HP ProLiant Gen8 Server with HP iLO Management Engine Setup Guide

2 Before you begin
Visit the HP ProLiant Gen8 Server Management Information Library at:
http://www.hp.com/go/proliantgen8/docs
There you can find user guides, maintenance and service guides, white papers, tech briefs,
instructions, best practices, helpful hints, and other useful links for setting up and configuring your
server.
The information library also includes information and links to key documents about HP Smart
Storage, the HP iLO Management Engine, Intelligent Provisioning, and more.
Setup checklist
To prepare for installing your new HP Gen8 server, gather the following information and items to
simplify installation:
• Operating system installation media (Windows, Linux, VMware ESX) and product key —
Installation can be from disc, network share, FTP, or USB. Be sure to have installation keys
and read any implementation notices that accompany the OS.
• Network connectivity — Ensure that the LAN connection is active, and determine IP addresses
to assign if you are using static IP addressing. If you plan to install the OS from a network
share, have the server name or IP address, the share name, and a valid user name and
password.
• Internet connectivity — Verify that there is a path from the LAN to the Internet when your new
hardware is powered on, and make a note of the gateway to use (if present).
• USB storage device — Used for troubleshooting; the USB device stores an Active Health System
log download that you can send to HP. USB storage devices are also ideal for storing an HP
Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP).
• Power management plan — During initial (and future) HP ProLiant Gen8 server setup using
Intelligent Provisioning you can choose between the following three power management
choices:
◦ Balanced power and performance
◦ Minimum power usage
◦ Maximum performance
The power management plan chosen is automatically reflected in the RBSU. For more
information about the power plan choices, see the HP ROM-Based Setup Utility User Guide
at:
http://www.hp.com/support/rbsu .
Determine where an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) fits into your redundancy and safety
strategy. For more information about HP ProLiant server power protection and management,
see:
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/proliantstorage/power-protection/index.html.
• Storage — Using the Array Configuration Utility in Intelligent Provisioning, you configure and
manage the array controllers. This utility provides online, high-availability configuration,
management, and diagnostic capabilities for all HP Smart Array products. This includes
controller settings and configuration, physical drive write cache settings, and spare activation
modes settings. You can group together the physical drives attached to each controller, and
then further subdivide the available storage into logical drives to increase performance and
fault tolerance.
Setup checklist 7