White Papers

Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter: Discovery of Dell Bare-Metal Servers
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Auto-Discovery
Auto-Discovery is a Lifecycle Controller feature for setting up a new server and registering it using a
console. The advantages of using this capability includes removing the need to do cumbersome manual
local configuration of a new server and enabling an automated way for a console to discover a new
server that was connected to the network and plugged into power.
Process overview
Auto-Discovery is sometimes referred to as Discovery and Handshake after the process it performs.
When a new server with the Auto-Discovery feature enabled is plugged in to AC power and connected
to the network, the Dell server’s Lifecycle Controller attempts to discover a deployment console that
was integrated with the Dell Provisioning Server, and initiates a handshake between the provisioning
server and the Lifecycle Controller.
The Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter is a deployment console with an integrated
provisioning server. The location of the provisioning server is provided to the iDRAC using different
methods (See Provisioning server location). The IP address or host name for the provisioning server
location is set to the IP address or host name of the Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter
appliance virtual machine.
NOTE: A new server configured for Auto-Discovery server makes an attempt to resolve the location of
the provisioning server every 90 seconds over a period of 24 hours, after which you can manually re-
initiate Auto-Discovery.
When iDRAC knows the location of the provisioning server, The Dell server’s Lifecycle Controller
announces itself using a SOAP over HTTPS request to the Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter.
The iDRAC handshake client verifies that the certificate provided by the provisioning server during the
initial SSL exchange is properly signed by the Dell certificate authority. When the Auto-Discovery
request is received by the Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter, it validates the SSL certificate
and then initiates any optionally configured security procedures, such as client side security
certificates and validation against a white list. A second validation request from the new server returns
temporary username/password credentials to be configured on the iDRAC. Subsequent calls are
initiated by the Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter, which gathers information about the
server, remove the temporary credentials, and configure more permanent user defined credentials for
administrative access.
If Auto-Discovery was successful, the deployment credentials provided in the Settings->Deployment
Credentials page at the time of discovery are created on the target iDRAC, and the Auto-Discovery
feature is turned off. The server should now appear in the pool of available bare-metal servers under
Deployment in the Dell Management Center.