The LCC can deploy an OS. For ESXi it doesn't do much, but Dell has the customized ISOs for ESXi that contain drivers for network cards and PERCs whose drivers may not (yet) be on the VMware generic ISO.
There also is the option to buy a license for Dell's OpenManage Essentials/Enterprise. These applications can push OSes to servers as well, but require a license to do so.
OMEnterprise supports deploying OS using Boot To Network ISO. The feature is present as a part of server template deployment under Configuration >> Deploy. More details of it can be found in Online Help by searching for Boot To Network ISO.
Specific to the recommendation of network ISO boot: when you use this option, it alters the boot order of the server and the LifeCycle controller with the ESXi image never unmounts. Servers get stuck in a boot loop constantly installing ESXi. Anyone figure this out? I have to time a racreset with OME just right to end the boot loop and sometimes have half built ESXi servers that need manual intervention.
Did the OS installation go through successfully? BootToNetworkISO method on iDRAC has a default time out of 18 hrs, post which server should not boot to service partition instead it should directly boot to the OS. Please let us know if this is not what is happening. Also, if OS installation fails, then only on every reboot you would see the server booting through service partition for next 18 hrs.
It did install. But then it reinstalls and reinstalls and reinstalls. ESXi isn't like Windows where you have to hit a key to run the installer if it detects an OS is already installed. When you install ESXi, it automatically "ejects" and reboots the server when it's done. The "eject" media command seems to have no effect and when the server reboots, it seems like it sticks with the LifeCycle controller boot settings and constantly reboots. I haven't waited 18 hours to see if it stops on its own.
Is it a customized ISO image that you are using? I did test it with the ISO image i had and after OS installation succeeds, it asks to remove the Disc before reboot and when i did that, the server booted to OS instead of reinstalling.
As a workaround for you to avoid this trouble, you can run this command to unmount the mounted image once it has installed:
Did you ever get this working as expected vMattK? I am trying to keep an open mind with OME but I really hate the product in its current state. It's bad enough that I most likely will be reverting back to Lenovo gear so that I can leverage xClarity for management...
Dev Mgr
9.3K Posts
0
August 12th, 2018 18:00
The LCC can deploy an OS. For ESXi it doesn't do much, but Dell has the customized ISOs for ESXi that contain drivers for network cards and PERCs whose drivers may not (yet) be on the VMware generic ISO.
There also is the option to buy a license for Dell's OpenManage Essentials/Enterprise. These applications can push OSes to servers as well, but require a license to do so.
Or are you talking about something else?
P3OPL3SH3RO
8 Posts
0
August 13th, 2018 04:00
He is talking about the OME product that is currently in tech release hence the post in these forums.
wreedvsan
26 Posts
0
August 13th, 2018 08:00
Thanks Pupul, I will check that out.
DELL-Pupul M
1K Posts
0
August 13th, 2018 08:00
OMEnterprise supports deploying OS using Boot To Network ISO. The feature is present as a part of server template deployment under Configuration >> Deploy. More details of it can be found in Online Help by searching for Boot To Network ISO.
vMattK
2 Posts
0
August 15th, 2018 06:00
Specific to the recommendation of network ISO boot: when you use this option, it alters the boot order of the server and the LifeCycle controller with the ESXi image never unmounts. Servers get stuck in a boot loop constantly installing ESXi. Anyone figure this out? I have to time a racreset with OME just right to end the boot loop and sometimes have half built ESXi servers that need manual intervention.
DELL-Pupul M
1K Posts
0
August 15th, 2018 23:00
Hi,
Did the OS installation go through successfully? BootToNetworkISO method on iDRAC has a default time out of 18 hrs, post which server should not boot to service partition instead it should directly boot to the OS. Please let us know if this is not what is happening. Also, if OS installation fails, then only on every reboot you would see the server booting through service partition for next 18 hrs.
vMattK
2 Posts
0
August 16th, 2018 03:00
It did install. But then it reinstalls and reinstalls and reinstalls. ESXi isn't like Windows where you have to hit a key to run the installer if it detects an OS is already installed. When you install ESXi, it automatically "ejects" and reboots the server when it's done. The "eject" media command seems to have no effect and when the server reboots, it seems like it sticks with the LifeCycle controller boot settings and constantly reboots. I haven't waited 18 hours to see if it stops on its own.
DELL-Pupul M
1K Posts
0
August 16th, 2018 05:00
Is it a customized ISO image that you are using? I did test it with the ISO image i had and after OS installation succeeds, it asks to remove the Disc before reboot and when i did that, the server booted to OS instead of reinstalling.
As a workaround for you to avoid this trouble, you can run this command to unmount the mounted image once it has installed:
winrm i DetachISOImage cimv2/root/dcim/DCIM_OSDeploymentService?CreationClassName=DCIM_OSDeploymentService +Name=DCIM:OSDeploymentService+SystemCreationClassName=DCIM_ComputerSystem+SystemName=DCIM:ComputerSystem -u:[USER] -p:[PASSWORD] -r:https://[IPADDRESS]/wsman -encoding:utf-8 -
a:basic
P3OPL3SH3RO
8 Posts
0
April 23rd, 2019 07:00
Did you ever get this working as expected vMattK? I am trying to keep an open mind with OME but I really hate the product in its current state. It's bad enough that I most likely will be reverting back to Lenovo gear so that I can leverage xClarity for management...