Unattended OS deployment
The Onboard Administrator can silently provision from one to eight blades by leveraging the shared DVD/CD-ROM drive. The build disc that is used in the DVD/CD-ROM drive must be capable of booting the blade, detecting blade hardware, creating local disk partitions, and deploying an operating system on the blade. This type of provisioning requires only one disc and does not require ejecting media. Subsequent applications can also be installed in the same manner, provided the application fits on a single disc.
To access media in a blade DVD drive:
- Connect the blade to the drive by browsing to the DVD/CD-ROM drive page
- Browse to then Device List Mapping page.
- Select the DVD menu, and then select Connect to Enclosure DVD.
- Insert the media into the DVD/CD-ROM drive before connecting to it.
After the media is inserted in the DVD drive, you can power on or reboot the blade using the corresponding menu items on the DVD Drive to Device List mapping page.
You can initiate an unattended operating system deployment on the Insight Display. To begin the installation process, connect the DVD/CD-ROM drive, and then reboot the server. Insert the DVD or CD into the DVD/CD-ROM drive. The Insight Display Health Summary displays a status of green, indicating that media is inserted in the drive. You can only connect blades to the DVD drive after media is inserted. Performance might vary as the number of blades is increased.
The Insight Display displays the DVD/CD-ROM drive status on the Health Summary screen as a DVD icon with one of the following colors:
- Black—No drive present
- Light gray—Drive present, but no media present
- Dark green—Disconnected media present
- Light green—Connected media present
The Insight Display Main Menu enables you to connect blades to the DVD/CD-ROM drive and then reboot the blades.
From the Main Menu, select Enclosure Settings.
From the DVD Drive Enclosure Settings screen, select Connect…
From the DVD Connection Status screen, select All Blades.
Select Connect to Enclosure DVD from the Blade DVD Connection screen.
From the Connect: Blade DVD screen, select Connect and Reboot.
All blades reboot with the DVD/CD-ROM drive connected. If the media in the DVD/CD-ROM drive is bootable, the blades boot from this media. If a partition exists, the server might attempt to boot from the local hard drive. If the blades are older or have been erased, then delete and re-create all local drive partitions.
To view the progress of the unattended installation, use the Integrated Console.
