Concept Guide
Systems Management Product Overview
This section provides an overview for the Dell Systems Management suite of products.
Dell Hardware Management Tools
Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller With Lifecycle
Controller
The Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) is designed to enhance the productivity of server administrators and improve the
overall availability of Dell servers. iDRAC alerts administrators about the server problems, enabling remote server management, and
reducing the need for an administrator to physically visit the server.
iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller allows administrators to deploy, update, monitor and manage Dell servers from any location without the use
of agents in a one-to-one or one-to-many method. This out-of-band management allows the updates to be sent from Dell or appropriate
third-party consoles directly to iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller on a Dell PowerEdge server, regardless of the operating system that may or
may not be running.
iDRAC shares Lifecycle Controller features such as rmware update, backup and restore, lifecycle log, and hardware inventory export. For
complete information, see the iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller documents at dell.com/idracmanuals.
Dell Chassis Management Controller for Servers
The Dell Chassis Management Controller is an embedded systems management hardware and software solution for managing multiple
servers, IO modules, and shared power or cooling using either the Web interface or the command line interface.
The CMC leverages the iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller technology to update BIOS or component rmware and congure BIOS settings in
a one-to-many operation.
CMC is available for the following chassis:
• Dell PowerEdge M1000e — This chassis is Dell’s rst blade server solution. It provides the infrastructure (industry-leading power and
cooling, networking, and blade manageability) for companies who choose to deploy blade-based server solutions. A single Chassis
Management Controller interface with multi-chassis management capability can manage and see up to nine chassis, 288 servers, 54
power supplies, and 81 fans with no additional cabling. The chassis has slots for two, redundant CMC modules, so that administrators
can connect to the chassis even if one Chassis Management Controller module is not working.
• Dell PowerEdge VRTX — The chassis is a revolutionary, easy-to-manage, remote and oce-optimized platform that converge servers,
storage and networking into a compact package. One of the key features is that it provides shared storage across multiple server
nodes and the on-board RAID controller. It can hold up to four server nodes, up to 48 TB of integrated, shared storage, and network
switching. The Dell PowerEdge VRTX oers the ability to use PCIe slots that no other blade server solution provides. By combining the
density of blade servers with the exibility of rack server I/O options with PowerEdge VRTX, Dell gives you the exibility to use less
expensive PCIe cards while still being managed through shared chassis management.
• Dell PowerEdge FX2/FX2s — The FX2 enclosure allows servers and storage to share power, cooling, management and networking. It
includes redundant power supply units (1100W, 1600W, and 2000W) and eight cooling fans. With a compact highly exible design, the
FX2 chassis lets you simply and eciently add resources to your infrastructure when and where you need them, so you can let demand
and budget determine your level of investment. The FX2 enclosure also oers I/O modules to several I/O aggregators that can simplify
cabling, improve East/West trac within the server, and enable LAN/ SAN convergence — reducing cost and complexity.
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