Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in a vCenter This Dell Technical White Paper describes necessary steps to enable Dell Servers ready for server management in vSphere client using Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter Kaushal Gala Irfan Azam Muhammad Rahman
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter This document is for informational purposes only and may contain typographical errors and technical inaccuracies. The content is provided as is, without express or implied warranties of any kind. © 2012 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dell and its affiliates cannot be responsible for errors or omissions in typography or photography. Dell, the Dell logo, and PowerEdge are trademarks of Dell Inc.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................. 5 Audience and scope ................................................................................................... 5 Prerequisites ...........................................................................................................
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 8. Test Connection Profile ................................................................................. 11 Figure 9. Example of test connection ............................................................................ 13 Figure 10. Schedule Inventory - Configuration Wizard .......................................................... 14 Figure 11. Settings - Inventory Schedule ................
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Introduction The Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter is a virtual appliance that can be used to reduce tools and tasks associated with management and deployment of Dell servers in your virtual environment.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Connection Profiles A Connection Profile associates a set of Dell hosts with credentials needed to communicate with ESX/ESXi and the Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC). Creating Connection Profiles 1. Open Dell Management Plug-in using vSphere Client. 2. If you are using the Dell Management Plug-in for the first time, the Welcome page of the configuration wizard displays.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 2. Connection Profiles 3. Click Create New to open the New Connection Profile screen. 4. Type a Profile Name and Description for the connection profile, and then click Next. 5. Place a checkmark in the boxes beside the hosts in the vCenter tree that you want to be part of the Connection Profile, and then click Next. Figure 3.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter 6. Read the information on Credentials screen, and then click Next. 7. Enter the required iDRAC credentials, and then click Next. Figure 4. Connection Profiles - iDRAC Credentials 8. Enter Host Credentials (OS Admin login details), then click Next.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 5. Connection Profiles - Host Credentials At any time, the user can cancel profile creation action using the Cancel button, or move back and forth between the wizard screens using the Back and Next buttons. 9. Click Test Connection Profile to test the new profile credentials. See Test Connection Profiles for further information. Click Save to finish creation of the connection profile.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 6. Complete Connection Profile Creation Test Connection Profiles You can test the credentials for connection profiles either at the end of the profile creation process or by using the Test Connection link on the Connection Profiles screen: 1. On the Connection Profiles screen, You will see the all the hosts attached to that connection profile. Click the connection profile you want to test.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 7. Select a Connection Profile 2. Click Test Connection above the attached hosts to open a popup screen. Figure 8.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter 3. Place a checkmark in the box beside the hosts you want to select, and click Test Selected. Test Connection Failures The following cases explain situations that can cause Test Connection Failures. Pre-Dell 12th Generation PowerEdge Servers Host Credentials will fail for one of the following cases: a.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 9. Example of test connection Hardware inventory on Dell servers A successfully completed inventory is required to gather the necessary hardware information for the Dell Server Management software to function. Also, periodic inventories ensure information is always up-to-date. Scheduling an inventory job Hardware inventory can be scheduled in any of three ways: 1. Using the Configuration Wizard a.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 10. Schedule Inventory - Configuration Wizard c. Click Save and Continue to save the inventory schedule. 2. Using the Settings screens a. Click Settings in the left navigation area. b. Click Inventory Schedule.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 11. Settings - Inventory Schedule c. Click on “Edit” on upper-right. d. Select the days to run the inventory and set the time. Click Save. Figure 12.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter 3. Using the Job Queue a. Click Job Queue in the left navigation area. b. Click Inventory History to see details on Inventory Jobs. Figure 13. Job Queue - Inventory History c. Click Change Schedule to open a popup for changing inventory schedule. d. Click Edit, select the days to run the inventory, and set the time. e. Click Apply.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 14. Change Inventory Schedule Running an inventory job An inventory job can either run on scheduled days/time as explained in the section Scheduling an inventory job, or on demand when user clicks Run Now as shown in Figure 13 . After the inventory job finishes, the result of inventory on each host is displayed in inventory job details table with Successful or Failed status.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Compliance issues The Dell hosts must meet certain minimum criteria in order to be managed by the Dell Management Plug-in. If the Dell hosts do not meet the minimum criteria, they are treated as non-compliant vSphere hosts. Viewing non-compliant hosts A compliance check runs as a part of an inventory job on hosts that are part of a connection profile.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 16. View non-compliant hosts from Compliance page The hosts shown are non-compliant because of one or more of the reasons listed below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 17. Example of non-compliant hosts Due to security restrictions pertaining to Lockdown Mode, Dell Management Plug-in cannot communicate or run the full compliance check for hosts with Lockdown Mode set to Enabled state. Such hosts are not shown in the non-compliant and are marked with a message on top of the noncompliant hosts list.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 18. 2. Host Compliance Wizard - Select Hosts Select the hosts you want to fix on the Select Hosts page using the checkboxes on the left column. Click Next. If you select hosts that are not part of a connection profile, i.e. those with Connection Profile shown as “Not Configured”, you will be prompted with a warning message. Figure 19.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Click Fix Connection Profiles to proceed to the Connection Profiles screen. Clicking Continue Compliance Wizard will allow you to continue with the wizard, but will not include hosts that were not part of any connection profile. 3. Next you will be shown hosts (from the hosts you selected) that are non-compliant due to CSIOR state on “Turn On CSIOR” page. Select hosts to fix CSIOR state and click “Next”.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 21. 5. Host Compliance Wizard - OMSA If you have selected hosts that may need reboot either while fixing OMSA or CSIOR, the Reboot Hosts screen displays with details on those hosts that need to be rebooted. You can check the checkbox on the bottom to opt-in for maintenance mode and reboot action. If you wish to manually reboot such hosts, simply uncheck the checkbox. Click Next.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 22. 6. Host Compliance Wizard - Reboot Hosts The Summary screen summarizes the actions that will be performed to correct compliance. Click Finish to initiate the fix process. You can go back and change your selections using the Back button.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter Figure 23. Host Compliance Wizard - Summary Fixing OMSA issues When a host is selected for fixing an OMSA issue, a new OMSA package is installed or updated as needed. To fix OMSA configuration, a file on the host operating system is configured to send SNMP traps. Dell Management Plugin-in uses vCenter for OMSA related issue on ESXi 4.x hosts but uses SSH on classic ESX 4.x and ESXi 5.0/5.0 Upate1.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Enabling a Dell Server for Server Management in vCenter this, simply select the checkbox to reboot hosts in the Reboot Host screen of the host compliance wizard. Common failures while fixing CSIOR 1. iDRAC not responding. Resetting iDRAC can resolve this problem. 2. Bad iDRAC credentials set in the connection Profile. 3. Old iDRAC firmware that does not support CSIOR Configuration.
