Data path question for Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) - Virtual Media

[chuckk281]

Kelly had an interesting iLO question:

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Team,

OK - I think this is a really easy one and sorry for asking, but just want to confirm with someone who knows the answer for sure.   I didn’t know if there could be some hidden features in iLO 2 or iLO 3.

I have a customer who leverages the iLO Virtual Media feature for multiple tasks with their servers, like starting a new Operating System load and firmware updates.

One thing they have done, is placed all of the ISO images on servers within the data centers.  So – when they mount the ISO via the remote console virtual media screen, they use a “net share” path in the file name – example:  \\serverb\share\x.iso

They have been doing for a while and when I first saw this, it made sense, but after thinking about it, I do not believe they are getting the benefit they thought they would get.   Unless the iLO has some built-in ability to go straight to the “share”, I believe all the data will pass though the desktop.

My question, Does the data from the virtual media ISO file take the red path or the yellow patch when using a “share” for the file name?

  (I think it is always the red path, the connection to the share is done via the desktop, not by the iLO)

If they did want a “direct” path, I assume they would need to use the HTTP method.

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Cullen responded:

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Based on my experience, you’re interpretation is correct.  They could get significant performance improvement if they put the ISO on a web server in the data center.

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Any other experiences you have had? Suggestions?

[Keith Templin]

One thing you can look at doing is to having the iLO mount the ISO directly with no middleman.

Check out my blog http://torxsmind.blogspot.com/ where I detailed how to setup a IIS server and how to mount these using the OA.