Server profiles

Server profiles are used to configure the personality of the compute resources. A server profile allows a set of configuration parameters, including firmware recipe, network and storage, BIOS tuning, boot order configuration, local storage configuration, and more to be templatized. These templates are the key to deliver the "infrastructure as code" capabilities of the HPE Synergy platform. For the purpose of this solution, a template is created which can be leveraged for HPE Ezmeral Container Platform controller, Kubernetes master and worker nodes.

Figure 13. High Level Flow of the Server Profile Creation

Automation overview

The folder infrastructure within the folder $BASE_DIR contains Ansible scripts to automate the creation of server profiles in HPE OneView. The scripts are as follows:

1. inputs.yml: This file contains input variables to create the

   • server profile template and server profile.

2. server_profile_fw.yml hosts: This is the inventory file which

   • the installer VM will use to reference nodes for which the server
   • profile needs to be created.

3. secret.yml: This is an Ansible vault file that consists of

   • sensitive information, such as HPE OneView IP address and
   • credentials.

4. playbooks: This folder consists of playbooks to upload firmware

   • bundle, create server profile templates and the server profiles
   • for controller, gateway, master and worker nodes.

5. roles: This folder consists of Ansible roles to upload firmware

   • bundle, create the server profile template and server profile.
   • Each role is associated with a set of tasks to accomplish the
   • expected output and they are present in the task directory within
   • the role.

NOTE

The parameter names are case sensitive. Ensure that parameter names and functions are accurately recorded for the installation environment. Any variation in parameter names and functions will result in the failure of automated configuration steps.

Automated deployment of server profile

Perform the following steps to create server profiles for all the bare-metal nodes participating in the HPE Ezmeral Container Platform cluster.

Details of playbook

Using firmware bundle:

• Execute the following command to upload the firmware bundle to OneView.

> ansible-playbook -i hosts playbooks/upload_firmware_bundle.yml --ask-vault-pass

• Execute the following command to create and deploy the Server Profile template along with Firmware bundle.

> ansible-playbook -i hosts playbooks/server_profile_template_fw.yml --ask-vault-pass

• Execute the following command to create and deploy Server Profile, update the firmware on Synergy Compute Module and validate the firmware versions.

> ansible-playbook -i hosts playbooks/server_profile_fw.yml --ask-vault-pass

Without using Firmware bundle:

• Execute the following command to create and deploy the Server Profile template without managed Firmware manually.

> ansible-playbook -i hosts playbooks/server_profile_template.yml --ask-vault-pass

• Synergy compute module will manage firmware manually.Using the server template, server profile will be assigned to each compute module.Execute the following command to carry out this action.

> ansible-playbook -i hosts playbooks/server_profile_fw.yml --ask-vault-pass