OMSA, OME, ESXi 5.x

Here is the link for the white paper for updates using OME.

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20217144.aspx

OME uses OMSA to retrieve hardware inventory and health from ESXi server.

 It can only update ESXi servers using iDrac and WS-Man protocol.

Regards

Abhijit

Thanks for the post.  Do you have any URLs, documentation to do out of band updates? I know in the past you could use OMSA with OME to update ESXi hosts.    There was some documentation in the past: en.community.dell.com/.../20044238.aspx

Hi,

Thanks for your post. For updating ESXi hosts you will have to use out of band update mechanism using iDrac. It will work on 11G and 12G servers. You cannot use OMSA with OME for ESXi updates.

Regards

Abhijit

Perfect, thank you so much for your help!  Do you know what level of permissions OME needs in order to update ESXi servers using iDrac and WS-man protocol?  I already have the VIB installed, but i can't seem to find any information on that.  So it looks like once the OMSA agent is running, it seems that OME will update by connecting through the iDRAC?  Will an user/password with some type of privileges be needed on the ESXi host?  If yes, are AD accounts supported?

For applying  updates, you will need the administrator credentials for the iDrac on ESXi host.

The mechanism doesn't really use hypervisor so it doesn't need any ESXi host credentials.

For discovery/inventory and health information you will need use root account on ESXi server.

Here is a link to white paper for ESXi support:

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20071085.aspx

Regards

Abhijit

Can an AD account with admin privs be configured in order for OME to to discovery/inventory and health information?  Do you have any documentation on this?

We are planning to use iDrac and WS-Man protocol to update ESXi servers.  But wanted to find out if we can set up an AD account in order for OME to inventory etc rather than the root account?

If you have 12G servers you can use the same iDrac account and WS-MAN to get discovery/inventory and health information. You won't need a separate account.

Here is a link to a white paper which will provide more information on how to

setup and manage various devices in OME

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20281547.aspx

If you go over the last white paper mentioned above, it will guide you about managing that server with OME based on the generation of servers and the OS(Windows/Linux/ESXi)

Regards

Abhijit

Ok I understand that.  So if for 12G servers you can use the same iDRAc account and WS-Man to get discovery, how about on R710s which I believe are 11G servers?.  And, what about 2950s and M600s servers?

Actually, yes i did see that section, but did not apply since the 2950s and M600s are running ESXi 5.x.  I was looking for information on updating ESXi servers using iDrac and WS-Man.  I understand that on 12G servers the same iDrac and WS-Man will work and no ESXi root credentials are needed.  But on 11G servers like R710s and also M600s and 2950s running ESXi, will I need a  local account or will an AD account work?

I was looking for that as i wanted to test updates on the 2950 we have in test, but not sure is there.  Thanks and will let you know.

Last row in the table on Page 6 in the white paper talks about 9G and 10G servers. It has a link for configuring OMSA on these servers for ESXi 4 and 5. That will give you limited discovery/inventory and health. You will not be able to update these generation of servers with OME for ESXi.

That paper also talks about how to manage ESXi server and how to configure OMSA as applicable to 11G server as listed in first row of table 6. First row on table 5 will guide you on how to configure iDrac 6 on 11G servers for agent free management if you don't want to use OMSA.

Regarding the AD account question, OME needs an account on ESXi server to communicate and retrieve the information using WS-MAN. You can use the root account on ESXi as I mentioned before. Does your AD account have permissions on ESXi box to read data?

You can also use trouble shooting tool which is installed with OME, select WS-MAN protocol, specify your ESXi server IP/hostname and provide the credentials for the account you are trying to use. The result of the test will show you if you have appropriate permissions.

Regards

Abhijit