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Dell EMC HCI Solutions for Microsoft Windows Server: Life Cycle Management Approach Comparison
Executive summary Lab setup and testing procedure
Lab setup
Testing overview
Steps for an automated, cluster-aware approach
Steps for a manual, node-based approach
Results and conclusions References

Steps for an automated, cluster-aware approach

Steps for an automated, cluster-aware approach

  • Microsoft Windows Admin Center (WAC), which includes a familiar user interface, is browser-based and agent-free. It communicates with managed devices using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) over Windows Remote Management (WinRM) and remote PowerShell. To monitor and manage the hardware, Dell EMC OpenManage Integration obtains information from managed servers’ iDRACs using an OS to iDRAC Pass-through feature and Redfish technology. Thus, communications can occur in-band and remain agent-free with no other dependencies. Both WAC and Dell EMC OpenManage Integration use the Cluster-Aware Updating feature of Windows Server 2019 to ensure that operating system and hardware updates do not result in downtime to services.

    The following figure shows an update compliance report in Dell EMC OpenManage Integration:

    Figure 2.              Compliance report depicting updates in Dell EMC OpenManage Integration

    The following configuration information is specific to this automated update approach:

    • The process steps do not include installation of WAC and Dell EMC OpenManage Integration. We assume that WAC version 1910.2 and Dell EMC OpenManage Integration version 1.1 are already installed and the cluster connection has been established. 
    • The WAC gateway host is connected to the Internet, so the online catalog could be used as the update source in Dell EMC OpenManage Integration. Choosing the online catalog automatically downloads the required software—Dell System Update (DSU) and Inventory Collector (IC) utilities, and all the DUPs applicable for the latest release of the Windows Server HCI support matrix with the Windows Server HCI Solutions catalog. Dell EMC OpenManage Integration can update AX nodes using an offline catalog and the Dell EMC Repository Manager if the WAC gateway host is not connected to the Internet; however, this scenario was not in scope for this testing.  

    The following table lists the process steps for the automated approach and the durations that we observed on the cluster in the lab. These steps are also described in the operations guide.

    Table 4.              Process steps for automated approach

    Step

    Duration

    Details

    Human error quotient

    1

    Review hardware Health tab.

    1 min. Attended

    Verify that all hardware components are healthy. Dell EMC OpenManage Integration automates the health checks for software-defined elements of the cluster.

    None

    2

    Browse to Update tab.

    10 sec. Attended

    Select the online catalog because the WAC gateway host is connected to the Internet. All required utilities and DUPs are automatically downloaded and staged.

    None

    3

    Generate Compliance Report and review updates.

    4 min. Attended

    This compliance report shows both firmware and drivers.

    None

    4

    Initiate and monitor Cluster Aware Update and verify success.

    3 hrs. Unattended

    Cluster Aware Update places each node into maintenance mode for no interruption to VM services. Each node reboots only once because reboots between DUP installations are suppressed.

    The final compliance report is automatically generated to verify that all updates were successful.

    None

    Total number of steps = 4

    Total attended time = 5 minutes

    Total unattended time = 3 hours

    Note: Task durations and total times have been rounded to the nearest minute or hour, wherever possible, for simplicity.