Release Notes

4 Automating Dell EMC PowerEdge Server Management by using iDRAC REST API with DMTF Redfish and Microsoft PowerShell
Executive summary
The growing scale of cloud- and web-based data center infrastructure is reshaping the requirements of IT administrators
worldwide. New approaches to systems management are required to keep up with the growing and changing market.
The Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) Scalable Platforms Management Forum (SPMF) has published Redfish,
an open-industry standard specification and schema designed to meet the requirement of IT administrators for simple,
modern, and secure management of scalable platform hardware. Dell EMC is a key contributor to the Redfish standard,
acting as co-chair of the SPMF, promoting the benefits of Redfish, and working to deliver those benefits within Dell EMC
industry-leading systems management solutions.
Microsoft PowerShell is an automation platform and scripting language for Microsoft Windows and Windows Server that
simplifies the management of systems. Unlike other text-based shell scripts, Microsoft PowerShell harnesses the power of
the Microsoft .NET Framework, providing rich objects and a massive set of built-in functionality for taking control of a
Windows environments.
This technical white paper provides an overview of using Microsoft PowerShell to script operations of the integrated Dell
Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) with Lifecycle Controller REST API with Redfish. This technical white paper provides
tips for getting started with Microsoft PowerShell scripting for iDRAC REST and Redfish and describes the key use cases.
Introduction
Since the inception of the x86 server in the late 1980s, IT administrators have sought the methods to efficiently manage a
growing number of distributed resources. Industry suppliers have responded by developing management interface
standards to support common methods of monitoring and controlling heterogeneous systems. While management interfaces
such as SNMP and IPMI have been present in data centers for the past decade, they have not been able to meet the
changing requirements due to security and technical limitations.
Further, the scale of deployment has grown significantly as IT models have evolved. Today, organizations often rely on a
large number of lower-cost servers where the redundancy is provided in the software layer, making scalable management
interfaces more critical.
To meet such market requirements, a new, unifying management standard was required. That standard— DMTF Redfish—
is a next-generation management standard that uses a data model representation inside a hypermedia RESTful interface.
Dell EMC support Redfish within the iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller REST API on 12
th
, 13
th
, and 14
th
generation Dell EMC
PowerEdge servers. Automating server management operations by using iDRAC REST with Redfish is readily performed by
using Microsoft PowerShell, a powerful automation platform and scripting language.