BIOS configuration

A BIOS configuration is taken off a machine that has been tuned, stored under a name, and applied to other machines of the same type — the same shape as grabbing and pushing an image. Nothing applies a BIOS configuration unless you ask; it is never automatic.

It works over Redfish and needs BMC access on the nodes involved, with an account of at least ReadOnly for a grab and Operator for a push. The board's BMC must expose the BIOS resource and its attribute registry; boards that do not are reported as such.

Grabbing

# luna node biosgrab node001 -b hpc-tuned
# luna biosconfig show hpc-tuned
# luna biosconfig show hpc-tuned --settings     # every stored attribute

--settings lists each attribute with the name the board gives the setting, where it gives one, and its value. The attribute is what a push and -R use; the name is for reading.

The grab creates the configuration. What is stored is decided by the machine's own attribute registry, not by a list Luna keeps per vendor: anything the registry marks unique, read-only, immutable or write-only stays behind, as does anything without a value, anything the registry does not describe, anything whose value carries the machine's identity, and anything the configuration's exclude list names. The exclude list is editable, so a site can leave out what Luna would otherwise carry:

# luna biosconfig change hpc-tuned --grab_exclude "*AssetTag*, *SerialNumber*, *Boot Option*"

Patterns match the attribute's name and the registry's display name, which is what makes them usable on a board that calls its settings SETUP042.

Changing an entry

A stored configuration can be edited one entry at a time: by a concept that Luna translates for the board type, by the attribute name the board publishes, or by the setting name that --settings lists:

# luna biosconfig change hpc-tuned --set hyperthreading=off
# luna biosconfig change hpc-tuned --set sriov=on --set boot_mode=uefi
# luna biosconfig change hpc-tuned --set ProcessorHyperThreading=Disabled
# luna biosconfig change hpc-tuned --set "Ac Loss Control=Last State"

A concept the board type cannot express is refused by name, so a typo does not silently land as a new attribute. A setting name the board uses for more than one attribute is refused with the candidates; use the attribute name instead. clone copies a configuration to start a variant from.

Assigning and pushing

A configuration can be assigned to a group or a node; the node's assignment wins. A push without a name pushes what is assigned.

# luna group change gpu -bc hpc-tuned
# luna node biospush node002                   # what node002 is assigned
# luna node biospush node002 -b hpc-tuned      # a named configuration
# luna group biospush gpu

A push is queued and reported as it goes: one stage is a write, a reset and a wait for the machine to finish POST, and a configuration whose attributes depend on one another needs more than one stage. Running a push twice is safe — the plan is recomputed against the machine, and a node that already matches is left alone.

-m decides what happens when the configuration was grabbed at a different BIOS version than the target runs: strict refuses, warn proceeds and says so, ignore does not look. The default is the cluster setting. A different manufacturer or model is refused whatever is passed.

Status

# luna biosconfig status
# luna biosconfig status --all            # every node, matched ones included
# luna biosconfig status node002
# luna biosconfig status -g gpu

Status reads the stored inventory and contacts nothing, so it answers for a cluster that is mostly switched off, in one query. It shows counts first and rows only for the nodes that need attention:

State	Meaning
matched	the last read found the node holding its configuration, and it is the configuration assigned to it
pending	the node is assigned a configuration it does not hold yet — a different one, or none it was found holding
stale	the node holds its configuration, but that configuration has been edited since it was pushed
drifted	it matched once and the BIOS has changed since — outside Luna, or a push that half landed
collected	the BIOS has been read and matches no stored configuration
unknown	no Redfish inventory has been taken yet

Status will not say how many stages a node still needs; that requires the board's live values. Ask the machine with biospush, which is a no-op when the configuration has landed.

Booting into the BIOS setup

To get a node into its BIOS setup screen once, without changing anything permanent:

# luna control nextboot bios node001      # one-shot boot to setup, then reset
# luna control nextboot status node001
# luna control nextboot clear node001

The override applies to the next boot only and needs Redfish; the console (lconsole) then shows the setup screen.