Understanding Application Node Setup

Intended for use with Cassatt Active Response V5.0.

Setting up application servers (nodes) for use with Cassatt Active Response is largely an exercise in configuring the nodes so that Cassatt Active Response can leverage Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE) technology, DHCP, network booting, and access to on-board remote management capabilities or external power management devices on those nodes. Using these features, Cassatt Active Response exercises a range of control over your application nodes to provide the level of automation appropriate for your site (see Integrating Cassatt Active Response into Your Enterprise: Automation at Your Own Pace). One automation feature is automatic discovery, where Cassatt Active Response automatically discovers new nodes as they are powered on and brings them under Cassatt Active Response control. Cassatt Active Response exploits a set of supported, integrated power controllers to provide this feature.

Although automatic discovery saves time, your site may not want to use this feature, and some hardware does not support it. In either case, you can use manual discovery to introduce application nodes to the Cassatt Active Response environment. As the following table shows, all hardware supports manual discovery—even hardware without any power controllers at all. Integrated power controllers on Dell, HP, and IBM allow you to take advantage of automatic discovery.

Server	Power Control	Automatic Discovery	Manual Discovery
Dell	ERA, DRAC
HP	iLO, iLO2
IBM	RSAII, BCMM
Any Intel or SPARC sun4u	External power controller (e.g., Baytech, APC, DualCcom Cyber Switch)
	No power controller (virtual power)

(To learn more about the Cassatt Active Response discovery process, read Understanding Automation: Node Discovery, Inventory, and Quarantine.)

Documentation for setting up application nodes

Use the following list to select the application node setup instructions appropriate for your site. As you work through the procedures, keep in mind that they are optimized to provide the highest level of Cassatt Active Response automation supported on that hardware configuration. For example, the documentation for nodes with integrated power controllers describes how to set up those nodes for automatic discovery, even though manually adding those nodes to Cassatt Active Response is a valid option.

For nodes using supported, integrated power controllers:

• Application Node Setup: Dell – describes setting up Dell application nodes with ERA, DRAC 4, or DRAC 5 integrated remote management controllers for use with Cassatt Active Response.
• Application Node setup: HP – describes setting up HP application nodes with integrated iLO remote management controllers for use with Cassatt Active Response.
• Application Node Setup: IBM – describes setting up an IBM bladecenter with an integrated Blade Center Management Module (BCMM)

For nodes using supported external power controllers:

• Application Node Setup: Nodes that Use External Power Controllers – describes setting up application nodes that have use a supported external power controller with Cassatt Active Response.
• External Power Controller Setup – describes steps to configure an external power controller for use with Cassatt Active Response.

For nodes with no power controller:

• Application Node Setup: Virtual Power Controllers – describes setting up application nodes that do not have a supported integrated or external power controller for use with Cassatt Active Response.

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