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H3C iFIST |
Technology White Paper |
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Software version: V1.2
Copyright © 2022 New H3C Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent of New H3C Technologies Co., Ltd.
Except for the trademarks of New H3C Technologies Co., Ltd., any trademarks that may be mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
The information in this document is subject to change without notice.
Overview
The H3C integrated Fast Intelligent Scalable Toolkit (iFIST) is a single-server management tool pre-installed in an H3C server. iFIST provides an intuitive graphical user interface for users to configure RAID settings and automated OS installation settings, diagnose hardware, manage configuration, download logs, update firmware, and complete secure data clearing, facilitating daily server O&M and troubleshooting.
iFIST provides the following key features:
· Supports both Legacy and UEFI boot modes.
· Compatible with most storage controllers.
· Supports the server lifecycle management, including server onboarding, maintenance, and decommissioning.
As shown in Figure 1, iFIST consists of the following layers:
· Hardware layer—Hardware storage space on a server that is used to store the Linux operating system files and the iFIST application program.
· Operating system layer—Linux, which provides the operating environment for the iFIST application program.
· Application layer—Provides the graphical user interface of iFIST based on the browser/server architecture.
Benefits
iFIST provides the lifecycle management of a single server through a simple Web interface, which reduces learning costs and maintenance time, and improves user experience. The benefits of iFIST are as follows:
· Simplified RAID configuration—Provides a unified Web interface for creating, deleting, importing, and exporting logical drives on storage controllers in various operating modes.
· Automated OS and driver installation—Provides the following functions:
¡ Automated installation of mainstream operating systems (including Windows Server, RedHat Linux Enterprise, SUSE Linux Enterprise, CentOS, VMware ESXi, Ubuntu, H3C CAS, and Oracle Linux) and drivers (through REPO).
¡ Export and import of OS settings.
· Proactive hardware diagnostics and fault detection—Supports running diagnostic tests on server hardware components. This helps administrators detect server faults proactively to ensure stable operation of the server.
· Configuration management—Imports and exports HDM, BIOS, and RAID configurations.
· Firmware update—Updates firmware for HDM, BIOS, CPLDs, NICs, storage controllers, and drives.
· Secure data clearing—Clears user data of HDM, BIOS, and storage system in a secure way to avoid user data breach.
· Log download—Downloads logs of the OS, SDS, storage controllers and drives.
RAID configuration
Concepts
Redundant Arrays of Independent Drives (RAID) is a technology that enhances the security and stability of the server storage system. RAID configuration requires that a storage controller be installed on a server. With a storage controller installed, you can group a number of physical drives to create a RAID array (also known as a logical drive) to provide data redundancy and validation functions.
iFIST allows you to easily create logical drives on various types of storage controllers from the iFIST Web interface, which greatly streamlines RAID configuration and improves configuration efficiency.
Feature overview
RAID configuration involves the following tasks:
· Create RAID arrays—Select physical drives to build a RAID array with the specified name, RAID level, and other settings.
· Manage physical drives—View information about the physical drives on the server and manage drives such as setting the physical drive status.
· Manage logical drives—View information about the logical drives on the server and manage logical drives, such as deleting the drives.
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NOTE: · The Web page content varies by storage controller model. See H3C iFIST User Guide or H3C iFIST Online Help for more information. · Some storage controllers (such as HBA-LSI-9300) do not support logical drives. On a server with such a storage controller installed, iFIST provides only the physical drive management function. |
Mechanism
iFIST can integrate with storage controller drivers as well as the management tools and RESTful APIs provided by storage controller vendors. After the user configures RAID settings through the iFIST Web interface, iFIST automatically calls the related tools to apply the settings to the server.
Automated OS installation
Concepts
A user often encounters the following issues during the manual OS installation process:
· The storage controller driver in not integrated in the OS image, resulting in hard drive recognition failures during the installation process.
· Manual intervention (such as configuring installation parameters) is required during the OS installation process, which increases the O&M time.
· After the operating system is installed, the user needs to manually install the required drivers.
To address the preceding issues, iFIST provides automated OS installation on the server. A user can configure all the OS installation parameters on the iFIST Web interface, which then automatically installs the operating system on the server without manual intervention.
Feature overview
After the Configure system settings page is opened, iFIST performs the following operations:
1. Determines the type of OS image to be installed according to the user-defined image source. Supported image source include CD (physical CD or HDM virtual media) and USB flash drive.
2. Identifies the repository (CD or USB flash drive) selected by the user and iFIST embedded drivers. Then, iFIST displays the drivers that match the OS and can be installed in the repository on the Configure system settings page.
A repository is released by H3C and it contains a bundle of driver and firmware installation packages for servers.
The configurable OS installation parameters on the page vary by OS type. For example, to install a Windows operating system, you can perform the following tasks:
· Select the drivers to be installed.
· Select the OS image file to be installed. For example, if the image source contains two image files (Windows Server 2012 R2 ISO files for standard edition and datacenter edition), you can select which one to install.
· Specify the host name, password, and key for the operating system.
· Specify the target drive (physical or logical) for OS installation and set the drive capacity. As opposed to OS installation on a random drive, installing the operating system on a designated drive helps reduce the risk of data loss.
Mechanism
Automated OS installation
Each OS vendor implements its own automated OS installation mechanism, such as the ks.cfg file-based mechanism for Linux and the unattend.xml file-based mechanism for Windows. Based on in-depth analysis of the vendor-specific automated OS installation mechanisms, iFIST provides the automated OS installation feature to enable automated installation of most mainstream operating systems. This feature also resolves the hard drive recognition issues caused by lack of compatible storage controller drivers. The automated OS installation feature of iFIST greatly speeds up the OS installation process and reduces the O&M costs on a server.
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NOTE: For information about automated ks.cfg file-based Linux installation and unattend.xml file-based Windows installation, see the related documents of the specific OS vendor. |
Automated driver installation
After installing the operating system on a server, iFIST can proceed to install the drivers required by the operating system. The user just needs to mount the repository that contains the driver packages to the server and select the drivers to be installed in the OS installation settings. Then, iFIST will automatically install the drivers after the OS installation completes.
Server hardware diagnostics
Concepts
After the server has been running for a long time, some hardware components might fail due to physical loss and other reasons, causing problems such as system downtime. This kind of hardware failure might appear irregularly and is difficult to reproduce in the normal use of the server, which compromises the stability of the server. In order to resolve the issue, iFIST provides the server hardware diagnosis function to help quickly and accurately troubleshoot hardware faults by testing the hardware performance in various load conditions.
The server hardware diagnosis function includes the following parts:
· Device scanning—Scans the hardware devices on the server and presents the hardware information for users to assess the overall hardware configuration state of the server.
· Fast diagnostics—Runs basic tests on the server hardware components to troubleshoot basic problems.
· Stress tests—Runs compressive stress tests on the server hardware components to troubleshoot problems that are not easy to detect.
· Memory smart-test—Tests or repairs the server memory.
Feature overview
The iFIST server hardware diagnosis function provides the following capabilities:
· Displays information about key hardware components on the server, such as the CPU, memory, PSU, fan, HDM, PCIe, NIC, and GPU.
· Runs fast diagnostic tests and stress tests on server hardware components such as the CPU, memory, PSU, fan, HDM, PCIe, NIC, and GPU.
· Displays the hardware test state and results on the iFIST Web interface.
· Exports the server hardware information and test results to a USB flash drive.
· Performs memory smart-test.
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NOTE: Only the memory of some vendors supports the memory smart-test feature. For more information, see the iFIST user guide or online help. |
Device information display
iFIST displays information about the hardware components on the server on the Device Info tab of the Server Diagnostics page.
The device information includes the system information as well as information about individual hardware components, including BIOS, HDM, CPU, memory, storage, NIC, PSU, fan, and temperature sensor. You can expand or collapse the information area for a hardware component as needed.
Fast diagnostics
On the Fast diagnostics tab of the Server Diagnostics page, the user can configure the fast diagnostics settings to run tests on the selected hardware components. iFIST supports the following fast diagnostics test modes:
· Common test—Test the selected hardware components one by one until the last component is tested.
· Cyclic test—Test the selected hardware components repeatedly for the specified number of cycles.
· Timed test—Test each of the selected hardware components for the specified duration one by one.
Stress test
As a supplement to fast diagnostics, stress tests can detect hidden hardware problems that cannot be detected in fast diagnostics to provide best-effort server operation assurance. Stress tests support the following modes:
· Common test—Test the selected hardware components one by one until the last component is tested.
· Cyclic test—Test the selected hardware components repeatedly for the specified number of cycles.
Data export
On the Data Export tab of the Server Diagnostics page, you can export the server hardware information and test results to a USB flash drive for further analysis.
Memory smart-test
iFIST performs tests and repairs on the memory chips of the server only in UEFI boot mode. You can configure the smart test parameters from iFIST, and then the memory smart-test feature tests the memory in the memory initialization stage after the server reboot. To view the test results, log in to iFIST after the test.
Mechanism
iFIST can obtain hardware information through both HDM and Linux on the server.
The following tables show the supported test items for fast diagnostics and stress tests.
Table 1 Fast diagnostics
Test item |
Description |
System |
Checks the validity of the server's serial number and the server's health state. |
CPU |
Checks the number of CPUs on the server and available memory for the CPUs, runs UPI bandwidth, link, and floating-point tests on the CPUs, and checks for machine check architecture (MCA) errors. |
Memory |
Runs read and write tests on memory modules and checks for MCA errors on the memory modules. |
Storage |
Runs the following tests on storage modules: · Bandwidth, rate, health, and capacitance state tests on storage controllers. · Bandwidth and speed tests on NVMe SSDs and PCIe SSDs. · Hard drive self-test. · Sequential read tests on logical drives. |
NIC |
Runs the following tests on storage modules: · NIC bandwidth and speed tests to determine whether they are below the nominal values. · MAC address conflict test. · Network port self-test. |
GPU |
Checks the GPU's bandwidth and rate to determine whether they are below the nominal values. |
PCIe |
Determines whether the bandwidth and speed of the PCIe device meet the server requirements. |
PSU |
Checks the state of PSUs on the server. |
Fan |
Checks the health state of fans on the server. |
Temperature |
Checks the temperature sensor state of server components, including memory, CPU, PSU, storage controller, and PCIe slot. |
MCA |
Checks for MCA errors. |
Table 2 Stress test
Test item |
Description |
CPU |
Runs long time UPI link tests and floating-point tests, and checks for MCA errors. |
Memory |
Runs read and write tests on memory modules and checks for MCA errors on the memory modules. |
Storage |
Runs sequential read tests and random read tests on individual physical and logical drives. |
MCA |
Checks for MCA errors. |
Table 3 Memory read and write test models
Test mode |
Test models |
Fast diagnostics |
Stuck Address, Compare XOR, Compare SUB, Compare MUL, Compare DIV, Compare OR, Compare AND |
Stress test |
Stuck Address, Compare XOR, Compare SUB, Compare MUL, Compare DIV, Compare OR, Compare AND, Sequential Increment, Solid Bits, Block Sequential, Checkerboard, Bit Spread, Walking Ones, Walking Zeroes, Walking Data Ones, Walking Data Zeroes |
For memory smart-test, iFIST calls the memory test tool provided by the manufacturer to perform tests and repairs on the memory in the memory initialization stage after the server reboot. Before the server reboot, you can configure the memory smart-test-related parameters from iFIST.
Secure data clearing
Concepts
When a server stops running for the end of lifecycle or other reasons, you can use the secure data clearing function to clear the data saved in the server to avoid user data breach. For security purposes, this function ensures that the cleared data is difficult to be restored. The secure data clearing function helps users complete a secure server decommissioning.
Feature overview
The secure data clearing function supports the following tasks:
· Restore HDM and the BIOS to the factory defaults.
· Clear the BIOS passwords.
· Clear NVDIMM data
· Delete logical drives.
· Clear data saved in all drives and SD cards.
Mechanism
The secure data clearing function adopts the purge method in NIST Special Publication 800-88 Revision 1 Guidelines for Media Sanitization. The following table shows the data clearing operations on server components.
Table 4 Secure data clearing
Component |
Operation |
Influence |
HDM |
Remove the user-defined configuration. |
Restore HDM to the factory defaults. |
BIOS |
Remove the user-defined configuration. |
Restore the BIOS to the factory defaults. |
Clear passwords. |
The administrator password, user password, and power-on password, if any, in the BIOS are cleared. |
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RSTe and VROC |
Delete logical drives. |
All logical drives are deleted. |
PMC and LSI storage controllers |
Delete logical drives. |
All logical drives are deleted. |
SD cards |
Execute the dd command. |
The data in SD cards are cleared. |
NVDIMM |
Use the ipmctl tool to set the NVDIMM to the full memory mode. |
All data in non-memory mode is cleared, and the NVDIMM changes to the full memory mode. |
SATA HDD |
Execute the ATA sanitize command of the overwrite EXT option. |
Use all zeros to overwrite all physical sectors, including inaccessible sectors. All data is cleared. |
SATA SSD |
Execute the ATA sanitize command of the block erase EXT option. |
Unable to restore the previous data in all physical memory blocks, including inaccessible blocks. |
SAS HDD |
Execute the SCSI sanitize command of the overwrite EXT option. |
Use all zeros to overwrite all physical sectors, including inaccessible sectors. All data is cleared. |
SAS SSD |
Execute the SCSI sanitize command of the block erase EXT option. |
Unable to restore the previous data in all physical memory blocks, including inaccessible blocks. |
NVMe |
Execute the format command of SES=2, if NVMe supports encryption. |
The encryption key is cleared and the data cannot be restored. |
Execute the format command of SES=2. |
All data and metadata associated with the namespaces are deleted, and all user contents in NVMe are erased. |
Firmware update
Concepts
Some server components might require functional update or bug fixes. Users can use the firmware update function in iFIST to quickly update the server firmware.
Feature overview
The firmware update function use simple steps to update the component firmware version. You must perform firmware update in conjunction with REPO images. The REPO images can reside in a USB flash drive, be burned to a CD, and be mounted to HDM virtual media. The firmware update function can update various firmware products, including HDM, BIOS, various CPLDs, storage controllers, NICs, and hard drives.
Mechanism
The firmware update method varies by product:
· HDM, BIOS, and CPLDs—iFIST sends the REPO image file through the in-band USB channel, and then issues IPMI commands to start firmware update.
· Storage controllers, NICs, and hard drives—iFIST calls the update tools and files provided by the manufacturers to complete firmware update in the system. The related tools have been integrated in iFIST and do not require installation.
Configuration management
Concepts
For server deployment, the configuration management of iFIST allows users to configure the same settings on the servers in bulk by importing and exporting HDM, BIOS, and RAID configuration files.
Feature overview
iFIST supports importing and exporting HDM, BIOS, and RAID configurations.
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NOTE: iFIST obtains the HDM, BIOS, and RAID configuration files through interaction with HDM. The exported RAID configuration file in this section contains only RAID configuration and is different from that in "Automated OS installation," which contains both OS installation parameters and RAID configuration. |
Mechanism
Use the configuration management function to perform the following tasks:
· Export configuration—Export the target configuration file from HDM to the USB flash drive through the in-band USB channel.
· Import configuration—Import the target configuration file in a USB flash drive to HDM through the in-band USB channel, which can achieve rapid configuration replication.
Log download
Concepts
Failures might occur during the server operation. When the O&M personnel arrive at the site, they might need to collect different logs as required. iFIST integrates the collection of most commonly used logs, which reduces the collection time and difficulty for onsite engineers.
Feature overview
iFIST supports downloading OS logs, SDS logs, storage controller logs, and hard drive logs. The OS logs refer to the logs on the iFIST side instead of those in the customer service system, which reduces risks.
Mechanism
The log download method varies by log type:
· OS logs—Collected by using the system commands, including dmidecode, lspci, and other Linux system commands to obtain related hardware information.
· SDS logs—Downloaded from HDM through the USB channel.
· Storage controller logs—Collected by using the tools provided by the storage controller manufacturers.
· Drive logs—Collected by using the tools provided by the drive manufacturers.
Acronyms
Acronym |
Description |
FIST |
Fast Intelligent Scalable Toolkit |
iFIST |
Integrated Fast Intelligent Scalable Toolkit |
BMC |
Baseboard Management Controller |
HDM |
H3C Device Management |
RAID |
Redundant Arrays of Independent Drives |
KVM |
Keyboard Video Mouse |
OS |
Operating System |
BIOS |
Basic Input Output System |
UEFI |
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface |
Legacy |
Legacy |
REPO |
repository |
MCA |
Machine Check Architecture |
SDS |
Smart Diagnosis System |
IPMI |
Intelligent Platform Management Interface |