White Papers

Managing the Dell PowerEdge VRTX Chassis with Dell OpenManage Essentials
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For the server nodes in the chassis, a similar setup is recommended if using the
iDRAC for management: WS-Man is the protocol of choice for retrieving
information, while SNMP traps are used for asynchronous alerting. If managing
through the Operating System is an option, OpenManage Server Administrator
(OMSA) can also be used with the recommended SNMP protocol used for both
synchronous and asynchronous communication.
b. Setup in a Remote Office
The VRTX chassis was designed with the remote/back office in mind. Assuming
a Wide-Area-Network (WAN) environment, the network strongly recommended
in this environment is a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with at least 5-10 Mbps
bandwidth to the console. It is reasonable to expect more network latency with
this type of setup; OME has adjustments for this (discussed later). The WS-Man
protocol, although requiring more network bandwidth than SNMP, provides
more reliable delivery of data, as well as data encryption and authentication.
Using SNMP in a WAN environment can be a questionable choice if there is
increased latency, reduced reliability, and little or no security. While SNMP
traps are the only way to do asynchronous alerting at this time, OME has an
event log viewer capability that can synchronously pull logs in real time if
asynchronous events do not work reliably.
For server nodes in the chassis, the WS-Man protocol is also strongly
recommended for retrieving data, using the iDRAC as the main point of
management. While SNMP traps are also used here for asynchronous events,
again OME provides a system event log viewer should events not be delivered
reliably.
Note: WS-Man uses HTTP(s) over TCP/IP, while SNMP is over UDP/IP, accounting
for the differences in reliability, speed, and encryption. OM Essentials does not
support SNMP via TCP/IP, nor is SNMPv3 supported at this time.
II. Installation / Upgrade of OM Essentials
OpenManage Essentials has one of the simplest installations among systems
management consoles. The time lapse from install to manage is as little as just
under 30 minutes. Whether you are new to OME or are upgrading from a
previous version, the latest OME release (version 1.2) offers a comprehensive
and easy-to-understand overview of the VRTX chassis and server nodes in your