Troubleshoot OS Build Plan and Build Plan step failures

The OS Build Plan troubleshooting sections include the following:

Access the command prompt on your target server while in the service OS

If you are having trouble with your Build Plans, one of the most powerful troubleshooting steps at your disposal is the ability to enter commands on your system console while the server is still in the service OS. This enables you to verify proper operation of your media server, hard drives, network connections, etc. The following instructions describe how to do this:

From a Windows service OS (PXE or Intelligent Provisioning) 

A server in the WinPE service OS will have a window open on the console titled Tail for Win32 that contains status messages. The status in this window should read Server is now ready for provisioning. This window is programmed to always be on top of other windows. There are already command prompt windows available on the screen, but they are underneath the Tail for Win32 window. To disable this feature and enable you to bring a command prompt window to the front, click on the Window menu in the Tail application and uncheck Always on top. Once that is done, click on one of the command prompt windows, bring it to the front, and enter commands.

From a PXE Booted Linux Service OS 

You should see some status information on the system console. The last status message should read Server is now in MAINTENANCE mode. From the console, press Ctrl-Alt-F2. You should get a command prompt and can begin entering commands.

From the Intelligent Provisioning Linux service OS 

The Intelligent Provisioning service OS does not allow a command prompt. When the server boots into this mode, you will see an Intelligent Provisioning splash screen only. There will be no visible status message and no option to enter any commands.

General failures

Unable to deploy an OS

The Symptom in all cases is the inability to deploy an OS.

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Unable to deploy an OS.

Possible cause checklist

  1. Verify the OS being deployed is supported on the target servers.

  2. Verify the server has at least one disk that’s been properly configured.

  3. Verify the VID (Virtual Install Disk) is DISABLED in the BIOS. (This is the default setting, but it might have been updated manually.)

    1. During the boot, select F9 to access the ROM-Based Setup Utility.

    2. Select Advanced Options→Advanced System ROM options.

    3. Select Virtual Install Disk and set it to Disabled.

    4. Exit the ROM-Based Setup Utility.

  4. Verify the date and time are set properly in BIOS.

Jobs completed steps inconsistent with log

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
For some jobs, the displayed number of completed steps might not match the number of steps in the job log. When this occurs it is generally for jobs related to adding a server. The steps Add iLO-managed Server and Registers IloManagerService might show up as a completed steps when they actually failed.

Look in the standard error log for a failed job to identify the steps that did not complete.

Windows Build Plan failures

Windows setup.exe reports “no images available”

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Windows setup.exe reports “no images available” Verify that the correct product key is being used for the version of Windows being installed.

Windows Build Plan error: Diskpart failed to create system drive partition

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
A Windows OS Build Plan fails at the Create Windows System Drive step with exit code 87: failed to create system drive partition. This error is caused when a target server disk number used with diskpart is invalid.
  1. The SystemDiskNumber custom attribute is invalid.

    • The SystemDiskNumber custom attribute used with diskpart might be invalid for the target server. The SystemDiskNumber custom attribute is either customer-defined or automatically assigned for ProLiant Gen8 servers during a Windows OS Build Plan deployment. It is possible SystemDiskNumber was previously defined from a previous Build Plan execution and is still defined. Remove the server SystemDiskNumber custom attribute, which will enable the Windows Build Plan to determine the valid disk number.

      To automatically remove this custom attribute you can add the Remove Custom Attributes From Server step to the beginning of your Build Plan to remove the custom attribute if left over from a previous run.

  2. You have an inappropriate drive.

    • Check to determine if the target server has an iLO virtual drive attached, a USB key connected to it, or some other drive not appropriate for installations. Remove any such drive and rerun the OS Build Plan.

  3. There are undefined RAID drives.

    • This failure can also occur if there is no disk or if there are no logical drives defined on your RAID array.

Virtual Disk Service error: The specified drive letter is not free to be assigned

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Windows Build Plan error: Virtual Disk Service error: The specified drive letter is not free to be assigned This error will occur if the partitioning step is trying to assign drive letter “C”, but one of the other disks already has drive letter “C” assigned.

Boot to WinPE and then run diskpart and run list volume to see the drive letter assignments.

If another disk already has drive letter “C”, you can add the Remap Windows Drives step before the partitioning step with the --reservedDriveLetters=”C” parameter, so that the drives are given new letters that do not include “C”.

Windows Build Plan error: Please provide a value for custom attribute 'ProductKey_<OS>’ to proceed with installation

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Windows Build Plan error: Please provide a value for custom attribute 'ProductKey_<OS>’ to proceed with installation Your Windows product key was not entered. On the Settings screen, select Edit Product Keys. Select Create product key and enter your Windows product key.

[NOTE: ]

NOTE: Hewlett Packard Enterprise provided Build Plans have steps to verify the presence of this custom attribute before starting the installation, but if the Build Plan is modified, you might see this error.


Windows installation may fail with system partition error

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Windows installation may fail with setup was unable to create new system partition or locate an existing system partition error. Existing partitions on the disk may cause windows installer unable to detect boot disk partitions.

Run ProLiant SW - Eraser Server OS Build Plan to clean the disk and retry the OS deployment.

ESXi Build Plan failures

My deployed ESXi server is in maintenance mode or is showing as “server in unreachable state”

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
My deployed ESXi server is in maintenance mode or is showing as “server in unreachable state”. This is the expected behavior. Insight Control server provisioning does not have an agent for ESXi systems, so when installation completes and the server enters production, there is no notification to the appliance. The server status icon will always stay in maintenance mode and server properties might not be reflected properly.

ESXi installation fails with gateway message

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Your ESXi installation with static addressing fails with a console message about failing to specify a gateway. A gateway is required for OS deployment of ESXi 5.x or later with static IP addressing.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise provided Build Plans have a step to check for this before the installation starts, but a customized Build Plan may have had this step removed.

When deploying ESXi with static IP addressing, you must specify a gateway for the deployment to succeed.

ESXi Installation fail with Read only filesystem error

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
ESXi Installation fail with Read only filesystem error.

Certain state of storage disk may produce a Read only filesystem error when installing ESXi OS Build Plan.

For successful deployment, add --novmfsondisk parameter to the install command in the kickstart file. This parameter must be used with --overwritevmfs if a VMFS partition already exists on the disk.

For example, install --firstdisk --overwritevmfs --novmfsondisk

ESXi installation has nameserver warning

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Your ESXi installation with static addressing shows a warning on the console that a nameserver was not specified. This is only a warning. The OS installation will continue and the message will be removed.

ESXi installation repeats

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
ESXi installation repeats In general, this occurs when trying to install ESXi on multi-disk systems. The default Insight Control server provisioning ESXi answer file instructs installation to occur on the first available disk. Depending on how ESXi detects hard drives in the system, the first available disk might not be the intended installation drive.

Disable all disks except the installation disk on System RBSU or explicitly state in the ESXi answer file the disk number to install to.

Linux Build plan failures

OS deployment error: Could not find the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Repository

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
OS deployment error: Could not find the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Repository The NIC is not ready when access to the Media Server occurs, so the installation is unsuccessful. Set the kernel_argument custom attribute and set the value to netwait=10.

Target servers unable to reach the Media Server Windows file share

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
An OS Build Plan fails on the step Set Media Source when trying to mount the Media Server Windows file share or steps that access the Media Server report not being able to access it. This might occur during an OS installation with reports occurring on the target server console.
  • Verify the Media Server settings specified on the Settings Media Server panel are correct.

  • One way to verify the settings is to run the ProLiant SW — Validate Media Server Settings Build Plan (for details, see Set Media Source step and Media Server troubleshooting). This Build Plan checks for most Media Server issues.

Red Hat Build Plan fails on last Wait for HP SA agent step

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
The Build Plan fails on the last "Wait for HP SA agent" step. The target server is installed and if user logs in through the remote console and does "ifconfig" the eth* adapter is present, but does not have an IP address. Running dhclient on the adapter connected to the network will establish a network connection.

Some network option cards require some additional time to initialize before they can request an IP address. Try the following procedure which adds a delay before the NIC requests an IP address.

Fix:

Add a LINKDELAY statement to the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth* files to allow the NIC time to establish a link. To do this as part of the installation,

  1. Create a new Build Plan and Kickstart configuration file.

  2. Edit the Build Plan and change the configuration file to point to the new Kickstart configuration file.

  3. Edit the kickstart configuration file and add the following lines at the end of the file.

  %post 
for file in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth* 
do
     echo "LINKDELAY=60" >> $file
done

Linux installation times out

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Linux installation times out. If you are installing many RPMs as part of your Linux Installation, the build plan might time out on the Monitor Installation step because nothing is written to the installation log for an extended period of time while the RPMs are being installed.

Increase the time the Monitor Installation step waits for log activity as follows:

  1. Make a copy of the Build Plan.

  2. Edit the copy of the Build Plan.

  3. Modify the parameters of the Monitor Installation step by adding a number after the log file name that indicates the number of polls the step will take before timing out. The default is 200, so increasing it to 400 or more is recommended. The following is an example of what the parameters might look like in a Red Hat installation:

    --count=300

  4. Retry the installation with the new Build Plan.

Image capture and deploy failures

Basic triage for image capture and deploy failures

General troubleshooting basics for image capture and deploy:

  • Check the job log to determine where the failure occurred. You should be able to tell what types of things you need to look at, such as no access to Media Server, trouble finding the disk to capture/deploy, trouble with the partition table, and so on.

  • Verify that the Media Server is mounted properly. You should be able to do this from the target server's console. Use the command prompt to verify that you have access to Z:\Images. If you are capturing, make sure you have write access to that folder. If you have media server access issues, try running the ProLiant SW — Validate Media Server Settings Build Plan (for details, see Set Media Source step and Media Server troubleshooting).

  • Check disk space. If you are capturing, make sure there is space on the Media Server. If you are installing, make sure the target disk is large enough.

  • Verify that the WimFileName custom attribute is defined. If you're doing an image installation, verify that the file exists on the Media Server in the Images folder.

  • Check the SystemDiskNumber custom attribute. If it is defined already, you might try removing it and letting the Build Plan set it automatically. If that doesn't work, check the failed job log for a listing of the disks, and try setting the custom attribute to the disk you want to capture or deploy to.

Server is in WinPE after capture image

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
The target server is left in the WinPE service OS after the capture image Build Plan is run. This is the expected behavior. You need to deploy the image you just captured back to the reference server.

Windows image capture and install limitations

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Windows image deploy fails. The target server must have similar hardware to the reference server from where the image was captured. Before you use the image tool to install a Windows image, Hewlett Packard Enterprise recommends that you review the ImageX documentation at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc722145%28v=ws.10%29.aspx.

Image deploy fails with missing WIMFileName

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Windows image deploy fails with missing WIMFileName. The custom attribute WimFileName must be defined. This custom attribute specifies the file name for the WIM image you are creating or installing. Images are always located in the Images folder on the Media Server unless you modify the parameters to the Windows Image Capture and Windows Image Deploy Build Plan steps to use another folder.

Boot step failures

Boot step error: Problem manipulating EV

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Boot step error: Problem manipulating EV. The Boot step is trying to set the one-time boot either during its Power On Self Test or while the server is in the RBSU, which is not permitted. Power off the target server prior to running the Build Plan by connecting to the iLO using a browser and selecting Press and Hold under the Power Management options.

Add server fails with ILO_WRITE_BLOB_STORE_FAILURE on iLO 1.20 FW

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
The Boot step of a Build Plan might fail on Gen8 servers with the following error: An error occurred while performing writeBlobStore operation.

Details: An error occurred while performing writeBlobStore operation.

Cause: [iLO (10.9.1.33)] Error : Internal error.

Action: Please contact your SA administrator.

An attempt to re-run the Build Plan, or another Build Plan, results in the same error.

Perform one of the following actions to reset the iLO:

  1. Connect to the iLO using a browser and, under Information Diagnostics, press the Reset button to reset the iLO.  Your browser connection will be lost while the iLO resets.

  2. Use the ssh command to connect to the iLO and, at the iLO prompt, type reset map1. Your ssh connection will be lost while the iLO resets.

Linux or ESXi Build Plan fails with a copy boot error

Symptom Possible cause and resolution

A Linux or ESXi Build Plan may fail with error message:

Copy Boot Media failed with exit code 3

The OS distribution is not present in the Insight Control server provisioning Media Server.

Run the Insight Control server provisioning Media Server Setup utility on the Media Server to copy the OS distribution to the correct folder. Or manually copy the distribution to the correct folder location.

Wait for HP SA Agent failures

OS Build Plan or add iLO fails at Wait for HP SA Agent step

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
A Build Plan or add iLO function fails at the Wait for HP SA Agent step with the following error: Wait for HP SA Agent failed with exit code 6. This indicates the server failed to complete a triggered boot, start the agent, and register itself with the appliance. This is one of the most common errors because it can be caused by anything that can interrupt a normal system boot and network registration. The following are some common causes:
  1. Target server is inaccessible

    • The Wait for HP SA Agent step will time out waiting for the agent to register with the appliance. Make sure one and only one NIC on the target server is being used as the deployment NIC, and make sure that NIC is accessible by the appliance, either on the same network or routable.

  2. Target server is stuck at black screen with Hewlett Packard Enterprise logo, and the progress bar below the logo shows no progress

    In rare cases, when booting to Intelligent Provisioning, the server might get stuck at a black screen that shows a Hewlett Packard Enterprise logo with a progress bar underneath. This may be caused by a driver that is having trouble loading after a warm boot, because a device may still have processes running against it after the warm boot.

    • Power off the server and run the Build Plan again.

  3. atMost parameter is too small

    • The Wait for HP SA Agent step waits as long as the --atMost parameter specifies. The default is 15 minutes. It is taking longer for the server to boot and the agent to start. Change the --atMost parameter in the Wait for HP SA Agent step to a larger value.

  4. Target server did not get a DHCP address

    • Make sure DHCP is configured either on the appliance or with an external DHCP server. There must be a properly configured DHCP server with sufficient free leases that can provide an IP address and booting information to the target server.

  5. Target server time differs from the time on the appliance by a few hours

    • A secure agent connection cannot be made if the date and time on the target server differs by a few hours from the time on the appliance. Check the date and time on your target server and correct if necessary.

  6. The decommission step broke the agent connection

    It’s possible for the appliance to lose its connection to the server under the following condition:

    1. The server was originally in production and then booted to a service OS without the decommission step. Some hardware Build Plans might do this.

    2. Later, a boot step calling for the same service OS was run, but this boot step was followed by a decommission step, as in most OS installation Build Plans.

    The result is the decommission step breaks the appliance connection to the agent and the Build Plan fails. If this happens, run the OS installation Build Plan again and it should recover. If you want to bring a system from production back to maintenance for eventual reinstallation and you want to avoid this problem, run one of the Prepare server for Reprovisioning Build Plans.

  7. The target server red screens

    A red screen may occur on the target server during deployment if a USB port is in use or there are issues with firmware or BIOS. If a red screen is displayed on the target server during deployment, try the following:

    • Check to ensure none of the USB ports are connected to a drive.

    • Check the target server firmware is supported by IC server provisioning.

    • Clear the BIOS and reset boot record in RBSU.

      1. In RBSU, select System Default Options→Restore Settings/Erase Boot Disk.

      2. After reset, log back into RBSU to re-configure your settings as needed.

  8. Windows OS was successfully installed but the agent may not have installed properly.

    Running multiple Windows deployments and a target fails to boot into the local disk after the operating system installation is complete causing an agent time out. The Windows operating system was successfully installed on the hard drive but the agent may not have been installed properly.

    • The best action is to re-run the Windows Build Plan on the failed target server.

Build Plan fails and target server is at Intelligent Provisioning screen

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
A Build Plan fails at the Wait for HP SA Agent step following the Reboot step, and the target server shows the Intelligent Provisioning screen. This is caused by an intermittent timing problem.
  • Run the Build Plan again.

Set Media Source step and Media Server troubleshooting

A Build Plan may fail while executing the Set Media Source step if your Media Server is not set up correctly or is not accessible from your deployment network or target server. The following information provides some suggestions for troubleshooting issues with the Media Server.

A detailed description of how the Media Server is set up and how it interacts with Build Plans can be found in the Insight Control server provisioning Administrator Guide.

To verify your Media Server setup or troubleshoot Set Media Source step failures, you should run theProLiant SW — Validate Media Server Settings Build Plan. Or you can manually follow similar steps as those executed in the Build Plan. The Build Plan and the manual steps are described below.

Run the ProLiant SW — Validate Media Server Settings Build Plan

To verify your Media Server setup or if you encounter Set Media Source step failures and need to troubleshoot the issue, run theProLiant SW — Validate Media Server Settings Build Plan. It can be run on either Windows or Linux targets that are in maintenance or running a production OS. When you setup or update your Media Server you can run it once on a Windows target and once on a Linux target to verify your settings. If you have a Build Plan failure related to the Media Server, you can immediately run this Build Plan on the failed target to identify the connection problem. Note that this Build Plan does not perform any booting operations on the target server. It must be run on a target that is already running either a production or service OS.

The ProLiant SW — Validate Media Server Settings Build Plan contains two scripts.

  • The Display Media Server Settings script reads the data entered in the Media Server settings screen of the appliance and lists the information in the job log of the Build Plan.

  • The Validate Media Server script runs a variety of connectivity tests between the target server and the Media Server, and reports the results of those tests in the job log.

Always look at the job log for the ProLiant SW — Validate Media Server Settings Build Plan regardless of whether the Build Plan run passed or failed as it may contain valuable information or corrective actions to take to repair your Media Server connection.

Manually validate the Set Media Source step and Media Server

TheProLiant SW — Validate Media Server Settings Build Plan checks for most Media Server issues, however, if you are unable to run the Build Plan or if the Build Plan fails to solve your problem, you can also perform the following manual troubleshooting steps to uncover any issues.

  • Verify the Media Server settings specified on the SettingsMedia Server screen are correct and match the information used at the time of configuring the Media Server.

  • Make sure the Media Server IP address is accessible from your deployment network and your target server. Try to ping the Media Server from the target server. If you are unable to ping the Media Server, check the following:

    • Make sure the Media Server is on the deployment network. See if you can ping it from a different server, or from the Media Server, try to ping the deployment IP of your appliance. If you do not have this connectivity, repair your Media Server network and try again.

    • If you can ping the Media Server from a different server, verify that the target server is properly connected to the deployment network and that all switches are properly configured.

    • If a gateway is required to access your Media Server, make sure the gateway is properly defined in your DHCP settings (internal or external DHCP) or that you properly specify the gateway as part of your static network configuration settings when you run the Build Plan.

  • Check to make sure you have the right parameters for the Set Media Source step based on your Media Server OS.

  • Once you can ping the Media Server, try manually accessing the files on the Media Server from the target server or another host that has connectivity to the Media Server. Using the same information specified on the Settings screen, try either mapping the Windows file share or accessing the HTTP files using a browser. Try both operations if necessary. Use the following commands to test your Media Server connection.

    • From a server running Windows or WinPE enter the following at the command prompt:

      net use z: \\<media-server-ip-address>\<file share name>/user:<username>

      You are be prompted for a password. Enter the Media Server password and determine if the file share is mounted in Z: drive. If Z: is already mounted, try a different drive letter.

    • From a server running Linux or the Linux service OS enter the following:

      mkdir /mnt/ms

      mount —t cifs —o username=<username>,sec=ntlmv2,noserverino //<media-server-ip-address>/<file share name> /mnt/ms

      You can ignore mkdir command, if /mnt/ms already exists. The command prompts for password. Enter the Media Server password and see whether the file share is mounted. If it is successful you should be able to go to the /mnt/ms folder and see the file share contents (Images, Media and so on).

      If the command fails, try one of the following mount commands and see which one works. If you find one that works, update your Build Plan to use the specified options.

      mount —t cifs —o username=<username>,sec=ntlmvssp,noserverino //<media-server-ip-address>/<file share name> /mnt/ms

      mount —t cifs —o username=<domain/username>,sec=ntlmv2,noserverino //<media-server-ip-address>/<file share name> /mnt/ms

      mount —t cifs —o username=<username>,sec=ntlmv2i,noserverino //<media-server-ip-address>/<file share name> /mnt/ms

    If this does not work, check the following:

    • The version of Windows hosting your Media Server. IC server provisioning only supports media servers running Windows 2008 SP2 or later. There is a known issue with Windows 2008 (Windows 2008 SP1) versions. Upgrade to Windows 2008 SP2 to solve this issue.

    • The Media Server cannot be hosted on a Windows server which is also a Domain Control server. Windows Domain Control servers enforce extra security controls preventing any File share access.

    • Check your Media Server settings. If your Media Server is part of a domain, file share user needs to be specified in domain\username format, where domain is the domain name of the user or the hostname of the Media Server if the user account is a local user.

      Also some special characters are not allowed in certain fields. The file share name and the user name cannot contain the following reserved characters: < (less than) > (greater than) : (colon) " (double quote) / (forward slash) \ (backslash) | (vertical bar or pipe) ? (question mark) * (asterisk) [ (open square bracket) ] (close square bracket) ; (semicolon) = (equal sign) , (comma) + (plus) & (ampersand) ~ (tilde) (null) and No leading or trailing space. The password cannot be (null) or contain leading or trailing space or " (double quote).

    • Check to see if one type of deployment works and not another. Windows deployments use the Windows file share mapping, and Linux / ESXi deployments use HTTP. If one type works and the other does not, connection to the Media Server is good and the problem is likely in the Media Server configuration. Review the Media Server requirements and setup instructions in the Insight Control server provisioning Installation Guide or manual setup instructions in the Insight Control server provisioning Administrator Guide.

    • If using IC server provisioning 7.2 or 7.2.1, only local Windows user accounts are supported on the Media Server. Domain user accounts are supported in 7.2.2 (or later).

Create Stub Partition error

Linux or ESXi Build Plan error: create stub partition

The symptom in all cases is the inability to create a stub partition.

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Linux or ESXi Build Plan error: create stub partition.
  1. No physical disk found on target server.

    • Add a disk to the target server. Insight Control server provisioning requires either a local disk to install to, or a single SAN disk that has been properly configured as the boot disk.

  2. Smart array is not configured properly.

    • A logical drive has not been defined on the target server’s Smart Array. Create one manually, or customize the Smart Array configuration Build Plan to configure the Smart Array and run the Build Plan against the target server.

  3. Storage Controller is not enabled in the BIOS

    • Enable the storage controller in the BIOS manually, or customize the System ROM configuration Build Plan and then run that Build Plan against the target server.

Device busy error on create stub partition

Symptom Possible cause and resolution

The Create stub partition step sometimes returns a Device busy error. If the Build Plan does not fail on this step, this is normal and can be ignored.

If a Linux OS Build Plan fails during a PXE-less deployment on the Create stub partition step with the following error then review the possible causes and resolution:Errors from step 8 'Create Stub Partition': umount: /mnt/local_root/dev: device is busy. (In some cases useful info about processes that use the device is found by lsof(8) or fuser(1))

  1. There is a previously installed Windows OS on multiple disks.

    • The boot disk and one or more other disks on the target server contain a previously installed Windows operating system. Edit the Build Plan and add the Unmount all Boot Disk Partitions step before the Create stub partition step. Re-run the Build Plan.

  2. There is a previously installed Windows OS on the boot disk and SAN.

    • The boot disk on the target server is connected to a SAN with a multi-path configuration and contains a previously installed Windows operating system. Edit the Build Plan and add the Unmount all Boot Disk Partitions step before the Create stub partition step. Re-run the Build Plan.

Check iLO service step failures

OS Build Plan fails on Check iLO Service step

The symptom in all cases is that the OS Build Plain fails on Check iLO Service step.

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
OS Build Plan fails on Check iLO Service step
  1. The target server is a VM guest.

  2. The target server does not have an iLO.

    • Insight Control server provisioning only supports ProLiant servers with embedded iLO management processors when deploying to physical servers.

  3. The iLO is not reachable.

    • Verify the network connectivity from the appliance to the iLO NIC on the target server.

  4. The appliance has not associated an iLO with the server.

    • The target server has an iLO but there is not an iLO associated with the server in the appliance database, or automatic iLO registration failed during PXE boot. If your target server was discovered using PXE, check the iLO registration job status to see if the register iLO and create iLO account tasks failed. You might need to delete and add the server again. If the server was added while in production or if the server was migrated from RDP, iLO information can be provided on the Add server screen. Be sure to select Do not boot to maintenance.

Intelligent Provisioning firmware update failures

If you experience a failure with the ProLiant SW - Intelligent Provisioning Firmware Update Build Plan, the following actions can assist in troubleshooting the problem.

  • Verify that your target server is a Gen8 server or newer. Earlier servers do not support Intelligent Provisioning.

  • Check if you have set the IPversion custom attribute. If you have set it, make sure that it contains a valid value which corresponds to a subdirectory name under the Media/ip directory on your Media Server. Setting the IPversion custom attribute is not required. By default, the subdirectory under the Media/ip directory with the largest value, determined by sort order, is selected. For example, if the directories Media/ip/1.50 and Media/ip/1.60 exist, which correspond to Intelligent Provisioning versions 1.50 and 1.60, the 1.60 version is automatically selected because 1.60 is larger than 1.50.


    [IMPORTANT: ]

    IMPORTANT: ProLiant Gen8 uses HPE Intelligent Provisioning version 1.xx and ProLiant Gen9 uses version 2.xx. The Build Plan displays an error if you try to install Intelligent Provisioning firmware 1.xx on a Gen9 server or visa versa. Because of this, you might need to explicitly specify the version number when updating Gen8 servers.


  • Verify that PXE is configured in your environment, because the Build Plan is dependent on the target server’s ability to PXE boot.

  • Using the iLO Remote Console, which is accessible using a web browser connection to your server’s iLO, verify that the server is PXE booting into the Linux Service OS.

  • Once the server has PXE booted to the Linux Service OS, press Alt-F2 in the iLO Remote Console to get a Linux shell prompt and verify that the file share on the Media Server has been mounted under /mnt/media. If there was a problem mounting the file share from the media server, the Set Media Source Build Plan step would have failed. For more information, see Set Media Source step and Media Server troubleshooting.

  • At the Linux shell prompt in the iLO Remote Console, issue the command cd /mnt/media/Media/ip, followed by ls -l, to verify that you have read access to the directory where your versions of Intelligent Provisioning are kept.

  • Verify that you have extracted the Intelligent Provisioning ISO to a directory named Media/ip/<Intelligent-Provisioning-Version> on your Media Server, where <Intelligent-Provisioning-Version> is the version of the Intelligent Provisioning firmware. For example, if your Intelligent Provisioning firmware is version 1.60, then the directory on the Media Server would be named Media/ip/1.60. From the Linux shell prompt in the iLO Remote Console, you can access the directory using the path /mnt/media/Media/ip/<Intelligent-Provisioning-Version>.

Miscellaneous

Unable to install to a multi-disk system

Each operating system detects hard drives in a different order, so on multi-disk systems there is no guarantee which disk will be selected for installation.

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Unable to install to a multi-disk system Hewlett Packard Enterprise provided Red Hat and SUSE Build Plans install to all detected hard drives by default. Existing data is erased and a new partition layout is created.

The Hewlett Packard Enterprise provided ESXi Build Plans install only to the first detected drive.

Disable all but the intended drive on RBSU or explicitly state in the answer file which drive to install to.

Ubuntu 14.04 is unable to install to a multi-disk system.

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Ubuntu 14.04 is unable to install to a multi-disk system. The Hewlett Packard Enterprise provided ESXi Build Plans and Ubuntu Build Plans install only on the first detected drive.

Disable all the drives except for the intended drive on RBSU or explicitly state in the answer file on which drive to install to.

Windows SPP Build Plan fails on install Windows SPP step

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
The ProLiant SW – Install Windows SPP Build Plan fails on the step Install Windows SPP with the following errors in the log: The system cannot find the drive specified. The system cannot find the path specified. The network connection could not be found. The ProLiant SW – Install Windows SPP might not report when the connection to the Media Server is invalid or the SPP version does not exist on the Media Server.

Verify the Set Media Source step is included in the Build Plan and is successful. Verify there are SPP files on the Media Server under \media\spp.

Windows disk partitioning failure

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Windows OS installation fails. Disk partitioning from an unattend file wipes out the C: drive.

IC server provisioning uses the C: partition to store drivers needed for the OS installation to work, therefore, when you create your unattend file you need to make sure you don’t overwrite the C: partition.

Solution: To avoid overwriting the C: partition, you should not do your partitioning using the Create Windows System Drive script. For details, see theInsight Control Server Provisioning Build Plans Reference Guide.

Install Windows or Linux SPP failures

Symptom Possible cause and resolution
Install Windows or Linux SPP fails.

The target server must be running a supported Windows or Linux product version in order to install the SPP.