CNAF asked what is the exact procedure for putting a node in production.
First of all the node is booted with a special image, that collects all the hardware information and stores them in specific databases:
the main one is the network data base (we don't have such a tool) where the info on the nodes stay as long as the node exist in the data center
Ironic does not interact with bios settings. BIOS is generally set up by the company who won the procurement tender.
IPMI addressing issue was described by CNAF. CERN does not have this issue since the machine is configured only as long as it stays in the data center.
Hardware recycling is not a common practice at CERN. At the end of the hardware lifecycle, parts from other servers can be used to keep them alive.
CNAF will probably use RALP3 as a ne asset management tool, while cern apparently chose OpenDCIM. It is not 100% clear how this choice was made among other tools, but our choice of ralph3 seems to be a good option too, since every software has its pros and cons.
CNAF asked if OpenDCIM has good import/export functions or if it can be interfaced with external tools via apis, more info will come.
RedFish is a new implementation of IPMI interface that looks very promising in an ironic oriented environment. CERN is currently requiring it to be supported on new acquired hardware, but as far as we know, right now it's not used.
CERN is not aware of a generic tool that may integrate into a single view all the different hardware vendors and collect monitoring information in an integrated way.