Creating a Provision Job
A Provision Job applies a system package to a server and begins an unattended installation of the operating system. This topic contains the following sections:
Before you begin
Before creating a Provision Job, you must:
- Configure an appropriate system package type. The system package type identifies the specific OS to install (for example, Windows 2003 Enterprise or Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 6.0). By configuring the system package type, you identify the path name of the installers, including the installers for the OS and for associated RSCD agents. For information, see System-Package-Types-tab.
- Create the system package for the Provision Job. A system package contains all of the instructions needed to install an operating system over the network with an unattended installation. For information, see System-package-panels-generic.
- Create a folder under the Jobs folder to store your Provision Jobs. To create a folder, right-click the Jobs folder and select New > Job Folder.
To create a Provision Job
- To start the Provision Job wizard, do either of the following:
- In the Jobs folder, right-click a folder, and select New > Provision Job > OS_type.
- In the Devices folder, expand the Imported folder, right-click one or more devices, and select New > Provision Job > OS_type. This option offers a convenient way to provision one or more devices immediately. The job wizard adds the device information into the job for you, and it checks the Execute Now option by default on the Schedules panel, which makes the job execute immediately after you finish the wizard.
Define the Provision Job, as described in the following table.
Panel
Description
Provision Job - General
The General panel lets you provide information that identifies a Provision Job.
Field definitions
Name
Identifying name.
Description
Optional descriptive text.
Save in
Folder in which to store the object.
Set Execution Override
Select if this job should always execute as if your current role and user are scheduling the job. After you click this option, the job definition shows the role:user combination under which the job executes.
Clear Execution Override
Remove an existing execution override.
Where to go from here
Provision Job - System Package Properties
The System Package Properties panel lets you select the system package and set system package properties.
Field definitions
Path to System Package
Click Browse
to select the system package to use to provision the servers.Property Settings
You can change values for local properties associated with the system package. Values that you set here override values set in the system package. To change a property value, select a property and click Edit
.Note: You can add a property to the system package only through the Local Properties panel when you create or edit a system package.
Where to go from here
Provision Job - Devices
The Devices panel lets you specify the devices, identified by MAC address, to provision the next time this Job executes. The panel also lets you provide network information, such as IP addresses and the DNS configuration, for those devices. Note: You can create and save a Provision Job without specifying any devices. You can open a saved Provision Job, add or change devices information, and save the changes. Then execute the Job to provision the new list of devices.
Click here to see descriptions of the fields.
IP Configuration
The IP Configuration settings also appear in the system package. The IP Configuration settings you enter in a Provision Job override the settings in the system package. These options are used for IPv4 address configuration.
Obtain IP address automatically
Specifies that the network connection should obtain an IP address automatically from a DHCP server.
Specify IP Manually (for each device)
Specifies that the network connection should use the static IP addresses that you specify on the Devices list at the bottom of this panel.
Specify IP Range
Specifies a range of IP addresses that the system can use to assign a unique address to each device. Select this option and provide an address for Start IP and End IP of the range. The Devices list at the bottom of this panel displays the IP address assigned to each device.
Subnet mask
Specifies the subnet mask for the IP addresses in the range.
Note: The Windows 2003 installer does not support three zeroes in any of the octets in the subnet mask. For example, if the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0, entering 255.255.255.000 for Subnet mask does not work. You must enter 255.255.255.0.
Default gateway
The address of the IP router that is used to forward traffic to destinations outside of the local network.
Associated boot image
(PXE devices only) From the Selected Boot Image list, select the boot image for provisioning the servers.
Skip Linux Pre-Install
For Red Hat Linux, SUSE, Citrix, and VMWare ESX, to skip using a pre-boot image and boot directly using the installer ramdisk and kernel, select this option. For information, see Using-the-Skip-Linux-Pre-Install-image-option
IPv6 Configuration
The IPv6 Configuration settings also appear in the system package for certain platforms that support IPv6 addresses. The IPv6 Configuration settings you enter in a Provision Job override the settings in the system package.
Obtain IP address automatically
Specifies that the network connection should obtain an IP address automatically from a DHCP server.
Use the following IP address
Specifies that the network connection should use the static IP addresses that you specify on the Devices list at the bottom of this panel.
The IP address, IPv6 Subnet Prefix Length, and Default gateway fields only appear if you select this option.
IP address
Specifies an IP address that the system can use to assign a unique address to each device. The Devices list at the bottom of this panel displays the IP address assigned to each device.
This field appears only when you select Use the following IP address option above.
IPv6 Subnet Prefix Length
Specifies the prefix length for the IPv6 address.
This field appears only when you select Use the following IP address option above.
Default gateway
The address of the IP router that is used to forward traffic to destinations outside of the local network.
This field appears only when you select Use the following IP address option above.
DNS Configuration
Obtain DNS server automatically
Specifies that the network connection should obtain a DNS server automatically.
Use the following DNS server addresses
Specifies that the network connection should use the following DNS server addresses.
The Primary DNS server and Secondary DNS server fields only appear if you select this option.
Primary DNS server
Enter the IPv6 address for the primary DNS server.
This field appears only when you select Use the following DNS server address option above.
Secondary DNS server
Enter the IPv6 address for the secondary DNS server
This field appears only when you select Use the following DNS server address option above.
Devices to Provision
Build the list of devices to provision by clicking Add
, Delete 
, and Edit 
. When you click Add, the Add a New Device panel appears.Device Name
Enter the IP address for the device.
Computer Name
Enter a unique name for the server. If you are provisioning multiple servers, the wizard names the first server using the name you provide, and then it appends sequential numbers to that base name for the other servers. For example, if you enter MyServer in the Computer Name field, the wizard uses MyServer for the first server, names the second server MyServer_1, the third server MyServer_2, and so on.
(Windows only) Auto-generate Computer Name
Select this option to allow the Windows installer to auto-generate the computer names. If you select this option, the Computer Name field is ignored.
OM server name
(Optional) Enter a different name to use in the TrueSight Server Automation Console for this server. This name must be resolvable to the IP address of the server.
IP address
The IPv4 address of the device.
Subnet mask
The subnet mask of the IPv4 device address.
Default gateway
The default gateway for the IPv4 device address.
IPv6 address
The IPv6 address of the device.
IPv6 Subnet Prefix Length
The IPv6 subnet prefix length
IPv6 Gateway
The IPv6 gateway for the IPv6 address.
OS license
The license information of the OS installed in the device.
Provision Job - Job Settings (PXE only)
The Job Settings panel lets you pause a PXE-based provisioning job after each logical step. These options are useful for troubleshooting.
Field definitions
Pause and Continue
Tells the provisioning process to wait a specified number of seconds after each logical step in the provisioning job. Type the number of seconds to wait under Pause Duration. The pause duration should be between 0 and 30 seconds.
For example, if you specified a Pause Duration of 5 seconds, a provisioning job might proceed like this:
pre-disk partition -> pause 5 seconds -> disk-partition-> pause 5 seconds -> post-disk partition... and so onPrompt user after each step
Tells the provisioning process to prompt the user to press the Enter key on the console of the provisioning target after each logical step. The provisioning process does not go on to the next step until the user presses the Enter key on the target console.
For example, if you clicked Prompt user after each step, a Provision Job might proceed like this:
pre-disk partition -> prompt user to press Enter -> disk-partition-> prompt user to press Enter -> post-disk partition... and so on.Stopping and restarting a provisioning job
As part of the debugging process, you can tell TrueSight Server Automation system to stop a job to let you debug, then start the job again after the last successfully completed logical step.
- To stop a Provision Job, at the target console, press Ctrl+C.
- To restart the Provision Job at the same place, at the target console, type: bmi
If you plan to stop and restart a Provision Job, be sure to either set Pause and Continue to a number greater than zero, or select Prompt user after each step. Then stop the job when it is paused. This ensures that the job restarts in a consistent state.
Where to go from here
Provision Job - Server Settings
The Server Settings panel lets you apply ACL templates and properties on the server objects that are added to the TrueSight Server Automation Console.
Field definitions
Server Properties
Browse to an instance of the PROVSERVER class and select the server properties whose values you want to apply to all of the devices being provisioned. The properties that you select must be members of an instance of the PROVSERVER class. For information, see Server properties.
Choose ACL Template
Browse to the ACL template that you want to apply to all of the devices being provisioned. An ACL template is a group of predefined authorizations granted to roles. Using an ACL template, you can add a group of authorizations to the server objects.
Where to go from here
Provision Job - Default Notifications
The Default Notifications panel provides options for defining notifications that are generated when a Provision Job completes.
Default notifications can take the form of emails or SNMP traps. When a job completes, an SNMP trap is sent to a specified server, where it can be read using software that receives and interprets SNMP traps. Default notifications are sent when you run a job immediately (that is, you do not schedule the job) or a scheduled job completes but you have not set up email or SNMP notifications for that scheduled occurrence.
Job Run Notifications
Field
Description
Send email to
Lists email addresses of the accounts to notify when a job completes with the status that you specify. Separate multiple email addresses with semicolons, such as sysadmin@bmc.com;sysmgr@bmc.com. After entering email address information, check the statuses that cause an email to be generated. The statuses can be Success, Failed, or Aborted.
Send SNMP trap to
Provides name or IP address of the server to notify when the job completes. After entering server information, select the statuses that should cause an SNMP trap to be generated. The statuses can be Success, Failed, or Aborted.
TrueSight Server Automation provides a management information base (MIB) that describes its SNMP trap structure. You can use this MIB to create scripts that integrate traps into your trap collection system. The MIB is located on the Application Server host computer at installDirectory/Share/BladeLogic.mib.
List failed servers in email notification
Indicates that email notifications should list all servers on which a job has failed.
Where to go from here
Provision Job - Schedules
The Provision Job Schedules panel lets you schedule a job to execute immediately or at a specific time in the future. The interface does not allow you to schedule a Provision Job for recurring executions. You can also define notifications that are issued when a job runs.
You can open a job after you create it and schedule it for execution. If the job already executed, you can edit the job and schedule re-execution. For example, if a job was running and you canceled it, you could schedule the job to run again. Also see Reprovisioning-servers.
Field definitions
Execute job now
Executes the job immediately after you finish a new job or save an edited job.
If your system is configured to require approval for this job type, select Execute on Approval and then click Browse to display the Change Request Information dialog box. For more information, see Provision-Job-Execute-on-Approval-and-Change-Request-settings.Schedules
To add a new schedule, click Add New Schedule
. To delete an existing schedule, select it and click Remove Schedule 
. To modify an existing schedule, click Edit Schedule 
.
Use the tabs on the scheduling window to provide the following categories of information:- Scheduling
- Scheduled Job Notification
This tab only appears when your system is configured to require approval for this job type.
Where to go from here
Provision Job - Properties
The Properties panel lets you edit property values for the Provision Job.
The Properties panel provides a list of properties automatically assigned to the job being created. In this list, you can modify the value of any properties that are defined as editable.
For any property that has a check in the Editable column, select the property and click in the Value column.
- To set a property value back to its default value, click Reset to Default Value
.
The value of the property is reset to the value it inherits from a built-in property class. The Value Source column shows the property class from which the value is inherited. - Depending on the type of property you are editing, you can take different actions to set a new value, such as entering an alphanumeric string, choosing from an enumerated list, or selecting a date.
To insert a parameter into the value, enter the value, bracketed with double question mark delimiters (for example, ??MYPARAMETER??) or click Select Property
.
Controlling Job Time-outs
If you execute a Provision Job against target devices that are not booted, the Provision Job remains in the Task in Progress pane for the time set in the JOB_TIMEOUT Job property or until the device boots up. By default, the JOB_TIMEOUT value is 0, which means that the job does not time out. For information, see Defining-timeouts-for-jobs.
Where to go from here
Provision Job - Permissions
Using the Permissions panel, you can add individual permissions to an object. You can also set permissions by adding ACL templates or ACL policies. The Permissions list is an access control list (ACL) granting roles access to any objects created in the system, such as depot objects. ACLs control access to all objects, including the sharing of objects between roles. For more information, see the following table:
Task
Description
Adding an authorization
An authorization grants permission to a role to perform a certain type of action on this object.
To add authorization to this object, click Add Entry
in the Access Control List area. Then use the Add New Entry dialog box to specify the role and authorization you want to add.Adding an ACL template
An ACL template is a group of predefined authorizations granted to roles. Using an ACL template, you can add a group of authorizations to the object.
To add an ACL template to the object, click Use ACL Template
in the Access Control List area. Then use the Select ACL Template dialog box to specify an ACL template that you want to add to this object.To set the contents of the selected ACL templates so that they replace all entries in the access control list, select Replace ACL with selected templates. If you do not select this option, the contents of the selected ACL templates are appended to existing entries in the access control list.
Adding an ACL policy
An ACL policy is a group of authorizations that can be applied to this object but can be managed from one location.
To add an ACL policy to this object, click Use ACL Policy
in the ACL Policies area. Then use the Select ACL Policy dialog box to specify an ACL policy that you want to add to the object.To set the contents of the selected ACL policies so they replace all entries in the access control list, select Replace ACL with selected policies. If you do not select this option, the contents of the selected ACL policies are appended to existing entries in the access control list.
Where to go from here
- After completing the last step of the wizard, click Finish.
A Provision Job is stored in the Jobs folder. You can open the job and edit it.
Where to go from here
Including-a-Batch-Job-in-a-system-package