Dell Lifecycle Controller Remote Services v2.50.50.
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Contents 1 Introduction....................................................................................................................................................5 Advantages of using Lifecycle Controller........................................................................................................................5 Benefits of using iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller......................................................................................................... 6 Key features........
Provisioning Server.................................................................................................................................................... 20 Retire or repurpose the server................................................................................................................................. 20 Managing the web server certificate......................................................................................................................
1 Introduction Dell Lifecycle Controller provides advanced embedded systems management to perform systems management tasks such as deploy, configure, update, maintain, and diagnose. It is delivered as part of integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) out-of-band solution and embedded Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) applications in the latest Dell servers.
Dell Lifecycle Controller simplifies server lifecycle management — from provisioning, deployment, patching and updating to servicing and user customization — both locally and remotely. Lifecycle Controller includes managed and persistent storage that embeds systems management features and Operating System device drivers directly on the server. This eliminates the media-based system management tools and utilities traditionally needed for systems management.
• Replace motherboard using Import Server Profile feature New in this release The updates supported in this release are: • Added support for Dell EMC DSS 9500 and DSS 9250 servers. • Enhanced Server Configuration Profile support including firmware repository import, local file streaming for import and export, and optional JSON format.
using a consistent interface. It has mechanisms for discovering and managing data center resources, handling events, and managing longlived tasks. About Lifecycle Controller API Lifecycle Controller-Remote Services is a standards-based interface that enables consoles to integrate, for example, bare-metal provisioning and one-to-many operating system deployments for remotely located servers.
About one-to-many management achieved A management station sends WS-MAN and Redfish commands over a network and these commands pass securely through the network from outside the firewall and maintain security. Other information that you may need In addition to this guide, you can refer the following guides available at dell.com/support/home or dell.com/idracmanuals: • The Lifecycle Controller Online Help provides information about the fields available on the GUI and the descriptions for the same.
• The Rack Installation Instructions included with a rack solution describe how to install a system into a rack. • The Getting Started Guide provides an overview of system features, setting up the system, and technical specifications. • The Owner’s Manual provides information about system features and describes how to troubleshoot the system and install or replace system components. • Lifecycle Controller Web Services Interface Guide–Windows and Linux.
2 Remote Services Features Using Lifecycle Controller-Remote Services, you can perform the following operations: • Deploy and Configure • Monitor • Maintain • Create and schedule jobs Topics: • Deployment and configuration • Monitor • Maintain • Job management Deployment and configuration Using various Lifecycle Controller-Remote Services' capabilities, you can perform different configurations on a system throughout its lifecycle.
• Enable or disable boot sources • One-time boot support to any device listed in the boot order iDRAC configuration The iDRAC configuration feature is used to manage the properties and interfaces for running system management tasks related to the management of basic properties of iDRAC. The remote access controller properties and attributes are divided into views to provide a simple methodology for the clients to query the iDRAC views and set the iDRAC attributes.
• Create, change, or delete the security key using the Local Key Management (LKM) feature on controllers that support encryption of the drives. NOTE: On Dell’s 13th generation PowerEdge server, you can now perform all RAID configuration jobs in real-time without rebooting the host. For more information on RAID configuration, see the SimpleRaid profile document available at en.community.dell.com/techcenter/ systems-management/w/wiki/1906.dcim-library-profile.aspx.
Near Field Communication using the QuickSync feature Using the QuickSync feature, you can: • View basic server information such as Service Tag, MAC address, NIC data, firmware versions, operating system, and so on. • View log and monitoring information of a server. • Configure network parameters of a server. After viewing or editing the information, you can troubleshoot or configure using a mobile device.
• View the overcurrent alert generated when a device exceeds the power requirement permitted by USB specification. Configure the overcurrent alert to generate the WS-Events. • View the inventory of the USB device such as FQDD, device description, protocol, vendor ID, product ID, and so on, when the device is connected. • Configure a server by using files stored on a USB drive that is inserted in to a USB port, which is monitored by an iDRAC.
• Fan • Memory • CPU • iDRAC • PCI Device • Video Card • vFlash SD Card • NIC • RAID • BIOS • System • Sensor Lifecycle log Lifecycle logs contain entries for configuration and firmware updates of BIOS, Storage Controllers, LOMs, and add-in NIC cards, if supported. The Lifecycle log can be exported to a network share or saved to a USB drive. The Lifecycle Log is accessible through the iDRAC web interface, RACADM, and WS-MAN interface.
• Revision number NOTE: Configuration changes and firmware updates made within the operating system may not be properly reflected in inventory until a server restart is performed. Event alerts Alerts and actions can be set for certain events that occur on a managed system. An event occurs when the status of a system component has changed to the predefined condition.
Server configuration profiles — export or import Lifecycle Controller-Remote Services can export or import a Server Configuration Profiles file. The export operation collects the configuration information for BIOS, iDRAC, RAID, NIC, FC-HBA, System, and Lifecycle Controller and stores it in a single file that is copied to a local file or a network share.
If the Slot1 BIOS attribute on the import system is disabled, the first import must contain the following: PAGE 20Server license — import Lifecycle Controller-Remote Services can import (restore) the server license of a host system. These operations are commonly used during motherboard replacement. You can import the license from a USB drive or a network share such as CIFS or NFS. Provisioning Server The Provisioning Server feature in iDRAC allows newly installed servers to automatically discover the remote management console that hosts the Provisioning Server.
• CA certificate for Directory Service • Custom Signing Certificate To use the new certificate, restart the iDRAC. A new method iDRACReset is added for this purpose. For more information about managing the web server certificate, see the iDRAC Card Profile document available at www.delltechcenter.com/systemsmanagement.
Table 1.
3 Getting started with API collateral and links Getting started with any feature of Lifecycle Controller begins at the Dell TechCenter Lifecycle Controller home page — delltechcenter.com/LC. The home page contains various sections that reference URLs, and these referenced URLs are direct links to the corresponding sections. You can follow these steps to get started using the Lifecycle Controller API: 1 Identify the feature or the required management operation.
Table 2. Profiles Profile Name Description Active Directory The Active Directory Client Profile extends the management capabilities of referencing profiles by adding the capability to represent the configuration of Active Directory client service and the groups managed by the service. Base Metrics The DMTF Common Interface Model (DCIM) Base Metrics Profile extends the DMTF Base Metrics Profile to add Dell-specific implementation requirements for power-related metrics.
Profile Name Description The DCIM_LCService.ImportSystemConfigurationPreview() method is used to preview the results of the application of the XML template ahead of the actual application without any restart. It also gives the information about the failure. The successful invocation of this method returns a job.
Profile Name Description • • • • • Record Log Auto Import of foreign config: PERC9 controllers supports enhanced auto import of foreign config without requiring user interactions. This is ideal in a headless server environment. This feature enables PERC controller to auto import foreign config, when there is an existing configuration. ControllerBootMode: PERC9 controllers supports setting controller boot mode. This is ideal in a headless server environment.
Profile Name Description Video The DCIM Video Profile describes the properties and interfaces for running system management tasks related to the management of video controllers within a system. Virtual Media The DCIM Virtual Media Profile describes the properties for running system management tasks related to managing the Virtual Media functionality.
WSMAN Best practices guide The Best Practices Guide provides the work flows that group smaller WSMAN operations to achieve a particular task. To access the Best Practices Guide, from the Dell TechCenter (delltechcenter.com/LC) page, under the Web Services Integration Tools, click Best Practices Guide. Alternatively, go to http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20066173.
Redfish Redfish is a web-based API which implies that resources are accessed using client supplied URLs. URLs are required to identify Redfish resources. The Redfish API uses a simple URL hierarchy which follows a /redfish/v1/ pattern for all resources. To access a Redfish resource, use the URL pattern https:///redfish/v1/.
White papers White papers help you to know in-depth information about a business-critical process that you can complete by using firmware products such as Lifecycle Controller, iDRAC and so on. You can perform these processes by using GUI features, RACADM commands, WS-MAN or Redfish API calls. Lifecycle Controller and iDRAC white papers To access the white papers about Lifecycle Controller and iDRAC, go to delltechcenter.com/LC.
4 Integrating the Lifecycle Controller API This section outlines the resources required to integrate the Lifecycle Controller API into an application: • API Clients– Lists the API clients that are available to support WinRM or WSMAN. The API clients enable a you to create an application in a variety of programming languages. • Best Practices Guide— Provides information about the common work flows, where in ready-to-use Python scripts are provided for all the common work flows.
Sample scripts and tools A few sample scripts to use Lifecycle Controller API are available for use with Recite. Recite is a Python-based tool that provides a simple and fast interface for using the Dell Lifecycle Controller API. It has an interactive mode that is useful to run a single command on a server or run batch commands to automate the sequence of operations. • Interactive Recite environment — en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems-management/w/wiki/3757.
For versions of Windows Remote Management, see technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff520073(v=ws.10).aspx To install and configure Windows Remote Management, see msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa384372(v=vs. 85).aspx. OpenWSMAN CLI is an open source Linux WSMAN client. The OpenWSMAN CLI source code and installation information are available at openwsman.github.io/.
5 Social media reference To obtain the most up-to-date information, go to the Dell TechCenter and search for the required information. Table 4. Product Information Product Name and topic Link on Dell TechCenter Lifecycle Controller en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems-management/w/wiki/1979.lifecyclecontroller.aspx integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems-management/w/wiki/3204.dell-remote-accesscontroller-drac-idrac.
6 Terms and definitions The following table lists the terms used in this document and their definitions. Table 5. Terms and definitions Term Definition LC Lifecycle Controller Enumerate Refers to WS-MAN ENUMERATE operation as described in Section 8.2 of DSP0226_V1.1 and Section 9.1 of DSP0227_V1.0 Get Refers to WS-MAN GET operation as defined in Section 7.3 of DSP00226_V1.1 and Section 7.1 of DSP0227_V1.
