Dell OpenManage Systems Management software suite comprises of system management applications for managing Dell PowerEdge systems.
Dell OpenManage Components
Dell OpenManage Server Administrator
Dell OpenManage Server Administrator provides single server management with a secure command line or web-based graphical management user interface.
There are several sub-components in Server Administrator which are described below.
Instrumentation Services—Provides hardware instrumentation and configuration information.
Storage Management—Provides monitoring and instrumentation of the storage connected to the Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) and Serial-attached SCSI (SAS) families of controllers.
Dell Systems Management Server Administration (DSM SA)—Provides remote or local access to Server Administrator from any system with a supported web browser and network connection.
DSM SA Shared Services—Runs an inventory collector at startup to perform a software inventory of the system to be consumed by Server Administrator's Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Common Information Model (CIM) providers. This allows a remote software update using Dell IT Assistant.
Dell Remote Access Controller
Dell Remote Access Controller (DRAC) is designed to allow anywhere, anytime Lights Out monitoring, troubleshooting, and system repairs and upgrades independent of the operating system status.
Dell IT Assistant
Dell IT Assistant (ITA) provides an integrated view of Dell's comprehensive suite of server monitoring and reporting tools. It includes one-to-many management for Dell systems. ITA can also be used to perform BIOS and firmware updates.
Hardware monitoring of Dell systems is supported with XenServer. Power monitoring of Dell systems is supported on PowerEdge systems that have power monitoring capability. Performance monitoring of Dell systems is not supported with XenServer.
Dell Systems Build and Update Utility
The Dell Systems Build and Update Utility provides functionality to update and deploy Dell systems. It contains basic functionality provided by OpenManage Server Update Utility and OpenManage Deployment Toolkit. The Dell Systems Build and Update Utility can be used to update the system firmware, configure system components such as DRAC and iDRAC, and configure RAID groups through a graphical interactive wizard.
Server Update Utility
The Server Update Utility helps simplify single server updates with the latest system software features including inventories, reports, recommendations, and checks for prerequisite conditions.
Only the command line option is supported with XenServer.
Dell Update Package
As the central component of the OpenManage server management family, Dell Update Package framework helps you to update system software on your PowerEdge systems in a scalable, non-intrusive manner. Dell Update Package features include:
Self-extracting files that allow you to update system software including BIOS, firmware, drivers, OpenManage Server Administrator, and so on.
Pre-installation checks for prerequisites such as system model, operating system version, and dependent software to help you avoid sequencing errors.
Intuitive dialogs to help simplify installation.
Scriptable and silent capabilities that can enable unattended installation.
IPMI Baseboard Management Controller
IPMI Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) provides a standard interface for monitoring and managing Dell systems.
Server Administrator Web Server
Server Administrator Web Server provides a way to manage a server remotely using a web interface. Install the Server Administrator Web Server only if you want to remotely monitor the managed system. You need not have physical access to the managed system.
Installing OpenManage
The OpenManage software for XenServer is available as a supplemental pack.
NOTE: For more information about the OpenManage supplemental pack, see Dell
OpenManage Server Administrator Installation Guide at support.dell.com/manuals.
To download the OpenManage supplemental pack iso file:
Go to support.dell.com.
Select your line of business.
Select Drivers and Downloads.
Enter the Service Tag of the system or Choose a model and confirm your
selection.
Select XenServer from the Operating System drop-down menu and then
look in the Systems Management section.
To install the OpenManage supplemental pack:
Burn the supplemental pack iso file to a media or download the iso file to
your server.
If you are downloading the iso file, mount it on a temporary directory and run the command:
$ mount –o loop <openmanange-supplemental-pack-filename>.iso /mnt
If you burned the iso file to a media, insert it in the optical drive and run the command:
$ mount /dev/cdrom /mnt
Install OpenManage and run the command:
$ cd /mnt $ ./install
When the installation is complete, unmount the iso file or media and run
the command:
$ cd .. $ umount /mnt
Using Dell OpenManage in XenServer
To start, stop, restart, or check the status of OpenManage services, log in to the XenServer local console and run the following commands, as needed:
# srvadmin-services.sh start
# srvadmin-services.sh stop
# srvadmin-services.sh restart
# srvadmin-services.sh status
To disable OpenManage services so that services do not start at boot, log in to the XenServer local console shell and run the following command:
# srvadmin-services.sh disable
To enable the disabled OpenManage services, log in to the XenServer local console shell and run the following command:
# srvadmin-services.sh enable
To connect to the XenServer host and access the OpenManage Server Administrator web-based interface, type the following web address in a supported browser window from a client system:
https://<XenServer hostname/IP Address>:1311
NOTE: 1311 is the default port used by the OpenManage web server.
The XenServer host firewall is pre-configured to allow ports used by OpenManage Server Administrator, so no additional firewall configuration is required. If you change the default OpenManage Server Administrator port to a value other than 1311, make the associated change in /etc/sysconfig/iptables. Restart the iptables service on the XenServer host by running the following command on the XenServer local console shell:
$ service iptables restart
To check the version of OpenManage installed, run the following command on the XenServer local console shell:
$ omreport about
To view the system summary, run the following command on the XenServer local console shell:
$ omreport system summary
For more information on using OpenManage to manage Dell systems, see the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator documentation at support.dell.com/manuals.
Using ITA in a Citrix XenServer Environment
ITA can be used for discovery, monitoring, and management of XenServer hosts. ITA uses Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to manage Dell systems running Citrix XenServer.
To manage XenServer hosts using ITA:
Specify SNMP community name—Log in to the XenServer local console
shell and edit the following entries in the /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf file to
set your SNMP community name:
rocommunity <community name>
trapcommunity <community name>
Configure SNMP traps—Configure the SNMP daemon to send SNMP trap
messages to the management console. Edit the /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf file
and edit the following line at the end of the file:
trapsink <ITA_IP_Address> <community name>
After you edit the /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf file, save the file and restart the
snmpd service by running the following command on the XenServer local
console shell:
# service snmpd restart
Perform a discovery and inventory of the XenServer host in ITA by
specifying the XenServer hostname or the management IP address.
The ITA discovers the XenServer hosts and lists them under Servers.
For more information on using ITA to discover, perform inventory, monitor, and manage Dell systems, see the Dell OpenManage IT Assistant documentation at support.dell.com/manuals.
Change Management in XenServer
Dell Update Packages for supported PowerEdge systems are available for download at support.dell.com. ITA provides a centralized software update capability. You can load Dell Update Packages and System Update Sets (system bundles) into the ITA repository, either from the Dell Server Updates media or from the support.dell.com. You can also apply updates individually on each XenServer host.
Before you apply an update to the system, ensure that all the virtual machines (VMs) on the system are powered down or the host is in maintenance mode so that there are no active VMs on the XenServer host.
To download a Dell Update Package for the XenServer host:
Go to support.dell.com.
Select Drivers and Downloads.
Select the line of business.
Select the appropriate system model (example: PowerEdge R710) or enter
the Service Tag of the system.
Select Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 from the operating system
drop-down menu.
Click to expand BIOS, and then click Dell - BIOS.
Download the Update Package for Red Hat Linux and the GnuPG
signature file.
To upgrade the system or device firmware or BIOS using ITA, you must create a software update task. To create a software update task:
Download the corresponding BIN and .sign files from support.dell.com.
In the ITA console, add the Dell Update Package to the ITA repository in
the Manage® Software Updates tab.
Create a task for Software Update and provide the required host details.
NOTE: ITA uses the SSH port for installation of the Dell Update Packages.
Ensure that SSH is enabled on the XenServer host. If disabled, you can enable
SSH from XenServer local console® Remote Service Configuration®
Enable/Disable Remote Shell.
You can also upload the update package to the XenServer host using a file transfer program and then run the package. Log in to the XenServer host as a root user and perform the following steps:
Upload the update package (*.BIN file) to /var/tmp.
Login to the XenServer local console shell.
Run the BIN file that you downloaded.
Follow the instructions provided by the update package.
Reboot the system if required by the update package.
For more information on using Dell Update Package with ITA, see theDell OpenManage ITA documentation at support.dell.com/manuals.
Removing OpenManage
It is strongly recommended that you do not remove the OpenManage supplemental packs or RPMs. Manually removing any RPM leaves the system in an inconsistent state and makes any potential debugging effort difficult or impossible.
A future release (when available) will support the removal of the OpenManage supplemental pack.
Upgrading OpenManage
A future release (when available) of the OpenManage supplemental pack will allow you to upgrade to the existing installation.
Upgrading XenServer With OpenManage
Installed
If you upgrade the XenServer image to a new version, re-install the OpenManage supplemental pack as the new XenServer image is placed on a different partition than the original partition.
NOTE: When you reinstall the OpenManage supplemental pack, all OpenManage
configuration settings saved on your system are lost. A future release (when
available) of the OpenManage supplemental pack will preserve the OpenManage
configuration settings.
