New machine deployment checklist

This is the checklist of steps to do when deploying a new machine. Written with the X8SIL-F in mind, but should be generic. Work in progress, still needs some things filled in.

  • Update system firmware to latest version
  • Update IPMI BMC firmware to latest version
  • In the system BIOS make sure of the following
    • Advanced → Boot Feature
      • Quiet Boot = Disabled
      • Bootup Num-Lock = off
      • Wait for ‘F1’ If Error → Disabled
      • Power Button Function → 4 second override
      • Restore on AC Power Loss → Power ON
    • Advanced → SATA/Floppy Configuration
      • Configure SATA as = AHCI
    • Advanced → PCI/PnP Configuration
      • Onboard LAN1 Option Rom Select → PXE
      • RISEUP: for atom – lan1 enabled, lan2 disabled; for quad – lan1 disabled, lan2 enabled
    • Advanced → Remote Access Configuration
      • Serial Port Mode → 115200 8,n,1
      • Flow Control = None
      • Redirection After BIOS POST = Boot Loader
      • Terminal Type = ANSI
      • VT-UTF = enabled
      • Sredir = No Delay
    • ACPI Configuration
      • HPET = Enabled
      • Aware = Yes
      • APIC = Enabled
      • SCI IRQ = Disabled
      • Headless = Disabled
      • Version = ACPI v2.0
    • IPMI LAN is setup the way you want it
  • Update ssd firmware to latest version
  • Run memtest86+ for at least a couple passes (preferably 24+ hours)
  • Boot d-i or debirf to run tests
    • run n+1 copies of cpuburn for 24+ hours
    • follow the disk testing procedure for new disks (run badblocks, SMART tests, etc)
    • for any SSDs that you tested, do the ATA Secure Erase procedure in order to reset them to new performance. If the disks are in “frozen” state there are a couple ways to unlock them.
      • If you have physical access you can hotplug them.
      • If you don’t have physical access and the system supports suspend to ram (grep mem /sys/power/state) then you can use the rtcwake command (from util-linux) to put the system to sleep and automatically wake back up.
      • If you don’t have physical access and the system doesn’t support suspend, you are probably out of luck.
        FIXME: finish this list