Planning The Deployment; Selecting A Workstation; Selecting A Boot Mechanism - HP BL860c Deployment Manual

• The SSTK boot device is a CD, a network share, or a USB flash device—holds files that
allow servers to boot to the toolkit environment. You can also use the SSTK boot device to
hold the repository of scripts, utilities, configuration files, OS files, and application files.
• The target servers are the machines you want to set up as replicas.

Planning the Deployment

This section provides guidance on the various ways in which you can set up three components:
a workstation, a boot mechanism, and a repository. The server replication process depends on
these components.

Selecting a Workstation

The workstation is any PC, equipped with a CD writer (and in some cases USB or PXE capability),
running any distribution of Linux. You use the workstation to download the SSTK, unpack the
SSTK software package, edit the sample scripts, and create a bootable device. You can also use
the workstation to host the repository of custom scripts, utilities, hardware configuration files,
OS files, and application files.

Selecting a Boot Mechanism

The SSTK supports three boot mechanisms—CD, USB flash or network boot via a PXE-enabled
NIC. The boot mechanism holds the files that boot the server to the toolkit environment and run
the main script. The main script gets configuration files, OS files, and application files from the
repository, configures the hardware, and installs the software. You can also use a USB flash
device, or a network share to host the repository, which gathers all run-time components in one
place.
Several factors affect your choice of the boot mechanism:
• Capacity: The choice between CD and other devices is a function of the capacity of the disk.
You may not be able to use a CD if you plan to host the repository (including the OS files
along with the configuration files, scripts, and utilities) on the same device as the boot files
(toolkit environment).
• Flexibility: The choice between a CD and USB flash drive is determined by the flexibility
you need from the toolkit environment and custom scripts. You can quickly edit the Linux
boot loader configuration file, a script, or configuration file on a USB flash device though
burning a new CD is more complicated.
• Complexity: The choice between a network boot and a boot device depends on the scope
and complexity of your deployment. If you plan to set up over a hundred servers at a time,
you should invest in a PXE-enabled installation environment in which the HP Integrity
servers boot over the network. On the other hand, if you plan to deploy your servers in more
measured increments, the device drives may be an optimal solution. You could burn a dozen
CDs at a time, insert each in an HP Integrity servers, reboot, and return to a dozen managed
servers.
Planning the Deployment 15