White Papers

Managing Dell Blade and Chassis Using Dell OpenManage Essentials
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For an IT Administrator, it is difficult to manage multiple CMC, DRAC/MC, blades, switches, and storage
devices. Dell OpenManage Essentials provides a single console to view and manage multiple CMC,
DRAC/MC, blades, switches, and storage. Management tasks from Dell OpenManage Essentials include
retrieving inventory details, receiving SNMP alerts, monitoring health, updating firmware, etc.
To manage CMC, DRAC/MC, blades, switches, and storage from OpenManage Essentials, they should be
discovered using their relevant protocols. Both CMC and DRAC/MC support SNMP protocol.
To manage CMC, DRAC/MC, blades, switches, and storage the following prerequisites must be met:
• SNMP must be enabled and configured in CMC
• Every blade must have the relevant protocol enabled. The protocol to be used is dependent on the
operating system of the blade server. Blades can be discovered and managed either by their server
IP address or by the blade’s DRAC/iDRAC IP address (out-of-band management)
• SNMP must be enabled and configured for modular switches.
For more information about protocol configuration, refer to the online help in OME.
Discovering CMC, DRAC/MC, Blades, Switches, and Storage
To discover a CMC, DRAC/MC, blade, switch, or storage device:
1. Launch OpenManage Essentials.
2. From the Manage > Discovery and Inventory menu, select Add Discovery Range.
3. Enter the IP address / range, or Host name for a CMC, DRAC/MC, blade and switch (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Discovery Range Configuration
4. Click Add.