User's Manual
Table Of Contents
- Contents
- Notes, Cautions, and Warnings
- Overview
- Dell Management Plug-in Configuration
- Understanding How To Configure or Edit the Dell Management Plug-in
- Dell Management Plug-In Home Page
- Configuration Wizard Welcome Page
- Creating A New Connection Profile [Wizard]
- Configuring Events And Alarms [Wizard]
- Setting Up A Proxy Server [Wizard]
- Scheduling Inventory Jobs [Wizard]
- Running A Warranty Retrieval Job [Wizard]
- Configuring the Deployment Credentials [Wizard]
- Setting The Default Firmware Update Repository [Wizard]
- Enabling The OMSA Link [Wizard]
- Configuring Dell iDRAC Auto-Discovery And Initial Start-up
- Configuring NFS Shares
- Settings Overview
- About Host, Bare Metal, and iDRAC Compliance Issues
- Upgrading Dell Management Plug-In For VMware VCenter
- About Dell Management Plug-in Licensing
- End-To-End Hardware Management
- Monitoring the Datacenter And Host System
- vSphere Client Host Overview
- About Inventory Schedule
- Viewing Storage Inventory
- Viewing Host Power Monitoring
- Displaying The Entire Datacenter Hardware Configuration And Status
- Managing Connection Profiles
- Understanding System Event Logs In vSphere Client Host View
- About Firmware Updates
- Advanced Host Management Using vCenter
- Zero-Touch Hardware Provisioning And Deployment
- Hardware Prerequisites
- Provisioning Overview
- Understanding Deployment Job Times
- Server States Within The Deployment Sequence
- Downloading Custom Dell ISO Images
- Understanding How To Configure A Hardware Profile
- About Managing Hardware Profiles
- Creating A New Hypervisor Profile
- Managing Hypervisor Profiles
- Building A New Deployment Template
- Running The Deployment Wizard
- Deployment Wizard - Step 1: Select Servers
- Deployment Wizard Step 2: Deployment Templates
- Deployment Wizard Step 3: Global Settings
- Deployment Wizard Step 4: Server Identification
- Deployment Wizard Step 5: Connection Profile
- Deployment Wizard Step 6: Scheduling Jobs
- Understanding Job Queue
- Adding A Server Manually
- Removing A Bare Metal Server
- Dell Management Plug-In Administration
- Web-based Administration Portal
- Managing vCenter Server Connections
- Virtual Appliance Management
- Setting Up Global Alerts
- Managing Backup And Restore
- Understanding vSphere Client Console Tab
- Troubleshooting
- Upgrading Issues
- Common Questions
- How Do I Test Event Settings By Using OMSA To Simulate A Temperature Hardware Fault?
- I Have The OMSA Agent Installed On A Dell Host System, But I Still Get An Error Message That OMSA Is Not Installed.What Should I Do?
- Can The Dell Management Plug-in Support ESX/ESXI with Lockdown Mode Enabled?
- Inventory is Failing on Hosts ESXi 4.0 Update2 and ESXi Update 3 in Lockdown Mode After a Reboot.
- When I tried to use lockdown mode, it failed.
- What Setting Should I Use For UserVars.CIMoeMProviderEnable With ESXi 4.1 U1?
- I Am Using A Reference Server To Create A Hardware Profile But It Failed. What Should I Do?
- I Am Attempting To Deploy ESX/ESXi On A Blade Server And It Failed. What Should I Do?
- Why Do I See Auto-discovered Systems Without Model Information In The Deployment Wizard
- The NFS Share Is Set Up With The ESX/ESXI ISO, But Deployment Fails With Errors Mounting The Share Location.
- How Do I Force Removal Of The Virtual Appliance?
- Entering A Password In The Backup Now Screen Receives An Error Message
- In vSphere, Clicking The Dell Server Management Tab Or Dell Management Icon Returns A 404 Error
- My Firmware Update Failed. What Do I Do?
- My vCenter Update Failed. What Can I Do?
- Performance during Connection Profile Test Credentials is extremely slow or unresponsive
- Bare Metal Deployment Issues
- Contacting Dell
- Where To Get Additional Help For This Software
- Dell Management Plug-in For VMware vCenter Related Information
- Virtualization—Related Events
5
Zero-Touch Hardware Provisioning And
Deployment
Hardware Prerequisites
To successfully perform hardware provisioning and deployment, the physical servers must appear in the Deployment
Wizard. All physical servers must meet the following prerequisites:
• See the
Dell Management Plug-In for VMWare vCenter Version 1.5 Release Notes
for specific hardware support
information.
• The server must have the minimum supported versions of iDRAC firmware, Lifecycle controller and BIOS. See
the
Dell Management Plug- in for VMWare vCenter Version 1.5 Release Notes
for specific hardware support
information.
NOTE: If the firmware versions are outdated, a two step upgrade process could be required. See the firmware
documentation for detailed upgrade instructions.
• The Dell Management Plug-in supports deployment using only embedded/integrated LOMs. You can configure
NICs in PCI slots manually after the deployment. If using add-on NICs, the system must have the host LOMs
enabled.
• The Dell Management Plug-in allows deployment onto Internal Dual SD Module (hypervisor only) or local hard
drives. Before you install hypervisor to an Internal Dual SD Module, it must have a maximum of 1 or 2 GB of
storage. The Internal Dual SD Module must be enabled from BIOS before you deploy the hypervisor with the Dell
Management Plug-in. You can change the management NIC manually, and add the system to vCenter.
• If the iDRAC is in dedicated mode, its NIC must be enabled to communicate with the Dell Management Plug-in.
• CSIOR must be enabled. Additionally, before initiating Auto Discovery, to make sure that retrieved data is
current, the system must be completely powered off and then back on (hard reboot).
• Dell servers can be ordered with Auto Discovery and handshake options pre-configured by the factory. If a
server is not pre-configured with these options, you must manually enter the Dell Management Plug-In IP
address or configure your local network to provide this information.
• If the Dell Management Plug-in is not used for hardware configuration, then make sure the following conditions
are met prior to initiating hypervisor deployment:
– Enable the VT (Virtualization Technology) flag in the BIOS.
– Set the system's boot order to either a bootable Virtual Disk or an Internal Dual SD Module for operating
system installation.
• If the Dell Management Plug-in is used for hardware configuration, the BIOS setting for VT is automatically
enabled, even if BIOS configuration is not part of the hardware profile. Express/Clone RAID configuration is
required if a virtual disk is not already present on the target system.
• If your servers are from versions prior to 12G, then the deployment process installs the OpenManage Server
Administrator package on the target system, and automatically configures the SNMP trap destination to point to
the Dell Management Plug-in.
• Custom ESXi 4.1 and ESXi 5.0 images that contain
all
the Dell drivers are required for deployment. You can find
the correct images by going to the Dell Drivers & Downloads page and saving the custom images to a location
you can access during the deployment process.
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