What is Insight Control server provisioning?
Insight Control server provisioning is a virtual appliance used to install and configure HPE ProLiant servers. This is done by creating and running Deployment jobs called OS Build Plans. OS Build Plans are simply ordered lists of scripts, configuration files and zip files that can be executed against one or many servers at a time to perform whatever deployment functions you require.
Insight Control server provisioning comes ready to use, with a complete set of OS Build Plans that can be run out of the box or that can be used as a template for creating your own customized Build Plans. By adding your own scripts and configuration files, you can create OS Build Plans to perform just about any task.
Insight Control server provisioning enables you to:
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Update drivers, utilities, and firmware on ProLiant servers using the Service Packs for ProLiant (SPPs).
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Configure ProLiant system hardware, iLOs, BIOS, HPE Smart Array and Fibre Channel HBA.
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Configure network settings on one or more servers at a time during OS installation or post-installation.
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Deploy to target servers without using PXE (for ProLiant Gen8 servers or later). PXE-less deployment can be done on these servers without any special configuration because they include built-in service OSs as part of the embedded intelligent provisioning feature.
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Customize your ProLiant deployments using a browser-based interface.
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Create and run customized Build Plans to perform additional configuration tasks before or after OS deployment.
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Integrate with other management platforms in your data center using the published REST API calls, which are capable of performing all the functions available from the Insight Control server provisioning UI.
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Use REST API calls to perform all of the functions available from the Insight Control server provisioning UI.
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Migrate from Insight Control server deployment (RDP) to Insight Control server provisioning.
The documentation included with Insight Control server provisioning contains information specific to setting up and using the product to perform automated provisioning functions on Hewlett Packard Enterprise servers. To use Insight Control server provisioning successfully, you should have advanced knowledge about installing and managing the operating systems and hardware this product will be used to provision.
Insight Control server provisioning provides many additional features to make deploying servers easy and flexible. For a complete list, see How Do I ... ?.
The following resources provide information supporting the use of Insight Control server provisioning.
| Topic | Where to find the information |
|---|---|
| Release notes | See the Insight Control server provisioning section of the Insight Control Release Notes at http://www.hpe.com/info/insightcontrol/docs. |
| Support Matrix | See the Insight Control server provisioning section of the Insight Management Support Matrix at http://www.hpe.com/info/insightcontrol/docs. |
| How to download and set up the appliance for the first time | See the Insight Control server provisioning Installation Guide at http://www.hpe.com/info/insightcontrol/docs. |
| Getting started |
See Quick start. It shows how to use Insight Control server provisioning to accomplish key tasks such as provisioning a server. See the How Do I ... ? online help section for introductory information and instructions on accomplishing tasks. |
| Online help | See the online help content on the appliance (the online help is also available standalone at http://www.hpe.com/info/insightcontrol/docs). |
| Administrator tasks | See the Insight Control Server Provisioning Administrator Guide at http://www.hpe.com/info/insightcontrol/docs for overviews of general usage, optional manual configuration instructions and instructions for administrative work such as security, backup and restore. Several key APIs are also documented in this manual. |
| OS Build Plan details | See the Insight Control Server Provisioning Build Plans Reference Guide at http://www.hpe.com/info/insightcontrol/docs for detailed descriptions of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise provided Build Plans, scripts, configuration files, packages and key custom attributes. This reference guide also includes information on what has changed in the Build Plans for each release. |
| REST APIs | See the Insight Control server provisioning API Reference available from the Help panel on the appliance or at https://. To learn about REST calls in general, see Insight Control server provisioning REST API. |
| Special hardware and software exceptions | See the Hardware and software specific instructions and exceptions for important information specific to certain operating systems or hardware devices. Always, check this section to see if any of these notes pertain to your configuration. |
| Terms | See the Insight Control server provisioning glossary: [Glossary] . |
| Troubleshooting plus known issues and restrictions |
See Troubleshooting which contains problem/recommended action information provided by Insight Control server provisioning developers. See Hardware and software specific instructions and exceptions for details on hardware limitations and particular kinds of servers or specific OS releases that require special configuration See the Insight Control server provisioning section of the Insight Control Release Notes at http://www.hpe.com/info/insightcontrol/docs. See the Insight Control server provisioning section of the Insight Management Support Matrix at http://www.hpe.com/info/insightcontrol/docs. |
| User interface | See the online help topic Navigate the user interface. |
| Migrating from Insight Control server deployment | See the Data Migration from Insight Control server deployment to Insight Control server provisioning white paper, at http://www.hpe.com/info/insightcontrol/docs. |
| White papers | Find Insight Control server provisioning technical white papers on various topics at http://www.hpe.com/info/insightcontrol/docs. |
For copyright and legal information see the legal notices.