Technical White Paper Profile Management and Deployment Enhancements in OpenManage Enterprise 3.4 Abstract OpenManage Enterprise (OME) 3.4 has a new Profile Management portal which enables users to easily replace systems in a data center and to apply changes efficiently. OME 3.4 also significantly enhances the configuration and deployment capabilities and has intelligent identity assignment logic. Read on to know more.
Revisions Date Description September 2020 Initial release Acknowledgements Authors: OpenManage Enterprise (OME) Engineering [Pushkala Iyer, Reg Stumpe, Rakesh Ayola, Gabe Stern] The information in this publication is provided “as is.” Dell Inc. makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Table of contents Revisions............................................................................................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................................. 2 Table of contents ..................................................................................................................
Executive summary OpenManage Enterprise 3.4 has significant improvements in the Configuration and Deployment domain. There is a new Profile Management portal enabling users to view, modify, and deploy profiles. This enables users to generate profiles upfront and enables easy migration and part-replacement. Virtual identity allocation logic is intelligent - the assignment avoids identities that have been externally allocated. OME 3.
1 Background and Overview This technical white paper outlines how OME 3.4 addresses many feature gaps and customer issues in device Configuration and Deployment. The following are the key features that are implemented and the customer issues that have been addressed: • • • • • 1.1 Profile Management Portal - Ability to generate profiles with settings and virtual identities for deployment to a device that are discovered or yet to be discovered using Service Tag.
2 Configuration and Deployment improvements in OME 3.4 2.1 Profile Management using the Profile Portal OME 3.4 has a new Profile Management Portal as seen in the screenshot below. A Profile provides a mechanism for reserving identities and establishing deployment images in advance, for use in deployment later. When a profile is created, applicable virtual identity attribute values are reserved for it.
• Ability to deploy the entire profile with Deploy or Redeploy - • Useful for part-replacement scenarios. To ensure that all the settings are correctly reapplied on the system. Auto-Deploy has been integrated with the Profiles Portal page – a profile can be auto-deployed to a service tag. The following state diagram shows the various profile states and transitions. Profile States and Transitions The following screenshots illustrate each of these workflows.
Profile Creation Steps: Select template information Profile Creation Steps: Specify name prefix and number of profiles to be generated Profile Management and Deployment Enhancements in OpenManage Enterprise 3.
Profile Creation Steps: If booting to a network ISO after deployment is desired, specify full ISO path and share location Profile Management and Deployment Enhancements in OpenManage Enterprise 3.
2.1.2 Deploy Profiles Once a profile is created, it can be assigned to a device via deployment or to a service-tag via autodeployment. Profile assignment: A profile can be assigned to a device (via Deploy) or a service-tag (via AutoDeploy) Profile Management and Deployment Enhancements in OpenManage Enterprise 3.
Profile Assignment via Deploy: A target device should be selected to deploy the profile Profile Management and Deployment Enhancements in OpenManage Enterprise 3.
Profile Assignment via Deploy: Specifying IP settings for target – both IPv4 and IPv6 settings can be supplied. Profile Management and Deployment Enhancements in OpenManage Enterprise 3.
Profile portal showing that the profile is now “Assigned” and the deployment job is currently running Profile Management and Deployment Enhancements in OpenManage Enterprise 3.
2.1.3 Edit Profiles Edit a profile to change any of the target specific attribute values (except virtual identity attribute values). Edit profile: Allows change of any target specific attribute values except virtual identities If the profile has been edited after deployment, then the profile grid displays an indicator (yellow bang) showing that it has been modified. This indicator is also displayed if the template from which the profile was created is modified.
Profile grid showing a modified profile. The indicator is shown if either the profile (target attributes) or the source template (from which the profile was created) attributes were modified. 2.1.4 Re-deploy Profiles A modified profile can be redeployed to the system. Users can specify if they want to deploy only the changeset (Modified attributes only—This option is useful for quick deployment) or the entire profile (the “All Attributes” option is useful for part replacement scenarios).
Options for re-deployment of a modified profile Profile Management and Deployment Enhancements in OpenManage Enterprise 3.
2.1.5 Migrate Profiles When it is time to retire a server, the migrate wizard can be used to move the profile, including all settings and virtual identities, to its replacement. The ‘Force’ option can be used to move the profile even when the source system is no longer available. Options to migrate a profile. 2.2 Comprehensive Deployment Covering Target and Secure Attributes Attributes involved in server configuration can be broadly classified into template attributes and target attributes.
In previous OME releases, secure attributes (these are typically password attributes) were not deployed. In OME 3.4, these attributes are processed differently and deployed separately using different API calls. Secure attributes are not included for compliance. The following screens show edit, save, and deployment of secure attributes: Ability to edit a template and supply values for secure attributes Profile Management and Deployment Enhancements in OpenManage Enterprise 3.
After values have been supplied for secure attributes 2.3 Intelligent Identity Pools With versions prior to OME 3.4, the virtual identity assignment is unaware of possible conflicts. A conflict can exist if another console has assigned virtual identity values that intersect with identities in pools defined in OME. In OME 3.
Identity pool usage: Virtual identities that are in conflict are displayed with a “conflict” icon Identity pool usage: Virtual identities that are in conflict are displayed with a “conflict” icon, the conflict can apply to virtual identities that were previously reserved also. 2.4 Easier Workflows to Manage OME-M Sleds Using OME 3.3 and prior versions to manage several MX7000s involved arduous network management. Profile Management and Deployment Enhancements in OpenManage Enterprise 3.
Fabric management and uplink configuration are functions of the chassis element manager, users go through the following sequence of operations in OME-M. 1. Create networks by specifying name, description, VLAN ID, or range / QoS. 2. Create fabric design definitions by choosing a pair of applicable IOMs. 3. Configure uplinks for the fabric by specifying uplink type, switch ports, and the networks to use for untagged or tagged networks.
Easier OME-M workflows: Importing network definitions from a file Easier OME-M workflows: Job created to import networks Easier OME-M workflows: Import VLANs from Chassis Profile Management and Deployment Enhancements in OpenManage Enterprise 3.
An additional performance improvement include the ability to affect changes to VLAN assignment without server reboots. With OME 3.4, if changes to VLAN assignments to NIC ports in a template are made, the changes can be propagated to modular servers that the template had been previously deployed to without requiring a server reboot. Easier OME-M workflows: VLAN assignment changes can be propagated to modular sleds in the NGM chassis, w/o a reboot of the sleds (Propagate checkbox).
Symptom Not all the VLANs are imported successfully. A.1 What to check • If possible, the target device can also be checked for logs or job queue updates via the iDRAC UI. • VLAN definitions that conflict with existing VLAN definitions in OME cannot be imported. The VLAN import job execution history provides details on the VLANs that were successfully imported or those that failed to import. Related resources OpenManage Enterprise Version 3.4 and OpenManage Enterprise - Modular Edition Version 1.20.
