This is the checklist of steps to do when deploying a new machine. Written with the X8SIL-F in mind, but should be generic. Work in progress, still needs some things filled in.

Update system firmware to latest version
Update IPMI BMC firmware to latest version
In the system BIOS make sure of the following
- Advanced → Boot Feature
  - Quiet Boot = Disabled
  - Bootup Num-Lock = off
  - Wait for ‘F1’ If Error → Disabled
  - Power Button Function → 4 second override
  - Restore on AC Power Loss → Power ON
- Advanced → SATA/Floppy Configuration
  - Configure SATA as = AHCI
- Advanced → PCI/PnP Configuration
  - Onboard LAN1 Option Rom Select → PXE
  - RISEUP: for atom – lan1 enabled, lan2 disabled; for quad – lan1 disabled, lan2 enabled
- Advanced → Remote Access Configuration
  - Serial Port Mode → 115200 8,n,1
  - Flow Control = None
  - Redirection After BIOS POST = Boot Loader
  - Terminal Type = ANSI
  - VT-UTF = enabled
  - Sredir = No Delay
- ACPI Configuration
  - HPET = Enabled
  - Aware = Yes
  - APIC = Enabled
  - SCI IRQ = Disabled
  - Headless = Disabled
  - Version = ACPI v2.0
- IPMI LAN is setup the way you want it
Update ssd firmware to latest version
Run memtest86+ for at least a couple passes (preferably 24+ hours)
Boot d-i or debirf to run tests
- run n+1 copies of cpuburn for 24+ hours
- follow the disk testing procedure for new disks (run badblocks, SMART tests, etc)
- for any SSDs that you tested, do the ATA Secure Erase procedure in order to reset them to new performance. If the disks are in “frozen” state there are a couple ways to unlock them.
  - If you have physical access you can hotplug them.
  - If you don’t have physical access and the system supports suspend to ram (grep mem /sys/power/state) then you can use the rtcwake command (from util-linux) to put the system to sleep and automatically wake back up.
  - If you don’t have physical access and the system doesn’t support suspend, you are probably out of luck.
    FIXME: finish this list