Deployment and Managing Configurations with Dell OpenManage Essentials A how to and best practices guide for using Dell OpenManage Essentials to deploy bare metal Dell servers and to manage and detect configuration drift.
Revisions Date Description September 2014 Initial release THIS WHITE PAPER 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. © 2013 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. For more information, contact Dell.
Table of contents Revisions ..................................................................................................................................................................................................2 Executive Summary ...............................................................................................................................................................................5 1 Covered Features .........................................................................
8 Auto Deploy Templates ............................................................................................................................................................. 24 8.1 Auto deploy requirements .............................................................................................................................................. 28 8.2 How to setup auto deploy of a template .........................................................................................................
Executive Summary Configuring a server or chassis to match precise standards can be an arduous task. Configuring an entire datacenter is even more difficult. OpenManage Essentials (OME) version 2.0 introduces two new portals and features to streamline device configuration management. This white paper covers using the new features to configure a bare metal device, automatically configure and image recently ordered devices and detect drift of a device from a baseline.
1 Covered Features This white paper covers the following topics and features. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 6 Full use case examples for using OpenManage Essential’s device configuration features. Requirements and setup for using the features. Create a template from a server or chassis. Deploy a template to a server or chassis. Deploy a template to undiscovered devices by service tag (‘Auto Deploy’). Deploy an ISO image from your network to a server. Check the compliance of devices against a template.
2 Preparing OME for Device Configuration Device prerequisites and file share settings are required to use the configuration and deployment features in OME. This section covers the device requirements, how to setup the file share settings and troubleshooting for the file share settings. 2.1 Target device requirements Target Server requirements: 1. For Dell’s 12th generation PowerEdge servers, the minimum supported version of iDRAC is 1.57.57. 2.
Figure 1 8 The file share settings popup Deployment and Managing Configurations with Dell OpenManage Essentials | Revision A00
3 How to deploy to a bare metal device Example use case – Based on your data center’s needs, you configure all the settings of one server or chassis. You have a new bare metal device or device you want to repurpose. You wish to copy all of the settings of the configured device and apply them to bare metal/repurpose device. To accomplish this use case you must perform the following steps. 1. Get the configuration from the device that is already configured and save it in OME as a template.
4 How to automate hardware configuration and operating system deployment (Auto Deploy) of recently ordered devices Example use case - Your Company orders several new devices. The devices are shipped and may come in at different times. When a device is connected to the network, you want a template you created deployed to the device and for the devices to boot to an ISO on your network. Note: Auto deploy is only for devices that have not been discovered by OME.
Note: Alternatively you can select the target by entering the device name or service tag in the search box next to the ‘Create from Device’ button. 6. Enter ‘Execution credentials’ for the target. The credentials must have administrator privileges on the target iDRAC. Figure 2 Create template from reference device wizard 7. Click ‘Finish’. 8. Click ‘OK’ to the task created message.
A task is created when the wizard is closed. To view the created task, click the ‘Tasks’ tab in the ‘Deployment’ portal. To view the progress of the task, look at the ‘Task Execution History’ grid. To view the details of the execution history, double click the task execution history entry, or right click the task execution history entry and select ‘Details’. The details will inform you if any problems occurred (such as incorrect credentials, etc.).
Figure 3 Create template from file wizard 7. Click Finish to create the template. 8. The template name will be added in the ‘Server Templates’ tree. 4.4.3 Create a template from an INI file The INI format is for chassis devices and creating a template from an INI file will create a chassis template. Follow the same steps in the Create a template from an XML file section. In step 5 when browsing for the file’s location, select the ‘.ini’ file type option.
Deploy Templates section. To accomplish this use case you must perform the following steps. 1. Create a template from a configured device or sample template. (See the How to create a template from a reference device section). 2. Add deployment instructions for the devices (auto deploy entries) you want automatically configured after they are discovered. Devices are added by service tag. (See the How to setup auto deploy of a template section). 3.
5 How to detect and manage configuration drift of a device in a production environment Example use case - You have deployed templates to several servers and chassis and want to verify that the attribute values of the template match the attribute values of the devices. If a device does drift from the template, you want to know which attributes are different. To accomplish this use case you must perform the following steps. 1.
6 Create Templates Understanding and creating templates is necessary for using the deployment and configuration features. This section explains what a template is and how to create a template from a reference device or from a file. 6.1 Template definition A template is a collection of attributes that describe the settings of a device. The settings describe the behavior of a device’s hardware. A device may have several hundred attributes depending on the device’s hardware.
Figure 4 Create template from reference device wizard 11. Click ‘Finish’. 12. Click ‘OK’ to the task created message. A task is created when the wizard is closed. To view the created task, click the ‘Tasks’ tab in the ‘Deployment’ portal. To view the progress of the task, look at the ‘Task Execution History’ grid. To view the details of the execution history, double click the task execution history entry, or right click the task execution history entry and select ‘Details’.
If the task is successful, a template is created and displayed in the ‘Server Templates’ tree. If the task is not successful, view the details of the task by double clicking the execution history. The task can be run again by right clicking the task execution history or the task and clicking ‘Run’. Rerunning the task requires entering the iDRAC credentials. 6.3.2 Create a template from a reference chassis Follow the steps in the Create a template from a reference server section.
Figure 5 Create template from file wizard 19. Click Finish to create the template. 20. The template name will be added in the ‘Server Templates’ tree. 6.4.3 Create a template from an INI file The INI format is for chassis devices and creating a template from an INI file will create a chassis template. Follow the same steps in the Create a template from an XML file section. In step 5 when browsing for the file’s location, select the ‘.ini’ file type option.
7 Deploy Templates Deploying templates is the process of sending and applying configuration settings to remote devices. A template may contain a single configuration setting, configuration settings for one or more specific functional areas, or a full device configuration. To deploy a template, you must first create a template. The template is crucial to the success of the deploy task.
Note: Only devices that satisfy the deploy requirements appear in the device selection. To review the requirements, see the Deploy requirements section. Figure 6 Modify repurpose and bare metal device group popup 6. Click ‘Ok’. 7.3 How to deploy a template This section describes how to deploy a template to servers and chassis. 7.3.1 Deploy a template to servers 1. Navigate to the ‘Deployment’ tab. 2. Click ‘Deploy Template’ (located in the left hand navigation under ‘Common Tasks’).
3. Enter a unique name for the task. A name is optional since a default name is supplied, but it is a generic name, and the same default name is always supplied. Selecting a name that is relevant to what is being deployed is suggested. 4. Make sure ‘Deploy Template’ is checked and click ‘Next’. 5. Select the template to be deployed on the target server/iDRAC and click ‘Next’. 6. Select the target devices and click ‘Next’.
Figure 7 5. Edit attributes pane Repeat for each device. Alternatively, you can import and export the grid to file to edit. You may want to export/import if you have a large number of devices with a large number of device specific attributes. The device specific attributes grid can be exported by selected device or all devices. All devices will export to a single file that can be opened in a spreadsheet processing application. When edits are finished in the file, the file may be imported.
8 Auto Deploy Templates Auto deploying templates applies all the template’s attribute’s values to a device after it has been discovered. To add auto deploy entries for devices that have not been discovered by OME, a list of service tags for the target devices must be provided. To auto deploy a template, you must first create a template. To create a template go to the Create Templates section. Note: Auto deploy is only for devices that have not been discovered by OME.
11. Enter ‘Execution credentials’ for the target. The credentials must have administrator privileges on the target iDRAC. Figure 8 Create template from reference device wizard 12. Click ‘Finish’. 13. Click ‘OK’ to the task created message. A task is created when the wizard is closed. To view the created task, click the ‘Tasks’ tab in the ‘Deployment’ portal. To view the progress of the task, look at the ‘Task Execution History’ grid.
execution history entry and select ‘Details’. The details will inform you if any problems occurred (such as incorrect credentials, etc.). If the task is successful, a template is created and displayed in the ‘Server Templates’ tree. If the task is not successful, view the details of the task by double clicking the execution history. The task can be run again by right clicking the task execution history or the task and clicking ‘Run’. Rerunning the task requires entering the iDRAC credentials. 8.3.
Figure 9 Create template from file wizard 20. Click Finish to create the template. 21. The template name will be added in the ‘Server Templates’ tree. 8.4.3 Create a template from an INI file The INI format is for chassis devices and creating a template from an INI file will create a chassis template. Follow the same steps in the Create a template from an XML file section. In step 5 when browsing for the file’s location, select the ‘.ini’ file type option.
Deploy Templates section 8.5 Auto deploy requirements In order to add auto deployment entries, the following requirements must be met: 1. Must have a template to deploy (see the How to create a template from a reference device section). 2. Must meet all device configuration target device requirements (see the Target device requirements section). 3. Target service tags cannot match a service tag of a discovered device. 4. A CSV file with the service tags (see the Create a service tag CSV section). 8.
6. Browse to the location where the file is saved, select the file and click Open. All the Service Tags in the file will be imported and listed in OME. The ‘Import Summary’ window is displayed. Review and click OK to close the window. Click ‘Next’. 7. (optional) Enter the unique attributes per service tag (for more details, see the How to edit the device specific attributes of a deploy template task section) and click ‘Next’. 8. Select the execution credentials for the service tags.
10. All the service tags that were imported are listed in the ‘Auto Deployment’ tab. 11. The service tags remain in the ‘Auto Deployment’ tab until they are discovered and inventoried in OME and the ‘Deploy Configuration to Undiscovered Devices’ task creates a deploy task for the device with the service tag. The ‘Deploy Configuration to Undiscovered Devices’ task checks periodically if the devices are discovered and inventoried in OME.
Figure 12 Auto deployment settings page 4. Click ‘Apply’.
9 Deploy Network ISO Image Deploying of a network ISO boots a server to an ISO image that is located on your network. This can be done independent, or in conjunction with a deployment task. 9.1 Deploy network ISO image requirements 1. Must meet all Deploy Template requirements (see the Target device requirements section). 2. If the ‘Deploy Template’ deploy option is checked, only server templates may be selected. 9.2 How to deploy network ISO image 1. Navigate to the ‘Deployment’ tab. 2.
Figure 13 Select ISO location page Note: The user must have full control to the share folder where the ISO is located. The share folder should be different than the file share used for deployment. 6. Select the target devices and click ‘Next’. Note: Only devices in the ‘Repurpose and Bare Metal’ device group may be selected. See the How to add devices to the ‘Repurpose and Bare Metal’ device group section to add devices to the device group. 7. Set the schedule of when the deploy template task will run.
10 Configuration Compliance Configuration compliance detects drift of a device’s attributes from a template’s attributes. A process called ‘configuration inventory’ gets configuration information (inventory) from all applicable devices and compares the inventory against an associated compliance template. 10.1 Configuration compliance requirements 1. The file share must be configured (see the How to setup the file share section). 2.
Figure 14 Configuration inventory credentials page 5. Make sure that ‘Enable Configuration Inventory’ is checked. 6. Choose a schedule – Either every week on given days at a given time or every day/hour interval. 7. Execution histories for the configuration inventory are displayed in the ‘Task Execution History’ grid. Double click on the execution history to view task details or right click on the execution history row and select details.
10.2.2 Run configuration inventory per target To get the current configuration inventory from a device, do the following… 1. 2. 3. 4. 10.3 Navigate to the device tree (‘Manage’ - > ‘Devices’). Select target devices and right click. Hover over ‘Device Configuration’. Select ‘Refresh Device Configuration Inventory’. How to associate devices to a template A device needs an associated compliance template for the device to have a compliance status in the compliance pie chart.
4. Not Associated Devices a. Associate the devices to a template. See the How to associate devices to a template section. 5. Not Licensed Devices a. Import a ‘Server configuration for OpenManage Essentials’ license in the device’s iDRAC license interface.
11 Troubleshooting 11.1 Troubleshooting the file share 1. Check the file share status in OME. a. The file share status is at the bottom of the file share wizard and is in the ‘Deployment Settings’ preference. Figure 15 File share settings popup status 2. Check the username, domain and password in OME. 3. Check the share folder in Windows Explorer. a. Verify the ‘ServerConfig’ folder exists under the installation configuration folder (by default under ‘Program Files\Dell\SysMgt\Essentials\configuration’
Figure 16 Advanced sharing tab of the ‘ServerConfig’ folder 4. Verify the share folder location using the ‘net share’ command. a. Open the command prompt and type ‘net share’. b. A share with the name ‘ServerConfig’ should be in the network share list.
Figure 17 Net share command results 5. 11.2 Check the user permissions in the ‘User Accounts’ window. Troubleshooting creating a template Troubleshooting creating a template from a reference device 1. Make sure the file share settings are correctly configured. See the How to setup the file share section or the Troubleshooting the file share section. 2. Run the task again. Right click the task or task execution history and select ‘Run’. 3. The task execution may have an ‘LC’ code in the details.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 11.4 Check that the file share settings are entered correctly (see the Troubleshooting the file share section. Double click the task execution history entry (or right click and select ‘Details’) to see the task execution history details. The ‘Results’ tab displays information on task activities and any errors that occurred. Errors with an ‘LC’ error code can be looked up in the iDRAC documentation (link in the Additional resources section).
Figure 18 File share settings popup status 5. Check the username, domain and password in OME. 6. Check the share folder in Windows Explorer. a. Verify the ‘ServerConfig’ folder exists under the installation configuration folder (by default under ‘Program Files\Dell\SysMgt\Essentials\configuration’). b. Verify the folder is shared. Right click the folder, select ‘Properties’, select the ‘Sharing’ tab. The folder should be shared.
Figure 19 Advanced sharing tab of the ‘ServerConfig’ folder 7. 43 Verify the share folder location using the ‘net share’ command. a. Open the command prompt and type ‘net share’. b. A share with the name ‘ServerConfig’ should be in the network share list.
Figure 20 Net share command results 8. Check the user permissions in the ‘User Accounts’ window. 11.5 Troubleshooting creating a template Troubleshooting creating a template from a reference device 5. Make sure the file share settings are correctly configured. See the How to setup the file share section or the Troubleshooting the file share section. 6. Run the task again. Right click the task or task execution history and select ‘Run’. 7. The task execution may have an ‘LC’ code in the details.
1. Check that the file share settings are entered correctly (see the Troubleshooting the file share section. 2. Make sure the ‘Deploy Configuration to Undiscovered Devices’ task is enabled. 3. The service tags cannot match the service tag of a discovered device. To deploy to discovered devices see the How to deploy a template section. 4. Check if the ‘Deploy Configuration to Undiscovered Devices’ task has run recently.
A Additional resources Support.dell.com is focused on meeting your needs with proven services and support. DellTechCenter.com is an IT Community where you can connect with Dell Customers and Dell employees for the purpose of sharing knowledge, best practices, and information about Dell products and installations. Referenced or recommended Dell publications: • Dell Attribute Registry: http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems- management/w/wiki/1979.lifecyclecontroller.
