Configure HP ProLiant iLO / IPMI via ESXi CLI

This guide will show you how to Configure HP ProLiant iLO / IPMI via ESXi CLI. I recently deployed new HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 servers and installed VMware ESXi hypervisor on them for Virtualization. After complete setup of the Hypervisor and Virtual Machines creation, I realized we had missed iLO configuration to provide remote server management. Since we didn’t want to reboot a server to enter the iLO configuration interface, the only option was to configure iLO via ESXi CLI.

HP ESXi ISO installation populates scripts that can be used to manage server iLO. They are located on /opt/hp/tools

1. Login to your ESXi server as root user:

$ ssh root@esxi01

Password: 

The time and date of this login have been sent to the system logs.



VMware offers supported, powerful system administration tools.  Please

see www.vmware.com/go/sysadmintools for details.



The ESXi Shell can be disabled by an administrative user. See the

vSphere Security documentation for more information.

~ #

2.Change your working directory to /opt/hp/tools

~ # cd /opt/hp/tools

/opt/hp/tools # ls

conrep              hpbootcfg_esxcli    hptestevent_esxcli

conrep.xml          hponcfg            

hpbootcfg           hptestevent

/opt/hp/tools #

hponcfg is an HP Lights-Out Online Configuration utility. You can view its help page by passing the -h option

/opt/hp/tools # ./hponcfg -h

HP Lights-Out Online Configuration utility



Version 4.4-0 (c) Hewlett-Packard Company, 2014

Firmware Revision = 2.20 Device type = iLO 4 Driver name = hpilo

iLO IP Address: 192.168.10.2 



USAGE:

  hponcfg  -?

  hponcfg  -h

  hponcfg  -m minFw

  hponcfg  -r [-m minFw ]

  hponcfg  [-a] -w filename [-m minFw]

  hponcfg  -g [-m minFw]

  hponcfg  -f filename [-l filename] [-s namevaluepair] [-v] [-m minFw]

  hponcfg  -i [-l filename] [-s namevaluepair] [-v] [-m minFw]



  -h,  --help           Display this message

  -?                    Display this message

  -r,  --reset          Reset the Management Processor to factory defaults

  -f,  --file           Get/Set Management Processor configuration from "filename" 

  -i,  --input          Get/Set Management Processor configuration from the XML input 

                        received through the standard input stream.

  -w,  --writeconfig    Write the Management Processor configuration to "filename"

  -a,  --all            Capture complete Management Processor configuration to the file.

                        This should be used along with '-w' option

  -l,  --log            Log replies to "filename"

  -v,  --xmlverbose     Display all the responses from Management Processor

  -s,  --substitute     Substitute variables present in input config file

                        with values specified in "namevaluepairs"

  -g,  --get_hostinfo   Get the Host information

  -m,  --minfwlevel     Minimum firmware level

Check IP:

/opt/hp/tools # ./hponcfg -g

HP Lights-Out Online Configuration utility



Version 4.4-0 (c) Hewlett-Packard Company, 2014

Firmware Revision = 2.20 Device type = iLO 4 Driver name = hpilo

iLO IP Address: 0.0.0.0

Host Information:

			Server Name: Esxi01

			Server Serial Number: CDJ5391DM4

3. Export the current Management Processor configuration to a file for editing

/opt/hp/tools # ./hponcfg -w /tmp/hp-ilo.txt

HP Lights-Out Online Configuration utility



Version 4.4-0 (c) Hewlett-Packard Company, 2014

Firmware Revision = 2.20 Device type = iLO 4 Driver name = hpilo

iLO IP Address: 0.0.0.0

Management Processor configuration is successfully written to file "/tmp/hp-ilo.txt"

This will export the current configuration and save to a file /tmp/hp-ilo.txt. If you’re modifying iLO IP settings for the first time, the file should look like below

/opt/hp/tools # cat /tmp/hp-ilo.txt 







 

  

  

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

  

  

  

  

    

    

    

    0.0.0.0">

    0.0.0.0">

    0.0.0.0">

    

    0.0.0.0">

    Y">

4. Edit the file to set your iLO IP Address, Subnet mask, and Default gateway

# vi /tmp/hp-ilo.txt

Set like below replacing values with your correct ones:

Also disable DHCP since this is a static IP address

You can also change other settings to fit your use case. When done, save the file by pressing key, then :wq

6. Initiate firmware reset to apply new settings by running the command

/opt/hp/tools # ./hponcfg -f  /tmp/hp-ilo.txt

HP Lights-Out Online Configuration utility



Version 4.4-0 (c) Hewlett-Packard Company, 2014

Firmware Revision = 2.20 Device type = iLO 4 Driver name = hpilo

iLO IP Address: 0.0.0.0 

 DHCP is currently disabled, enable DHCP to use any DHCP setting.

Integrated Lights-Out will reset at the end of the script.



Please wait while the firmware is reset. This might take a minute    

Script succeeded

If you receive the message “Script succeeded”, it means the new IP settings was set successfully.

5.Confirm new IP settings by printing Host information:

/opt/hp/tools # ./hponcfg -g

HP Lights-Out Online Configuration utility



Version 4.4-0 (c) Hewlett-Packard Company, 2014

Firmware Revision = 2.20 Device type = iLO 4 Driver name = hpilo

iLO IP Address: 192.168.10.2 

Host Information:

			Server Name: Esxi01

			Server Serial Number: CDJ5391DM4

Now login to iLO configuration web console https://

https://www.computingpost.com/configure-hp-proliant-ilo-ipmi-via-esxi-cli/?feed_id=13121&_unique_id=634a066b903ef