After a conversation with a colleague, we decided to activate a hot spare server as a live Microsoft SQL 2005 environment for a forthcoming Sage AccPacc installation. The server was racked, powered, and had all relevant NICs connected, including the iLO before this decision was taken, so we’re not talking out of the box here.

However, from a bare metal chassis, we had a running SQL Server 2005 environment with Windows Server 2003, fully patched in around 4 hours. And the really cool thing about this is that I did it all from my home office using the iLO interface.

I saved some time by having the OS media mounted in the local server drive and running through the configuration over the wire, but I could have used the remote mount facility which allows you to set a CD drive on your remote computer to act as a local device to the server. While bandwidth is an issue, it’s still better than marching into the city to change over a CD.

Needless to say that I am very impressed with the functionality of the iLO2 environment, and will be recommending that all my clients purchase these as standard.