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Dell SupportAssist Version 1.2 for Servers User’s Guide

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Adding a device (agent-based monitoring)

Prerequisites

  • Ensure that you are logged in to SupportAssist with elevated or administrative privileges. See SupportAssist user groups and Granting elevated or administrative privileges to users .
  • Ensure that the device is reachable from the server on which SupportAssist is installed.
  • Ensure that you have the host name or IP address, user name, and password of the device.
  • If the device is running a Microsoft Windows operating system, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service must be running on the device.
  • If the device is running a Linux operating system:
    • Secure Shell (SSH) service must be running on the device.
    • SSH password authentication must be enabled (enabled by default).
    • Unzip package must be installed on the device.
  • If the device is running VMware ESXi, SSH service must be running on the device.
  • Port 1311 must be open on the device for OMSA communication.
  • If the device connects to the internet through a proxy server, ensure that the following ports are open on the proxy server firewall: 161, 22 (for adding devices running Linux), 135 (for adding devices running Windows), and 1311.
  • Review the requirements for installing OMSA on the device. For more information, see the “Installation Requirements” section in the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Installation Guide at Dell.com/OpenManageManuals.

About this task

Adding a device enables SupportAssist to receive alerts and collect system information from the device. To discover and add a device for agent-based monitoring, SupportAssist requires you to provide the details of the device. While discovering and adding the device, you are prompted to allow SupportAssist to perform the following tasks that are required for monitoring the device:
  • Install or upgrade OMSA — OMSA is required to generate alerts for hardware events that occur on the device.
  • Configure SNMP — Configuration of SNMP settings is required to forward alerts from the device to SupportAssist.

Steps

  1. Click Devices. The Device Inventory page is displayed.
  2. Click Add. The Add Device window is displayed.
    Figure 1. Add Device windowAdd Device window
  3. Type the host name or IP address of the device, display name (optional), user name, and password in the appropriate fields.
    • NOTE: Dell recommends that you provide the host name of the device. If the host name is not available, you may provide the IP address of the device.
    • NOTE: SupportAssist requires the user name and password to log in to the device and run a component that collects the device information and uploads it to Dell. Therefore, the user name and password you provide must have:
      • Local administrator or domain administrator rights and WMI access on the device (if the device is running a Windows operating system)
      • Root, super user, or sudo user rights (if the device is running a Linux operating system). If you provide the user name and password of a sudo user, ensure that the sudo user is configured for SupportAssist. For information on configuring the sudo user, see Configuring sudo access for SupportAssist (Linux) .
    • NOTE: If the system is a member of a Windows domain, you must provide the user name in the [Domain\Username] format. For example, MyDomain\MyUsername. You can also use a period [ . ] to indicate the local domain. For example, .\Administrator.

      Example of a Linux user name: root

  4. Click Add. The Add Device window is displayed, prompting you to allow SupportAssist to configure SNMP (if applicable) and install/upgrade OMSA on the device (if applicable).
    Figure 2. Add device tasksAdd device tasks
    If SupportAssist can configure the SNMP settings of the device, the Configure SNMP option is automatically selected in the Add Device window.
    • NOTE: The Configure SNMP option is disabled in the Add Device window if the device is running Citrix XenServer, VMware ESXi, or Oracle Virtual Machine.
    • NOTE: Configuring SNMP sets the alert destination of a device, and ensures that alerts from the device are forwarded to the server running SupportAssist. The alert destination of the device is set to the IP address of the server running SupportAssist.
    If SupportAssist has detected that OMSA is either not installed or requires an upgrade, the Install/Upgrade OMSA option is selected in the Add Device window.
    • NOTE: The Install/Upgrade OMSA option is disabled in the Add Device window in the following scenarios:
      • SupportAssist has detected that the recommended version of OMSA is already installed on the device.
      • SupportAssist does not support the automatic installation of OMSA on the device.
      • Installation of OMSA is not supported on the device.
      • SupportAssist has detected that OMSA is installed on the device, but is unable to identify the version of OMSA.
    • NOTE: Automatic installation of OMSA through SupportAssist is not supported on devices running Citrix XenServer, VMware ESXi, or ESX. To allow SupportAssist to detect hardware issues on these devices, you must manually download and install OMSA.
    • NOTE: Installation of OMSA is not supported on devices running CentOS, Oracle Virtual Machine, and Oracle Enterprise Linux. SupportAssist will only collect and upload system information from these devices. SupportAssist will not detect, through agent-based monitoring, hardware issues that may occur on these devices.
    • CAUTION: Without OMSA and SNMP configuration, SupportAssist will not be able to identify hardware issues that may occur on the device.
  5. Click OK. The device is listed on the Device Inventory page with an appropriate status:
    • When SupportAssist is configuring the SNMP settings, the device displays a Configuring SNMPConfiguring SNMP status.
    • When SupportAssist is installing or upgrading OMSA, the device displays an Installing OMSAInstalling OMSA status.

    After the installation of OMSA and configuration of SNMP are completed, the device status changes to OKOK. If the device displays an Error Status error status, click the error link to see a description of the issue and the possible resolution steps.

    • NOTE: If an issue occurs during the SNMP configuration or OMSA installation, the device displays an appropriate status on the Device Inventory page. To retry the OMSA installation or SNMP configuration, you can use the More Tasks list available on the Device Inventory page.

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