When deploying a pattern to a device, an activation error is encountered

An activation error indicates that an issue occurred when deploying the server pattern to a managed device. An activation error can occur for a number of reasons. Use this information to troubleshoot these types of issues.

Review the details of the job from the Jobs page by locating the server-profile activation job with the status Stopped With Error and clicking the job. To identify the issue, review the error messages.
  • Connectivity or network routing issues between Lenovo XClarity Administrator and the managed device.

    These issues might be represented in the job messages as LDAP errors. This indicates that there was an issue related to the device connecting to the virtual appliance over one of the configured network interfaces.

    Ensure that the network connection between the XClarity Administrator virtual appliance and the device is operational. If they are on different network segments, ensure that there is network routability between the two segments.

  • One or more configuration settings in the server pattern result in a setting change that is not valid on the selected managed device. Consider the following examples.

    • The selected UEFI Extended Pattern is not compatible with the selected device.

      For example, if a UEFI pattern that is provided with XClarity Administrator for an X6-based server (such as System x3950 X6) is selected and deployed to a System x3650 M4 server, the differences in the processor settings between the two servers might cause the profile activation to fail. To resolve the issue, ensure that the selected Extended UEFI Pattern is compatible with the selected server.

    • A Port Pattern for an Ethernet adapter port is assigned to a port that does not support the selected settings.

      For example, on Emulex-based adapters, there are settings that are only exposed on the first port of the adapter, specifically Advanced Mode and the Port settings that are used to disable a port. If these settings are assigned to the second port of the adapter, an activation error might occur. These issues might be represented in the job messages as AdvancedMode is not a setting or Port1 is not a setting. To resolve this issue, ensure that the port pattern that includes these Extended Port Pattern settings for Advanced Mode or Port Enablement is assigned to only the first port of the adapter.

    • Some settings are not supported on the selected managed device after a firmware update.

      For example, after updating firmware for an I/O adapter, some settings might be removed or renamed by the new firmware, and therefore the setting in the server pattern is not valid on the target server. These issues are represented in the job message as "xxx is not a setting." To resolve this issue, you can learn a new server pattern from the server, so the new pattern includes all the settings that are supported with the new firmware. If you need to keep using the old pattern, manually edit the server pattern to remove the invalid settings.

  • An error occurs while powering on or restarting the server when Full Activation is selected for the pattern or profile deployment

    Ensure that the device power state is stated correctly in XClarity Administrator. If not, refresh the inventory to synchronize the power state:

    1. From the XClarity Administrator menu bar, click Hardware > Servers. The Servers page is displayed with a tabular view of all managed servers (rack servers and compute nodes).

    2. Select the server, and click All Actions > Refresh Inventory.