of HPE OneView, if you want to migrate an existing Virtual Connect domain the latest version that can be used is 5.4.  Once all the enclosures have been migrated, the appliance can be updated to subsequent versions of HPE OneView following the approved upgrade path.  Another thing to remember is that after an enclosure has been added to HPE OneView, you still use the Onboard Administrator modules to make changes to the enclosure configuration, EBIPA, SNMP, etc, but HPE OneView takes over the management of Virtual Connect for enclosures that have been added as managed devices.

Know your environment

Before you start adding enclosures you need to check that these and any installed servers are supported and this information is available in the HPE technical library.  Check the support matrix for the HPE OneView version deployed remembering that monitoring or managing an enclosure might have different requirements.  Remember that each enclosure is wholly added as either a monitored or managed device and that to manage devices you will need licenses.

Add, monitor, migrate

Enclosures can be imported into HPE OneView several ways, but it depends on the status of the enclosure and what you are trying to achieve.  In all cases they are added from the Enclosures tab in the Servers drop down of the web interface.  

From there you can:

• Add an enclosure for monitoring - use this if the enclosure or servers have unsupported modules or firmware versions.  The enclosure can be removed and added for management when it meets the requirements.
• Add an enclosure for management - if the enclosure meets the requirements for management and doesn’t have a configured Virtual Connect domain.
• Migrate an enclosure - if the enclosure meets the requirements for management but has a configured Virtual Connect domain that you don’t want to lose. 
• If you want more information, you can use the Guided Setup process in the HPE OneView web interface. 

Monitored enclosures

Adding the enclosure as a monitored device is the easiest way to get your c-Class infrastructure into HPE OneView and requires the least amount of information.  Just select the monitoring action and enter the active Onboard Administrator hostname or IP address along with an administrator level username and password. 

Clicking ‘Add’ will start the process and the enclosure, along with any installed servers, will be brought into HPE OneView and configured for monitoring.

Once the process has finished, the enclosure will be displayed along with the chassis and server information.  From the enclosure page you can use the hyperlinks to connect to the Onboard Administrator modules and the Virtual Connect Manager or jump to a server and connect to the iLO console or web interface without needing any other tool.  Everything is presented via the HPE OneView web interface.

Managed enclosures

All enclosures are managed in the same way but, depending on any running configuration, are brought into HPE OneView differently.  For enclosures where the Virtual Connect domain isn’t configured, the enclosure can be quickly added.  The process is like adding a monitored enclosure but with a few extra steps.  As you are adding managed devices you need to have added the licenses to the appliance.  This is done in the Licenses option found in the appliance Settings menu.  To add the enclosure, start by selecting the management action and entering the hostname or IP address of the active Onboard Administrator along with an administrator level username and password.  As it’s going to be managed by HPE OneView an enclosure group needs to be specified.  This can be a new or existing group.

Next select the license type to use.  This will be applied to all installed servers and enables the management features of HPE OneView.  You can select a firmware baseline to apply to the enclosure if required, provided you have already uploaded it to the firmware repository, but when ready click ‘Add’ to get the process started.

For a new Enclosure Group you are prompted to define the connectivity, but you don’t have to define it if you don’t want to as you can do it after the enclosure has been added via the Logical Interconnect Group tab in the Networks drop down of the web interface.

When the process has finished the web interface will look like the monitored enclosure but HPE OneView is now managing the Virtual Connect configuration and the server licensing policy is different.  Server profiles, networks and the other features are now available for use.

Migrating an enclosure

If the enclosure is to be managed but has a Virtual Connect domain, an online migration of the enclosure and configuration can be performed to bring this into HPE OneView.  This process does take a lot longer to complete than the previous two as all the configuration is copied over and the Virtual Connect modules are rebooted.  If any servers are operational during the process, they need to have resilient network interface configurations and multipath storage connectivity, so check the server configuration and the Virtual Connect server profile as part of the initial environment work.  It is also beneficial to monitor a couple of servers during the process to ensure failover is as expected and service maintained.  Before you start the process make sure that you have a recent backup of the Virtual Connect domain, in case a restore is required.  You also need to have added your licenses to the HPE OneView appliance.  To add the enclosure, select the migrate action and enter the hostname or IP address of the active Onboard Administrator along with an administrator level username and password. 

Next an Enclosure Group needs to be specified.  If a new group is created, it will be populated with the imported Virtual Connect configuration but if it’s an existing group the settings from this group will be expected to match the settings of the Virtual Connect domain to be imported.

The last bits of information are selecting the license type to use and entering an administrator level username and password for the Virtual Connect domain.

At this point the required information has been added but you need to click on ‘Test compatibility’, which will run several checks.  Any errors will stop the process and will need to be addressed.  If issues are detected, the process will alert and allow you to view the details.

The compatibility process needs to pass before the enclosure can be migrated.  When it is successful you will be shown a summary of the enclosure details which need to be acknowledged before clicking ‘Add’ to get the process started and the enclosure migrated.

As the process is running through you can watch it by expanding the process activity. 

Once the process has completed, the enclosure and all the Virtual Connect configuration will be manageable in the HPE OneView web interface. 

Now you are this far, you can explore server profiles and templates, network sets, firmware management and all the other features and remember to make regular backups of your HPE OneView appliance.  The HPE OneView dashboard gives you a quick and simple overview of the environment with easy navigation.

 Get in touch

If you have any questions about HPE OneView, need more information before you get started, or you’d like to pick our brains to discuss anything with our specialists, please get in touch today. 

Lee Archer
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

twitter.com/HPE_UKI
linkedin.com/company/hewlett-packard-enterprise
hpe.com/uk