Information handling system physical component inventory to aid operational management through near field communication device interaction
NFC communications from a mobile phone to an information handling system initiates an inventory by a management controller of the information handling system. The inventory is provided to the mobile telephone with a second NFC communication so that an end user can see a visual depiction of the interior of the information handling system before opening the chassis of the system.
1. A method for inventory of information handling system hardware components, the method comprising:
sending a request from a portable information handling system NFC device to a legacy information handling system for a hardware inventory of the legacy information handling system through a first NFC communication;
receiving the request at a NFC device of the legacy information handling system;
in response to receiving the request, communicating the hardware inventory from the legacy information handling system to the portable information handling system with a second NFC communication; and
in response to receiving the request, communicating information from the legacy information handling system through a management network and a wireless local area network to the portable information handling system.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the portable information handling system comprises a mobile telephone.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein in response to receiving the request further comprises:
in response to receiving the request, initiating queries from a management processor to hardware included in the legacy information handling system at a time of receipt of the request; and
sending as the hardware inventory information provided by responses to the management processor queries.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the hardware inventory includes firmware versions associated with one or more of the hardware.
5. The method of claim 3 wherein the hardware includes at least network communication resources and the hardware inventory includes network addresses of the hardware inventory.
6. The method of claim 3 wherein the hardware includes at least processing components that run a virtualization manager for managing virtual machines running at the information handling system, and the hardware inventory includes settings used by the virtualization manager.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
removing the legacy information handling system from a rack supporting operation of the legacy information handling system;
installing a replacement information handling system in the rack to replace the legacy information handling system;
communicating the hardware inventory from the portable information handling system to the replacement information handling system with a second NFC communication from the NFC device of the portable information handling system to a NFC device of the replacement information handling system; and
configuring the replacement information handling system to operate in the rack according to the hardware inventory.