Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Smart Server Manager v1.
Smart Server Manager v1.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices About this guide This guide is intended to be a quick reference for successfully configuring a working Smart Server Management environment across a network of Acer servers. Though it does not go into detail for all of the available features in Smart Server Manager (SSM) v1.2, it offers tips and a brief how to for getting the monitoring software working and setting up email alerts.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Smart Server Manager overview Smart Server Manager is a free serer system management solution for IT professionals to monitor and receive proactive email alerts in the event of any system failure – be it hardware or software. This powerful solution connects seamlessly to Acer servers via the onboard BMC chip available in most Acer server systems.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices What’s new to Smart Server Manager v1.2? Exte nsio n supp ort Virtual Machine Management OS Host Management (Inband management) System Health Management (OOB Management) Administration Console Smart Server Manager v1.2 includes both a more robust set of functions to previous versions, as well as a more intuitive interface which streamlines important functions, such as email alert creation. The complete feature comparison is included below.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Hardware and software dependencies Minimum hardware requirements for SSM installation are as follows: • System processor: 2 GHz • System memory: 2 GB RAM • Free disk space: 4 GB (May need more disk space depending on the nodes managed and the amount of history information needed.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices route both BMC and OS networking traffic through NIC 1. This method cuts down on the total number of cables, but can impact the networking performance of the first NIC. Switch from dedicated to either onboard or failover to use NIC1 as both the management and LAN network jack. Note: The core server with SSM installed must be connected to both the dedicated management port and it NIC1 to monitor itself.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices When setting up an SSM network, only a single machine needs to be dedicated as the core machine for installing the software. This machine will than act as a central hub for receiving information on the status of all the monitored server systems, VMs and operating systems, and can then forward alerts to IT administration based on the pooled data. The SSM network is detailed in the below diagram.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Tips for setting Windows Server OS Windows Server OS is a supported OS in Smart Server Manager v1.2. However, though SSM does its best to provide near seamless integration, some default settings of Windows Server should be modified to ensure ideal monitoring. Open Firewall connection In Windows, the default firewall configuration blocks SSM from receiving information about the OS and its behavior.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Tips for setting Linux Server OS Acer servers certify major enterprise Linux OS SUSE and RedHat. Smart Server Manager is guaranteed to support either, and is programmed to support other Linux solutions, but not certified to do so. When setting up a Linux OS, some good tips to follow are listed below. For Linux there are some dependencies which need to be installed.
Smart Server Manager v1.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Suggested configuration for setting hardware, software and VM performance alerts Smart Server Manager’s email alert system is a powerful tool for IT administrators to ensure they have upto-the-minute status updates about there hardware and software across their network. This free management tool can also be easily set for an entire network within about an hour across existing Acer hardware, and roughly an afternoon for a new setup.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Alternatively, the user can access the same discovery configuration window via the “Discovery” hotkey located at the bottom of the left-hand side task bar. In the discovery range menu, the user may set multiple IP ranges from which SSM v1.2 will search. This is particularly useful in case the BMC management network (out-of-band) and OS network (in-band) are separate.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Once set and the OS, servers are detected they must be authenticated in order for SSM v1.2 to provide status updates and forward email alerts. Single devices may be authenticated one at a time by entering in the user name and password for each system. For Acer server hardware, the default user name and password is “root” and “superuser”.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Virtual machines can be automatically detected and authenticated for user defined IPs and authentication information. To do so, the user should go to “Extensions” in the upper right-hand corner, and select either the Hyper-V or ESX extension configuration tab (currently SSM v1.2 can only read information from these two hypervisors). Note: users must set “global user account” for auto authentication.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Setting email alerts The process for setting up email alerts varies slightly depending on the email alert type which the user wishes to create. Regardless of the alert type, the system must have access to an email server in order to relay any alert to an email target. To set the email server, simply click under “SSM tools” -> “SSM alerting”. Once selected, the below window will pop up.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Should there be any issues receiving the alerts and all the settings appear correct in SSM v1.2, also ensure that the email server is not being blocked by any firewall settings in the network. To set an out-of-bound email alert, the best practice is to use the default “Health Alert” settings which will send a notification in the event of any sensor warning.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices In the process information page, the user can set view all available process, kill/stop certain processes and select which process(es) he/she would like to monitor. Again, holding “ctrl” or “shift” will allow the user to select multiple processes at once. Once added, should any process be interrupted the default health settings will trigger an email alert to the destination mail(s) of the user’s choice.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices TIP: It is a good idea to select both critical and good when creating the alerts so that any processes which automatically restart themselves, the IT administration will also know if the restart happened or not. Setting performance alerts for monitored virtual machines Setting performance alerts for virtual machines is a powerful tool that enables active monitoring for the loading on the components assigned to any virtual device.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices After selecting the appropriate tab, a performance alert can be set by clicking on ‘Performance Alerts – Add’. The below screen will appear, and the user can select for which VM host or VM the alert should monitor, and which counter (monitored component) to monitor. The percentage used can also be set by the user, allowing for complete control of the severity.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Setting RAID SNMP traps with LSI add-on RAID cards For server models with add-on RAID cards, or onboard Adaptec or LSI software RAID, users can enable the RAID software to send Smart Server Manager SNMP traps to alert the utility in the event a RAID volume experiences any problem – including hard drive failure. SSM can then relay this alert as an e-mail to the IT administrator for up-to-the-minute hardware monitoring.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices To set an SNMP trap alert go to ‘Tools –Configure – Configure Alerts’ Under the alerts screen users can set their own email alerts via the LSI software, and can have SNMP traps be sent to the SSM core server. To send SNMP trap alerts to SSM v1.2, the user must first enable SNMP traps in their operating system, whether it be Windows or Linux. In Windows Server 2008 R2, first go to ‘Start->All Programs->Administrative Tools->Services->SNMP Service.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Step2. Configure the SNMP service to make OS forward the RAID SNMP trap to SSM. Switch to Traps tab Key in public 3. Press Add to list button 4. Enter the IP address of SSM 5. Press Apply button In Linux, the idea is very much the same, but the SNMP trap function must be enabled in the terminal. The below script is outputted on Red Hat 5.3, for more detailed information please refer to the LSI MSM user guide.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices 2. Install LSI MSM rpm 3. check if LSI snmp is installed 3.1) xxxx> rpm –qa | grep sas_ 3.2) make sure following packages are installed 4. edit “/etc/lsi_mrdsnmp/sas/sas_trapdestination.conf” Mark original TrapDestInd 1 and IP address. Add TrapDestInd 3 and new SSM’s IP address. mark add SSM’s IP 5. restart lsi_mrdsnmpd service 6.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Finally, the user should configure the email server (refer to SSM User Guide) and set the email rule on SSM so that SSM can send a RAID mail notification out. Go to SSM Tools > SSM Alerting > Alerts > InBand Mgmt Extension > SNMP Trap Alerts to add a new Email rule (see following example). Select SNMP Trap Alerts Press add Choose the OS which contains the RAID Key in the receiver’s Email Choose “Use All traps” to make SSM forward all RAID SNMP traps by Email.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Setting an Email group alert In addition to sending email reports for sensor alerts, performance alerts, SNMP traps and software processes status, Smart Server Manager v1.2 also supports email grouping whereby admin-defined groups can be established and managed in a consolidated format. To enable email group management, the user must first click on ‘SSM Options’ tab located on the upper right-hand side of the menu.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Report manager Report manager allows users to generate reports based on SSM’s own database which they want to export into another file format. The function is ideal for users who need to need to report a problem or pass vital information, such as CPU usage or device reliability, to outside offices or managers. The function can also be used to better trouble shoot issues remotely.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Running a networked firmware update to multiple machines First, the user will need to ensure a DHCP server is setup. The firmware is updated via the IPMI management network connected to the BMC – the dedicated management port must be connected, or NIC 1 set to failover in the BIOS as detailed below.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Once installed the extension will be accessible in the ‘extensions’ section on in the SSM interface. Once open, the user can enter the account details for the management ports on the network via the ‘Configuration’ tab. In a standard Acer server environment, the management account details for Acer Smart Console are ID: ‘root’ , PWD: ‘superuser’, but this can be changed by the local admin via Acer Smart Console itself.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Before a new task can be created, the admin should upload the desired BIOS package they wish to update. This package can be one of three options: an Acer update to a standard BIOS or BMC firmware, or a user defined template created with the Acer SCE tool. The SCE tool allows administrators to change BIOS settings as needed – for example disabling Intel Hyper Threading or power saving functionality, and than save the changes as a new ‘.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Next, create a task which determines which models will be flashed, what firmware will flash, and when the action will take place. NOTE: Because IPs can change, it is important for users to ‘Scan Devices’ every time before scheduling a task to avoid the firmware from accidentally being flashed to the wrong device SSM v1.2 does not automatically refresh the data across the network in its database.
Smart Server Manager v1.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Firmware update supported systems ASSM FW Update Manager v1.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Once set the admin may than begin to create one of three power zones – Critical, High Availability and Low Priority. The power zones will act as groups of which servers should impose power capping when the rack limit begins to be reached. For example, if the set rack begins to peak, the low priority servers will be under clocked first, before the high availability and critical server groups.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices After which, the user will be prompted to configure the rack they wish to setup. This step includes selecting which machines will be managed, the desired power limit of the rack and each managed device’s power grouping priority. Establish a rack and set its maximum power. Add devices to be managed and their grouping priority.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Once set the admin will be able to view the power management dashboard and see both the system temperature and power usage.
Smart Server Manager v1.2 – Best Practices Reports may also be generated by clicking on Information -> reports.
