Operating-system deployment considerations

Resource-manager considerations​

• For devices that are managed using Lenovo XClarity Administrator, ensure that the XClarity Administrator instance has the necessary licenses or trial period to perform OS deployment functions.
• OS deployment is not supported on devices that are managed by Lenovo XClarity Management Hub.

Managed-device considerations​

• Ensure that the OS-deployment function is supported for the target devices. For information about operating-system deployment limitations for specific devices, see Supported hardware and software – XClarity Orchestrator.
• Ensure that no jobs are currently running on the target server. To see a list of active jobs, click Monitoring > Jobs.
• Ensure that all firmware on the managed server is at the latest levels (see Provisioning updates to managed resources).
• Ensure that the configuration on the managed server is up to date (see Provisioning server configurations).

  Also, ensure that the target device does not have a deferred or partially activated server pattern. If a server pattern has been deferred or partially activated on the managed server, you must restart the server to apply all configuration settings. Do not attempt to deploy an operating system to a server with a partially activated server pattern.

  To determine the configuration status of the server, see the Configuration Status field on the Summary page for the managed server (see Viewing device details).

• Ensure that a password for the root account that is to be used to deploy the operating system is defined. For more information about setting the password, see Configuring operating-system profiles.
• Ensure there is no mounted media (such as ISOs) on the target server. Additionally, ensure there are no active Remote Media sessions open to the management controller.
• Ensure that the timestamp in BIOS is set to the current date and time.
• For ThinkSystem servers
  • Ensure that the Legacy BIOS option is disabled. From the BIOS/UEFI (F1) Setup utility, click UEFI Setup > System Settings, and verify that Legacy BIOS is set to Disabled.
  • The XClarity Controller Enterprise feature is required for operating-system deployment.
• For System x servers
  • Ensure that the Legacy BIOS option is disabled. From the BIOS/UEFI (F1) Setup utility, click UEFI Setup > System Settings, and verify that Legacy BIOS is set to Disabled.
  • Ensure that a Feature on Demand (FoD) key for remote presence is installed. You can determine whether remote presence is enable, disabled, or not installed on a server from the Servers page (see Viewing device details).
• For Flex System servers, ensure that the chassis is powered on.
• For NeXtScale servers, ensure that a Feature on Demand (FoD) key for remote presence is installed. You can determine whether remote presence is enable, disabled, or not installed on a server from the Servers page (see Viewing device details).
• For Converged and ThinkAgile appliances, it is recommended that you do not use XClarity Orchestrator to perform a bare-metal operating-system deployment.

Operating system considerations​

• Ensure that you have all applicable operating-system licenses to activate the installed operating systems. You are responsible for obtaining licenses directly from the operating-system manufacturer.
• Ensure that the operating-system image that you intend to deploy is already loaded in the OS images repository. For information about importing images, see Importing operating-system images.
• Operating-system images in the OS-images repository might not be supported only on certain hardware platforms. You can determine whether an operating system is compatible with a specific server from the Lenovo OS Interoperability Guide website.
• Always install the latest operating system to ensure that you have the latest inbox I/O adapter device drivers that you need.

  For VMware, use the latest Lenovo Custom Image for ESXi, which includes support for the latest adapters. For information about obtaining that image, see the VMware Support – Downloads webpage.

For more information about limitations for specific operating systems, see Supported operating systems.

Network considerations​

• Ensure that all required ports are open (see Port availability for deployed operating systems).
• Ensure that the resource manager is configured to use both management and data networks.
• Ensure that resource manager can communicate with the target server (both the baseboard management controller and the servers’ data network) over both management and data network interfaces.

  To specify an interface to be used for operating-system deployment, see Configuring network access in the XClarity Administrator online documentation.

  For more information about the operating-system deployment network and interfaces, see Network considerations in the XClarity Administrator online documentation.

• If the network is slow or unstable, you might see unpredictable results when deploying operating systems.
• You must use dynamically assigned IP addresses using DHCP. Static IP address are not supported.

For more information about the operating-system deployment network and interfaces, see Configuring network access and Network considerations in the XClarity Administrator online documentation.

Storage and boot-option considerations​

• You can install the operating system on only a local disk drive. Embedded hypervisor, M.2 drivers, and SAN storage are not supported.
• Each server must have a hardware RAID adapter or SAS/SATA HBA that is installed and configured. The software RAID that is typically present on the onboard Intel SATA storage adapter or storage that is set up as JBOD are not supported; however, if a hardware RAID adapter is not present, setting the SATA adapter to AHCI SATA mode enabled for operating-system deployment or setting unconfigured good disks to JBOD might work in some cases. For more information, see OS installer cannot find the disk drive on which you want to install.
• Ensure that the UEFI boot option on the target server is set to UEFI boot only before you deploy an operating system. The Legacy-only and UEFI first, then legacy boot options are not supported for operating-system deployment.
• Each server must have a hardware RAID adapter that is installed and configured.
  Attention

  • Only storage that is set up with hardware RAID is supported.
  • The software RAID that is typically present on the onboard Intel SATA storage adapter or storage that is set up as JBOD are not supported; however, if a hardware RAID adapter is not present, setting the SATA adapter to AHCI SATA mode enabled for operating-system deployment or setting unconfigured good disks to JBOD might work in some cases.
  • If a SATA adapter is enabled, the SATA mode must not be set to IDE.
• The NVMe storage that is connected to a server motherboard or HBA controller is not supported and must not be installed in the device; otherwise, OS deployment to non-NVMe storage will fail.
• Ensure that secure-boot mode is disabled for the server. If you are deploying a secure-boot mode enabled operating system (such as Windows), disable secure-boot mode, deploy the operating system, and then re-enable secure-boot mode.
• For ThinkServer servers, ensure that the following requirements are met.
  • The boot settings on the server must include a Storage OpROM Policy that is set to UEFI Only.
  • If you are deploying ESXi and there are network adapters that are PXE bootable, disable PXE support on the network adapters before deploying the operating system. The deployment is completed, you can re-enable PXE support, if desired.
  • If you are deploying ESXi and there are bootable devices in the boot-order list other than the drive on which the operating system is to be installed, remove the bootable devices from the boot-order list before deploying the operating system. After deployment is complete, you can add the bootable device back to the list. Ensure that the installed drive is at the top of the list.

For more information about storage-location settings, see Configuring operating-system profiles.