Running an MBC APX

You can launch MBC Web APXs in three ways:

From the SA Client

• Select Library > Extensions > Web > Manage Boot Clients Web APX.
• or, from the Unprovisioned Servers list, right click in the server list pane (you can also click on a server and select the option) and select Manage Boot Clients.

From a Browser

You can also use a browser and navigate to:

https://occ.example.com/webapp/osprov.manage_boot_clients_web/

where occ.example.com is the local hostname or IP address for your SA Core.

The browser interface allows you to choose whether to use a form to input data for a singular host, or whether to input a CSV to set up multiple server records. After clicking the Start button, it is grayed out to prevent double-submissions and a combined Progress/Results page is displayed.

MBC form-based method (web-based)

The web form-based interface provides a set of four pages that guide you through setting up an MBC job. You provide the information necessary to boot and provision a server on the first three pages/forms. The final page displays the progress/results of the job. You can act only on a single server when using the form-based method. For multiple server setup, you must use the CSV method.

Using the CSV Method from the Web Interface

The CSV input method can be accessed by clicking the Multiple Client Form... button on the first page of the MBC Web UI. The CSV input form allows acting on multiple server records at once, where each line in the CSV represents a server record.

MBC APX Command Line Interface

MBC also provides a Program APX, which is available to users as an executable in the Global Shell (OGSH). This can be useful for programmatic access to MBC while integrating with other systems.

Usage:

Users who have the appropriate permissions can run MBC from OGSH with this command:

/opsw/apx/bin/osprov/manage_boot_clients_script

Running MBC from the command line with no arguments will provide a usage statement.

This is an example command line entry that executes MBC and uses an existing CSV file:

/opsw/apx/bin/osprov/manage_boot_clients_script -m import <full path to CSV file with boot clients>

Special attributes for the CLI and CSV input form

There are several special attributes which are not stored as custom attributes (except sequence_id) when entered, but instead are dealt with in distinct ways. The following table lists these special attributes and how they are dealt with.

MBC special attributes for the CLI and CSV input form

Parameter	Description
buildplan_id	If specified, will invoke an OS Build Plan installation as the user using MBC as soon as the server is added to the Server Pool. Note: buildplan_id is stored as a custom attribute on the server. This custom attribute is removed from the server record when a Build Plan is started on the server.
pxe_image	Specifies a PXE configuration files for the server. The value should be set to one of the options seen in the default PXE menu (such as winpe32, winpe64, linux6 or linux6-x64 when using an OS Build Plan, or winpe32, winpe64, linux5 or linux6 when using an OS Sequence.). This copies the configuration file /opt/opsware/boot/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg to the MAC address file.
sequence_id	If specified, will invoke an OS Sequence installation (as detuser) as soon as the server is added to the Server Pool. Note: sequence_id is stored as a custom attribute on the server. This custom attribute is removed from the server record before the first reboot of the server.
customer	Sets the customer association for the server.
use	Sets the use field for the server. The value specified should be all caps (for example, PRODUCTION)
stage	Sets the stage field for the server. The value specified should be all caps (for example, IN DEPLOYMENT)
facility	Sets the facility ID association for the server. This is necessary when you run an MBC APX from a facility other than the one that the target server is associated with (necessary when you have a satellite that defines its own facility).
ilo.*	See iLO integration.
dhcpcleanup	Retrieves the DHCP configuration or deletes a DHCP entry by MAC address. Options are: - help (-h): Displays online help - action (-a): Options are: get: Retrieves the DHCP configuration delete: Deletes a DHCP server(s) from the configuration. You must also specify either the: MAC addresses or --facility (-f)=FACILITYNAME: specify which facility's DHCP servers to operate on. --macs (-m)=MACS: a comma-separated list of MAC addresses to remove from the DHCP configuration. --outputdir (-o)=OUTPUTDIR: when specified, MBC saves progress and results information in the specified directory.

Additional non-MBC-specific custom attributes are available for the installation of Windows, Solaris, and Linux operating systems such as hostname, ComputerName, etc.

CSV input files

MBC’s ability to accept CSV input files allows you to move servers into the Managed Server Pool and provision them with an operating system without the use of a console and an interactive session.

For example:

00:0c:29:e1:28:2e,hostname=testvm1,pxe_image=linux6,

buildplan_id=2110061

00:0c:29:f9:12:f3,hostname=testvm2,pxe_image=winpe32

00:0c:29:0d:ab:b4,pxe_image=winpe64, buildplan_id=2110061

These CSV entries would cause MBC to create three Planned Server records and set them up to boot to the linux6, winpe32, and winpe64 PXE images, respectively. The servers processed by the first and third CSV entries will also have an OS Build Plan applied when they register with SA. The first two entries would have specific display names shown in SA (hostname=), while the third would have an auto-generated hostname that would be similar to dhcp-client-00:0c:29:0d:ab:b4.

Example CSV Entries

00:13:E8:9A:93:BA,pxe_image=winpe32,dhcp.ip=10.2.3.11,

dhcp.hostname=m0011,customer=WealthManagement,

sequence_id=2030001,dns_server=10.6.4.2,

kernel_arguments=noacpi,root_password=wealth

00:13:E8:9A:93:BC,pxe_image=winpe32,dhcp.ip=10.2.3.12,dhcp.hostname=m0012,

customer=WealthManagement,sequence_id=2030001,

dns_server=10.6.4.2,kernel_arguments=noacpi,
root_password=wealth

 

00-13-E8-9A-93-99,pxe_image=linux

 

00:13:E8:9A:93:AA,pxe_image=windows,custattr1=val1,

custattr2=val2

 

00:13:E8:9A:93:BB,pxe_image=windows,customer=Opsware

 

00:0c:29:23:a1:7f,pxe_image=linux,sequence_id=310005,

testca=testval

 

00:0c:29:af:46:6b,pxe_image=linux,sequence_id=310005,

testca=testval

 

00:0c:29:be:96:6e,pxe_image=winpe32,sequence_id=320005

 

00-13-21-DD-DD-24,pxe_image=linux,sequence_id=310001,

dhcp.hostname=danube,ilo.hostname=10.128.32.102,

ilo.username=Administrator,ilo.password=adminpass,

ilo.reboot_if_on=1

...

The first item on each line of CSV must be a MAC address followed by a list of arbitrary, comma-separated name/value pairs, where the names and values are separated by equal signs. Each of these name/value pairs is stored as a custom attribute on the server record which allows the user to set up many custom attributes simultaneously.

Special attributes for DHCP reconfiguration

MBC has the ability to add host definitions to SA DHCP configuration files. This is useful in environments where SA DHCP is used, but configured to deny unknown clients (that is, it will only provide DHCP leases to approved MAC addresses). When you specify a DHCP hostname’s MAC address on the General Form, MBC adds this MAC address to DHCP configuration. You can also specify DHCP IP address if required.

The following table lists the DHCP reconfiguration special attributes you can use in the CSV.

DHCP reconfiguration special attributes

Attribute	Description
dhcp.hostname	Specifies the MAC address for hostname(s) that are authorized for DHCP leases.
dhcp.ip	Specifies the IP address(es) of hosts that are authorized for DHCP leases.

iLO integration

MBC includes integration with the HP Integrated Lights-Out 3 and 4 (iLO3, iLO4) Standards. This increases the level of control that SA has over servers, down to the level where the users no longer have to even power on the servers. When the user provides an iLO IP and credentials, MBC will connect to the iLO API and automatically power on the server. iLO also provides more thorough hardware discovery.

The following table show the special attributes used for iLO Integration.

iLO Special Attributes

Special Attribute	Description
ilo.hostname	Hostname or IP address for the iLO. This must be accessible from the hub server. This value is stored as a custom attribute by MBC.
ilo.username	Username to use to authenticate to the iLO. This value is stored as a custom attribute by MBC.
ilo.password	Password used to authenticate to the iLO. This value is not stored as a custom attribute by MBC.
ilo.reboot_if_on	Default: power the server on only if it is currently off. If you specify this argument with a non-null value, MBC reboots the server, even if it's already on. This value is not stored as a custom attribute by MBC.

The first page of the Web APX has form inputs for the iLO parameters.

The following is an example CSV that will cause MBC to boot/reboot the server:

00-13-21-DD-DD-24,pxe_image=linux,sequence_id=310001, dhcp.hostname=danube,ilo.hostname=10.128.32.102, ilo.username=Administrator,ilo.password=adminpass,
ilo.reboot_if_on=1