Users Guide

NOTE: The iDRAC can be configured to send alerts through SNMP and IPMI. However, SupportAssist Enterprise can
only receive alerts sent through SNMP. To ensure that SupportAssist Enterprise receives alerts sent from an iDRAC, you
must ensure that all SNMP Trap options are selected in the Alerts and Remote System Log Configuration section
of the iDRAC web console.
Benefits of agent-based monitoring
Even though yx2x and later generations of Dell EMC PowerEdge servers can be monitored through the agentless (iDRAC)
method, agent-based (OMSA) method has the following benefits:
●
Alert generation capabilities of OMSA and iDRAC are not the same. In yx3x or later generation of Dell EMC PowerEdge
servers, the alert generation capabilities of OMSA and iDRAC are almost similar. However, alerts from chipset and software
RAID are available only through OMSA.
● For devices with a ProSupport Plus, ProSupport Flex for Data Center, or ProSupport One for Data Center service contract
Dell EMC's recommendations for operating system and software component versions are available only if the device is
monitored through OMSA.
● OMSA is the only option available for monitoring x9xx to yx1x generation of PowerEdge servers.
Support for automatically installing or upgrading
OMSA
To monitor a device through the agent-based method, SupportAssist Enterprise requires the OpenManage Server Administrator
(OMSA) agent to be installed and running on the device. The OMSA agent is an application that monitors the health of various
components of the device where it is installed. When OMSA is installed and running on a device, the OMSA agent generates an
alert whenever a hardware event occurs on the device. SupportAssist Enterprise receives the alert from the device and
processes the alert to identify if the alert indicates a hardware issue. For more information on OMSA, visit Delltechcenter.com/
OMSA.
NOTE:
The SupportAssist Enterprise recommended version of OMSA may vary depending on the generation of the
PowerEdge server and the operating system running on the server. For information on the recommended versions of
OMSA, see the SupportAssist Enterprise Version 2.0.60 Support Matrix at https://www.dell.com/serviceabilitytools.
SupportAssist Enterprise has the capability to automatically download and install the recommended version of OMSA on a
device. By default, when a server is added for agent-based monitoring, SupportAssist Enterprise verifies if the recommended
version of OMSA is installed on the device.
● If OMSA is not installed on the device, SupportAssist Enterprise prompts for your confirmation to download and install the
recommended version of OMSA on the device. On confirmation, SupportAssist Enterprise downloads and installs OMSA in
the background. The OMSA installation status is displayed in the Status column on the Devices page. If you choose not to
install OMSA, the status of the device is displayed as
OMSA not installed. To install OMSA at a later time, you can
use the Tasks > Install / Upgrade OMSA option on the device overview pane.
● If OMSA is already installed on the device, SupportAssist Enterprise verifies if the version of OMSA matches with the
recommended OMSA version for SupportAssist Enterprise. If the existing version of OMSA is not the recommended version,
but supports direct upgrade to the recommended version of OMSA, SupportAssist Enterprise prompts for your confirmation
to download and upgrade OMSA on the device. The OMSA upgrade status is displayed in the Status column on the Devices
page. If you choose not to upgrade OMSA, the status of the device is displayed as New version of OMSA available.
To upgrade OMSA at a later time, use the Tasks > Install / Upgrade OMSA option on the device overview pane.
NOTE:
Direct upgrade to OMSA version n is supported only from the two previous versions (n-2) of OMSA. If direct
upgrade is not supported, you must manually download and upgrade OMSA on the device. For example, if OMSA version
7.0 is already installed on the device, but the recommended version of OMSA is 7.4, you must manually upgrade from
OMSA version 7.0 to 7.2. After upgrading to OMSA version 7.2, you can upgrade to OMSA version 7.4 using the More
Tasks > Install/Upgrade OMSA option on the device overview pane or you can manually download and upgrade to
OMSA version 7.4.
NOTE: When you allow or use SupportAssist Enterprise to install or upgrade OMSA, the downloaded packages of OMSA are
retained in the SupportAssist Enterprise installation folder. If a compatible version of OMSA was already downloaded during
138 Other useful information