In my last blog entry I discussed one of the building blocks of I/O Virtualization – the Server Profile. In this article I will show you how to use the power of the Xsigo Command Line Interface (CLI) to automate the creation of server profiles.  Having the ability to create a pre-defined server profile attached to any physical server allows an administrator to roll I/O out to a number of servers at the same time – a fantastic time-saver.

To recap the last article, a server profile is a container for a set of virtual NICs and HBAs and is attached to a physical server.  The physical server sees the set of NICs and HBAs contained in the server profile exactly as it sees local hardware.  The server profile can be disconnected from one physical server and reconnected to another, in which case the second physical server takes on exactly the same I/O profile (MAC addresses and WWNs go with the server profile, not the physical hardware). (more…)