Deployment Framework Best Practices for Red Hat Enterprise Linux on HP ProLiant

Domain Name Service (DNS) - In order to associate memorable hostnames with IP addresses,

DNS provides a way for humans and systems to perform this forward and reverse translation.

BEST PRACTICE: It is not uncommon for DNS and DHCP to be more closely coupled, allowing a

client system to suggest a hostname and allowing DNS and DHCP to provide an IP address and the

associated mapping function. This is known as Dynamic DNS (DDNS).

Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) - As a companion service to DHCP, PXE allows systems

to obtain a network bootable image. Setup and usage of this service is often overlooked until much

later. This service provides a way to automate installations and other tasks with a simple boot cycle,

all without the use of physical installation media. It is heavily leveraged for a complete deployment

framework. Review the next-server parameter to provide the PXE-DHCP coupling.

BEST PRACTICES:

• As part of HP hardware enablement with Linux distributions like RHEL, sometimes driver updates

are required. You can use these driver udpates during installation from the media with the

linux dd option. However, for newer version of driver updates (DUP), you can also chain

load them directly during PXE-based installations, which is highly encouraged for your

deployment framework.

• For HP ProLiant Gen8, the Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP) collection product is introduced.

Containing a comprehensive, tested set of firmware, drivers, and agents, plus the HP System

Update Manager (HPSUM), you can download SPP and set it up as an PXE target itself. In this

context, the most valuable portion is the firmware maintenance, since you can integrate the

drivers with the native installer (via DUPs), and manage the agents more easily via other means.

NOTE: This approach does require one extra boot cycle to install firmware upgrades, if needed, but

this type of automation targets a completely managed infrastructure.

In summary, there are four major network infrastructure services that are fundamental to a deployment

framework. You can group them to provide a firm foundation, and with augmentation also address

the hardware-firmware layer with the SPP inclusion into PXE, and address the hardware-operating

system integration with the DUP inclusion into PXE.

Provisioning

Figure 5 shows that the provisioning portion is provided by a set of tools that works together

harmoniously.