Hp INTEGRITY RX5670 Headless Windows

Headless Windows
Executive Summary................................................................................................................................ 2
Why Headless?........................................................................................................................................2
What is a Headless System?................................................................................................................2
Benefits of Headless Systems..............................................................................................................2
How Do I Access a Headless System?................................................................................................3
Console Definitions................................................................................................................................. 3
In-band vs. Out-of-band..................................................................................................................... 3
Remote Desktop................................................................................................................................. 3
Physical Aspects of Integrity Consoles............................................................................................... 4
Management Processor..................................................................................................................... 4
Emergency Management Services.................................................................................................... 4
Firmware Redirection.......................................................................................................................... 4
Special Administration Console..........................................................................................................4
Configuring Consoles ............................................................................................................................. 5
Management Processor Settings........................................................................................................5
Cellular Systems...............................................................................................................................5
Non-Cellular Systems ........................................................................................................................ 6
EFI Console Settings ............................................................................................................................ 6
Windows Installation Methods................................................................................................................ 6
HP Re-Install Media............................................................................................................................. 6
Smart Setup and Microsoft RTM Media..............................................................................................6
Remote Installation Services...............................................................................................................6
For more information.............................................................................................................................. 7
Executive Summary
Users of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 are very familiar with the setup, installation, and operation of systems using a keyboard, video, and mouse. These users may not be familiar with the robust set of headless functionality that is provided by HP Integrity servers running Windows Server 2003.
Integrity servers provide a complete set of tools to setup, install, manage, and use the system in a true headless fashion. The benefits of headless servers are many.
Elimination of the last remnant of legacy hardware
Simpler to reconfigure partitions
Easier to deploy and maintain
Prepare for future fine-grained partitioning
Windows on Integrity can be installed using several flexible headless installation methods that match a full range of user scenarios. Once the system is installed, all interaction is through the Remote Desktop. Remote Desktop provides the best user interface experience to a Windows system without the complexities related to a full Terminal Services deployment. The GUI resolution, color depth, and mouse interaction outperformsany other remote GUI method.
Why Headless?
Integrity servers are built on an inherently legacy-free architecture. By building on this legacy–free foundation, systems are more stable in addition to being easier to configure and maintain.
What is a Headless System?
Headless systems are those that do not have legacy VGA or legacy PS/2 keyboard/mouse hardware. A system with these hardware devices is not strictly headless since these devices will be detected by Windows and drivers will be loaded for them. A system with the A6869A Graphics USB card is not headless even if there is no monitor, keyboard, or mouse connected. This means that the advantages of a completely legacy-free system will not be fully available. For example, a PCI card with hardware related to the head, such as the A6869A, cannot be hot-plugged. However, users can still take advantage of some of the benefits of interacting with a system using headless methods.
Benefits of Headless Systems
VGA hardware is the last legacy piece of hardware in Integrity systems. By eliminating this device, a system is much easier to setup, maintain, and operate.
The presence of VGA hardware restricts the ease of repartitioning of cellular systems. Because of the legacy hardware requirements of VGA, there are very specific rules for the IO slot location of the graphics card. As partitions are changed or created, the presence of this card in an IO chassis can create configurations that are invalid. This causes customer confusion and can require that the graphics card and other cards be moved. If an IO card connected to the boot drive has to be moved, this can cause the currently installed OS to fail to boot.
As the system is powering on, much of the hardware must be initialized and configured before the IO path to the graphics card can be used. This delays the display of the firmware forward progress messages. All of these messages are immediately visible through the headless port giving more visibility into the state of the system.
Customers can simplify their data center by avoiding the deployment or expansion of their console switch environment. The cabling and rack mount monitors complicate the
installation of servers in racks. Console switches with remote viewing capabilities do not present the same high resolution GUI that is available through Remote Desktop. Remote desktop also provides a more responsive mouse input experience. These remote view console switches also require user authentication management which further complicates systems that are being installed or repartitioned.
For future systems there may be many fine-grained partitions which 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 Do I 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) will present a complete, high performance GUI of the system’s graphical console. All GUI based interaction is exactly the same as if the user was seated at a physical keyboard, monitor, and mouse directly 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 iLo web interface, or, if the Integrated Lights-Out Advanced Pack is installed, through SSH.
Console Definitions
When you see a document use the name ‘console’, it can refer to many different things and that 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 either in-band or out-of-band. An in-band connection is one that is under the control of the OS and the port is visible in the 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 one that is not visible to the user of the OS. An example is a connection to the network port or serial port of the management processor. These ports do not appear in the 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 complete license server. Alicense for two connections to the Administrator account is included. When a system is running and healthy, this is the primary and preferred method for interaction with a system.
Remote Desktop provides access to all of the familiar GUI tools. It is also very high performance and gives a very good user experience compared to other remote GUI access methods.
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