HP (Hewlett-Packard) HP c7000 Network Card User Manual


 
What is automated provisioning / RDP?
Automated provisioning
So what exactly is the automated provisioning of software and hardware? It means little or no human
intervention. In other words, the process of installation or deployment is laid out for administrators in
the form of images, scripts, or batch files. The only requirement is for the administrator to power on
the server, perhaps execute a couple of scripts or batch files, and/or respond to a minimal number of
prompts for configuration information. The process is fully automated so that there are no chances of
data-entry errors or choosing wrong options that could render your application inoperable.
The technology that can achieve this level of automation is the ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment
Pack (RDP). RDP is a new generation of server deployment software. The software contains Altiris
Deployment Solution integrated with the HP SmartStart Scripting Toolkit that manages the server
deployment via a central console and provides imaging or scripting for server and application
deployment.
In short, you configure the server the way it should be configured: capture an image of the server,
then deploy or re-deploy the image onto servers as many times as necessary with the same results
each and every time. This provides the consistency offered by the use of RDP. The key benefit is that it
gives IT administrators the ability to easily deploy servers in an unattended, automated fashion. More
general benefits include improved overall consistency of configurations across servers and reduced IT
resource requirements during server deployments.
For more detailed information on ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment Pack (RDP), see the following:
ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment Pack (RDP) home page:
http://www.hp.com/go/rdp
Quickspecs:
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11053_na/11053_na.html
Figure 2. ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment Pack
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