Itzikr's Blog

We have just released the vCenter plugin which I constantly use all the time to manage my Dell servers lifecycle (firmware updates, profiling, bare metal deployments etc’)

To effectively run today’s data centers, you need to manage both physical and virtual infrastructure. This means using multiple disconnected tools and processes to manage your environment, wasting valuable time and resources.

Dell has created a solution to address this problem while increasing task automation right from within the virtualization management console that you use most, VMware vCenter. The OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter is a virtual appliance that streamlines tools and tasks associated with the management and deployment of Dell servers in your virtual environment.

OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter (OMIVV) is designed to streamline the management processes in your data center environment by allowing you to use VMware vCenter to manage your entire server infrastructure – both physical and virtual. From monitoring system level information, bubbling up system alerts for action in vCenter, rolling out firmware updates to an ESXi cluster, to bare metal deployment, the OpenManage Integration will expand and enrich your data center management experience with Dell PowerEdge servers.

Enhancements:
1.Support for HTML-5 Client
2.Enhancement in the system profile to support the following:
a.System profile types-Basic and Advanced
b.System profile edit
c.12G and 13G PowerEdge servers

3.Added support for vSphere 6.7 U3, vSphere 6.7 U2, and vSphere 6.5 U3
4.Enhancement in the deployment to support the following:
a.System profile baselining based on the associated cluster profile for cluster
b.System Profile Configuration Preview

5.Enhancement in the configuration compliance:
a.Support for firmware and hardware baselining for vSphere clusters
b.Cluster level view of drift details with vCenter context

6.Support for context-sensitive help
7.Enhancement in the repository profile to support online repositories-Dell EMC Default Catalog and Validated MX Stack Catalog
8.Support for MX chassis management module firmware update
9.Enhancement in admin console to support reset backup settings
10.Enhancement in deployment mode to support for 2000 hosts with extra large mode
11.Support for dual network adapter for OMIVV
12.Dashboard to monitor host and chassis

Key changes from 4.x for existing customers

• 11^th Generation server deprecation
  
  • With 5.0, 12^th generation PowerEdge or higher is required to manage a host
    
  • Legacy customers can still use 4.3.1 with vCenter 6.5 U2 and 6.7 U1 for older environments
    
• HTML5 requires a minimum vCenter level
  
  • The lowest supported vCenter version is 6.5 U2
    
  • The lowest supported ESXi version is 6.0 U3
    
  • Newer vCenters can still administrate older ESXi, generally up to 2 versions back
    
• Hardware Profile is deprecated
  
  • A new version of the System Profile – Basic – replicates the old Hardware Profile for simpler configuration captures.
    
  • If NIC info is captured even at the Basic type in FX, Slot specific information is still captured per node unless explicitly removed
    

Defining server configurations – System Profiles

• With HTML5, the old Hardware Profile becomes the System Profile Type “Basic” – a capture just of of BIOS, iDRAC, FC, and basic RAID and NIC settings
  
• The System Profile Type “Advanced” allows for a full capture of all configuration settings allowed by iDRAC across PowerEdge peripherals
  

Defining update catalogs – Repository Profiles

• Firmware and Driver catalogs to be used across the PowerEdge edge hosts are captured via the Repository Profiles
  
• It is recommended to use the Dell EMC Repository Manager tool to help capture point-in-time firmware catalog baselines for vSphere needs
  

Creating compliance baselines – Cluster Profiles

• Cluster profiles allow for a cluster level baseline to be set on any combination of:
  
  • Configuration via System Profiles
    
  • Firmware baselines via a firmware Repository Profile
    
  • Driver baselines via a driver Repository Profile
    
• Compliance and drift are detected on scheduled drift checks, and status is shown in the OMIVV dashboard
  

Firmware updates managed from vCenter

• Ability to deploy BIOS and firmware updates from within vCenter, including leveraging DRS for cluster-aware updates
  

Physical and virtual server health in one place

• Physical server inventory, monitoring, and alerting directly within vCenter
  

Speed up new server deployment

• Templates for easy server configuration and hypervisor deployment on a new system without PXE boot, dropping it into a cluster and linking to vCenter Host Profiles
  

Manage server lifecycle updates in vCenter

Firmware updates when you are ready

• Schedule iDRAC supported firmware updates in advance via scheduled jobs, or simply by right-clicking on a managed ESXi host
  
• With DRS enabled, OMIVV can perform a “cluster aware” update to help minimize downtime and maintenance windows:
  
  • Check system health
    
  • Place the system into Maintenance Mode (moves active VMs to another node in the cluster)
    
  • Update the firmware from a repository and reboot if needed
    
  • Pull the system out of Maintenance Mode, ready to work
    
  • Move to the next system into the cluster until finished
    
  • With DRS enabled, OMIVV can perform a “cluster aware” update to help minimize downtime and maintenance windows:
    
• Perform up to 15 parallel cluster aware updates at the same time
  

Simplify new PowerEdge ESXi server deployments

You can download the new version by clicking the screenshot below

You can also watch a quick talk by Damon Earley, who is the Product Manager for it