Fixlets for operating system deployment

Server Automation provides a number of Fixlets that you can use for operating system deployment provisioning. You can include these in your Automation Plans. Including these Fixlets in your Automation Plans allows you to complete end-to-end provisioning, where you can add a step to your Automation Plan to perform the bare metal provisioning, and then other steps to deploy software and patch the computers.

Server Automation includes the Fixlets described in the following table.
Table 1. Server Automation operating system deployment Fixlets

Fixlet Description
Deploy operating system to one or more registered computers This Fixlet deploys an operating system profile to one or many computers that are registered in a bare metal server.
  • Specify the MAC addresses of the computer or computers that you are creating, entering them as a comma separated list.
  • Specify the operating system profile, known as the bare metal profile, that you want to deploy.
  • Optional: You can select the Wake on LAN option if you want to power on the computers.
Deploy operating system to one or more computers This Fixlet deploys an operating system profile to one or many computers that are already registered in a bare metal server.
  • Specify the MAC addresses of the computer or computers that you are creating, entering them as a comma separated list.
  • Enter the name or names for the computers that you are creating. Use commas to separate entries. Do not include spaces.
  • Specify the operating system profile, known as the bare metal profile, that you want to deploy.
  • Optional: You can select the Wake on LAN option if you want to power on the computers.
Register computer in a bare metal server This Fixlet registers new computers in the bare metal server. To register the computers in a bare metal server, you enter one or more MAC addresses and associated computer names. For each entry, a corresponding entry is created in a bare metal server, recording the MAC address and computer name for each. Enter the MAC address and computer names as a comma separated list.
  • Specify the MAC addresses of the computer or computers that you are creating, entering them as a comma separated list.
  • Enter the name or names for the computers that you are creating. Use commas to separate entries. Do not include spaces.
Change boot order to allow re-imaging This Fixlet changes the boot order of a computer so that it can be re-imaged. This Fixlet changes the boot order for a computer, forcing it to boot on the network instead of from the operating system. It allows the computer to skip booting from the operating system just once. It finishes by initiating a reboot of the computer. This allows BigFix Bare Metal Server to capture the computer and re-image a new operating system on the computer as part of an Automation Plan. The are no parameters required to run this Fixlet. To run it you target the computer for which you want to change the boot order.
The following graphic shows the Deploy operating system to one or more computers Fixlet.
This graphic shows the Deploy operating system to one or more computers Fixlet. This Fixlet has two fields for which you need to enter values. You also need to select a profile.