Stateless Deployment with Dell OpenManage Essentials A how to and best practices guide for using Dell OpenManage Essentials to deploy in stateless environments.
Revisions Date Description September 2015 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. © 2015 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 .......................................................................................................................................................................... 6 1 Covered Features .................................................................................
12.2.2 World Wide Node Name (WWNN) Definition .......................................................................................................... 23 12.2.3 World Wide Port Name (WWPN) Definition ............................................................................................................. 23 12.2.4IQN Definition ................................................................................................................................................................ 23 12.
16.3 How to modify the auto deployment settings......................................................................................................... 37 17 Deploy Network ISO Image ................................................................................................................................................... 38 17.1 Deploy network ISO image requirements ................................................................................................................ 38 17.
Executive Summary Stateless computing provides a powerful abstraction that allows workloads to seamlessly move from hardware to hardware and scale workloads. Maintaining a stateless environment and quickly responding to errors is difficult. OpenManage Essentials (OME) version 2.1 introduces new features to manage hardware in a stateless environment. This white paper covers using the new stateless features. This white paper also covers the OME 2.0 device configuration features.
1 Covered Features This white paper covers the following topics and features. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 7 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. Create a virtual IO pool. Create a compute pool. Deploy a compute pool. Deploy a template to a server or chassis. Deploy a template to undiscovered devices by service tag (‘Auto Deploy’).
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 9 The file share settings popup Stateless Deployment with Dell OpenManage Essentials | Revision A00
3 Understanding the differences between bare metal and stateless deployments Bare metal and stateless are the two methods of deployment available in OME 2.1. The primary differentiator between these is who controls the virtual identities assigned to the device. In bare metal deployment, the user defines the identities and manually enters these into OME. This could also be considered manual identity deployment.
4 How to deploy in a stateless environment Example use case – You want to deploy and manage servers in a virtualized environment connected to a storage area network. You want the configuration of one well formatted server deployed to other servers and you want the servers to use virtual identities created from manageable virtual identity definitions. To accomplish this use case you must perform the following steps. 1.
5 How to replace a server in a stateless environment Example use case – A server in your stateless environment experienced a hardware failure. You need to transfer the workload of the failing server to a new server. To accomplish this use case you must perform the following steps. Prerequisites: 1. The source device must have been deployed from OME from a compute pool using virtual IO. 2. The target device must be in the same compute pool as the source.
6 How to reclaim virtual identities deployed by OME Example use case – A production server with a specific workload needs retired, and you wish to reclaim all the virtual identities so OME can reuse these later. To accomplish this use case you must perform the following steps: Prerequisites: 1. The source device must have been deployed from OME from a compute pool using virtual IO. Steps: 1. Complete the reclaim identities wizard to begin the reclaim process. 2.
7 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.
8 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.
9 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.
10 Hardware setup for stateless environment This section covers the hardware setup and best practices for configuring an environment for stateless computing.
11 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. 11.1 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 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’.
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. 11.3.2 Create a template from a reference chassis Follow the steps in the Create a template from a reference server section.
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. 11.4.3 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.
12 Create Virtual IO Pools Virtual IO pools simplify identity management in OME. This section explains how to create a virtual IO pool from a prefix definition or from an import file. Also covered in this section is how to increase a virtual IO pool’s size and lock or unlock a virtual IO pool. 12.1 Virtual IO Pool definition A virtual IO pool is a definition of identity types that describe identities and determines the identities OME will generate.
12.2.2 World Wide Node Name (WWNN) Definition WWNN addresses are used to define virtual WWNN address properties. It is recommended to define this in FCoE and FC environments only. For example, 21:00:00:e0:8b:05:05:04 is the identity for QLogic HBA card. Please note that this will vary depending on the vendor HBA cards. Restrictions: WWN prefixes require an NAA value of 2, 5 or 6. An NAA value (Network Address Authority) is a 4 bit field used to guarantee uniqueness of WW names.
Restrictions: Value cannot be empty. Defined by: - IQN seed string Or - 12.3 Imported identities How to create a Virtual IO Pool A virtual IO pool can be created from the deployment portal. A virtual IO pool may contain an identity definition for each of the types of identities. Multiple definitions for a single identity type is not allowed. A virtual IO pool may contain identity types defined by prefix and/or import files. To create a virtual IO pool follow the steps below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
12.3.1.2 Import identities from a CSV file To import identities from a file, perform the steps below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. In the “Create Virtual IO Pool” in the identity type screen (example “Ethernet Identities” screen) check the “Import from file:” radio button. Click the “Import” button. An import wizard pops up. Click the “Import” button. Select a file. Wait for the import to finish (progress bar shows status). Review results and close the results window.
13 Create Compute Pool Compute pools provide a method to group a set of like devices for deployment and pre-can the settings which will be applied to them. The pool can be recalled at deployment time, simplifying the deployment process. Compute pools are required for virtual IO. Compute pools are visible in the deployment portal and under the main device tree under the repurpose and bare metal group. 13.
14 Deploy Compute Pools Deploying the compute pool is required to actually apply the settings in the pool definition to one or more devices in the pool. 14.1 Deploy requirements 1. The file share must be configured (see the How to setup the file share section). 2. The target devices must meet the minimum requirements for the deployment and configuration features (see the Target device requirements section). 3.
7. Define the task start time. 8. You can optionally preview the task results. This will simulate the deploy action and show the results of what would occur when the task is run. 9. Completing the wizard will create and schedule the task for execution. 10. You should verify the task result by reviewing the task execution history for the task after it runs. 14.3 Compute Pool Locks After successful deployment, the pool will become locked preventing the pool definition from being edited.
15 Deploy Template to Bare Metal Devices This section covers how to do deployment using manual IO which was introduced in OME 2.0. For stateless deployment, see the section How to deploy a compute pool, and its prerequisite sections. 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.
Note: Only devices that satisfy the deploy requirements appear in the device selection. To review the requirements, see the Deploy requirements section. Figure 4 Modify repurpose and bare metal device group popup 6. Click ‘Ok’. 15.3 How to deploy a template This section describes how to deploy a template to servers and chassis. 15.3.1 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 5 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.
16 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.
Figure 6 16.2.2 Setup stateless auto deploy of a template to server service tags 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 34 Format of an example CSV file. Navigate to the ‘Deployment’ tab. Click ‘Setup Auto Deployment’ (located in the left hand navigation under ‘Common Tasks’). Select the target compute pool and click next. Review the selected template and click next. Review the selected virtual IO pool and click next.
16.2.3 Setup bare metal auto deploy of a template to server service tags 1. 2. 3. 4. Navigate to the ‘Deployment’ tab. Click ‘Setup Auto Deployment’ (located in the left hand navigation under ‘Common Tasks’). Make sure ‘Deploy Template’ is checked and click ‘Next’. Select a server or chassis template (as applicable to the type of target devices) to be deployed on the target servers or chassis and click ‘Next’. 5. Click the ‘Import’ button to import the csv file that contains the Service Tags.
Figure 7 Auto deployment target credentials page e. Click ‘Finish’. 9. Review the task in the Summary pane and click ‘Finish’. 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.
16.2.4 Setup auto deploy of a template to chassis service tags A chassis template can be deployed to an unlicensed chassis. Follow the same steps in the Setup bare metal auto deploy of a template to server service tags section. Select a service tag CSV file of chassis in step 6. 16.3 How to modify the auto deployment settings By default, the ‘Deploy Configuration to Undiscovered Devices’ task runs every 60 minutes. When this task runs, it checks if any of the auto deployment service tags were discovered.
17 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. 17.1 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. 17.2 How to deploy network ISO image 1. Navigate to the ‘Deployment’ tab. 2.
Figure 9 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.
18 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. 18.1 Configuration compliance requirements 1. The file share must be configured (see the How to setup the file share section). 2.
Figure 10 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.
18.2.2 Run configuration inventory per target To get the current configuration inventory from a device, do the following… 1. 2. 3. 4. 18.3 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.
19 Troubleshooting 19.1 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 11 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 12 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 13 Net share command results 5. 19.2 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. Make sure the identity type definition meets the requirements for that identity type. See the Types of identities section. 2. If you can’t edit a virtual IO pool, it is likely locked. To unlock it (and enable editing) see the How to lock or unlock a Virtual IO Pool section. 3. If a virtual IO pool runs out identities to assign, a warning message appears during the assignment process in the deploy wizard. The size of a virtual IO pool can be increased.
If an error occurs in a task created for auto deployment to a device, troubleshooting for that error should be done as explained in the Troubleshooting the file share section. 19.6 Troubleshooting deploying a network ISO The task execution history details provide troubleshooting information. If the network is unable to find the ISO share, check the following: 1. Verify the IP address in the share location. 2. Verify the path to the folder of the share. a.
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.
B Boot-from-SAN Considerations The attributes for a template include attributes to support Boot-from-SAN operations. Boot-from-SAN functionality may run over iSCSI, FC, or FCoE connections. Attributes for Boot-from-SAN operations include attributes for both initiators and targets. Regardless of the protocol being used, the storage (target) hardware and software must be setup, configured, and available on the network.
IscsiInitiatorSecDns, IscsiInitiatorIpv4SecDns, IscsiInitiatorIpv6SecDns IscsiInitiatorName IscsiInitiatorChapId IscsiInitiatorChapPwd IscsiVLanMode IscsiVLanId SecondaryDeviceMacAddr UseIndTgtPortal UseIndTgtName Related Attributes BiosBootSeq BootOption VirtualizationMode Target Attributes General Target iSCSI Attributes IscsiTgtBoot ConnectFirstTgt ConnectSecondTgt FirstHddTarget Target-Specific iSCSI Attributes FirstTgtIpVer SecondTgtIpVer FirstTgtIpAddress SecondTgtIpAddress FirstTgtTcpPort SecondTgtTc
Due to this restriction, Virtual IO Pools don’t have a provision for assigning IP addresses, subnet, or gateway values for iSCSI.
