New H3C Technologies iFIST, User Manual

Page 1: ...H3C Servers iFIST User Guide New H3C Technologies Co Ltd http www h3c com Software version iFIST 1 01 15 or higher Document version 6W100 20191010 ...

Page 2: ...w H3C Technologies Co Ltd any trademarks that may be mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners Notice The information in this document is subject to change without notice All contents in this document including statements information and recommendations are believed to be accurate but they are presented without warranty of any kind express or implied H3C shall not be l...

Page 3: ...uired syntax choices separated by vertical bars from which you select one x y Square brackets enclose a set of optional syntax choices separated by vertical bars from which you select one or none x y Asterisk marked braces enclose a set of required syntax choices separated by vertical bars from which you select a minimum of one x y Asterisk marked square brackets enclose optional syntax choices se...

Page 4: ...as a Layer 2 or Layer 3 switch or a router that supports Layer 2 forwarding and other Layer 2 features Represents an access controller a unified wired WLAN module or the access controller engine on a unified wired WLAN switch Represents an access point Represents a wireless terminator unit Represents a wireless terminator Represents a mesh access point Represents omnidirectional signals Represents...

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Page 6: ...al drives 4 12 Configuring system settings 4 14 Verifying the configuration 4 17 Triggering automated operating system installation 4 18 5 Diagnosing the server components 5 1 Performing fast diagnostics 5 1 Configuring fast diagnostics settings 5 1 Viewing the diagnostic status 5 2 Viewing and exporting the diagnostic log data 5 2 6 Configuring storage controllers 6 1 Supported storage controller...

Page 7: ...on a server iFIST integrates the OS installation tasks into the OS installation wizard that guides you through the installation process step by step from a unified interface The OS installation wizard reduces operation complexity and chances of misconfigurations Through the iFIST OS installation wizard you can configure RAID arrays install drivers and export and import configuration files After th...

Page 8: ... a keyboard and a mouse to the server Applicable products This guide is applicable to the following products H3C UniServer R2700 G3 H3C UniServer R2900 G3 H3C UniServer R4700 G3 H3C UniServer R4900 G3 H3C UniServer R4950 G3 H3C UniServer R5300 G3 H3C UniServer R6700 G3 H3C UniServer R6900 G3 H3C UniServer R8900 G3 H3C UniServer B5700 G3 H3C UniServer B5800 G3 H3C UniServer B7800 G3 ...

Page 9: ...x or suffix to the hardware coded model name for purposes such as identifying the matching server brand or applicable region For example storage controller model HBA 1000 M2 1 represents storage controller model label UN HBA 1000 M2 1 which has a prefix of UN The webpage screenshots used in this document are for illustration only and might differ from your products To obtain help information when ...

Page 10: ...ST on a server directly you must connect a monitor a mouse and a keyboard to the server For a rack server such as an H3C UniServer R4900 G3 server Connect the monitor to the server through the VGA connector Connect the mouse and keyboard to the server through the USB connectors Figure 3 1 Connecting a monitor a mouse and a keyboard to a rack server For a blade server such as an H3C UniServer B5800...

Page 11: ...rdware environment for signing in to iFIST through HDM For more information see H3C Servers HDM User Guide Procedure 1 Launch the remote console from the HDM Web interface For more information see H3C Servers HDM Quick Start Guide Skip this step if a local direct KVM connection is used 2 Reboot the server 3 On the POST screen shown in Figure 3 3 press F10 ...

Page 12: ...rom the POST screen BIOS version 2 00 26 The Web interface of iFIST is displayed as shown in Figure 3 4 Figure 3 4 Web interface of iFIST iFIST Web interface As shown in Figure 3 5 the iFIST Web interface contains the following areas ...

Page 13: ... the button to view the iFIST version information Click the button to change the display language Click the button to exit iFIST and reboot the server 2 Work pane Displays links to the functions provided by iFIST To obtain help information when you use iFIST click the question mark icon at the upper right corner Figure 3 5 iFIST Web interface ...

Page 14: ...prise Linux 6 7 64 bit includes KVM Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 8 64 bit includes KVM Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 9 64 bit includes KVM Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 2 64 bit includes KVM Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 3 64 bit includes KVM Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 4 64 bit includes KVM Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 5 64 bit includes KVM SuSE Linux Enterprise Server SLES 11 SP4 64 bit includes XEN KVM SLES ...

Page 15: ...orage controllers The iFIST OS installation wizard supports the following types of storage controllers HBA 1000 M2 1 RAID P430 M1 RAID P430 M2 HBA H460 M1 RAID P460 M4 HBA H460 B1 RAID P460 B4 HBA LSI 9311 8i A1 X RAID LSI 9361 8i 1G A1 X RAID LSI 9361 8i 2G 1 X RAID LSI 9460 8i 2G RAID LSI 9460 8i 4G RAID LSI 9460 16i 4G RAID L460 M4 RAID P5408 Mf 8i 4GB HBA H5408 Mf 8i HBA LSI 9440 8i HBA LSI 93...

Page 16: ...EFI partition Operating system installation will fail if a UEFI partition exists on a non system drive The OS installation wizard does not support OS installation or RAID configuration on the onboard RAID controller Prerequisites Before using the OS installation wizard complete the following tasks Mount the storage media that contains the OS image to the server Supported storage media include CD p...

Page 17: ...4 4 Figure 4 1 Mounting the OS image file and REPO image file OS installation workflow Figure 4 2 shows the workflow of using the OS installation wizard to install an operating system ...

Page 18: ...ion parameters in this task vary by the storage controller used Procedure 1 On the iFIST home page click OS Installation Wizard The OS installation wizard displays the Configure basic settings page as shown in Figure 4 3 For descriptions of the parameters on the page see Parameters ...

Page 19: ...dation criteria described in Configuration file validation Verify the file against the validation criteria before the import The file must be stored on a USB flash drive formatted with the FAT32 or NTFS file system If the Import config file configuration method is used iFIST automatically creates the logical drives by using all the available capacities of the member drives on the server The logica...

Page 20: ...ttached to storage controllers operating in HBA mode Supported write cache modes are Default Uses the default write cache mode for physical drives Enabled Enables write cache for physical drives Disabled Disables write cache for physical drives Configuration method Select the method for configuring RAID and operating system installation parameters Options are Customize config Manually configures R...

Page 21: ...y or Online state If an LSI controller is used the drives must be in Unconfigured Good Unconfigured Bad or Online state The physical drives of an HBA LSI 9300 8i A1 X controller must be in Ready state The physical drives of an HBA LSI 9311 8i A1 X controller must be in Ready or Optimal state Configuring RAID arrays RAID array configuration involves the following tasks Create RAID arrays Create RAI...

Page 22: ...ray window c Set the name RAID level stripe size and initialization method for the RAID array d Click OK 4 To create a RAID 0 or simple volume logical drive on each physical drive in Ready or Unconfigured Good state a Select the Create a RAID 0 or simple volume logical drive on each physical drive in Ready state option b Click Create c In the confirmation dialog box that opens click OK This featur...

Page 23: ...al drives are in the correct states Physical drive management allows you to view the status of physical drives initialize and uninitialize physical drives and set the cache mode for the physical drives Procedure 1 On the Configure RAID arrays page click the Manage physical drives tab Figure 4 6 Manage physical drives tab 2 Select one or more physical drives and click Initialize or Unintialize to i...

Page 24: ...de Online The physical drive is already used to build a RAID array Offline The physical drive is offline Unconfigured Good The physical drive can be used to build a RAID array Unconfigured Bad The physical drive is faulty Ready The physical drive can be used to build RAID arrays Optimal The physical drive is already used to build a RAID array Failed The physical drive is faulty Operation result Re...

Page 25: ...only when it needs to be replaced and removed from the cache This mode boasts low latency but entails data loss risks because a power failure might prevent the data from being written to the physical drive Managing logical drives 1 On the Configure RAID arrays page click the Manage logical drives tab Figure 4 8 Manage logical drives tab 2 To set the cache mode for a logical drive a Select the logi...

Page 26: ...seek time and improves data retrieval efficiency To use this policy make sure the RAID controller supports power fail safeguard This policy entails data security risks because data loss might occur in case of supercapacitor exceptions No read ahead Disabled read cache Use the no read ahead policy The system starts to retrieve data from the logical drive only when the data read request is received ...

Page 27: ... you to delete the selected logical drives Configuring system settings The configuration parameters in this task vary by the operating system to be installed Procedure 1 On the Configure system settings page configure the operating system specific parameters as follows For a Linux operating system specify the hostname optional root password username user password language and network settings as s...

Page 28: ...for installing a Windows operating system For a VMware ESXi operating system set the hostname optional root password and network settings as shown in Figure 4 13 Figure 4 13 Setting the parameters for installing a VMware ESXi operating system ...

Page 29: ... to log in to the operating system The VMware ESXi and CAS operating systems do not support configuring the user name User password This parameter is available only when a Linux operating system is to be installed Enter the user login password The VMware ESXi and CAS operating systems do not support configuring the user password Language Select the language used in the operating system This parame...

Page 30: ...lled Enter the key required for operating system installation Target controller Select the storage controller where the operating system is to be installed This parameter is available only when the server has multiple storage controllers installed Target drive Select the drive where the operating system is to be installed Primary partition capacity This parameter is available only when a Windows o...

Page 31: ...re basic settings page Triggering automated operating system installation Restrictions and guidelines Do not remove the boot media before the OS installation is complete After the OS installation is complete install the related drivers as soon as possible to ensure correct operation of the operating system The server might automatically restart multiple times during installation of a Windows opera...

Page 32: ...4 19 The server is automatically restarted after the OS installation is complete without manual intervention Figure 4 15 Installing the operating system on the server ...

Page 33: ...k Server Diagnostics The Fast diagnostics tab page opens as shown in Figure 5 1 Figure 5 1 Fast diagnostics tab page 2 Select the components to diagnose 3 Select the Stop diagnosing when the first error result comes out option as needed 4 Click Start The Diagnostic status page opens displaying information about the ongoing tests Parameters All Select this option to check all the detected server co...

Page 34: ...es information about the ongoing diagnostic tests including the test progress summarized test statistics and component specific test results To run the diagnostic tests again after the current diagnostic process is completed click Restart Figure 5 2 Diagnostic status tab page Viewing and exporting the diagnostic log data Restrictions and guidelines You can export the diagnostic log data to a USB f...

Page 35: ...5 3 3 To clear the diagnostic log data click Clear 4 To export the diagnostic log data to a USB flash drive click Save Figure 5 3 Viewing and exporting the diagnostic log data ...

Page 36: ...ation file This task involves the following subtasks Importing the storage controller mode in the file Import the storage controller mode in a storage controller configuration file into the server Perform this task before you import the storage controller configuration file into the server The configuration file import will fail if the storage controller mode in the file does not match the storage...

Page 37: ...erations column for the file whose detailed information you want to view The storage controller configuration file details page opens Figure 6 2 shows an example storage controller configuration file details page for storage controller HBA 1000 M2 2 To close the page and return to the Storage Controller Configuration page click Close Figure 6 2 Storage controller configuration file details page ...

Page 38: ...f the server s storage controller mode is changed after the storage controller mode import you must reboot the server to make the change take effect Do not refresh the page or perform any other operations during the import process Import of the Spinup Limit Internal and Spinup Limit External parameters from the storage controller configuration file will fail if their values exceed 20 You can set v...

Page 39: ...nfiguration file import operation Figure 6 3 Operation Results page 3 If one or more configuration items failed to be imported click the corresponding link Failure or Default to view the failure reason Deleting storage controller configuration files 1 On the Storage Controller Configuration page select the storage controller configuration files you want to delete and then click Delete 2 In the con...

Page 40: ...option and start the upgrade process 4 Reboot the server after the upgrade is complete 5 Verify that iFIST is successfully upgraded Example Updating iFIST on a server in UEFI boot mode 1 Sign in to HDM 2 Mount the iFIST image file to the HDM remote console This example uses an image file stored on a virtual CD a On the HDM Web interface navigate to the Remote Control Remote Console page as shown i...

Page 41: ...dia window d Click Browse next to a CD Image field to select the iFIST image file and then click Open e Click Connect 3 Reboot the server The POST screen opens upon completion of the server initialization as shown in Figure 7 3 ...

Page 42: ...7 3 Figure 7 3 POST screen BIOS version 2 00 26 4 Press ESC or DEL The BIOS setup screen opens 5 Select the Sava Exit menu as shown in Figure 7 4 ...

Page 43: ...7 5 Upgrade options screen 7 Type 1 and press Enter IMPORTANT Do not remove the boot media during the upgrade process If the boot media is removed before the upgrade completes you must re attach the boot media to the server reboot the server and restart the upgrade process 8 After the upgrade is complete type yes and press Enter at the system prompt ...

Page 44: ... displays a prompt as shown in Figure 7 7 Figure 7 7 Removing the installation media at the system prompt 9 Press Enter to reboot the server 10 Launch iFIST 11 On the Web interface of iFIST and click in the upper right corner to check the iFIST version and verify that iFIST is upgraded successfully ...

Page 45: ...tect the USB partition that does not have a UUID How do I resolve the issue Reformat the USB partition or replace the USB flash drive with a new one iFIST cannot install the operating system on a RAID array created on the onboard RAID controller Why The OS installation cannot be completed because iFIST cannot identify the drive letter of the RAID array created on the onboard RAID controller When i...