Chassis Management Controller Version 4.45 - Assigning Profiles to Server Slots Using Quick Deploy Feature

In any organization, to start any new service or expand the existing services, you need to add new servers. In most environments a set of standard configurations need to be deployed to all new servers. In such cases, for every new server that is added, you must:

• Co-ordinate with server administrators.
• Provide datacenter infrastructure that is suitable to accept the new server.
• Configure the servers and install the OS on the servers as per the required Engineering standards.

In addition to this process involving multiple tasks to get access to the infrastructure, you cannot add the server until the Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs) are created and all the network cables are connected. This process must be repeated for each server that is added to the network. With every new server that is added the complexity and time required for configuring the server increases.

With Chassis Management Controller (CMC) version 4.45, you can configure and deploy servers as a one-time process. The Quick Deploy feature and Server Configuration Replication feature of CMC 4.45 enable you to assign a server profile to a chassis slot and then configure a server that is inserted into the slot with the assigned profile settings.

Server configuration profiles capture settings of the server.  All settings, including host name, IP addresses, LUNs, configuration files, environment variable settings, system property definitions, and so on are deployed easily to the new servers inserted in the slots. 

Benefits of the Quick Deploy and the Server Configuration Replication features:

• Automated method to apply file changes and environment variable settings changes to one or multiple servers.
• Consistency in the configurations that are applied to multiple servers
• Server profiles on these slots serve as a central point of administration and   storage of the configuration changes.
• Provides Server startup environment settings.
• Provides repeatable mechanism for setting and applying server environment variable settings.

This allows all the server slots in the M1000E chassis to be pre-configured with the required profiles and allows for initial deployment of any new servers without the requirement of cabling, and LAN, or SAN administrators.

For more information on migration of physical configuration of servers to automatic deployment of servers using the CMC version 4.45 Web interface, see:

• Assigning Profiles to Server Slots Using Quick Deploy Feature video on DellTech Center and the YouTube.
• Dell Chassis Management Controller Firmware Version 4.45 User's Guide