HP DL585 ISS Technology Update, Volume 7 Number 4 - Newsletter - Page 5

ISS Technology Update Volume 7, Number 4 Additional resources For additional information on the topics discussed in this article, visit the following links: Resource HP 10 Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch - Overview HP 10 Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch - QuickSpecs (Worldwide) HP 10 Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch - QuickSpecs (North America) HP 10 Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch - Questions & Answers HP NC512m Dual Port 10 GbE multifunction BL-c server adapter - Overview & Features URL http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/components/ethernet/10gb-blc/index.html NOTE: On this Web page, click "Designing for the Future: HP 10Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch" to hear a podcast. http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12751_div/12751_div.html http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12751_na/12751_na.html http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/components/ethernet/10gb-blc/questionsanswers.html http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/networking/nc512m/index.html ProLiant management tip of the month Using the HP BladeSystem Firmware Deployment Tool (FDT) The HP BladeSystem Firmware Deployment Tool (FDT) is a scaled-down version of the Firmware Maintenance CD (FWCD). It contains a subset of the components from the FWCD for blade servers. The FDT is intended for bare-metal, no-OS-present, hands-off, unattended deployment to multiple blade servers and is differentiated from the FWCD as follows: • The FDT contains a trimmed-down 8MB kernel instead of an approximately 30MB kernel in the FWCD. • The FDT contains embedded boot scripts to run HPSUM silently instead of starting a GUI as is done on the FWCD. FDT process overview The FDT copies the files from the ISO image locally on the target server into a RAM drive. This is done in the event that the HP Integrated Lights Out (iLO) connection drops or if iLO resets as part of its firmware update process. By having the files locally, HPSUM can continue to flash firmware without an active remote connection. A future FDT release will include the capability to write the log files to the iLO Virtual Floppy so they can be retrieved from a remote iLO session or the Onboard Administrator (OA). Because of the lack of GUI and console user interface, HPSUM uses the UID light to indicate status. A blinking UID means an update is in progress. When an update is done, if it is successful, HPSUM turns off the UID, ejects the CD (or ISO image), and reboots the server. If there is a failure, the UID light is turned on solid, HPSUM does not reboot the server, and a vi console is loaded with the log file so the reason for the failure can be determined. 5