Overview
HP BladeSystem Onboard Administrator is the enclosure management processor, subsystem, and firmware base that supports the HP BladeSystem c-Class enclosure and all the managed devices contained within the enclosure.
Onboard Administrator provides a single point from which to perform basic management tasks on server blades or switches within the enclosure. Onboard Administrator performs configuration steps for the enclosure, enables run-time management and configuration of the enclosure components, and informs you of problems within the enclosure through email, SNMP, or the Insight Display.
HP recommends that you read the specific HP BladeSystem c3000 or c7000 Enclosure user guide for enclosure specific information before proceeding with Onboard Administrator setup.
The HP BladeSystem Onboard Administrator provides several features designed to simplify management of c-Class blades and interconnects. The HP BladeSystem c3000 and c7000 Enclosures can be configured with redundant Onboard Administrator modules to provide uninterrupted manageability of the entire enclosure and blades in the event of a failure of a single Onboard Administrator module. The following table indicates which Onboard Administrator feature is enhanced when the enclosure contains redundant Onboard Administrator modules. For an enclosure with only a single Onboard Administrator module, the table indicates the behavior of the enclosure if the single Onboard Administrator module has failed or is removed. Enclosure Dynamic Power Capping, introduced in Onboard Administrator firmware version 2.31, is only available in HP BladeSystem enclosures with redundant Onboard Administrator modules installed.
Benefits of using a redundant Onboard Administrator versus a single Onboard Administrator
|
Onboard Administrator feature |
Single Onboard Administrator in enclosure |
Single Onboard Administrator failed or removed |
Redundant Onboard Administrator in enclosure |
|
Power allocation and control for all blades and interconnects |
Yes. No enclosure dynamic power capping as this requires redundant Onboard Administrators. |
No. Power supplies will continue to deliver power to all blades and interconnects. No power on requests can be made for blades or interconnects. |
Yes. Complete control including sustaining a failure of either Onboard Administrator. Enclosure dynamic power capping requires redundant Onboard Administrators. |
|
Cooling for all blades and interconnects. |
Yes. Complete control. |
No. All enclosure fans will ramp to an un-managed higher speed to protect blades and interconnects from overheating. |
Yes. Complete control, including sustaining a failure of either Onboard Administrator. |
|
Enclosure Bay IP Addressing (EBIPA) |
Yes. Complete control. |
No. EBIPA IP addresses will be lost after lease timeout. |
Yes. Complete control, including sustaining a failure of either Onboard Administrator. |
|
Ethernet communications to Onboard Administrator, server iLO, interconnect management processors such as Virtual Connect which use the Onboard Administrator/iLO management port |
Yes. Complete control. |
No Ethernet management communications including internal management traffic such as Virtual Connect Manager to other VC modules in the enclosure. |
Yes. Complete control, including sustaining a failure of either Onboard Administrator. |
|
Information and health status reporting for all blades, interconnects, fans, power supplies, Onboard Administrators, and enclosure through Onboard Administrator’s GUI or CLI, alert mail, or SNMP |
Yes. Complete control. |
No information is available from the Onboard Administrator nor is any out-of-band information available from VCM or iLO on any server. |
Yes. Complete control, including sustaining a failure of either Onboard Administrator. |
|
Insight Display |
Yes. Complete control. |
No. |
Yes. Complete control, including sustaining a failure of either Onboard Administrator. |
|
Enclosure DVD (requires either c3000 DVD option, external USB DVD drive, or USB key) |
Yes. Complete control. |
No. |
Yes. Complete control, including sustaining a failure of either Onboard Administrator. |
|
Enclosure KVM (requires c3000 KVM option or Onboard Administrator module with VGA connector) |
Yes. Complete control. |
No. |
Yes. Complete control. For the HP c3000 Enclosure, requires both c3000 KVM option and redundant Onboard Administrator option. For the HP c7000 Enclosure, requires two of the newer Onboard Administrator modules with VGA connector. |
Stored Onboard Administrator settings and module replacement
|
Enclosure model |
Single Onboard Administrator in enclosure |
Redundant Onboard Administrator (same replacement type installed)1 |
Redundant Onboard Administrator (different replacement type installed)1 |
|
c3000 |
All enclosure settings are lost when a single module is removed and must be restored manually using Insight Display and USB key, GUI, or CLI. |
All enclosure settings are retained on the remaining module and those settings are synchronized to the replaced module if the firmware versions match.2 |
When changing from the non-redundant c3000 Onboard Administrator to redundant Onboard Administrator with DDR2, the enclosure settings must be restored manually using Insight Display and USB key, GUI, or CLI. |
|
c7000 |
All enclosure settings are lost when a single module is removed and must be restored manually using Insight Display and USB key, GUI, or CLI. |
All enclosure settings are retained on the remaining module and those settings are synchronized to the replaced module if the firmware versions match.2 |
All enclosure settings are retained on the remaining module and those settings are synchronized to the replaced module if the firmware versions match.2 |
1 Removing a redundant Onboard Administrator module immediately results in the remaining module becoming the Active Onboard Administrator.
2 If redundant Onboard Administrator firmware versions do not match, the settings are not automatically synchronized. Synchronize the firmware by using the Insight Display, GUI, or CLI command, and then the settings are automatically synchronized to the replaced Onboard Administrator module.