Today, we had to install an additional server in the Datacenter based in Nairobi, Kenya. The server is from a much earlier generation and unlike the usual GUI-like interface called Intelligent Provisioning I am used to for configuring RAID arrays, this one has a primitive UI which you navigate through using some function keys and arrow keys on your keyboard. It took me over an hour just to find out what am supposed to do to locate the RAID settings in the first place (yes I trusted intuition before google).
Well, as this was a painful process by my standards, I’ll document it here, for future use.
What is iLO?
iLO stands for Integrated Lights-Out. It is simply a technology by HP that you can use to manage your Proliant Server remotely. It allows a lot of functionality ranging from power management to network management. Sadly storage management isn’t there in iLO. That’s why you need to use the Intelligent Provisioning. It looks like this.
iLO is very important as it can save you trips to the data center.
Configuration of iLO
For you to access your server via iLO, you must enable it and configure some settings such as the IP to use for access, a username and a password. To commence configuration of iLO in this particular server follow these steps:
- Boot your server
- During POST, when you are prompted to press F9 for Setup and F11 to change Boot Order, press F8 (there is no mistake here. Press F8 now, you will not be prompted to press it at any time – yet that is what you need to press.)
- You will be taken to some interface where you’ll need to navigate to Network section and use the options provided to disable DHCP (if this is what you want) then configure a static IP and DNS servers.
- You can then exit and save and access your server using the IP and credentials you set on the browser.
Note: For some reason, the IP may fail to access if you try accessing it via secure link https://
It lacks an SSL and therefore fails to load on modern browsers. The workarround for us was to use Cloudflare to secure the access link and it loaded well on all browsers.
Setting up RAID configurations
If you have new disks, the first thing you must do is create logical volumes for them to be usable. This can be achieved on this particular server through the Option ROM Configuration for Array Utility.
Once you finish setting up your iLO as explained in the section above, press F10 to save changes then exit the interface. The settings will be persisted and then, you will be taken to a page that looks like this.
We are interested with the 1st option. Press F8 to navigate to the correct menu.
From that menu, you can perform various actions on the logical volumes for the server including viewing, creating and deleting. Follow the instructions provided at the base of that page to work your way around.