Windows Server 2003 on Proliants. Deployment Techniques and Management Tools for System Administrators

As stated previously, SmartStart and the Management CDs are now packaged as the ProLiant Essentials Foundation Pack and shipped with every ProLiant server. The following section provides a quick overview of the CDs and their contents.

SmartStart CD Overview

SmartStart 7.1 (blue) CD includes tools for initial server deployment:

• Assisted OS installation for Windows and Netware

• Autorun (Windows and Linux)

• Bootable for installation and maintenance

• PSP for Windows, Linux, Netware

• System utilities

• Array Diagnostic Utility

• ACU

• HP Insight Diagnostics

• Erase Utility

• Diskette images for manual OS installations

The SmartStart CD's autorun launches a new GUI home page (see Figure 7.3) enabled for Linux and Windows and provides options to select:

• Install PSP

• Update VCRM (Windows only)

• Create PSP diskettes for manual OS installation

• Support Info

• Legal Statement

The SmartStart CD has a simple directory structure:

• \compaq : Contains PSPs, drivers, ACU, diagnostics, installation shell scripts, and documentation.

• \system : SmartStart CD (Linux) boot files, including initrd.img and isolinux, and vmlinuz.

• \punchout : Batch files and shell scripts to do diskette punch-out.

Management CD Overview

The Management (red) CD includes tools to manage ProLiant server resources:

• Autoruns (on Windows) (see Figure 7.4)

  Figure 7.4. The Management CD autoruns under Windows.

• SIM

• VCRM

• Subscriber's Choice

• PMP

• Management Agent MIB files

ProLiant Server and Option Updated Information

Current HPs ProLiant server product and option information, documentation, and technical papers can be found on the HP Web site. One of the most convenient sites for locating updated information is the ProLiant site map Web page at http://www.hp.com/servers/siteindex (see Figure 7.5), which provides an index of the ProLiant Web site.

Support Forum

From the ProLiant Site Index, you can find help with many products by following the support forum link. Ultimately, this directs you to the IT Resource Center (ITRC) Forums. This is a great place for advice and to pose questions that are not covered at the product's Web site. This is the gathering place for IT professionals to solve problems, exchange ideas, and learn lessons from the 700,000 fellow peers who also use the ITRC located on the Web at http://www.hp.com/go/forum .

HP engineers participate in all of these forums to share their advice; however, these forums are intended as a peer-to-peer resource. Learn how to register and take advantage of key features and benefits of the ITRC forums by reading the forums overview, and then select a community to begin discussions anytime !