Reference Guide

Alerts In OMCI

Alerts are generated when a system’s state of interest changes. There are two basic types of alerting: local alerting to

the current computer user and remote alerting to a management application. Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation

(OMCI) handles both types of alerting.

NOTE: Alerts are supported only in the standard namespace.

The Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) has released the Alert Standard Format (ASF), which defines alerting

and remote control interfaces that enable management of networked systems when their operating system is absent.

This includes a networked computer that has an inactive or inoperable operating system or that is in a low-power

system sleep state. The ASF specification is available at www.dmtf.org. ASF documentation is provided with Dell

systems that support ASF.

ASF handles remote alerting for environmental events, which are detected by sensors, such as temperature, electrical,

and fan probes, and chassis intrusion sensors. ASF also handles additional alerting in the operating-system-absent

environment. By default, OMCI handles remote alerting for all events.

ASF 2.0 adds important security measures to the ASF standard, which defines alerting and remote control interfaces to

proactively manage networked devices when their operating system is absent. The first industry specification for

operating system absent management, ASF allows a network administrator to be alerted to failures of specific

components within a networked device, thereby minimizing on-site maintenance while maximizing remote visibility of

and access to local systems. Without ASF, operating system absent problems require manual intervention to force a

reboot of the system.

There are three settings in the system BIOS that OMCI allows for configuration:

• Off — All ASF 2.0 features are turned off

• Alert Only — ASF 2.0 alert is the only feature that is turned on

• On — Alerts and remote control are turned on

The system network interface card (NIC) and basic input/output system (BIOS) support ASF 2.0. If the BIOS allows for

any ASF 2.0 configuration, then the BIOS settings are exposed through the Microsoft Windows Management

Instrumentation (WMI) by OMCI.

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