Concept Guide

Systems Management Product Overview

This section provides an overview for the Dell Systems Management suite of products.

Dell Hardware Management Tools

Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller With Lifecycle Controller

The Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) is designed to enhance the productivity of server administrators and

improve the overall availability of Dell servers. iDRAC alerts administrators about the server problems, enabling remote server

management, and reducing the need for an administrator to physically visit the server.

iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller allows administrators to deploy, update, monitor and manage Dell servers from any location without

the use of agents in a one-to-one or one-to-many method. This out-of-band management allows the updates to be sent from Dell

or appropriate third-party consoles directly to iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller on a Dell PowerEdge server, regardless of the

operating system that may or may not be running.

iDRAC shares Lifecycle Controller features such as firmware update, backup and restore, lifecycle log, and hardware inventory

export. For complete information, see the iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller documents at dell.com/idracmanuals.

Dell Chassis Management Controller for Servers

The Dell Chassis Management Controller is an embedded systems management hardware and software solution for managing

multiple servers, IO modules, and shared power or cooling using either the Web interface or the command line interface.

The CMC leverages the iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller technology to update BIOS or component firmware and configure BIOS

settings in a one-to-many operation.

CMC is available for the following chassis:

• Dell PowerEdge M1000e — This chassis is Dell’s first blade server solution. It provides the infrastructure (industry-leading

power and cooling, networking, and blade manageability) for companies who choose to deploy blade-based server solutions. A

single Chassis Management Controller interface with multi-chassis management capability can manage and see up to nine

chassis, 288 servers, 54 power supplies, and 81 fans with no additional cabling. The chassis has slots for two, redundant CMC

modules, so that administrators can connect to the chassis even if one Chassis Management Controller module is not working.

• Dell PowerEdge VRTX — The chassis is a revolutionary, easy-to-manage, remote and office-optimized platform that converge

servers, storage and networking into a compact package. One of the key features is that it provides shared storage across

multiple server nodes and the on-board RAID controller. It can hold up to four server nodes, up to 48 TB of integrated, shared

storage, and network switching. The Dell PowerEdge VRTX offers the ability to use PCIe slots that no other blade server

solution provides. By combining the density of blade servers with the flexibility of rack server I/O options with PowerEdge

VRTX, Dell gives you the flexibility to use less expensive PCIe cards while still being managed through shared chassis

management.

• Dell PowerEdge FX2/FX2s — The FX2 enclosure allows servers and storage to share power, cooling, management and

networking. It includes redundant power supply units (1100W, 1600W, and 2000W) and eight cooling fans. With a compact

highly flexible design, the FX2 chassis lets you simply and efficiently add resources to your infrastructure when and where you

need them, so you can let demand and budget determine your level of investment. The FX2 enclosure also offers I/O modules to

several I/O aggregators that can simplify cabling, improve East/West trafffic within the server, and enable LAN/ SAN

convergence — reducing cost and complexity.

For additional information on CMC, see www.dell.com/esmmanuals or www.delltechcenter.com/CMC.