Introduction

When a widget needs to be mass produced, the usual trick is to create a model of the widget and then clone it using an automated process. To produce a thousand CDs, for example, a CD manufacturer first creates a master CD and then copies it a thousand times using a replication process. In the movies, a mad scientist extracts the DNA from a model subject and, with some spectacular special effects, clones an army of replicates. Although you are unlikely to be in the business of replicating CDs or people, your approach to deploying a large number of servers is likely to be similar.

To deploy a hundred identical HP Integrity servers quickly and efficiently, you would set up a model server manually and then clone this setup on the remaining ninety-nine servers using an automated replication process as shown in the following figure. Without automation, the deployment of the hundredth server would be just as time-consuming, laborious, and error-prone as the first; by using an automated replication process, you can significantly reduce the time, effort, and errors involved in such high-volume server deployments.

Automated server replication is the basis for the SSTK. SSTK enables you to develop a process of replicating the hardware configuration of a model server and attached storage array controllers. SSTK also ties into standard, unattended installation processes for the Linux OS and applications.

Server deployments using SSTK involve four main stages: First, you set up a model HP Integrity server. Next, you create a server profile based on the model server. Then, you create a scripted process to apply the server profile to a target server. Finally, you launch this process to replicate the server profile on hundreds of servers.

SSTK is not an automated server deployment solution for everyone. The SSTK is an extensible framework for developing hardware configuration and software installation scripts. The SSTK is designed for administrators who have some expertise in unattended installations of RHEL or SLES and familiarity with HP Integrity servers. The SSTK provides sample scripts and utilities that run in a staging environment based on Debian Linux for HP Integrity servers.

This document guides you step-by-step through the typical tasks involved in deploying HP Integrity servers using the SSTK. It also provides some guidance on customizing the toolkit for your deployment scenario. You must extend the samples provided in the toolkit to take advantage of these capabilities. HP recommends that you read this book completely before planning your deployment. And always remember to validate your scripts on a test target server before executing them on the remaining servers.