Configuring the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) datastore instance

Overview

The PXE Datastore is where the boot image files are stored. It is a subclass in the Property Dictionary. You must

  • create an instance of the PXE Datastore
  • assign it a name in a required format that uses a pod name in the suffix
  • specify the full path to the datastore in the Full Path property

When a service offering request is made to provision a server, BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management searches the list of available datastores until it finds a match with the specified pod name.

Creating a PXE datastore instance

  1. In the BMC BladeLogic Server Automation console, select Configuration > Property Dictionary View for the selected object to display the Property Dictionary.

    pxe_datastore_instance.png

  2. Expand the Built-in Property classes and locate the Datastore class.
  3. Expand the Datastore class and highlight the PXE Datastore subclass.
  4. Select the Instance tab in the adjoining pane.

  5. Click the Add New Property Set Instance icon to define the datastore instance and its properties.

    Important

    The name of the PXE datastore instance should follow this formatting convention:
    CSM Datastore - name of pod (remember to add spaces on both sides of the hyphen). The pod you designate should be the pod you intend to onboard and provision with the physical server, bare metal virtual machine, or virtual guest server.


  6. When defining properties for the datastore instance, ensure that the FULL_PATH property points to the full path of the datastore directory you defined earlier on the PXE server, as shown in this Windows example.

    pxe_datastore_instance_fullpath.png

  7. Follow these guidelines:

    - For the LOCATION property, enter the IP address or a DNS-resolvable host name of the PXE server where the datastore resides.

    - For the VIRTUAL_DIR property, enter the name of the network share established for HTTP access to the OS images.

    - If the datastore network share is password-protected, enter a user name and a password for the USERNAME and PASSWORD properties.

  8. Click OK to save the data.

You can repeat these steps to create multiple PXE datastore instances.

 

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