New OpenManage Enterprise Advanced+, Ready to Bring New Customer Benefits
Wed, 10 Aug 2022 19:10:25 -0000
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Recently I heard a joke: How many developers does it take to change a light bulb …none, it's a hardware problem. Historically Dell has been perceived as a hardware vendor. This means that some customers still have not realized the many features and benefits that our Dell developed OpenManage Server management software portfolio delivers.
OpenManage Enterprise (OME), Dell's on-premise server lifecycle management console, is core to Dell's server management solutions. Since its release in September 2018, OME continues to increase in functionality to drive down the number of separate standalone tools and consoles required to manage the lifecycle of Dell PowerEdge servers.
This management solution supports Dell's strategy of unifying, streamlining and delivering automation. OpenManage Enterprise manages approximately 50% of all Dell servers currently deployed, highlighting how valuable and useful customers find this solution*. The standard version of OME is free, with advanced features such as server deployment and power management requiring additional licenses.
Starting June 20th, 2022, Dell has added a new Advanced+ license that enables even more OME functionality. It includes the license for the new OME plugin for VMware integration OpenManage Enterprise integration of VMware vCenter (OMEVV), and the bundling in of the ServiceNow integration license. It will also include the OpenManage Enterprise Microsoft System Center Integration plugin (OMEMSSC) which will be available early in 2023.
Here’s a summary of OME features and licensing:
OME Free | OME Advanced | OME Advanced+ |
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Note: These licenses are tied to an individual server and hosted on the iDRAC but are different from iDRAC licensing (such as iDRAC Datacenter) because they do not enable iDRAC features. Instead, they enable external software and features such as OME, as shown in the table above.
Conclusion
As server administration teams are asked to manage more infrastructure, in less time than ever before, it is crucial for these teams to leverage any new solutions to drive efficiency.
To enable the new features and benefits of the Advanced+ license, including OMEVV, ask your Dell sales team about OMEVV and for a quote for the OME Advanced+ license.
To learn more, see:
- OpenManage Portfolio Software Licensing Guide
- Server System Management Software
- Follow this link for a trial 90 day Advanced+ license
- OpenManage Enterprise Product information
- Dell OpenManage Enterprise support site
* 50% in claim based on attached license sales and OME downloads
Author: Mark Maclean, PowerEdge Technical Marketing Engineering
Related Blog Posts
Sweet 16 ways OpenManage helps customers to maximize their investment in PowerEdge
Wed, 12 Apr 2023 01:27:49 -0000
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As we at Dell announce details of the new wave of PowerEdge servers (details here), we want to highlight 16 examples of how the OpenManage portfolio of systems management software enhances our server range. Like I always say, where there are servers, there are server management requirements.
The OpenManage portfolio exists to save customers of any size time and money, eliminating the necessity of high-touch, manual steps to deliver efficiency. Designed to scale, with integrated security, Dell’s OpenManage strategy is to give customers a choice by using orchestration, automation, and integration, leveraging APIs with open standards.
#1 – Server health monitoring—This is server management 101. However, given the fact that PowerEdge servers are the foundation of the modern data center, this basic element is critical to application and services uptime. OpenManage solutions have many ways to get this information from the agent-free iDRAC directly (GUI/SNMP/SMTP/syslog/API and more) or through the Dell OpenManage Enterprise console, OpenManage mobile, Dell CloudIQ, VMware vCenter integration, Microsoft System Center, and leading third-party management software such as Nagios.
#2 – Remote access to servers—If deep one-to-one control for troubleshooting, deployment, configuration, console access, and so on is needed, then iDRAC is the answer. Dell's unique iDRAC9 offers out-of-band remote server connection, including firmware configuration, full server console remote control through eHTML5 (sometimes called vKMV) GUI, virtual media, and server telemetry. iDRAC agentless architecture offers server monitoring and control from anywhere without the need to install any software. There are many additional features, from basic power on/off control offered through the GUI, CLI, or API to advanced server profile configuration to ensure that servers have the correct firmware configuration settings.
#3 – Server deployment—The time between when a server is racked and powered until it is live (time to value) can be greatly reduced by leveraging the automation integrated into OpenManage. Starting with streamlining one-to-one deployments, the iDRAC features a lifecycle controller that rapidly configures elements such as RAID storage configurations and populate deployments with up-to-date operating system drivers. In addition, iDRAC also features a zero-touch deployment to automatically download a server configuration profile (SCP) and even complete an unattended operating system installation the first time the server powers up on a customer’s network. Beyond one-to-one solutions, OpenManage offers a broad number of deployment solutions, including: OpenManage Enterprise, offering firmware setting configuration and supporting agnostic operating system installation through ISO images; Microsoft System Center integration; and deeper customizable VMware installations through OpenManage Enterprise for VMware vCenter. Finally, for customers using tools such as Ansible, Terraform, or Prometheus, OpenManage supplies integration packs and sample code leveraging Dell's APIs.
#4 – Manage and update firmware—There are multiple methods to update PowerEdge server firmware, depending on needs. Methods range from one-to-one, using iDRAC/Lifecycle Controller, to console-based methods for updating multiple servers. Leveraging large-scale automation, these tools can audit existing servers, compare online catalogs, then download and apply the correct updates quickly and consistently with massive time savings compared to manual methods. One example is the integration into VMware using OpenManage Enterprise for VMware vCenter, which offers cluster-aware updates, updating one cluster node at a time using DSR to keep workloads up and running. Dell supplies Repository Manager to build custom firmware catalogs like the packaged interpretable ISOs that are used by other Dell updating tools where servers are isolated or air gapped. And, of course, Dell supplies an Ansible module offering firmware updates to the DevOps user base.
#5 – Configuration drift detection—OpenManage Enterprise provides compliance features that detect, highlight, and remediate configuration drift issues, with simple processes for both firmware versions and firmware configuration settings.
#6 – Secure supply chain assurance—Using Dell’s Secure Component Verification (SCV) allows organizations to ensure that their new servers are delivered with the same components installed at Dell Technologies’ manufacturing facility, using a digital, cryptographically secured signed inventory certificate.
#7 – Power usage reporting (and carbon emissions calculations)—There are multiple ways to view server power consumption data, depending on needs and preferences. One way is to open the iDRAC web GUI, while another way is to use scripts, either Racadm or Redfish, to retrieve the data. iDRAC can also send data to the OpenManage Enterprise Power Manager plug-in, where power data, including carbon emissions, is processed and grouped, and can be displayed, reported, and actioned. OpenManage Enterprise can also forward this information to CloudIQ for PowerEdge for additional analysis and visualization. For those customers looking for maximum data, iDRAC9 can stream these power statistics as telemetry data to analytics solutions such as Splunk or ELK Stack for real-time in-depth analysis.
#8 – Power usage control—Power consumption capping ability is integrated into iDRAC. OpenManage Enterprise Power Manager adds the capability to apply power caps to individual servers or groups of servers. This power capping can be permanent, scheduled at particular times for specific weekends, or ad hoc in response to an incident when reduction in power consumption is required, such as when running on UPS or on-premises generators.
#9 – Thermal event management—While thermal monitoring alerting and even shutdown is integrated into PowerEdge servers through the iDRAC, OpenManage Enterprise Power Manager augments this through powerful Emergency Power Reduction (EPR) policies. This feature reduces the power consumption of servers through a power cap policy to throttle a group of servers. EPR policies can be used as a permanent or scheduled method to limit server power consumption or as an immediate temporary measure during a thermal emergency, for example, CRAC unit failure.
#10 – Performance monitoring—From the iDRAC GUI, CLI, and API, server performance telemetry data can be obtained. OpenManage Enterprise Power Manager can consume and report this data, automatically highlighting idle servers. Telemetry information can be passed to third-party solutions such as Splunk. Finally, CloudIQ can analyze information and present the information in a dashboard format with graphical visualization, and, for key metrics, highlight anomalies based on historic seasonality data.
#11 – Enterprise secure key management—iDRAC provides a standards-based Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) to encrypt data at rest on self-encrypting SSDs or self-encrypting hard drives and pass the key to a key management system. Solutions such as Thales CipherTrust Manager offer centralized key management for multiple PowerEdge servers and many other products.
#12 – Detailed server telemetry—iDRAC9 provides more than 180 data metrics that can integrate advanced server hardware operation telemetry. Many of these can be reported and visualized in CloudIQ or streamed to analytics solutions such as Splunk. This server telemetry data allows customers to access detailed information to avoid failure events, optimize server operation, and enhance cyber resiliency.
#13 – Automatic call and ticket creation—This ranges from the Dell services plug-in for OpenManage Enterprise, which offers the creation of a support case directly with Dell without any human intervention, to integration with ServiceNow by Dell’s integration pack. Alternatively, OpenManage Enterprise offers a flexible set of actions, including running scripts, SNMP forwarding Syslog event, and emailing based on the monitoring of SNMP events. This automation can be used to pass information to a third-party solution for incident management.
#14 – Capacity planning—The iDRAC provides a large amount of performance statistics. This data can be collected and analyzed by the Dell CloudIQ IOPS solution to produce a forward-looking capacity analysis on items such as CPU usage based on real historical data values for a given server and workload.
#15 – Cloud-based infrastructure management—Dell's AIOp’s CloudIQ can not only consolidate multiple instances of OpenManage Enterprise, but it can also integrate Dell storage, server, data protection, networking, HCI, and CI products. Hosted in Dell’s secure data center, CloudIQ combines proactive monitoring, machine learning, and predictive analytics to reduce risk, plan ahead, and improve productivity from core to edge.
#16 – Cybersecurity from concept to retirement—Dell Cyber Resilient Architecture 2.0 includes features such as iDRAC silicon-based root of trust, dynamic USB port management, UEFI Secure Boot, and signed firmware updates. All these features are controlled by OpenManage tools that let customers protect, detect, and recover in response to security threats.
We hope that this list has given you a few suggestions on how the OpenManage portfolio can help your organization. Servers are a vital element of organizations’ infrastructure and the foundation of modern business, and it’s critical to manage and monitor them to deliver visibility, productivity, and control. Server management tools not only make tasks easy, faster, and consistent but also decrease failures with increased efficiency. Remember, don't just manage, automate.
Is your organization using all the features that Dell OpenManage offers and getting the maximum benefits from investing in PowerEdge servers? Ask your account manager for more details.
References
#2 Support for Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 9 (iDRAC9)
#3 How to create and deploy a Server Template in OpenManage Enterprise (video)
#4 Updating Firmware and Drivers on Dell PowerEdge Servers
#5 Improve Operational Efficiency Through OME Server Drift Management
#6 Dell Technologies Secured Component Verification for PowerEdge
#7 #8, #9 Server Power Consumption Reporting and Management
#10 CloudIQ Provides Data Driven Server Management Decisions
#11 OpenManage Secure Enterprise Key Manager Solutions Brief
#12 Transform Datacenter Analytics with iDRAC9 Telemetry Streaming
#13 Support for OpenManage Integration with ServiceNow
#14 Talking CloudIQ: Capacity Monitoring and Planning
#15 CloudIQ: AIOps for Intelligent IT Infrastructure Insights
#16 Cyber Resilient Security in Dell PowerEdge Servers
Additional resources
- Dell server management portfolio: OpenManage microsite
- API catalog (interactive support resource): Dell Technologies Developer
- Ansible Python PowerShell module library and code examples: Dell Technologies GitHub
- Dell systems management offerings: Dell Systems Management Overview Guide
Dell Technologies PowerEdge MX with Cisco ACI Integration
Thu, 09 Feb 2023 20:05:01 -0000
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Introduction
This paper provides an example of integrating the Dell PowerEdge MX platform running Dell SmartFabric Services (SFS) with Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI).
The example in this blog assumes that the PowerEdge MX7000 chassis are configured in a Multi Chassis Management Group (MCM) and that you have a basic understanding of the PowerEdge MX platform.
As part of the PowerEdge MX platform, the SmartFabric OS10 network operating system includes SmartFabric Services, a network automation and orchestration solution that is fully integrated with the MX platform.
Configuration Requirements
Configuration of SmartFabric on PowerEdge MX with Cisco ACI makes the following assumptions:
- All MX7000 chassis and management modules are cabled correctly and in an MCM group.
- VLTi cables between MX Fabric Switching Engines (FSE) and Fabric Expander Modules (FEM) are connected correctly.
- PowerEdge and Cisco ACI platforms are in healthy status and are running updated software.
The example setup is validated using the following software versions:
- MX chassis: 2.00.00
- MX IOMs (MX9116n): 10.5.4.1.29
- Cisco APIC: 5.2(6e).
- Cisco leaf switches: 4.2(7u)
Refer to the Dell Networking Support and Interoperability Matrix for the latest validated versions.
Hardware and Logical Topology
The validated Cisco ACI environment includes a pair of Nexus C93180YC-EX switches as leafs. These switches are connected to a single Nexus C9336-PQ switch as the spine using 40GbE connections. MX9116n FSE switches are connected to the C93180YC-EX leafs using 100GbE cables.
The following section provides an overview of the topology and configuration steps. For detailed configuration instructions, refer to the Dell EMC PowerEdge MX SmartFabric and Cisco ACI Integration Guide.
Caution: The connection of an MX switch directly to the ACI spine is not supported.
Figure 1 Validated SmartFabric and ACI environment logical topology
This blog is categorized into four major parts:
- Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC)
- Dell PowerEdge MX OpenManage Enterprise-Modular (OME-M)
- VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA)
- Dell OpenManage Network Integration (OMNI)
Cisco APIC
Cisco APIC provides a single point of automation and fabric element management in both virtual and physical environments. It helps the operators build fully automated and scalable multi-tenant networks.
To understand the required protocols, policies, and features that you must configure to set up the Cisco ACI, log in to the Cisco APIC controller and complete the steps shown in the following flowcharts.
CAUTION: Ensure all the required hardware is in place and all the connections are made as shown in the above logical topology.
Note: If a storage area network protocol (such as FCoE) is configured, Dell Technologies suggest that you use CDP as a discovery protocol on ACI and vCenter, while LLDP remains disabled on the MX SmartFabric.
PowerEdge MX OME-M
The PowerEdge MX platform is a unified, high-performance data center infrastructure. It provides the agility, resiliency, and efficiency to optimize a wide variety of traditional and new, emerging data center workloads and applications. With its kinetic architecture and agile management, PowerEdge MX dynamically configures compute, storage, and fabric; increases team effectiveness; and accelerates operations. The responsive design delivers the innovation and longevity that customers need for their IT and digital business transformations.
VMware vCenter
VMware vCenter is an advanced management centralized platform application. The flowchart below assumes that you have completed the following prerequisites:
- Install the vCenter server appliance on the ESXi MGMT server.
- Install the ESXi VMvisor on the ESXi host servers for the MX SmartFabric and Cisco ACI integration environment.
OMNI
OMNI is an external plug-in for VMware vCenter that is designed to complement SFS by integrating with VMware vCenter to perform fabric automation. This integration automates VLAN changes that occur in VMware vCenter and propagates those changes into the related SFS instances running on the MX platform, as shown in the following flowchart figure.
The combination of OMNI and Cisco ACI vCenter integration creates a fully automated solution. OMNI and the Cisco APIC recognize and allow a VLAN change to be made in vCenter, and this change will flow through the entire solution without any manual intervention.
For more information about OMNI, see the SmartFabric Services for OpenManage Network Integration User Guide on the Dell EMC OpenManage Network Integration for VMware vCenter documentation page.
Figure 2 OMNI integration workflow
MX Single Chassis Deployment for ACI Integration
A single MX7000 chassis may also join an existing Cisco ACI environment by using the MX5108n ethernet switch. The MX chassis in this example has two MX5108n ethernet switches and two MX compute sleds.
The connections between the ACI environment and the MX chassis are made using a double-sided multi-chassis link aggregation group (MLAG). The MLAG is called a vPC on the Cisco ACI side and a VLT on the PowerEdge MX side. The following figure shows the environment.
Figure 3 SmartFabric and ACI environment using MX5108n Ethernet switches logical topology
Reference
List of Acronyms
ACI: Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) AEP: Attachable Access Entity Profile APIC: Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller CDP: Cisco Discovery Protocol EPG: End Point Groups LLDP: Link Local Discovery Protocol MCP: Mis-Cabling Protocol MCM: Multi Chassis Management Group MLAG: Multi-chassis link aggregation group MX FSE: Dell MX Fabric Switching Engines MX FEM: Dell MX Fabric Expander Modules MX IOMs: Dell MX I/O Modules | MX MCM: Dell MX Multichassis Management Group OME-M: Dell OpenManage Enterprise-Modular OMNI: Dell OpenManage Network Integration PC: Port Channel STP: Spanning Tree Protocol VCSA: VMware vCenter Server Appliance vDS: Virtual Distributed Switch VLAN: Virtual Local Area Network VM: virtual machine VMM: VMware Virtual Machine Manager vPC: Virtual Port Channel VRF: Virtual Routing Forwarding |
Documentation and Support
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX Networking Deployment Guide
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX SmartFabric and Cisco ACI Integration Guide.
Networking Support & Interoperability Matrix
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX VMware ESXi with SmartFabric Services Deployment Guide