Users Guide
Table Of Contents
- Dell Lifecycle Controller Integration Version 3.3 for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager User's Guide
- Contents
- Introduction to Dell Lifecycle Controller Integration (DLCI) for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager
- Use case scenarios
- Common prerequisites
- Editing and exporting the BIOS configuration profile of a system
- Comparing and updating the firmware inventory
- Creating, editing, and saving a RAID profile of a system
- Deploying operating system on collection
- Exporting server profile to iDRAC vFlash card or network share
- Importing server profile from iDRAC vFlash card or network share
- Viewing and exporting Lifecycle Controller logs
- Working With NIC or CNA Profiles
- Working with Fibre Channel profiles
- Selecting Fibre Channel storage area network in boot sequence
- Using Dell Lifecycle Controller Integration
- Licensing for DLCI
- Dell Deployment ToolKit
- Dell Driver CAB files
- Configuring target systems
- Auto-discovery and handshake
- Applying Drivers from the task sequence
- Creating a task sequence
- Creating a Dell specific task sequence
- Creating a custom task sequence
- Editing a task sequence
- Configuring the task sequence steps to apply operating system image and driver package
- Applying the operating system image
- Adding Dell driver packages
- Deploying a task sequence
- Creating a task sequence media bootable ISO
- System Viewer utility
- Configuration utility
- Launching the integrated Dell Remote Access Controller console
- Task Viewer
- Additional tasks you can perform with Dell Lifecycle Controller Integration
- Configuring security
- Validating a Dell factory-issued Client Certificate on the Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller for auto-discovery
- Pre-authorizing systems for auto-discovery
- Changing the administrative credentials used by Dell Lifecycle Controller Integration for Configuration Manager
- Using the Graphical User Interface
- Using the Array Builder
- Defining rules with the Array Builder
- Creating a RAID Profile using Array Builder
- About creating Array Builder
- Controllers
- Adding a Controller
- Editing a Controller
- Deleting a Controller
- Variable conditions
- Adding a new variable condition
- Editing a variable condition
- Deleting a variable condition
- Arrays
- Adding a new array
- Editing an array
- Deleting an array
- Logical drives also known as virtual disks
- Adding a new logical drive
- Editing a logical drive
- Deleting a logical drive
- Disks (array disks)
- Adding a new disk
- Changing a disk
- Deleting a disk
- Importing a profile
- Using the Configuration Utility
- Creating a Lifecycle Controller boot media
- Configuring hardware and deploying the operating system
- Deploying operating systems
- Hardware configuration and OS deployment workflow
- Updating firmware during OS deployment
- Configuring hardware during OS deployment
- Configuring RAID
- Applying a NIC or CNA profile on a collection
- Applying FC HBA profiles and FC SAN boot attributes on a collection
- Applying an integrated Dell Remote Access Controller profile on a collection
- Exporting the system profiles before and after hardware configuration
- Comparing and updating firmware inventory for systems in a collection
- Viewing the hardware inventory
- Verifying Communication with Lifecycle Controller
- Viewing and exporting Lifecycle Controller logs for a collection
- Modifying credentials on Lifecycle Controllers
- Platform restore for a collection
- Comparing NIC or CNA profiles against systems in a collection
- Using the Import Server Utility
- Using the System Viewer Utility
- Viewing and editing BIOS configuration
- Viewing and configuring RAID
- Configuring iDRAC profiles for a system
- Configuring NICs and CNAs for a system
- Configuring FC HBA cards for a system
- Comparing and updating firmware inventory
- Comparing hardware configuration profile
- Viewing Lifecycle Controller logs
- Viewing the hardware inventory for the system
- Platform restore for a system
- Comparing FC HBA profile against a target system
- Troubleshooting
- Configuring Dell provisioning web services on IIS
- Dell auto-discovery network setup specification
- Troubleshooting the viewing and exporting of Lifecycle Controller logs
- Deploying the operating system on Dell’s 13th generation of PowerEdge servers using WinPE 3.0
- Issues and resolutions
- ESXi or RHEL deployment on Windows systems moves to ESXi or RHEL collection, but not removed from Windows Managed Collection
- Related documentation and resources
● If you are importing from an iDRAC vFlash card, make sure that the card is installed and has the backup image in the
SRVCNF partition. This image is from the same platform that you are importing.
● If you are importing from a network share, make sure that the network share where the backup image file is stored is still
accessible.
● If you replace the motherboard before performing import, make sure that the motherboard has the latest iDRAC and BIOS
installed.
NOTE: The service tag of the server is either blank or same as when the backup was taken.
Before you begin
Before you begin importing the backup file to a system or collection, ensure that:
● User Data is not present in the backup image file. If you overwrite the existing configuration with the backup image file, the
user data is not restored.
● During import, operations such as firmware update, operating system deployment, and firmware configurations are not
running.
● After you deploy the operating system using Lifecycle controller, the OEMDRV is open for 18 hours. If you need to perform
the operations such as update, configuration, or import after operating system deployment, remove the OEMDRV partition.
To remove the partition, reset iDRAC or cancel System Services.
Workflow for importing server profile
The following steps outline the workflow sequence:
1. To import the system profile of a single target system, launch the System Viewer utility. To import the system profiles
of a collection of systems, launch the Config Utility. For more information, see System Viewer utility on page 25 or
Configuration utility on page 26.
2. Select the Platform Restore on the System Viewer utility or the Config Utility.
3. For a single system, see Importing the system profile on page 63.
4. For a collection, see Importing the system profiles in a collection on page 46.
Viewing and exporting Lifecycle Controller logs
You can view the Lifecycle Controller Logs for a single system or a collection and also export them in a .CSV format to a
network share folder. You can search and filter the Lifecycle Controller logs using Search field.
Prerequisites
● Common prerequisites on page 12
● Network Share:
○ iDRAC can access the network share.
○ iDRAC has the necessary permissions to write information to network share.
○ Minimum free space of 384 MB is available.
● Configure the number of log files you want to view at a time in the DLCSystemview.exe.config or the
DLCConfigUtility.exe.config files. For more information, see Viewing Lifecycle Controller logs on page 59.
Before you begin
Before you begin viewing or exporting the Lifecycle Controller logs for a single system or a collection:
● If the Lifecycle Controller on the target systems is running other tasks such as firmware update, operating system
deployment, firmware configurations, exporting a system profile or importing a system profile, wait for the tasks to complete
before you retrieve the logs.
● Check the permissions on the network share and make sure the share is accessible from the Lifecycle Controller on the
target systems.
16
Use case scenarios