White Papers

Remote NIC Configuration Management
Executive summary
Dell™ provides a mechanism that enables users to work with NIC configuration settings as a whole,
rather than having to work with each setting individually. This enables end users to:
 Save a NIC configuration as baseline
 Compare a configuration to a saved baseline and display their differences
 Set a NIC configuration using a saved baseline
Introduction
In this white paper, we will focus on:
 NIC Management Profile
 Get and set NIC configuration
 Save a NIC configuration as baseline
 Compare a configuration to a saved baseline and display their differences
 Set a NIC configuration using a saved baseline
NIC configuration in general
NIC configuration allows the user to set up or modify configuration settings for supported NIC cards
(e.g. Intel, Qlogic, and Broadcom). These configuration settings can be set or updated both locally
and remotely using a server management system like the Dell Lifecycle Controller.
Tools available prior to Lifecycle Controller
 Locally on a system using F2 / System setup
 Vendor provided OptionRom
 Hiitest tool
 libsmbios, an open source project (NOTE: compatible with Dell servers prior to 12G).
The above tools do not offer true programmatic interfaces for extension or modification of current
supported behavior.
Advantages of Lifecycle Controller
Lifecycle Controller provides users with the ability to remotely deploy and manage a Dell
PowerEdge™ server platform. Leveraging the embedded OS drivers and the iDRAC service processor,
Lifecycle Controller aims at effectively resolving common pain points associated with platform
provisioning and deployment.
Using Lifecycle Controller, users can:
 Deploy the operating system
 Manage BIOS and BOOT configuration
 Manage NICs/CNA configurations
 Manage vFlash SD cards