How To Access A Headless System; Console Definitions; In-Band Vs. Out-Of-Band; Remote Desktop - HP Integrity rx7620 Installation Manual

For future systems there may be many customized partitions that require careful allocation of
IO slots. Avoiding the consumption of slots for non-critical use such as graphics will ease the
deployment of future systems. Customers should start to deploy and operate systems using
headless methods.

How to Access a Headless System

Users have full access to the GUI of a system through the use of Remote Desktop. From any client
PC on the network, running the Terminal Services Client (mstsc.exe) presents a complete,
high-performance GUI of the system's graphical console. All GUI-based interaction is the same
as if the user was seated at a physical keyboard, monitor, and mouse attached to the system.
The user has full access to the system's EFI command prompt, boot loader, and OS command
prompt by connecting to its service processor via telnet. On mid-range systems, a terminal
emulator can be launched from any web browser connected to the service processor. On entry
level systems, the user can also connect directly to the service processor via the Integrity Integrated
Lights-Out (iLo) web interface or, if the iLO Advanced Pack is installed, through SSH.

Console Definitions

The term "console" can refer to many different things, which can lead to confusion. It can mean
anything from a serial port connection into a management processor's command line interface,
to the default GUI interface to a Windows system, or many possibilities in between.

In-Band vs. Out-of-Band

Connections to a system are referred to as in-band or out-of-band. An in-band connection is
under the control of the OS and the port is visible in Windows Device Manager. Examples of
this are a telnet connection to a network interface, a remote desktop GUI session, or a terminal
connected to a serial port that is assigned a COMx name in device manager.
An out-of-band connection is not visible to the OS. An example is a connection to the network
port or serial port of the management processor (MP). These ports do not appear in Windows
Device Manager and are not controlled by a Windows device driver.

Remote Desktop

Windows provides complete remote GUI access through the Remote Desktop. Remote Desktop
uses the same tools and software as Terminal Services but without the requirement of setting up
a license server. A license for two connections to the Administrator account is included. This is
the primary and preferred method for interaction with a healthy system.

Physical Aspects of Integrity Consoles

On the back panel of Integrity servers are network and serial connections to the service processor.
The network port is identified as Management LAN and the serial port is identified as Console.
On Superdome servers, this port is on the back panel. On other Integrity servers, the Console
serial port is on a breakout cable, as are the Remote and UPS serial ports.

Management Processor

The management processor (MP) of a system is the place to go for headless console needs. Integrity
systems have used different names for this function, such as GSP, MP, and iLO. Microsoft refers
to this hardware as a Service Processor. Regardless of the name, this MP has the same role. It
provides the virtualization of the serial port that is used for Emergency Management Services
(EMS). This processor is powered by stand-by voltage and runs as long as AC power is applied,
even if the rest of the system is not powered on.

Emergency Management Services (EMS)

EMS is the out-of-band communication path used for headless interaction. If a system has a serial
port assigned as the EMS port, it is no longer available to the OS for any other use, such as the
interface to a UPS.
112 Headless Windows Installations