White Papers

Server-Initiated Discovery with OpenManage Enterprise 3.4 | 417
1 Server-Initiated Discovery in OME 3.4
This technical whitepaper describes how OME 3.4 can automatically discover servers in a data center, based
on signals sent by servers to announce their presence. Servers can now automatically locate the console by
querying the DNS and initiate their own discovery.
The following topics are discussed in this paper:
• System requirements
• How does Server-Initiated Discovery work?
• Navigating the Server-Initiated Discovery workflow
• Security with Server-Initiated Discovery
• Troubleshooting Server-Initiated Discovery issues
1.1 System requirements
• PowerEdge servers running iDRAC firmware version 4.00.00.00 or later
• OpenManage Enterprise version 3.4 or later
1.2 How does Server-Initiated Discovery work?
DNS configuration is a key element to enabling Server-Initiated Discovery.
First, the administrator registers OME with DNS. Next, the administrator can either use OME to update DNS
via an option in the TUI, or update DNS manually for SRV / PTR and TXT records (in the case of secure DNS
updates). The context sensitive help on OME has information on the values to configure for SRV / PTR / TXT
records, and also has steps to effect these via nsupdate commands.
Thereafter, any server running 4.00.00.00 or later firmware is registered with the same domain, it knows
about the OME to signal through the records in DNS. By default, the servers notify OME about their presence
once a day.
If the “discovery approval policy” is automatic in OME, then OME initiates discovery of the servers by pooling
together notifications received in the last 10 minutes. The credentials to be used for discovery are picked up
from a CSV file that the administrator imports into OME.
In the next sections, the user workflow is detailed.