OMSA Alert Management - Broadcast a message?

Question

I downloaded and installed OMSA to my PowerEdge 1850. I have configured the SMTP server info and tested it by sending an email via OMSA. My question is, how and when will the server send me alerts when critical events occur? When I go to the 'Alert Management' page, I see several events listed. When I click on one, I see 3 options:

Display an alert message on the server

Broadcast a message.

Execute application.

Unfortunately there are no details on what exactly "Broadcast a message" means. HOW does a message get broadcast? Through the messenger service, or via an email through SMTP?

ElectromekDiagn · Answer

You will need to install OpenManage IT Assistant console (or some other SNMP monitor).  There is no way to have the Openmanage SA software itself send alerts via email or pager.

xyz123abc456 · Answer

Thanks, however... I have visited the 'Dell USA > Support Home Page > Technical Support > Drivers and Downloads' page and I find absolutely nothing in the 'Systems Management' section that says 'OpenManage IT Assistant console'. So where does one find this 'OpenManage IT Assistant console'? And why isn't 'OpenManage IT Assistant console' a part of the 'OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) OM_5.2.0_ManNode_A00' download?

OMNavigator · Answer

I shalll try to answer your questions:   Why IT Assistant (ITA) is not part of OMSA? Well, OMSA provides the instrumentation that goes on each of the managed servers (probably dozens or hundreds of them) in your network. It provides one-to-one management capabilities for the server on which it is installed. Using it you can, for example, configure temperate and voltage thresholds.   ITA , on the other hand, is the management station that you would install on one of the systems in your network (either one of your servers, or a separate workstation etc). The purpose of ITA is to monitor and manage all of the managed devices (servers, printers, clients, switches, etc.) and execute tasks, updates etc on them. This is a one-to-many management application that gives you high-level management capabilities. For granular level, it allows you to launch specific application (like OMSA) by right-clicking on any of the managed device.   Some users even choose to use their own (third-party) systems management software instead of ITA, but use OMSA to set thresholds for each system. The purpose of 2 softwares is different, so they are separate downloads.   Where to download? ITA is downloaded as part of Systems Management Consoles. The usual way to download would be go to support.dell.com, then 'Drivers and Downloads' then either provide your server's service tag or navigate PowerEdge Servers and Storage->PE... (model e.g. 2900)-> then on the drivers page, expand the Row called 'Systems Management'. I am providing below the direct link for your convenience.     Note: After you have installed OMSA and ITA, make sure your SNMP settings are configured correctly, so as to enable receiving alerts (SNMP traps) from the PE1850 server to ITA. Video tutorials on how to set SNMP and Alerts can be found in this post: http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=pc_openmanage&thread.id=3154

xyz123abc456 · Answer

Thanks for the details and the download link. However... This IT Assistant solution is way overboard, overkill. All I want is a simple email message sent to an inbox whenever an alert occurs on the server. I don't want to be installing .NET2 framework, or installing SQLServer lite 2005, or installing SNMP services on my XP machine. All this garbage (not to mention the OMSA IT Assistant) just to receive a simple email? We're talking hundreds of megs worth of downloads, just to have a server send an email message when an alert occurs? That's absolutely ridiculous!

rekset · Answer

You can do this. There is no native ability to send emails from OMSA, but you can execute a program. Either download WMailto.exe (or some other command-line mail utility) or write a script that uses CDO mail to send the message.

You can go to Alert Management, Alert Actions, select a type of alert, and choose execute application. Then just reference the mailing application. It can't be something interactive, though - it must be able to run completely in the background. A good way to test this is to set up a scheduled task that looks just like the program you'll run, then log out of the server. If it runs as a scheduled task with no one logged in, it'll probably work in OMSA.

Tesker

Absoblogginlute · Answer

Sorry to bump an old post, but it's the first reference in Google.

I've written a couple of batch scripts that automate most of the setup for you - see http://absoblogginlutely.net/2008/11/dell-open-manage-server-administrator-omsa-alert-setup-updated/ for instructions

Czech Software · Answer

thanks Absoblogginlutely, it works like a charm!

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OMSA Alert Management - Broadcast a message?

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