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Tools to manage poweredge servers from Linux and update firmware.
Hello all,
I have taken delivery of 49 R720 servers. More will follow later (my boss is talking 500 by end of this year).
The servers are racked, and the iDRACs are connected in a separate network, where I have one linux hosts that I can SSH in to, and from where I can contact the iDRACs.
I have been experimenting with racadm, and wsmancli, and found out that these tools do indeed work :-) (with some minor issues).
Now I need to set up some best practices to keep these machines up to date and healthy So I need to monitor the hardware, and apply fixes to the firmware.
And I want to script this all, so that the workload for me is not that much dependent on the number of sevrers.
Eventually all servers will run RHEL 6.5
I have two questions:
- What is the best combination of Dell Linux tools and Open Source software to monitor hardware and receive alerts in time.
- Is there a firmware repository I can just mirror to have the latest firmware available without having to click through umpteen pages on the dell support website?
DELL-Josh Cr
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March 26th, 2014 07:00
Hi,
The best way to monitor the servers is to install Openmanage Server administrator on each one. The iDRAC can provide some of this functionality as well, but this tool can provide more information.http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails/Product/poweredge-r720?driverId=C8V9M&osCode=RH60&fileId=3291475553&languageCode=EN&categoryId=SM
This will provide SNMP traps about the system status along with a web GUI and CLI for direct access to check systems.
Our central management tool is called Openmanage essentials, however it is Windows only http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems-management/w/wiki/1989.openmanage-essentials.aspx#download_OME
As for updates there is a repository for updates however the tool to create the update media is Windows only and will not automatically update the systems. http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails/Product/poweredge-r720?driverId=N8WYG&osCode=RH60&fileId=3214195931&languageCode=EN&categoryId=SM
Alternatively you can reboot the system and go into the lifecycle controller during post(F10) and choose the platform updates option and it will connect to the internet and update the system.
Krist van Besie
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March 26th, 2014 09:00
The issues I have with this is that:
a) many of the servers won't have internet access.
b) the management network that can access the iDRACs is only accessible via a linux host that I can ssh in to.
This is the reason why I need some solution that involves only linux based tools, and that doesn't require internet access for the iDRACs.
Anything that requires windows is hence out, (un)fortunately...
DELL-Josh Cr
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March 26th, 2014 10:00
We do not have a monitoring program for Linux, you can use openIPMI, ipmitool or a 3rd party tool that can read our snmp traps. http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/w/wiki/linux-hardware-monitoring.aspx
For the firmware updates you could try updating through a linux repository and pointing the non internet systems to one of the ones that does have internet, but this is not validated by us. http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Repository/firmware
Lokited
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March 26th, 2014 10:00
For the updates you could just use Server Update Utility
It states it is compatible with RHEL
A new version was just released:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=7WJ8M&fileId=3354525384&osCode=WS8R2&productCode=poweredge-r720xd&languageCode=EN&categoryId=SM