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20 Deployment and Managing Configurations with Dell OpenManage Essentials | Revision A00
7 Deploy Templates
Deploying templates is the process of sending and applying configuration settings to remote devices. A
template may contain a single configuration setting, configuration settings for one or more specific
functional areas, or a full device configuration. To deploy a template, you must first create a template. The
template is crucial to the success of the deploy task. Make sure the device you are creating the template
from is configured exactly how you wish to deploy it when you create the template. To create a template,
see the Create Templates
section.
A template that was created from a target may contain destructive attributes (especially if it contains RAID
configuration settings). Deploying destructive attributes may cause data loss, connectivity issues, failure to
boot and other problems. It is important to review and understand each destructive attribute before
deploying it to target devices.
7.1 Deploy requirements
1. The file share must be configured (see the How to setup the file share section).
2. The target devices must meet the minimum requirements for the deployment and configuration
features (see the Target device requirements
section).
3. The target devices must be added to the Repurpose and Bare Metal device group (see the How to
add devices to the ‘Repurpose and Bare Metal’ device group section).
4. At least one user created template (a cloned sample template is a user created template).
7.2 Purpose and definition of the ‘Repurpose and Bare Metal’ device
group
The Repurpose and Bare Metal device group is a device group containing all the devices eligible for the
deploy template task. Only add devices to this group if you intend to deploy a template or an ISO image to
the devices. If you do not intend to deploy a template or an ISO image to the devices, it is recommended
that you remove the devices from the Repurpose and Bare Metal device group. You should not add
production devices to the Repurpose and Bare Metal device group because deploying a template can be
destructive and cause downtime or a loss of data.
7.2.1 How to add devices to the ‘Repurpose and Bare Metal’ device group
1. Navigate to the ‘Deployment’ tab.
2. Click ‘Deployment Portal’ in the left hand navigation under the ‘Deploy Device Configuration
Portal’ heading.
3. Click the ‘Repurpose and Bare Metal Devices’ tab in the upper left area of the deployment portal.
4. Click the ‘Modify Devices’ button in the bottom right corner of the grid.
5. Check the target devices in the popup. The target devices must be discovered and any target
server must have a ‘Server configuration for OpenManage Essentials’ license.