Concept Guide

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Advantages of using Lifecycle Controller Remote
Services
When Dell examined the most common management tasks and the inefficiencies associated with them, it discovered that the
additional time taken for performing management tasks was not because of the tools, but it was because of how the functions
were split between several tools. For example, the most common tasks such as provisioning, deploying, and updating required
not only multiple tools and multiple media format, but also searching the Web for tools such as drivers and firmware. This
traditional delivery model resulted in inefficient use of time, potential errors, and possible security risks. Lifecycle Controller-
Remote Services addresses all these system management issues.
Licensable features in Lifecycle Controller
The Web Services-Management (WS-MAN) License and Privilege Specification encompasses all the license and privilege
information required to utilize the WS-MAN API provided by the integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) with
Lifecycle Controller.
It was delivered as part of the iDRAC (Express and Enterprise licenses, and vFlash SD card feature) starting with the 11
th
generation of Dell PowerEdge servers. On 12
th
and 13
th
generation of PowerEdge servers, the vFlash feature is included with
the iDRAC Enterprise license, so you need not separately license vFlash with Lifecycle Controller 2.0 and later. The 12
th
and 13
th
generation of PowerEdge servers of Dell use only Express or Enterprise licensing.
The Lifecycle Controller management capabilities are partitioned into distinct areas and represented by the Dell Common
Information Model (DCIM) profile specifications that provide comprehensive details about each manageability feature or
capability. These features may be free, partially licensed, or fully licensed. Also, the accessibility of a feature is defined by
the credentials provided with the WS-MAN request and maps to the user-assigned privilege credentials, such as administrator-
or read-only access.
About iDRAC RESTful API with Redfish and Web
Service APIs
Web Services-Management (WSMan) is a Distributed Management Task Force's (DMTF) open standard, defining a Simple
Object Access Protocol (SOAP)—based protocol for managing servers, devices, applications, and various Web Services. WS-
MAN provides a common way for systems to access and exchange management information across the IT infrastructure.
DMTF is an industry organization that develops, maintains, and promotes standards for systems management in enterprise IT
environments. The DMTF data model is complex and typically requires multiple transactions to accomplish simple operations
such as specifying a user name and password, or giving administrator privileges to a user account. To reduce the number of
transactions, Lifecycle Controller also offers a Dell data model for management that is based on an attribute model.
The iDRAC RESTful API expands upon the DMTF Redfish standard with Dell EMC-specific operations. It includes RESTful
server configuration, modular server feature support, and detailed OS networking inventory and status. The Scalable Platforms
Management Forum (SPMF) has published the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF)'s Redfish API. It is an open industry
standard specification and schema which is designed to meet the needs of IT administrators for simple, modern, and secure
management of scalable platform hardware. Redfish is a NextGen management standard using a data model representation
inside a hypermedia RESTful interface. The data model is defined in terms of a standard and machine-readable schema, with the
payload of the messages expressed in JSON and the protocol using OData v4. Redfish is a hypermedia API, and can represent
various implementations using a consistent interface. It has mechanisms for discovering and managing data center resources,
handling events, and managing long-lived tasks.
About Lifecycle Controller API
Lifecycle Controller-Remote Services is a standards-based interface that enables consoles to integrate, for example, bare-metal
provisioning and one-to-many operating system deployments for remotely located servers. Dell’s Lifecycle Controller takes
advantage of the capabilities of both Lifecycle Controller GUI and Lifecycle Controller-Remote Services to deliver significant
improvement and simplification of server deployment.
Introduction
7