Advanced Configuration

Select Blade Tasks → Configuration → Advanced Configuration to view and edit blade bay data.

Graphic illustrating the blade bay data page.

Click Advanced Configuration in the Blade Information page to view and edit blade bay data.

Blade bay data is stored on the advanced management module nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM) and is associated with the BladeCenter® unit blade bay. If you move a blade server to a new or different bay, the blade server gets the blade bay data of new bay; any previous blade bay data in the blade server is overwritten.

Blade bay data enables the blade server operating system to read bay-specific data on initialization to help configure itself. This data can specify information such as which device drivers or software options to load, whether the blade server is a master or member in a high availability system, the chassis number, the IP address, and the code load to use for the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE).

You can enter up to 60 alphanumeric characters into the Blade Bay Definition field to define blade bay data. Click Save when you have finished configuring one or more blade bay data definitions. It might take the advanced management module several minutes to update these fields.

The blade server operating system can read blade bay data either directly from the blade server BSMP or through the blade server BIOS SMBIOS (System Management BIOS) structure. The blade server operating system can use either or both methods. There are advantages and disadvantages to both:

Blade bay data is available from the BSMP immediately after it is saved in the management module; however, more device drivers and code must be operational on the blade server for it to issue IPMI commands to the BSMP.
The operating system can access SMBIOS data sooner during initialization with less operational code; however, the BIOS must be run again whenever blade bay data is defined or changed in the management module. You must power-off and power-on, restart, or remove and reinstall the blade server to put the latest blade bay data into the BIOS SMBIOS data structure.

The Bay Data Status column indicates the current support and status of the blade server. The following status values are defined:

Blade not present: No blade server is installed in bay.
Unsupported: The blade server BSMP firmware does not support blade bay data functions. You might be able to upgrade the BSMP firmware to a version that supports blade bay data.
BSMP: The blade server BSMP supports blade bay data, but BIOS has not read the current blade bay data definition. This is an operational state. The blade server operating system can read blade bay data from the BSMP. If the blade server BIOS has not read blade bay data, it must be restarted, or the BIOS firmware level must be updated to a level that will support blade bay data.
Supported: The blade server fully supports blade bay data. The latest blade bay data definition is in both the BSMP and the BIOS SMBIOS structure.
Discovering: The advanced management module is discovering a blade server.

Note: You can define blade bay data even if the blade server does not support blade bay data or is not installed.

Blade bay data write operations require Blade Configuration authority. If you do not have authority to change these fields, the fields are not available.

See the BladeCenter Management Module Command-Line Interface Reference Guide for information and instructions for using the management-module command-line interface to perform these tasks.