PowerEdge: How to configure, manage and deploy server profiles from the IDRAC console.

Server Configuration Profile Basics: 

What is SCP?: 

• Single file that holds configuration value for BIOS, iDRAC, NIC, Alerting, and RAID configuration 

• Can include one or many different configuration component FQDDs 

• Best used to capture a "golden image" to deploy to many servers 

• Used by multiple products for their configuration compliance, like OpenManage Enterprise and OMIVV 

SCP Formatting: 

• Each section is divided by Component FQDD:

<Component FQDD="BIOS.Setup.1-1"> 

• Followed by list of attributes:

<Attribute Name="LogicalProc">Enabled</Attribute> 

• Followed by closing of the Component:

</Component> 

Pulling a Server Configuration Profile: 

Types of Export: 

• BASIC - Non-Destruction snapshot of configuration 

• REPLACEMENT - Rarely used. Designed to restore a server to an identical configuration. Destructive and includes system-specific details like Service Tag. 

• CLONE - Capture golden image to deploy. Destructive of all attributes, including RAID. I/O Identity is not cloned 

Export from the Web User Interface: 

• Configuration > Server Configuration Profile > Export 

• Configure the location type if exporting logs to a share 

• The file name does not require to include file type 

• Select Export Components 

• Password Hash values will allow user Passwords to be exported and hashed for future import to clone iDRAC local users 

Export from racadm: 

• Command to pull all attributes:

  racadm get –t xml –f c:\idrac.xml 

• --clone and –includeph are commonly used for a true clone 

Export from Redfish: 

• Make a POST method call to: https://iDRAC/redfish/v1/Managers/iDRAC.Embedded.1/Actions/Oem/EID_674_Manager.ExportSystemConfiguration

• Check out ExportSystemConfigurationNetworkShareREDFISH.py from the Dell Redfish GitHub for scripting example 

Importing a Server Configuration Profile: 

Best Practices Before Importing: 

• Remove RAID Config unless you want to include it on purpose 

• LDAP Bind Password has to be entered in manually 

• Comment or delete any values under the BIOS System Profile unless changing it to Custom 

• Do not include Boot Order unless the Bootable Devices are identical 

Import from the user interface: 

• Configuration > Server Configuration Profile > Import 

• Configure shutdown type to apply the profile

• iDRAC and EventFilter attributes do not require a reboot 

Import from racadm: 

• Command to pull all attributes:

  racadm set –t xml –f c:\idrac.xml 

Import from Redfish: 

• Make a call to: https://iDRAC/redfish/v1/Managers/iDRAC.Embedded.1/Actions/Oem/EID_674_Manager.ImportSystemConfiguration

Check out ImportSystemConfigurationLocalREDFISH.py from the Dell Redfish Github for scripting example   

Troubleshooting Server Configuration Profile: 

SYS047 - Input file for system configuration XML is not compliant with configuration schema. 

• Likely the user manually edited it and the formatting is wrong 
• Usually a simple edit 
• Sometimes doing a clean Clone export is a quicker choice 

SYS055 - Import of system configuration XML file operation completed with errors 

• The profile was set but at least one attribute could not be configured 
• Usually it is setting something that does not exit like Boot Order, or something with a dependency in the BIOS 
• Check the Lifecycle Log for details on what did not set.  

• winrm command to get configuration results from WSMAN:

 winrm i GetConfigResults "http://schemas.dell.com/wbem/wscim/1/cim-schema/2/DCIM_LCRecordLog?InstanceID=DCIM:LifecycleLog+__cimnamespace=root/dcim” -u:root -p:calvin -r:https://IPADDRESS/wsman -encoding:utf-8 -a:basic -SkipCNcheck -SkipCAcheck @{JobID="JID_123456789"}