Hello,

I have done some research of deploying HP ProLiant Server with SCCM 2007. I know that for HP ProLiant Servers you can use the HP Rapid Deployment Tool from Altiris to deploy the HP servers unattended. But I was thinking this can also be done with SCCM, because RDP is also using some kind of task sequencing. I use an HP ProLiant DL360 G3 server for testing with two SCSI disks. I have made the following task sequence:

1. Restart in Windows PE
2. Configure HP ProLiant DL360 G3 BIOS Settings (conrep.exe -l -f.\Data\DL360G3.XML)
3. Configure SA5i Array A (RAID 0+1) (cpqacuxe.exe -i .\Data\SA5I_ArrayA_RAID01.INI)
4. Waiting for HP Smart Array Configuration to finish (Sleep.exe 30)
5. Rescanning for logical disk (diskpart.exe /s x:\windows\system32\rescan.txt)
6. Create Primary Partition & Format (Disk 0, Standard MBR, Size 30Gb, Make this the boot partition)
7. Apply Operating System (Windows 2003 Standard Edition, WIM file)

The problem I get is that after creating & format the partition, the OS wim file is not installed because it generated error: Failed to run the action: Apply Operating System.
Unspecified error (Error: 80004005; Source: Windows). If I check the log file is says:

System partition not set
Unable to locate a bootable volume. Attempting to make C:\ bootable.
MakeVolumeBootable( pszVolume ), HRESULT=80004005 (e:\nts_sms_fre\sms\client\osdeployment\applyos\installcommon.cpp,759)
Failed to make volume C:\ bootable. Please ensure that you have set an active partition on the boot disk before installing the operating system.
Unspecified error (Error: 80004005; Source: Windows)

If I configure the RAID configuration manually during the boot process with F8 and disable the task sequence to configure the SA 5i, (step 3 – 5) the task sequence is running successfully. I think that I need a reboot to successfully deploy the WIM file, but it's not possible to reboot in a task sequence and then come back in the task sequence with a PXE boot. I have tried tools like mbrfix or AEFDISK32.EXE to solve this issue, but no luck so far.

Is there a solution to deploy the OS without needing an extra reboot so that the partition is discovered as a system partition.

Best regards
Tom Klaver

Hello all,

I think I solved my problem. This is how I did it.

My first thought was that a HP server would start with no Smart Array configuration. This is where I went wrong. My test server (HP ProLiant DL360 G3 with two SCSI disks) will automatically configure a Disk Array when no user interaction is given during BIOS startup. In my case it generated an RAID 0+1 disk array automaticaly. You can also manually configure an Array by hitting F8 during startup, but when you use a Blade system, you don’t want to plug-in a mouse, keyboard and monitor first (I want to deploy a server with zero touch installation). What I think is important is that WinPE must start with a configured Disk Array, after that you can erase or reconfigure the Disk Array. (This is the solution). Hopefully all other (new) HP ProLiant servers will also configure a disk array automatically when no user input is giving during BIOS startup. (Perhaps someone can confirm this.) I use now the following task sequence.

1.  Restart in Windows PE
2.  Configure HP ProLiant DL360 G3 BIOS Setting
·         conrep.exe -l -f.\Data\DL360G3.XML (SCCM Package)
3.  Erase Smart Array configuration
·         cpqacuxe.exe -i .\Data\ERASE.INI (SCCM Package)
4.  Waiting for 15 seconds to finish for Smart Array
·         Sleep.exe 15 (Exe integrated in Boot.wim)
5.  Configure SA5i Array A (RAID 0+1)
·         cpqacuxe.exe -i .\Data\SA5I_ArrayA_RAID01.INI (Same SCCM Package)
6.  Waiting for 15 seconds to finish for Smart Array
·         Sleep.exe 15 (Exe integrated in Boot.wim)
7.  Format and Partition Disk
·         30Gb / Quick Format / Make this boot partition)
8.  Apply Operating System
·         Windows 2003 Standard R2 wim image.
9.  Etc.

At the end I install the latest HP ProLiant Support Pack.

I’m now able to deploy all kind of HP ProLiant Server with use of the WMI feature in SCCM.

I also received from HP a White Paper about deploying HP ProLiant server using SCCM 2007. You can find it here: http://h18013.www1.hp.com/products/servers/management/integration/ms_integration.html

Good Luck with you HP ProLiant Servers deployment.

Tom Klaver