Overview

Dell OpenManage Integration with Windows Admin Center enables IT administrators to manage the HCI that is created by using Microsoft HCI Solutions from Dell Technologies. OpenManage Integration with Windows Admin Center simplifies the tasks of IT administrators by remotely managing the AX nodes and clusters throughout their life cycle.

For more information about the features, benefits, and installation of OpenManage Integration with Windows Admin Center, see the documentation at https://www.dell.com/support/home/product-support/product/openmanage-integration-microsoft-windows-admin-center/docs.

Install Windows Admin Center

Windows Admin Center is a browser-based management tool developed by Microsoft to monitor and manage Windows Servers, failover clusters, and hyperconverged clusters.

The AX nodes for Storage Spaces Direct offer software-defined storage building blocks for creating highly available and highly scalable HCI. The AX nodes are preconfigured with certified components and validated as a Storage Spaces Direct solution that includes Dell PowerSwitch S-Series switches, with simplified ordering and reduced deployment risks. Dell Technologies offers configuration options within these building blocks to meet different capacity and performance points. With Windows Admin Center, you can seamlessly monitor and manage the HCI clusters that are created on these building blocks.

Download Windows Admin Center version 2211 or later from Microsoft download center. Install Windows Admin Center directly on a managed node to manage itself. You can also install Windows Admin Center on other nodes in the infrastructure or on a separate management station to manage the AX nodes.

Prerequisites for managing AX nodes

The prerequisites for managing AX nodes are:

You have installed the following:
- Windows Admin Center version 2211 or later and you are logged in as a gateway administrator.
- Dell OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center extension version 3.1. For more information about the installation procedure, see the Dell OpenManage Integration Version 3.1 with Microsoft Windows Admin Center Installation Guide.
- Microsoft failover cluster extension version 3.1 release or above.
- An OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center (OMIMSWAC) Premium License on each AX node.
You have added the HCI cluster connection in Microsoft Windows Admin Center.
You can access the Windows Admin Center remotely using domain administrator credentials. Otherwise, use local administrator credentials to access the Windows Admin Center locally. For more information, see What type of installation is right for you?

Managing Microsoft HCI-based clusters

In the upper left of Windows Admin Center, select Cluster Manager from the menu.
In the Cluster Connections window, click the cluster name.
In the left pane of Windows Admin Center, under EXTENSIONS, click OpenManage Integration.
Review the Dell Software License Agreement and Customer Notice, and select the check box to accept the terms of the license agreement.

Viewing update compliance and updating the cluster

To view and update the hardware compliance, select Server Manager from the WAC menu. Go to the server on which single node cluster is created and select View > Compliance. Another menu button with drop-down appears next to the Node button. Select Hardware updates to go to the compliance page.

Use the Update tab of the OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center UI to view update compliance and update the cluster.

To view the latest update compliance report and update the cluster using an offline catalog, OpenManage Integration with Windows Admin Center requires that you configure the update compliance tools.

At Check Compliance, select the online catalog or offline catalog to configure update tools.
If you select the online catalog, OpenManage Integration downloads the Azure Stack HCI catalog, system tools, and the required Dell Update Packages from the Internet.

To use an offline catalog, configure the update tools under Hardware updates and select the Configure DSU and IC option. The catalog file must be exported using the Dell Repository Manager and placed in a shared folder.
Click Check Compliance to generate the update compliance report.
By default, all the upgrades are selected, but you can make alternate selections as needed.

Figure 4. Compliance details
Click Fix compliance to view the selected component details.

Note: Cluster Aware Update is a license feature. Ensure that the Azure Stack HCI license is installed before proceeding.
To schedule the update for a later time, click Schedule later, select Date/time and click Next cluster aware update to download the required updates.
To use the schedule later feature, download the required downloads and keep them ready to update at the specified time.
Click Update to begin the update process and click Yes at the prompt to enable Credential Security Service Provider (CredSSP) to update the selected components.

When the update job is completed, the compliance job is triggered automatically.

Validate and remediate Azure Stack HCI clusters

By using the HCP Compliance feature, you can see the cluster compliance using HCI Configuration Profile (HCP) checks, see the recommendations, and remediate non-compliant components.

Cluster must be Dell Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI, version 22H2.
Cluster nodes must have a valid OMIWAC premium license installed.
Cluster node models are listed as supported in the support matrix.

To run HCP Compliance check in OpenManage Integration extension, perform the following steps by selecting the single node cluster in the Cluster Manager.

Select View > Compliance. From the drop-down menu, select HCP. The Compliance Summary page appears. If the Check Compliance button is enabled, go to step 3.
If the Check Compliance button is disabled, ensure:
- Requirements mentioned in the pre-requisites are met.
- Required inputs are provided in the Configure Cluster Settings tab. If not, choose the network topology and the deployment model, and click Save to save the settings for future use. These settings are required to generate compliance for Dell OS Configuration policies.
  - Network topology
    
    Fully-converged: All storage ports from the server are connected to the same network fabric. Within the host operating system, the NIC ports are used for both storage and management/VM traffic.
    
    Non-converged-Physical: Storage traffic is on the physical storage network adapter ports and management/VM traffic through a SET created using network ports of the server rNDC.
    
    Non-Converged-Set: Storage traffic uses virtual adapters in the host operating system connected to a SET.
  - Deployment model
    
    Scalable model supports from 2 to 16 nodes in a cluster and uses top-of-rack switches for management and storage traffic networking.
    
    Switchless model uses full mesh connections between the cluster nodes for storage traffic and supports from 2 to 4 nodes in a cluster.
    
    Stretch cluster with Azure Stack HCI consists of servers residing at two different locations or sites, with each site having two or more servers, replicating volumes either in synchronous or asynchronous mode.
Click Check Compliance to View HCP Compliance Summary.
- Optional: If Internet connection is not available, perform the following steps to run HCP check in offline mode:
  1. Download the HCPMetaData.json and HCPMetaData.json.sign files fromhttps://downloads.dell.com/omimswac/ase/.
  2. Place these files in C:\Users\Dell\HCPMetaData folder in the gateway system where Windows Admin Center is installed.
  3. Run the HCP compliance check.
OpenManage Integration extension fetches the applicable policies, validates the cluster node(s) attributes with the policy attributes, and displays the compliance summary.
Click Fix Compliance to fix non-compliant policies.
Note: Fix Compliance button is disabled if Dell Hardware Symmetry Policy is non-compliant with a Critical error. In this case, you will not be allowed to remediate other policies. Review the recommendations and show details, and contact Dell.com/support to resolve the issue before proceeding to the next step. The critical error states that this aspect of nodes configuration is not supported. You must correct the issue before you can deploy a symmetric HCI cluster.
- Manual Fixes include policies that requires physical interventions and recommendations that can be remediated manually.
  Note: Ensure your cluster is compliant with Dell Hardware Symmetry Policy and Dell OS Configuration Policies otherwise the cluster performance is not guaranteed.
- Automatic Fixes include policies that can be remediated using OpenManage Integration extension.
Choose the reboot option to apply the configurations by restarting your cluster in cluster-aware updating manner if any of the policy fixing requires cluster reboot:
- Apply and Reboot Now: Applies BIOS, NIC, and iDRAC attributes concurrently to all the cluster nodes now and restart the cluster in cluster-aware update manner.
- Apply at Next Reboot: Applies BIOS, NIC, and iDRAC attributes concurrently to all the cluster nodes when cluster nodes are restarted at the next maintenance window.
  1. Click the Schedule Reboot checkbox to schedule the date and time when BIOS, NIC, and iDRAC attributes will be applied concurrently to all the cluster nodes and restart the cluster in cluster-aware update manner.
    Note: If you select to apply the changes at the next reboot, ensure to disable the infrastructure lock before the next reboot starts to successfully apply the changes.
If the infrastructure lock is enabled, a window appears to disable the lock and proceed next. To allow OpenManage Integration extension automatically locks the infrastructure after the operation is complete, select Allow OMIMSWAC to re-enable the infrastructure lock after the operation is complete.
When finished, click Apply to trigger the update.
- If Kernel Soft Reboot is enabled for the cluster, the OpenManage Integration extension ignores this setting and performs a full reboot to apply all the BIOS related settings. SeeWhen to use Kernel Soft Reboot.
- The operation enables the CredSSP. To improve the security, disable the CredSSP after the operation is complete.
Click View Details to see the update status and progress at node level.

After the status is succeeded, OpenManage Integration extension rechecks the compliance and displays the updated compliance summary.
Click Export compliance summary to export the HCP compliance report in an Excel file which can be useful while contacting the Dell Technologies support team.

View HCP compliance summary

OpenManage Integration computes the compliance using different types of Dell HCI Configuration Profile policies that are mentioned and displays the report.

Dell Infrastructure LockDown policy: Checks whether the HCI cluster infrastructure is locked.
Dell Hardware Symmetry policy: Checks whether cluster nodes have validated and supported hardware components and have symmetrical hardware configurations. For more information about checks, see OpenManage Integration with Microsoft.
Dell HCI Hardware Configuration policy: Checks whether cluster nodes have Dell Technologies recommended BIOS, NIC, and iDRAC configurations.
Dell OS Configuration policy: Checks whether cluster nodes have Dell Technologies and Microsoft recommended operating system configurations.
- If the compliance summary is already generated, the last report is displayed with the timestamp. In this case, the Re-Check Compliance button is enabled. You can click Re-Check Compliance to see the latest compliance report.
- The compliance summary is divided into three sections:
  - Overall Compliance: Shows the overall compliance of the cluster such as compliance percentage, number of policies compliant, and total number of policies from the displayed policy types.
  - Overall Compliance State: Shows overall compliance of the cluster using a doughnut chart and color codes. The color codes indicate different compliance types. You can select different color codes, if any, to filter the respective policy details and its cluster nodes. For example, when you select the red color code, policies that are not compliant and their respective cluster nodes are displayed. The color codes are explained as follows:
    - Compliant: Shows all cluster nodes are compliant with all Dell policies.
    - Errors: Shows if any cluster node is not compliant with Dell Hardware Symmetry policy.
    - Warnings: Shows if any cluster node is not compliant with any optional policies.
    - Unknown: Shows if any cluster node inventory could not be retrieved when the node is down or not reachable.
Policy Summary: Shows compliance of each cluster node and its components for each policy types.
- Policy Name: Name of Dell policies.
- Description: Description of Dell policies.
- Overall Status: Overall status of compliance of the cluster for each policy type.
- Overall State: How many policies are compliant out of the total number of policies and its percentage.
- Errors: Number of policies that are non-compliant and must be fixed.
- Warnings: Number of policies that are non-compliant and must be fixed.
- Unknown: Number of unknown issues, or unable to run or fetch the data.
- Details: Click Details to see more information about each node and its components and their compliance status.

Your Browser is Out of Date

Dell OpenManage Integration with Windows Admin Center