Changing / replacing a Blade

[kishanb]

Hello All & Greetings.

I have a running server [say, myserver1 on a blade, bl460cG6]. I need to replace it with a new blade server but retain all configurations, etc on the new blade. myserver1 is running a SAN-bootable Windows 2003 Server.

In my view, once I replace the server with the new one, all I need to to do is change the System Options by hitting F9, F8 (for iLO) and the MAC address changes for the network / iLO, That should be enough for me to retain the Server profiles, etc. All this should take no more than an hour's work.

Is the above correct/ Any sugestions to do this more efficiently as also reliably?

Thanks,

Kishan

[Viveki]

Kishan,

Do you need to retain only the iLO settings or the full server configuration including OS?

For iLO changes the steps you mentioned is enough. Also please take care of the zoning if implemented, as you use a san boot.

[JKytsi]

You might want to swap FC HBAs to retain WWN addresses.

Even if You zone by ports, you have presented SAN LUNs to certain WWNs

[WFHC-WI]

Hi Kishan,

If you are using Virtual Connect assigned MAC addresses and WWNs, you will not need to move your HBAs or take any other action to keep the WWNs and MACs as long as you use the same bay.

If you are using EBIPA, the server will also pick up the same iLO IP address. You will need only to change the iLO DNS name and server name fields.

Good luck and please assign points if these responders helped you!

[kishanb]

Hello all & Greetings.

Thanks for your / various replies.

Specific to WFH's suggestion:
I have set the Enclosure / VC's to assign Virtual WWPNs for the HBAs. Now, I would like to know, if I can have some blades to use their real BIA / MAC addresses and some with Virtual assigned MACs. And, the upside/ downside to factor in, in making that decision. Any pointers, please?

Thanks,

Kishan

[The Brit]

Using VC to assign virtual wwid and MAC addresses are two independent decisions, however each decision applies to the whole enclosure.

i.e. if you choose to let VC assign virtual WWID's to your HBA's (recommended), then it will do it for all of your blades. You cant have some virtual and some real.

The same applies to your MAC addresses, it is all blades or none.

Note: Allowing VC to assign virtual WWID's is almost a no-brainer, it is fundamentally what VC was designed for.
The decision regarding MACs will be less obvious since there are OS and Usage considerations involved.

HTH

Dave.

[Vincent Berger]

If you choose to use VC-assigned MAC addresses and/or WWNs in your VC Domain, you can still elect to use factory MACs and WWNs on a per-server profile basis. The setting is under the "Advanced" button below the profile name when you create the profile.
Note that the opposite is not true, i.e. if you choose factory-assigned MACs and WWNs at the Domain level, all server profiles will use that.

Vincent

[WFHC-WI]

Hi again kishan,

Vincent has it right, you can use the factory default MACs or WWNs for any individual server or servers that you want.

If you already have a profile created for a server that uses Virtual Connect assigned addresses, simply remove that profile (no need to delete it), then define a new profile and assign it to that bay.

If you use factory default WWNs and you have an HBA failure you will likely need to do back-end work on your SAN to reconnect to your LUNs (since the new HBA will have new WWNs). With Virtual Connect WWNs, the new HBA will pick up the same WWNs that the old HBA had.