OME in Domain Controller

I think you may be looking at this the wrong way. I am fairly certain you have pro support so you may want to call in and discuss your options. OME is  more of a large server application to allow you to manage MANY servers. If you only have one, I believe the  preferred option is to install just OMSA (OpenManage Server Administrator) to manage a SINGLE server. OME allows you to connect to OMSA for MANY servers and see a consolidated view.

Your best option is to call into support, tell them your situation, and ask them for their systems management recommendation.

I hope this helps!

-Joel

Ahh. That makes sense. The site actually says that it is replacing 'IT Assistant' . Not OpenManage Server Administrator. IT Assistant is the centralized management console to connect to many OpenManage Server Administrator agents.

I agree with your point about not doing well with identifying what each application does, how it does it, and helping the users understand what application to use in what situation. However, I believe this site (at least for me) is a good step in that direction. I have learned a lot more about what products are and what they are used for by using this new site.

Additionally, the support team is really first-class and I have found the best results by calling in and opening a ticket with the Systems Management team. They answer right away and answer ALL my questions right away. They really understand those products and what the proper use of those products are.

I hope this helps!

One of the problems with Dell is that it's never clear what product you're supposed to download, and there are 7-8 of them that all come under the rubric "Open Mange."

That said, none of this is clear from the web site. In fact, it says that OME is replacing OMSA, or that's certainly the impression I got.

You guys really need to get it together. It shouldn't be this hard to install a support application.

I understand that now, but it's completely unclear on the web site. In general, Joel is right, the way the tools are described is awful. You must be clear about these sorts of things in the documentation otherwise you have confused customers, like me. :-)

Thanks for the posts guys.  I'll have the team review the messaging when I get back in the office.

As you mentioned: OME replaces ITA.  OME is for 1 to many.  OMSA (still a current tool) is for 1:1.  Generally speaking, OME would not be a tool you would consider putting on a DC.

@sfmike64, I really hope you try it.  We are working hard on OME and I hope we can make you a satisfied customer.  I may not be online much this week, but I'll be glad to help you with questions when I'm back.

@Joel, thanks for the good words.

Hope you all have a good holiday season.

Rob

OK - so with one server how can we easily check for updates from Dell? I can see the Repository Manager does some of this but what is the best tool to generate the inventory with?

MCFH, Please keep in mind that it is best practices if you have a question to ask your question in a new thread so it is your question. The original poster has their own question and this thread is meant strictly for that. You will get better results asking your specific question in a new thread.

That being said, I do not know when it was created, but USC (Unified Server Configurator) seems to be amazing for this. My new PowerEdge R715s come with this and so nothing additional is required. Just turn on the machine and during POST, it will prompt you to press to enter USC. This EUFI-based application will connect to Dell or your own internal repository, inventory your device, tell you what you have and what you should have, then allow you to download and install new updates in firmware and drivers directly from Dell. I think it is the best way to keep your system up to date with Dell's recommendations.

Here is a whitepaper I got on it from Googling it. I did it myself on both new servers. It was incredibly simple, fast, and flawless.

en.community.dell.com/.../20015222.aspx

Good Luck!

Joel,

Thanks-  sorry I was thinking this was related to the above otherwise I would have started afresh. My issue with USC is the server has to be offline to run it! Is there an online equivalent?

Thanks

Mark

I would definitely call into support for that. I do not think there is an online update for firmware. I cannot imagine updating the hard drive, backplane, or RAID controller firmware while they are online.

Even with an online process I cannot imagine it not requiring a reboot with downtime.

The nice thing about USC is that the repository is on a quarterly update schedule so you can time your updates to that and either update quarterly, bi-annually, or yearly if you so choose. I found that the downtime is very minimal and since the utility does all the work of deciding what hardware you have and what drivers/firmware needs to be updated, you have a very minimal downtime.

Can you not spare a small maintenance window for that once a quarter or twice a year? Some people cannot, however, if you cannot then you usually have redundant servers with VMware and VMotion, etc...

I feel that a maintenance window for this should be about 30 minutes...

I hope this help!

-Joel

...to be clear....SUU is the tool you use for patching a single server.  OME can help you patch multiple servers and will pull down the latest udpates based on the type of servers and inventory of your software versions.   Rob

Not sure if this is what you want, but you can search for SUU (Server Update Utility) on the Dell support site.  Hope it helps.  Rob

It's fine that OME is designed for multi-server installations, but why then is the ProSupport Active Server Monitoring being moved to OME from December? Is Dell now saying they are not interested in SMBs? Will all our customers get a refund for the service that they cannot longer use?

Poynter,

Thanks for taking the time to post your feedback and concerns around the ProSupport Monitoring.

Can you please contact the following email address directly so that they can ensure your concerns are understood?

PSM_Scheduler@Dell.com

Best regards,

Rob