Upload
others
View
2
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
DELL POWER SOLUTIONS Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, August 2005. Copyright © 2005 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. August 200514
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
Dell OpenManage IT Assistant (ITA) 7 provides several
key features not available in previous releases, includ-
ing enhanced security and a redesigned user interface
as well as additional capabilities for creating dynamic
groups, managing tasks, controlling devices, launching
applications, reporting device information, updating soft-
ware, and troubleshooting. This article explores significant
new features of ITA 7.
Enhanced securityDell OpenManage IT Assistant 7 has significantly
enhanced administrative security compared to previous
versions of ITA. For example, ITA 7 employs HTTP over
Secure Sockets Layer (HTTPS) communication between
the user interface and the management station, authenti-
cation using OS credentials, and single sign-on capability
to enable a seamless security login model.
Roles within IT Assistant To enable seamless integration with the security model
that is built into Microsoft® Windows® operating systems,
ITA 7 uses the OS to authenticate users rather than defining
a proprietary user access model. Each user is automatically
assigned a role—User, Power User, or Administrator—based
on that individual’s privileges on the management station
or role as configured in the Microsoft Active Directory®
directory service. The Dell OpenManage Version 4.3 Instal-
lation and Security User’s Guide describes the process for e
extending the Active Directory schema to enable user roles
to be configured via Active Directory.1
The ITA user roles and privileges are as follows: User,
read-only access; Administrator, full access to ITA opera-
tions; and Power User, access to several administrative
functions except for the abilities to modify discovery con-
figuration settings, modify alert management settings,
delete tasks, and schedule tasks for later execution.
Single sign-on capabilityTo enable a seamless login, ITA 7 also supports single
sign-on. This support means a user is not required to
log in again after already logging in to the OS. To enable
single sign-on support, administrators must navigate to
Tools>Internet Options in the menu bar of Microsoft
Internet Explorer. In the Internet Options pop-up window,
BY SUDHIR SHETTY
Introducing Dell OpenManageIT Assistant
Dell™ OpenManage™ IT Assistant (ITA) 7 introduces features that can significantly
enhance an organization’s capability to manage its systems from a centralized console.
For example, ITA 7 enables administrators to obtain detailed hardware and software
inventory information from a centralized database, run reports against that data, create
and run scheduled tasks for selected devices, and create dynamic groups of systems
based on inventoried hardware and software assets in the database.
Related Categories:
Change management
Dell OpenManage
Systems management
Visit www.dell.com/powersolutions
for the complete category index.
The Dell OpenManage Version 4.3 Installation and Security User’s Guide is available at support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smsom/4.3/en/ug/index.htm.e
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
www.dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, August 2005. Copyright © 2005 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. DELL POWER SOLUTIONS 15
administrators should select the Security tab and then set the Web
content zone in which the ITA management station resides; best
practices recommend selecting the “Trusted sites” zone to avoid
other security pop-ups. Next, administrators should click the Custom
Level button and select the radio button next to “Automatic logon
with current username and password.” To enable remote login to
a management station, administrators should use the following for-
mats to define the URL that points to that management station:
• Authentication using the local system’s user credentials:
https://machinename:2607/?authType=ntlm&application=
ita&locallogin=true • Authentication using Active Directory: https://
machinename:2607/?authType=ntlm&application=ita
Redesigned user interfaceThe standardized look-and-feel of the redesigned ITA graphical user
interface (GUI) enables administrators to create objects through
intuitive wizards and to easily invoke actions by right-clicking or
using the Actions menu.
Because the GUI is Web based, remote administrators can manage
their networks via a Web browser. ITA 7 supports Microsoft Internet
Explorer on Windows operating systems and Mozilla 1.7.3 (or later)
on Linux®x operating systems. ®
Dynamic groups Administrators can create dynamic groups based on dynamic queries
or static selection of devices within the device tree. First, administrators
must right-click on the All Groups node and then select “New Group.”
In the device selection pane of the Add Group Wizard (see Figure 1),
administrators can either manually select the devices that constitute the
group or define a query that determines group membership.
Figure 1. Device selection pane within the Add Group Wizard
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
DELL POWER SOLUTIONS Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, August 2005. Copyright © 2005 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. August 200516
A query definition is based on the data that is inventoried from
remote devices. To define a query, administrators should select the
radio button next to “Select a query” and click the New button.
Administrators can then define the device group based on certain
criteria. For example, an administrator could define a group that
comprises servers located in Austin, Texas, by leveraging the server
naming convention the organization uses—including “aus” in the
domain name. As shown in Figure 2, this example scenario uses the
query “Name Contains ‘aus’ AND Device Type Is Server.”
As servers are added or deleted, the group membership is modi-
fied dynamically to reflect those changes. The updated custom group
appears in the device tree. This new custom group can be leveraged
in other areas of Dell OpenManage IT Assistant that are dependent on
device groups such as reporting, task management, and event filters.
Task management Dell OpenManage IT Assistant provides a powerful task man-
agement infrastructure that allows administrators to create and
schedule tasks. The following sections describe the different types
and categories of tasks. For each task category, administrators can
choose the target devices for the task as well as the schedule cor-
responding to the task. Figure 3 shows the task panel view.
Command-line tasksThe ITA 7 command-line interface (CLI) allows administrators
to perform generic CLI activities, including Intelligent Platform
Management Interface (IPMI) tasks, remote client instrumentation
tasks, and remote Dell OpenManage Server Administrator tasks.
Generic CLI tasks. The CLI enables system administrators to
run a custom, user-defined task against a specific set of devices.
This provides the flexibility to schedule and run user-defined scripts
or programs against a selected set of devices.
IPMI tasks. Administrators can run CLI tasks against the base-
board management controller (BMC) of a target server. For example,
administrators can reset the device and clear the system event log.
Administrators use the in-band Dell OpenManage Server Agent to
discover the BMC. Note: This requires the BMC Management Utility
to be installed on the management station running ITA.
Remote client instrumentation tasks. Administrators can per-
form remote Dell OpenManage Client Connector CLI tasks against
client devices running Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation
7.x or later. This enables administrators to perform BIOS updates
for remote client devices and set values via Common Information
Model (CIM) to update client BIOS configuration parameters. Note:
This requires Client Connector 2.0 (or later) to be installed on the
management station running ITA.
Remote Dell OpenManage Server Administrator tasks.
Administrators can perform remote server administration CLI tasks,
extending the powerful Dell OpenManage Server Administrator
CLI to a one-to-many context. Note: Server Administrator 2.0 (or
later) must be installed on the remote target device to enable this
functionality. The Server Administrator CLI enables administrators
to perform a wide variety of configuration and reporting tasks such
as clearing Embedded Server Management (ESM) logs, reporting
on storage attributes, and running diagnostics.
Device controlITA 7 enables administrators to control devices using functions such
as device wake-up and device shutdown over the network.
Device wake-up. Administrators can wake up devices on the
network using the standard Wake-on-LAN (WOL) magic packet.
Note: Network interface cards on the target devices must support
this feature for this capability to work in a distributed environment.
Also, the intermediate routers must be configured to enable directed
broadcasting or subnet broadcasting.
Device shutdown.Administrators can shut down devices on the net-
work, using either the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
Figure 3. Task panel view showing successful run of a Server Administrator CLI task to clear the ESM logs
Figure 2. Query definition pane for creating a new device query
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
www.dell.com/powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, August 2005. Copyright © 2005 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. DELL POWER SOLUTIONS 17
protocol or Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). In addi-
tion, administrators can remotely reboot, power cycle (if supported),
or power down the remote systems if they possess the appropriate
administrative credentials.
Software update tasksITA 7 also enables administrators to perform remote server software
updates and remote client software updates over the network.
Server software update. Administrators can perform a remote
software update of a server. Note: This requires that Server Admin-
istrator 2.0 (or later) be installed on the remote device. Remote
software updates can also be initiated after administrators run
a compliance report against a specific Dell Update Package or a
System Update Set.
Client software update. Administrators can perform a remote
update of a client BIOS using the client software update mechanism.
Note: To view this task type in the ITA 7 user interface, administra-
tors must install Client Connector 2.0 (or later) on the management
station running ITA.
For more information about updating software through ITA,
see the “Software updates” section in this article.
Application launchDell OpenManage IT Assistant 7 provides a consolidated launch
point for several individual device managers—including Dell
OpenManage Server Administrator; Dell OpenManage Array Manager;
the console for Dell remote access controllers; the console for Dell
PowerConnect™ switches; and the console for digital keyboard,
video, mouse (KVM) switches. ITA 7 can launch one-to-one element
managers or applications for a specific device. The applications
that are enabled for a particular device are typically determined
by the applications that are installed on the management station,
the applications that are installed at the user interface tier, and the
capabilities of the target device.
Figure 4 shows an example user interface in which the admin-
istrator has the options of launching the Server Administrator, Array
Manager, and Remote Desktop Connection applications against
a specific device. Server Administrator and Array Manager were
enabled for this device because the appropriate agent software was
detected on the remote target device. Remote Desktop Connection
is enabled for devices running a Windows OS.
Reporting Dell OpenManage IT Assistant 7 is designed to gather data from a wide
variety of devices and consolidate that information into a centralized
database. The Report Wizard enables administrators to create custom
reports that identify specific inventoried attributes for a selected set
of devices. ITA 7 provides a rich reporting infrastructure that allows
administrators to report on data attributes that are retrieved from
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
DELL POWER SOLUTIONS Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, August 2005. Copyright © 2005 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. August 200518
remote agents. For example, ITA 7 can report on data about stor-
age, cost of ownership, hardware inventory, and software inventory.
Reports can be executed and displayed as HTML, comma-separated
value (CSV), or XML. CSV reports can be imported into a third-party
tool such as Microsoft Excel to enable complex data charting and
graphing capabilities.
Software updates Dell OpenManage IT Assistant 7 enables administrators to view
the Dell Update Packages and System Update Sets that reside on
the Dell PowerEdge™ Updates CD, which is available as part of the
Dell OpenManage Subscription Service. A System Update Set is a
certified aggregate of Dell Update Packages that are specific to a
hardware platform. Dell Update Packages are also available on the
Dell support Web site at support.dell.com.
ITA 7 enables administrators to gather software inventory from
target devices, compare it with a Dell Update Package or System
Update Set, and report on devices that are not compliant with the
updates. In addition, ITA 7 can schedule a remote software update
for remote devices.
For example, a compliance report could be run against the
System Update Set for the Dell PowerEdge 2800 server. The report
might show two systems on the network that have an outdated
BIOS and outdated BMC firmware. The administrator could then
create a software update task that would run the System Update
Set to bring the two target systems into compliance.2
Troubleshooting Dell OpenManage IT Assistant includes a troubleshooting tool to
help diagnose common networking problems for remote devices.
Network administrators can use ITA 7 to run a set of test suites
to verify appropriate device connectivity (see Figure 5). This
enables network administrators to use SNMP or CIM to check
device communication capability, port connectivity on a specific
port, or Domain Name System (DNS) configuration. Trouble-
shooting tips are also provided to help administrators diagnose
and correct network connectivity issues within their specific
IT environments.
The ITA 7 services tier configuration tests help ensure that
administrators have set up the e-mail configuration correctly. E-mail
alerts are among the actions that can be configured for an incoming
alert from a remote device.
Enhanced systems management across the data centerDell OpenManage IT Assistant 7 introduces significant features
that are designed to enhance enterprise systems management.
ITA 7 provides a centralized console for viewing hardware and
software asset inventory, performing tasks, and running reports
on data gathered from remote target devices. Such capabilities can
help streamline systems management across the data center.
Sudhir Shetty works in the Dell Systems Management Consoles Group responsible for defining IT Assistant software functionality. He has an M.S. in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin.
2 For more information about compliance reports and the software update process, see “Software Change Management Using Dell OpenManage IT Assistant” by Sudhir Shetty, Steve Heracleous, and Rohit Sharma in Dell Power
Solutions, August 2005; www.dell.com/downloads/global/power/ps3q05-20050106-Sharma.pdf.
Figure 5. Results of the Port Connectivity and SNMP Connectivity tests run against aspecific target device
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Dell OpenManage:www.dell.com/openmanage
Figure 4. Application launch options for a single server device