How to Configure HP ILO from ESXi host

Configuration of HP ILO can be done using reboot of your HP server and Press <F8> to configure the ILO settings but you need a down time to your ESXi host and all the virtual machines running on it if it is a standalone host and no option to vMotion to other host. It is really a tough task to get downtime for your virtuali machines just for your ILO configurations like Reset ILO configuration, Reconfigure ILO IP address and reset ILO administrative password.

Now ILO configuration of ESXi host can easily be done without need of host restart using HP ESXi utilities.
HP ESXi Utilities Offline bundle for VMware ESXi 5 will be available as part of HP customized ESXi installer image but if it is not a HP customized ESXi image then you may need to download and install  HP ESXi Utilities Offline bundle for VMware ESXi.

Export the ILO configuration of your ESXi host into file

Browse to /opt/hp/tools and execute the below command to export the ILO configuration into text file.

/opt/hp/tools # ./hponcfg -w /tmp/ilo-conf.txt

Reset the ILO from ESXi host

Browse to /opt/hp/tools and execute the below command to reset the HP ILO configuration.

./hponcfg -r 

Reset the ILO administrator password from ESXi host

First to reset password there need to create a XML file with below information. File can be created using vi tool. If there are difficutlies, simple use notepad and upload file on esxi server using winscp tool.

<RIBCL VERSION=”2.0″>
<LOGIN USER_LOGIN=”Administrator” PASSWORD=”AnyPassword”>
<USER_INFO MODE=”write”>
<MOD_USER USER_LOGIN=”Administrator”>
<PASSWORD value=”AnyPassword”/>
</MOD_USER>
</USER_INFO>
</LOGIN>
</RIBCL>

To reset password run command ./hponcfg -f ./resetpw.xml. In the end it shows Script succeeded.