Dell Lifecycle Controller Integration Version 1.
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Contents 1 About Dell Lifecycle Controller Integration for Microsoft System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager................................................................ 6 New features..........................................................................................................................................6 Existing features.....................................................................................................................................
Resolving synchronization errors....................................................................................................... 23 Launching iDRAC Console................................................................................................................. 23 7 License for the appliance ................................................................................. 24 8 Update management.........................................................................................
11 Viewing information in appliance................................................................. 40 Viewing job status............................................................................................................................... 40 Viewing managed jobs..................................................................................................................40 Viewing activity logs.....................................................................................................
About Dell Lifecycle Controller Integration for Microsoft System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager 1 Dell Lifecycle Controller Integration (DLCI) for Microsoft System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager (SC2012 VMM) enables hardware configuration, provides a solution to simplify and improve the process of firmware updates, and hypervisor deployment on Dell servers.
* Applying specific updates — apply only specific component updates, or apply the latest update available on Dell FTP. * Apply updates before operating system deployment — before an operating system deployment, apply firmware updates using a selected update source.
• Leverage LC Driver Injection feature on the latest factory delivered servers that are shipped with the latest driver packs. Deploy hypervisors with or without LC Driver injection — from the appliance, perform hypervisor deployment based on the golden configuration. • Launch iDRAC Console from the DLCI Console to view inventory information and do troubleshooting. • View information on jobs — view information logged for various jobs that are performed in the appliance.
Installing and setting up DLCI console Add-in 2 Installing and setting up DLCI console Add-in for SC2012 VMM includes the following: • Review and complete system requirements and then install DLCI Console Add-in for SC2012 VMM. For more information see, Installing DLCI console add-in . • Import DLCI Console into the VMM console. For more information see, Importing DLCI console into VMM console. • View DLCI Console in the VMM console. For more information see, Viewing DLCI console.
Removing or repairing DLCI Console Add-in To remove or repair the DLCI Console Add-in, perform the following steps: 1. Run the DLCI Console Add-in for SC2012 VMM installer. 2. In Program Maintenance, select Remove or Repair and then click Next. 3. In Ready to Repair or Remove the program, click Install. 4. When the remove or repair task is complete, click Finish. Importing DLCI Console Add-in into VMM To work with the DLCI appliance, you must import DLCI Console into the VMM Console.
Getting Started 3 Management systems are the systems on which DLCI for SC2012 VMM, also known as appliance and its components are installed. The components of appliance are: • Dell Lifecycle Controller Integration (DLCI) Integration Gateway for Microsoft System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager (SC2012 VMM), also known as DLCI Integration Gateway for SC2012 VMM.
Figure 1. DLCI admin portal — SC2012 VMM 1. Heading banner includes the product name and the following options: • 2. Admin — displays information about the user who has logged into DLCI for SC2012 VMM – Admin Portal. • Logout — enables you to log out the DLCI for SC2012 VMM Admin Portal. • About — provides information about the DLCI for SC2012 VMM version. • Help — launches the context sensitive online help.
Logging in to DLCI Console Add-in for SC2012 VMM To log in to DLCI Console Add-in for SC2012 VMM: 1. In SC2012 VMM, select Fabric, and then select All Hosts. 2. In the Home ribbon, select DLCI Console.
Figure 2. DLCI console add-in for SC2012 VMM 1. 2. Heading banner includes the product name and the following options: • \adminstrator — Displays information about the user who is logged into DLCI for SC2012 VMM. • About — Provides information about the DLCI for SC2012 VMM version. • Help — Launches the context sensitive online help. Navigation pane contains the following options: • Home — Displays the DLCI for SC2012 VMM dashboard.
Workflows 4 This section contains the following workflows: • Creating golden configurations • Creating and managing credential profiles • Creating and managing update sources • Applying updates on servers or server groups • Hypervisor deployment • Deleting servers About golden configurations A server configured with the preferred Boot sequence, BIOS and RAID settings ideally suited for the organization is referred to as golden configuration.
Creating, managing and deleting update sources To create an update source, see Creating an update source. To manage an update source, see Modifying an update source. To delete an update source, see Deleting an update source. Applying updates on servers or server groups You can update the selected servers or server groups using the following sources: • Local FTP and online FTP source • Local DRM repository To apply updates on selected servers or server groups: 1.
6. (Optional) Applying updates on servers 7. Deploying hypervisors Deleting servers For information on deleting servers in the appliance, see Deleting servers from DLCI console.
Setting up environment for deploying hypervisors 5 To set up an environment for hypervisor deployment: 1. Prepare Golden configurations. 2. Create a physical computer profile in SC2012 VMM. For more information see, SC2012 VMM documentation. 3. Create a target host group in SC2012 VMM. For more information see, SC2012 VMM documentation. 4. Download the latest Dell Deployment ToolKit (DTK) and create a Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) boot ISO image.
Server discovery 6 You can do out-of-band discovery of unassigned Dell servers and import information about Dell servers into the appliance. For discovering servers, connect the Dell servers to the network, power on the servers, login to iDRAC, update the provisioning server IP with the IP of the DLCI appliance and disable the administrator account for DLCI appliance to automatically discover the servers.
you can also disable blocking of IP addresses. And you can also check if the iDRAC.IPBlocking.BlockEnable feature is enabled in iDRAC. – After a server is discovered using the default credential profile, and added in the appliance, if the default iDRAC credential profile is changed, then you cannot perform any activity on the server. To work with the server, rediscover the server with the new credential profile.
enablement feature of iDRAC. The appliance works as the provisioning server and uses the iDRAC reference to auto discover Dell servers. To perform auto discovery on Dell servers: 1. In appliance, create a device type credential profile (by specifying the iDRAC credentials and mark it as default) for Dell servers. For more information, see Creating a credential profile. 2. In Dell servers that you want to auto discover, do the following: a. Disable the existing Admin accounts in iDRAC. b.
• To delete host servers — in Host Servers, select the server and click Delete and in the confirmation message, click Yes. Viewing device inventory The Device Inventory page lists unassigned servers, and host servers. Using the host name or IP address of the server, you can view the server details such as compliance status, firmware versions, and so on.
BMC in SC2012 VMM (for more information, see MSDN article at technet.microsoft.com), and then synchronize the appliance with SC2012 VMM. • SC2012 VMM R2 supports numerous hosts in the environment, due to which synchronization is a long running task. Synchronization occurs as follows: a. Hosts listed in SC2012 VMM environment are added to the hosts tab in appliance. b.
License for the appliance 7 Agent-free configuration, deployment, and firmware update features in DLCI for SC2012 VMM are licensed. Five licenses are available for evaluation purposes at no additional charge. To download the five licenses, see marketing.dell.com/software-download-DLCISCVMM. For more information on licensing, go to Dell TechCenter website and then OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft System Center wiki page.
Update management 8 Using Update Center you can perform all the tasks related to managing Dell updates in the SCVMM environment. With update management, you can maintain up-to-date firmware versions of Dell server components as per Dell recommendations. In Update Center you can view, create, and maintain update sources, and view server groups. Also, you can create, and schedule jobs for firmware updates.
– Integration with Dell Online Catalog — connect to Dell FTP, download the catalog file, and then make it as a reference inventory. – View the comparison report against the update source, select the relevant servers or server components, and then initiate an update on the servers. • Referencing firmware inventory and comparison — create a reference inventory file that contains the firmware inventory of the selected servers or groups of servers.
require a system restart are applied at the time of restarting the server. Updates are performed in batches at the scheduled time using iDRAC. The batch size is determined when the update is happening. The appliance assumes that the update is successful, as soon as iDRAC reports that the update is successful. The status of the updates are not logged in the appliance after the job is submitted to iDRAC. Hence refresh the inventory to check if all the updates are applied.
modular servers in the chassis are in a cluster update group, chassis update group continues to exist but displays only the CMC information. Update group notes • You cannot create, modify or delete the update groups manually. • You cannot update the CMC firmware directly from the appliance; however, you can update the firmware of the modular server present in CMC. For updating CMC firmware, see — Updating CMC firmware in Dell PowerEdge M1000e Chassis Management Controller Firmware User’s Guide.
3. – Use only 32–bit DUPs to create the update source. (Optional) To make it as a default update source select Make this as default source. Modifying update source Consider the following when you are modifying an update source: • You cannot change the type of an update source and the location after the update source is created. • You can modify an update source even if the update source is in use by an in-progress or a scheduled job, or if it is used in a deployment template.
To apply updates on servers: 1. In DLCI Console Add-in for SC2012 VMM, click Update Center, select the server or server group and an update source, and then click Run Update. NOTE: • For a component level update, expand the server groups to its component level, and click Run Update. • When you are updating component level information, if the existing firmware version is same as the firmware version at the update source then there is no action on that component.
NOTE: When viewing component level information, the Network Interface Card (NIC) related information for 11th generation of PowerEdge server is displayed as follows: 4. • When there are multiple network interfaces available in a single NIC card, there is only one entry for all the interfaces in the Component Information list. Once the firmware update is applied, all the NIC cards are upgraded.
Profiles and templates 9 About credential profile Each credential profile contains a username and password for a single user account. Credential profiles simplify the use and management of user credentials. A credential profile authenticates a user’s role based capabilities. The appliance uses credential profiles to connect to the managed systems’ iDRAC. Also, you can use credential profiles to access the FTP site, resources available in Windows Shares, and when working with different features of iDRAC.
Creating credential profile Consider the following when you are creating a credential profile: • When a device type credential profile is created, an associated RunAsAccount is created in SC2012 VMM to manage the server and the name of the RunAsAccount is Dell_CredentialProfileName. – (Recommended) Do not edit or delete the RunAsAccount.
To delete a credential profile: Select the profile that you want to delete, and then click Delete. Creating hardware profile You can create a hardware profile by using a server with golden configuration and then using that profile to apply hardware configurations to managed systems.
• You can modify the BIOS settings, and boot order. • For 11th and 12th generation of PowerEdge servers, you can modify DHS for RAID as One or None and for 13th generation of PowerEdge servers you can only retain the server's existing RAID settings. To modify a hardware configuration profile: 1. In DLCI Console Add-in for SC2012 VMM, click Hardware Profile. 2. Select the profile that you want to modify and click Edit. 3. Make the required changes and click Finish.
• You can modify host profile, host group, and drivers from Lifecycle Controller. • You can modify the WinpE ISO name; However, you cannot modify the ISO. To modify a hypervisor profile: 1. In DLCI Console Add-in for SC2012 VMM, in Hypervisor Profile, select the profile that you want to modify and click Edit. 2. Provide the details and click Finish.
To update a WinPE image: 1. In DLCI console, select WinPE Update, under Image Source, for Custom WinPE Image Path, provide the WinPE image path, for example, \\DLCI IG Share\WIM\boot.wim. 2. Under DTK Path, for DTK Drivers Path, provide the location for the Dell Deployment Toolkit drivers, for example, \\DLCI IG Share\DTK\DTK501. 3. Provide ISO name. 4. To view the job list, select Go to the Job List. A unique job name is assigned to each Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) update. 5.
Deleting deployment template NOTE: Deleting a deployment template will not impact the associated hardware and hypervisor profiles. To delete a deployment template: 1. In DLCI Console Add-in for SC2012 VMM, click Deployment Templates. 2. Select the deployment template that you want to delete, and click Delete.
Deploying hypervisors 10 Operating systems are deployed only on servers that are compliant. Before hypervisor deployment, consider the following; upgrade the firmware versions to the latest versions available at ftp.dell.com , and then continue with hypervisor deployment. To deploy to servers: 1. In the appliance do the following: • 2. In the appliance dashboard, click Deploy Unassigned Servers. • In the appliance navigation pane, click Deployment Wizard. In Welcome, click Next. 3.
Viewing information in appliance 11 Viewing job status To quickly search and view logs for a particular update job from among the logged messages, see the timestamp of the update job log messages. You can view the jobs from the DLCI Admin Portal — SC2012 VMM and DLCI Console Add-in for SC2012 VMM. 1. In the left navigation pane, click Jobs. 2. From Filter, based the jobs you want to view, select Deployments, Firmware Update, Discovery Jobs, WinPE Creation Jobs or Sync Jobs.
Troubleshooting 12 Account deletion in SC2012 VMM SC2012 VMM creates an account for the appliance with the name DLCI-VMM Addin Registration Profile. If this profile is deleted, then you cannot work with the appliance. Recommend you to not delete the account. However, reinstall the appliance if the account is deleted.
Duplicate VRTX chassis group gets created When modular servers that were previously in another chassis, are added to a VRTX chassis and discovered, the modular servers carry previous chassis service tag information and creates a duplicate VRTX chassis group in the appliance. To resolve, do the following: 1. Remove a modular server from one chassis, and add it in another chassis. For more information see, Server modules section in Dell PowerEdge VRTX Enclosure Owner's Manual. 2. Configure CMC.
Hypervisor deployment failure Hypervisor deployment is failing and the activity log displays the following error: Error New-SCVMHost failed with following error : An out of band operation (SMASH) for the BMC failed on IDRAC IP : . This error may occur due to either of these reasons: • Dell Lifecycle controller’s state is bad. As resolution, log in to IDRAC GUI and reset Lifecycle Controller.
Latest inventory information is not displayed even after firmware update Even though the firmware update job is complete on a 11th generation of Dell PowerEdge server, in the appliance, the inventory does not display the latest firmware versions. In the appliance, refreshing the inventory is an activity performed immediately after a firmware update job is complete.
• 2. PowerShell Group Policy: technet.microsoft.com/library/jj149004 Once the execution policy is set, restart the Integration Gateway server. Hypervisor deployment fails for 11th generation PowerEdge blade servers when using Active Directory Hypervisor deployment fails on the 11th generation PowerEdge blade servers when using the Active Directory user credentials. The 11th generation PowerEdge blade servers use the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) protocol for communication.
13 Accessing documents from Dell support site You can access the required documents in one of the following ways: • Using the following links: – For all Enterprise Systems Management documents — Dell.com/SoftwareSecurityManuals – For OpenManage documents — Dell.com/OpenManageManuals – For Remote Enterprise Systems Management documents — Dell.com/esmmanuals – For OpenManage Connections Enterprise Systems Management documents — Dell.
