iLO Backup and Restore

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The Backup and Restore feature allows you to backup and restore the iLO configuration on a system with the same hardware configuration as the system that was backed up. This feature is not meant to duplicate a configuration and apply it to a different iLO system.

In general, it is not expected that you will need to perform an iLO restore operation. However, there are cases in which having a backup of the configuration eases and expedites the return to a normal operating environment.

As with any computer system, backing up your data is a recommended practice to minimize the impact from failures. Hewlett Packard Enterprise recommends performing a backup each time that you update the iLO firmware.

Battery failure or removal

Various configuration parameters are stored in the battery-powered SRAM. Although rare, the battery can fail. In some situations, battery removal and replacement might be required. To avoid the loss of configuration information, restore the iLO configuration from a backup file after the battery is replaced.

Reset to factory defaults

In some cases, you might need to reset iLO to the factory default settings to erase settings external to iLO. Resetting iLO to the factory default settings erases the iLO configuration. To recover the iLO configuration quickly, restore the configuration from a backup file after the reset to the factory default settings is complete.

Accidental or incorrect configuration change

In some cases, the iLO configuration might be changed incorrectly, causing important settings to be lost. This situation might occur if iLO is set to the factory default settings or user accounts are deleted. To recover the original configuration, restore the configuration from a backup file.

System board replacement

If a system board replacement is required to address a hardware issue, you can use this feature to transfer the iLO configuration from the original system board to the new system board.

Lost license key

If a license key is accidentally replaced, or you reset iLO to the factory default settings, and you are not sure which key to install, you can restore the license key and other configuration settings from a backup file.

What information is restored?

The iLO configuration includes many categories such as Power, Network, Security, the User Database, and License Keys. Most configuration information is stored in the battery-powered SRAM memory device, and it can be backed up and restored.

Information that is not restored

Some information is not suitable to be restored. The information that cannot be restored is not part of the iLO configuration, but instead is related to the iLO or server system state.

The following information is not backed up or restored:

• Security state—Allowing a restore operation to change the iLO security state would defeat the principles of security and enforcement of security.
• Integrated Management Log—To preserve information about events that occurred between the backup and the time or event that required the restore, this information is not restored.
• iLO Event Log—To preserve information about events that occurred between the backup and the time or event that required the restore, this information is not restored.
• Active Health System data—To preserve the information recorded during the backup and restore process, this information is not restored.
• Server state information— Server power state (ON/OFF), Server UID LED states, iLO and server clock settings.

Backing up the iLO configuration

The iLO configuration backup process requires two steps:

• Trigger a backup file creation in the nonvolatile flash memory (NAND) of the managed server with a GET of the HpeiLOBackupRestoreService URI .
• Download the backup file locally with a GET of the BackupFileLocation property URI.

The following example shows those two steps.

The GET operation to the BackupFileLocation URI returns HTTP 200 with Content Type: application/octet-stream. This is the binary image of the backup file.

GET /redfish/v1/Managers/1/BackupRestoreService/?$select=BackupFileLocation

Restoring the iLO configuration

To restore a backup file, perform a POST request to the HttpPushUri URI of the HpeiLOBackupRestoreService. The Content-Type header of this POST request must be multipart/form-data and include the session key. A Cookie header containing the session key is also required. See example below.

GET /redfish/v1/managers/1/backuprestoreservice/?$select=HttpPushUri

The following example restores an iLO backup file using cURL and Python scripts with required headers.

#!/usr/bin/bash

HttpPushUri="/cgi-bin/uploadRestoreFile"
backupFile="HPE_MXQ78407Z2_20230220_1813.bak"
bmcIp="ilo-ip"
bmcUser="ilo-user"
bmcPassword="password"

# The following Bash command creates a Redfish session and populates
# the $Var variable with the Session Token and the Location URL.
echo "Session creation"
Var=$(curl  --silent --location --include --header 'Content-Type: application/json'  \
            --request POST "https://${bmcIp}/redfish/v1/SessionService/Sessions/"    \
            --data "{
                \"UserName\": \"${bmcUser}\",
                \"Password\": \"${bmcPassword}\"
                }"                                                   |               \
            awk  '/Token/ || /Location/  {printf "%s ", $NF}'        |               \
            tr -d '\r')


# Move Token and Session Location in an array
# and extract them into dumb variables.
# Problem: iLO returns   Location: https://ip/redfish/v1/.... while
#          other BMCs (i.e. OpenBMC) return: Location: /redfish/v1/.... 
# Hence we normalize to:  /redfish/v1/..... using awk. Morevore you cannot assume
# any particular order in $Var.
read -r -a TokenAndLocation <<< "$Var"

if [[ ${TokenAndLocation[0]} =~ "/"  ]] ; then
  Location=$(echo ${TokenAndLocation[0]#https://*} | awk -F'/' -vOFS='/'   '{$1="" ; print $0}') 
  Token=${TokenAndLocation[1]}
else
  Location=$(echo ${TokenAndLocation[1]#https://*} | awk -F'/' -vOFS='/'   '{$1="" ; print $0}')
  Token=${TokenAndLocation[0]}
fi

# Restore backup file
echo "Restoring backup file"
curl  --location --form "sessionKey=${Token}" \
      --form "file=@${backupFile}"            \
      --header "X-Auth-Token: ${Token}"       \
      --header "Cookie: sessionKey=${Token}"  \
      https://${bmcIp}${HttpPushUri}

# Logout (May be not required as iLO resets)
echo "Logout" 
curl  --location                                       \
      --header "X-Auth-Token: ${Token}"                \
      --request DELETE https://${bmcIp}${Location}

Enabling Custom Backup and Restore

The HpeiLOBackupRestoreService OEM resource type contains the CustomBackupandRestore Boolean property . Users can enable this property to automatically allow restoring user defined iLO configuration that was earlier used for backup instead of the factory default settings.

The following example retrieves the value of the CustomBackupandRestore property as well as its human readable schema description.

 GET /redfish/v1/managers/1/backuprestoreservice?$select=CustomBackupandRestore