¶ HP Blades
Administrators: Rasmus
For newly commisioned blades configure power profiles for 200-500 W lower idle!
¶ iLO — integrated Lights-Out Management (ft. Remote Console)
Blades are not meant to be accessed directly. All accounts (including blade-local Administrator) have been removed. Access is granted through enclosure login.
- Ask credentials from an administrator. Priviledges are limited to the slot in enclosure — if the blade is moved to an another slot, access is lost.
- Login to the enclosure at
https://172.23.1.101.- Enclosure 'Administrator' is the only user which may have access to iLO via SSH, and as such is used as a prometheus service account.
- Select desired blade from either the list on the left, or the image on the right:
- Open the iLO page:
HTML5 Remote Console(or for blade iLOWeb Administration).
See also: Server Configuration (BIOS, RAID, etc)
¶ g7 console access
g7 blades do not implement HTML5 console access. Therefore you need Internet Explorer (ft. ActiveX and Java). WIth mixed results, icedtea-web might work as well.
Detailed instructions
- From the iLO page,
Integrated Remote Console. - Say yes to a bunch of security warnings and enjoy the magic.
- You should now have a remote console. If not, confirm if you're using IE, and if you indeed have (as on the Windows server) the Java stuff installed.
¶ Encryption warnings
Check the box and click Ok.
¶ IE Enchanced Security Configuration
In progress to add the local intranetwork to the local intranetwork for IE. For now:
- On the main IE window, top right:
- Security → Local intranet → Sites
- Add
*://172.16-31.*.*to the exceptions.
- Refresh the page in question.
¶ Hardware
¶ Enclosures
- (in rack) 2x HP C7000 (P/N 438859-001), each able to house 16 blades.
- Spare HP C7000 (P/N 403318-b21), slightly older.
¶ Blades
- We started with g7 blades (DDR3-age)
- 2023: Most utilized blades are now g8, which seem to use more power (DDR4-age). iLO can be accessed via modern browsers.
- Newer blades have propietary memory modules. g9 (we have none) can take m.2 drives.
¶ Server configuration
While booting, a lenghty black screen is normal. Pre-splash screen POST codes are usually 3038, 4048 etc.
While F9 and F11 are recognized right away, other F-keys are detected only after the splash, after initializations.
¶ RAID controller configuration
- From splash,
(also exposes some network configuration) - Wait for this section: (image missing)
- Press
F10. Do not press it before, as it takes you to different menus.
¶ Power management
Stock configuration draws tons 100% the power, even at idle. Please apply the superior config detailed below.
The profile might shwo up as 'Custom' state, which is expected.
¶ Profile 1
- Go to bios (
F9on boot) Power Management Options→HP Power Profile→Minimum Power usage
Keep in mind the watts are DC of what the blade uses. This does not account for DC conversion, fans, switches, and other nessecities the enclosure provides.
The Blade is currently limited/locked to 1600MHz. Idle is around 80W-85W, all cores 100% is around 160W.
This is the recommended selection as it is very likely your blade will not be anywhere near 100%, often not even 50%.
You may pick the lower performance setting, and change it later as well.
¶ Profile 2
To allow 3200MHz (while still having good power usage while idle):
HP Power Profileshall be set toMinimum Power Usagebefore you do next step.Power Management Options→HP Power Regulator→HP Dynamic Power Savings Mode
Idle wattage is around 110W-115W, all cores 100% is around 260W.
¶ Profile 3
Instead of selecting HP Dynamic Power Savings Mode, when using Linux, OS Control might be an option.
While it manages to rarely idle at 70W-75W, it normally idles at the same 110W-115W.
The difference here is that HP Dynamic Power Savings Mode does that at 1600MHz, OS Control keeps the processor at 3100MHz for a few minutes on idle.
While OS Control might seem better, your results may vary. As the results are quite similar to Profile 2, choosing might be a better idea.