Comments on: BladeCenter H Woes http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/06/02/bladecenter-h-woes/ The weblog of an IT pro specializing in virtualization, storage, and servers Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:51:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: slowe http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/06/02/bladecenter-h-woes/#comment-32405 slowe Fri, 15 Jun 2007 02:43:05 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/06/02/bladecenter-h-woes/#comment-32405 William, Actually, it turns out that most--if not all--of the issues we've run into are actually caused by a bug in the current MM firmware. It turns out that this is one of only 2 installations in the country currently dealing with this issue, and we're waiting on IBM to let us know if we should back-rev the MMs or wait for a patch. William,

Actually, it turns out that most–if not all–of the issues we’ve run into are actually caused by a bug in the current MM firmware. It turns out that this is one of only 2 installations in the country currently dealing with this issue, and we’re waiting on IBM to let us know if we should back-rev the MMs or wait for a patch.

]]> By: William Bishop http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/06/02/bladecenter-h-woes/#comment-32403 William Bishop Fri, 15 Jun 2007 01:57:14 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/06/02/bladecenter-h-woes/#comment-32403 You may need to update the firmware on the MM. There are a lot of weird affects from out of date firmware, and IBM is notorious for fixing them promptly(one of the reasons I've come to love them since I started dealing with big iron). Updating the firmware is easy, you download and decompress the patch file, and use the web tool to browse to it, click and you're done. The last patch fixed a lot of issues for me, I highly recommend it. You may need to update the firmware on the MM. There are a lot of weird affects from out of date firmware, and IBM is notorious for fixing them promptly(one of the reasons I’ve come to love them since I started dealing with big iron). Updating the firmware is easy, you download and decompress the patch file, and use the web tool to browse to it, click and you’re done. The last patch fixed a lot of issues for me, I highly recommend it.

]]> By: slowe http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/06/02/bladecenter-h-woes/#comment-32306 slowe Tue, 05 Jun 2007 02:15:31 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/06/02/bladecenter-h-woes/#comment-32306 Cruz, William, Good information--we uploaded a floppy image to the management module (we're using the Advanced MMs, by the way) and that took care of it for us. EMT4WIN was a total bust (the image never worked), but uploading a floppy image directly worked just fine. Either way, we were able to get the driver loaded into Windows and had no further problems. The MM problems continue; we're placing a service call to have one of them replaced tomorrow. I don't know that I'll ever "come to love it," but I do understand it a bit better now than I did. Ausmith1, I like the idea of integrating the QFEs so that the post-install patch time isn't so tedious. I've looked at nLite briefly to help reduce disk space utilization in VDI deployments, but will have to look at it again for this purpose. Fortunately for me, using the floppy disk image solved the problem with this particular installation, and then the ever-handy "vol copy" in Data ONTAP made it possible to provision six more blades in a matter of minutes. Sweet! Cruz, William,

Good information–we uploaded a floppy image to the management module (we’re using the Advanced MMs, by the way) and that took care of it for us. EMT4WIN was a total bust (the image never worked), but uploading a floppy image directly worked just fine. Either way, we were able to get the driver loaded into Windows and had no further problems. The MM problems continue; we’re placing a service call to have one of them replaced tomorrow.

I don’t know that I’ll ever “come to love it,” but I do understand it a bit better now than I did.

Ausmith1,

I like the idea of integrating the QFEs so that the post-install patch time isn’t so tedious. I’ve looked at nLite briefly to help reduce disk space utilization in VDI deployments, but will have to look at it again for this purpose. Fortunately for me, using the floppy disk image solved the problem with this particular installation, and then the ever-handy “vol copy” in Data ONTAP made it possible to provision six more blades in a matter of minutes. Sweet!

]]> By: William Bishop http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/06/02/bladecenter-h-woes/#comment-32305 William Bishop Tue, 05 Jun 2007 02:01:01 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/06/02/bladecenter-h-woes/#comment-32305 Cruz actually has the simpler of options. It's ridiculously easy to assign a cd or floppy image to a blade via the web console. He could be in and out in a couple minutes versus the time it takes to build a custom windows installation for what could be a one-off. If you need any help, email me, I suspect you can read it from the reply, but if not, it's wbishop@hhsys.org Trust me, I've got WAYmore bladecenter time than I want under my belt. It's a bit annoying at first, but you'll come to love it. Cruz actually has the simpler of options. It’s ridiculously easy to assign a cd or floppy image to a blade via the web console. He could be in and out in a couple minutes versus the time it takes to build a custom windows installation for what could be a one-off.

If you need any help, email me, I suspect you can read it from the reply, but if not, it’s
wbishop@hhsys.org

Trust me, I’ve got WAYmore bladecenter time than I want under my belt. It’s a bit annoying at first, but you’ll come to love it.

]]> By: Ausmith1 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/06/02/bladecenter-h-woes/#comment-32296 Ausmith1 Sun, 03 Jun 2007 22:03:29 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/06/02/bladecenter-h-woes/#comment-32296 The easiest thing to do in such a situation is to build a custom Windows install CD and boot up with that. You can integrate the mass storage drivers of your choice and the install will see your storage from the get go. You can even slipstream all the Windows QFEs as well so the system is protected from the first time it boots. Personally I use HFSLIP, but nLite works quite well too. http://hfslip.org/ http://www.nliteos.com/ The easiest thing to do in such a situation is to build a custom Windows install CD and boot up with that. You can integrate the mass storage drivers of your choice and the install will see your storage from the get go. You can even slipstream all the Windows QFEs as well so the system is protected from the first time it boots.
Personally I use HFSLIP, but nLite works quite well too.
http://hfslip.org/
http://www.nliteos.com/

]]> By: J.Cruz http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/06/02/bladecenter-h-woes/#comment-32295 J.Cruz Sun, 03 Jun 2007 17:55:15 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/06/02/bladecenter-h-woes/#comment-32295 We have a couple of BladeCenter H's over here, but haven't run into the issue with the MM's freaking out (are you using Advanced MM's or the regular MM's?) As for the floppy drive issue, what we've done in the past is create an image of the floppy using EMT4WIN and then uploading that to the Remote Console of the Management Module. Hope that helps! We have a couple of BladeCenter H’s over here, but haven’t run into the issue with the MM’s freaking out (are you using Advanced MM’s or the regular MM’s?)

As for the floppy drive issue, what we’ve done in the past is create an image of the floppy using EMT4WIN and then uploading that to the Remote Console of the Management Module.

Hope that helps!

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