Never setup a Blade C7000 before...

[Torsten.]

Basically you can set up HP VSA on the blade connected to the storage and provide the space via iSCSI to the other hosts.

But the problem is availability.

Once the storage goes down for any reason, your complete environment has lost the storage, hence the server farm will be down.

For better HA you need at least a second storage for redundancy.

This problem is not related to the blades, you would have the same with standalone servers.

[Server-Support]

Hi CPA man,

Please let us know which document that you end up using and please share it here since I also would like to know it more how to setup the Blades server from scratch or out of the box.

[BK_HPE]

Hello@CPA-UK

HP has several documents to help you in the installation of your blades and enclosures.  I recommend taking a look at the HP BladeSystem c7000 Enclosure Setup and Installation Guide to begin with and then I would also take a look at the HP ProLiant BL460c G7 Server Blade Installation Instructions. 

The BladeSystem C7000 Enclosure Setup and installation guide document gives you the planning of the installation:  warning, caution, and important messages, rack requirements, Rack-free environment requirements, temperature requirements, power, and grounding requirements and much more information on installation, troubleshooting, support and other resources.

HP ProLiant BL460c G7 Server Blade Installation Instructions gives you an overview, installing server blade options, bay numbering, and device mapping for the HP BladeSystem c7000 enclosure, the document also talks about connecting to the network.  Please let me know if I am able to be of any more assistance to you.

[Server-Support]

Hi BK,

What about the firmware upgrade steps and guidelines ?

Is there any steps by steps guide to perform it safely while minimizing downtime ?

[CPA-UK]

Thanks, I always appreciate any help that is offered....

I've been busy reading my thru a lot of the guides but then we hit something that I've never heard of before and I start to lose the plot..

All I want to do is to setup 2 Blades and a Shared Storage..., nothing complicated..., really just want to get my hear round how it is all put together...

Would I be right in thinking... (in very simple terms...)

1. Plug the lot in..

2. Run up the Admin Console

3. Install VSA on the Shared Storage (AP880A) 3 x 1.2TB HDD

4. Setup the first Blade and point the VM to the Shared Storage that is now hanging off the newly created ISCSI

5. Repeat 4. with the second Blade

Does that sound right, or have I missed it completely...?

As we have not brought a Blade yet and I have never worked on one, it's hard to picture were to start in very simple English...

Thanks again...

[BK_HPE]

Hi @CPA-UK

I believe your simple terms to are correct.  Unfortunately, HP in the US does not have any more information to provide.  However, I do recommend utilizing the Contact HP Worldwide document to find an HP Support or Sales for any other concerns or sales you may need in the future with HP.

@Server-Support

I believe that you can also benefit from looking at the HP ProLiant BL460c G7 Server Blade Installation Instructions for the installation.  For the firmware upgrade, I recommend looking at the HP System and Server Management Software HP Smart Update Manager (HP SUM). HP SUM has an integrated discovery engine that finds the installed hardware and current versions of firmware and software on target servers and identifies associated targets that should be updated in conjunction with each other, to avoid interdependence issues.  

[Jimmy Vance]

Pretty much, but you don't install VSA on the storage blade. It is installed on the server that is conencted directly to the storage blade. The storage blade just holds drives, it isn't a server. In your scenario, you really need 3 blades. Two to host VM's and one to host VSA

[Server-Support]

Thanks all for the clarification and help.

[BK_HPE]

@Server-Support

You are very welcome, if you need any more assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me, I will happy to assist you or locate another HP Specialist in your area.