and server profiles established by your experts, you can enable system administrators to provision and manage thousands of servers without requiring that your experts be involved with every server deployment.

One tool and one data set—one view

HP OneView combines complex and interdependent data center provisioning and management into one simplified and unified interface. You use one tool and one model to:

•Provision the data center (page 16)•Manage and maintain firmware and configuration changes (page 20)•Monitor the data center and respond to issues (page 20)The solution also provides core enterprise management capabilities, including:•Availability features (page 24)•Security features (page 24)•Graphical and programmatic interfaces (page 25)•Integration with other HP management software (page 26)

The appliance manages servers and enclosure networking resources, supports connections from enclosures to storage, and provides information to help you manage data center power and cooling:

•Servers are represented and managed through their server profiles. For a brief overview of server profiles, see “Server profiles” (page 17). For detailed information about server profiles, see the online help for the Server Profiles screen.

•Storage devices connect to the enclosures using either Fibre Channel Fabric attach (SAN switch) connections or Fibre Channel Direct attach (flat SAN) connections. For more information about Fibre Channel network connections for storage, see “About network connectivity” (page 116).

•Networking is an essential component to provisioning and managing data center servers. For an overview of the networking features of the appliance, see “Networking features” (page 27). For detailed information about networking and the resource model, see “Understanding the resource model” (page 29).

•Environmental management—such as power, cooling, and space planning—requires that you consider all the equipment in the entire data center, including equipment not managed by HP OneView. HP OneView consolidates data center power and cooling information into one interface view. For an overview of the power and cooling management features, see “Data center environmental management” (page 22).

For an example of using the appliance to manage a data center, see “Step by step: Configuring an example data center using HP OneView” (page 231).

1.2 Hardware and software provisioning features

After you install the HP OneView appliance and perform the initial configuration tasks, you can quickly bring existing hardware under management and, using server profiles and other resource templates, groups, and sets, prepare for and deploy hardware to be added to your data center.

Features for provisioning hardware and bringing resources under management include:

•Server profiles (page 17)•Groups, templates, and sets (page 17)•Streamlined process for bringing hardware under management (page 19)•Operating system deployment (page 19)

16 Learning about HP OneView