About editing a server profile

Editing a server profile allows you to do the following tasks:

  • Manage the server hardware configuration separately from the actual server hardware.

  • Easily reapply the configuration to the server hardware if the server hardware is serviced or replaced.

  • Define the server configuration prior to the server hardware installation.

  • Capture significant portions of the server configuration in one place, greatly simplifying and hastening server configuration.

Edit a server profile to change the settings associated with that profile. You can edit a server profile anytime after it has been created. You can also edit a server profile with an Error condition to make corrections.

When you edit a server profile, the state of the server changes. The appliance analyzes the changes and determines the actions to update the server. For example, if you change the BIOS settings but not the firmware baseline, the firmware is not updated. Only the requested changes are applied.

NOTE:

If you change the server settings or state using tools other than the appliance, the changes are not detected or managed. These changes might be overwritten the next time the profile is edited.

Considerations for editing a server profile

  • Time to completion. Editing a profile is an asynchronous operation. Name and description changes take effect immediately, but other changes might take time to complete. If a profile is associated with a server profile template, changes can cause the profile to be out of compliance with its template. See About server profile consistency validation for more information.

  • Profile names must be unique.

  • Logical drive contents. When unassigning a server profile with local storage configured, the logical drive contents are at risk of being lost. To preserve the logical drive, physically remove the disk drives or make a copy of the contents of the logical drive so that you can reassign the profile at a later time.

  • BIOS settings are managed using the server profile and the settings on the server are overwritten when the server profile is applied.

  • Identifiers. You cannot switch between virtual and physical identifiers for the following, unless you delete and recreate the profile connection:

    • Serial number/UUID (server profile)

    • MAC address

    • WWN

  • iSCSI initiator name. HPE OneView accepts 1-233 (letter, digit, and punctuation) characters in this field. However, some supported network adapters limit name length to 128 characters. Exceeding the name length for such adapters can prevent connection between a server and storage. See the HPE OneView Support Matrix for limitations.

Online Updates

To edit some server profile settings, the server hardware must be powered off; for others, the server hardware can remain powered on.

Server hardware is powered off

You can edit the following server profile settings, when the server hardware is powered off:
  • Reassign server profile from one server hardware to another server hardware.

  • Edit iSCSI initiator name.

  • Create or delete connections.

  • Reconfigure local storage.

  • Edit boot settings.

  • Manage BIOS settings in HPE Superdome Flex Server with Superdome Flex firmware version 3.0.512 or later.

Server hardware is powered on

You can edit the following server profile settings when the server hardware is powered on:
  • Profile name

  • Profile description

  • Profile affinity

  • Server Hardware

    • iLO settings can be managed if the server is Gen8 and later.

      NOTE:

      Only under some conditions, you can assign or unassign a server, create a server profile, or delete a server profile, while the server hardware is powered on.

    • There cannot be any connections managed by the profile.

    • The "Firmware only" setting is not used.

    • There cannot be any Local Storage configured by the profile.

    • Boot settings cannot be managed.

    • BIOS settings cannot be managed in HPE Superdome Flex Server, Gen8, or older servers but can be managed in Gen9 and later servers.

      For information on supported firmware versions, see HPE OneView Support Matrix.

    • The server serial number must be physical.

  • Server Hardware Type or Enclosure Group.
    NOTE: To change Server Hardware type or Enclosure Group, the Server Hardware must be unassigned. The conditions applicable for unassigning Server Hardware are also applicable when you want to edit the Server Hardware Type or Enclosure Group in a server profile that is assigned to a powered on server.
  • You can change the Firmware while the server hardware is powered on as long as the "Firmware Only" setting is not used.

  • SAN Storage (using the connections that are already created) only.

  • Server profile template selection.

  • BIOS settings for Gen9 server or later only. The BIOS settings become effective at the next server Power On Self-Test (POST).

  • Requested bandwidth for an existing connection.

  • Name of an existing connection.

  • Network and network set of an existing connection.

  • Create or delete Ethernet connections on rack servers.

  • Change the pair of Ethernet connections on a rack server to have either the same LAG or no LAG.

  • Create, attach, and edit storage volumes.

  • Create and remove SAS logical JBOD.

Exceptions to server profile setting rules when the server hardware is powered on

Following are the exceptions to the editing of the server profile settings while the server hardware is powered on:
  • Network or network connection is any of the following:
    • Bootable Fibre Channel

    • Bootable iSCSI

    • Ethernet configured for iSCSI boot

  • If the server is configured to boot using the storage path, that path cannot be disabled. So you cannot create, attach, or edit storage volumes while the server hardware is powered on.

  • Unless the following conditions are true, you cannot remove SAS logical JBOD while the server hardware is powered on:
    • The controller has logical drives configured along with the JBODs.

    • The controller is managed manually.

HPE OneView saves the modifications to the profile while the server hardware is powered on so long as the modifications can be successfully applied.

In situations where the only failure is a modification to SAN storage, other modifications will still be saved in the profile configuration.