Dell OpenManage™ IT Assistant User's Guide
An AC failover switch is a device on Dell™ PowerEdge™ 2500, 4600, and 7150 systems that, if a power interruption occurs, switches between two redundant power sources in a user-defined manner. If IT Assistant discovers an AC failover switch on a Dell system, it allows you to enable or disable redundant power source switching and to specify which power source to use or attempt to use when redundant power is restored after an interruption.
See "AC Failover Switch Settings" for information about configuring redundant power source switching behavior.
You can register those subnets, IP address ranges on a subnet, and individual system addresses that you want IT Assistant to discover and manage.
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NOTE: In IT Assistant, the term "system" is used to refer to a computer system (portable, desktop, or server), network switch, remote access controller (RAC), or server module (server in a modular system) that is attached to a network. |
The IT Assistant network monitoring service uses the Internet Protocol (IP) ping facility to discover IP systems, and it uses Internet Packet eXchange (IPX) diagnostic messages to discover IPX systems. You can configure the network monitoring service to discover an entire class C Transmission Control Protocol/IP (TCP/IP) subnet, a range of IP addresses on a subnet, a single host name, a single IP address, or a single IPX address.
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NOTE: In IT Assistant, the term "discovery range" refers to a subnet, range of IP addresses on a subnet, single host name, single IP address, or single IPX address. |
You can also exclude configured (registered) discovery ranges and systems from discovery. For each registered subnet and system, IT Assistant allows customized discovery scopes and properties for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Desktop Management Interface (DMI), and Common Information Model (CIM) protocols.
After you configure the IT Assistant network monitoring service, IT Assistant discovers all of the active systems on the registered subnets and registered IP/IPX/host name addresses. DMI 2.0, SNMP, and CIM-compliant systems are listed along with noninstrumented (non-DMI-, SNMP-, or CIM-compliant) systems. IT Assistant includes an option that allows you to discover only Dell-instrumented systems.
You can also establish discovery and status polling intervals. These polling intervals can be enabled or disabled and are configurable in minutes, hours, and days.
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NOTE: Discovery can be a network traffic-intensive process. You must not to be too aggressive with discovery configuration. In addition, you should deploy the IT Assistant services (IT Assistant connection service and IT Assistant network monitoring service) so as not to duplicate the service coverage. |
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NOTE: You must be able to execute the ping < IP_address> command, where < IP_address> is a valid IP address on your network, from a command prompt window in order for discovery to be successful. |
See "Discovery (Discovering, Removing, and Viewing Systems)."
The IT Assistant event management system supports Platform Event Trap (PET) events as defined by the Alert Standard Format (ASF). See "ASF/PET Events and the Event Management System" for more information.
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NOTE: This feature is supported only for client systems (desktops, workstations, and portable computers). |
IT Assistant allows you to automate Management Information Format (MIF) mapping (to a local directory or the Systems Management Server [SMS] directory) to occur every day, week, or month at a certain hour, on the hour.
See "MIF and SMS MIF Mapping on Remote Systems."
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NOTE: This feature is supported only for client systems (desktops, workstations, and portable computers). |
BBS is an industry-standard specification that allows you to select the device order for booting and to enable or disable boot devices. You can change the sequence of boot devices and enable or disable individual devices.
The Broadcom Secured Socket Layer (SSL) card is installed in Web servers; it accelerates SSL Web traffic to the Web server. IT Assistant supports the Broadcom SSL Adapter Card SNMP instrumentation. Broadcom SSL Adapter Cards have their own MIB file and SNMP agent. This version of IT Assistant loads the MIB file if a Broadcom SSL card is installed on the managed node, allowing you to browse the MIB file on the Details tab of the systems window. The Network category of the IT Assistant event management system is prepopulated with events generated by the Broadcom SSL card SNMP agent.
Some previous versions of IT Assistant function correctly only when SQL Server is configured as case-insensitive. This version of IT Assistant can use case-sensitive databases in SQL Server 7 or SQL Server 2000. You can set the case-sensitive database option when installing SQL Server 7 or 2000.
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NOTE: The installation program installs the IT Assistant services with the CIM discovery feature disabled by default. To enable discovery and management of CIM-instrumented systems, you must either (1) run the configservices utility, or (2) configure CIM during an installation of IT Assistant. |
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NOTE: Client systems running Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition cannot be discovered as Dell systems through CIM because it is not currently possible to remotely connect to the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service on Windows XP Home Edition. |
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NOTE: Client systems running Windows XP Professional can be discovered only if the management station is running Windows 2000 Service Pack (SP) 2 or later. |
CIM, the technology that supports systems management over the Internet or company intranets, eases the task of integrating data from different applications, allows easier customization, and offers an alternative to centralized management consoles. Many manufacturers of hubs, routers, switches, and computer systems are providing browser-based device management software.
CIM was standardized by the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) in 1997. CIM is a browser-based systems management protocol, a peer of SNMP and DMI. CIM takes an object-based view of the network, defining a standard and extensible data model for representing the managed system. IT Assistant browses information about CIM-instrumented systems and displays it in a structured format, just as it browses DMI instrumentation data and presents information structured according to MIF files. CIM instrumentation data structure is defined by Management Object Format (MOF) files; these files show the structure of the CIM-managed data and are analogous to MIF files and Management Information Base (MIB) files.
To discover and manage CIM-instrumented systems, IT Assistant requires the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) core 1.5 or above. The WMI core is installed with Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional, and Windows Server 2003, and may be optionally installed with Windows 98. You can also install the WMI Software Development Kit (SDK) to enable CIM discovery and management. When the core is installed, IT Assistant automatically detects the WMI components and enables the discovery of CIM-instrumented systems. Table 1 shows the WMI/CIM support offered by Microsoft operating systems.
Table 1. Status of WMI/CIM Capabilities for Microsoft Windows Operating Systems
| Operating System | Service Pack | Always Installed/Optional |
| Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 |
NA | Always installed |
| Microsoft Windows 98 | Base | Optional |
| Microsoft Windows 95 | Base | Optional |
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NOTE: Client Instrumentation 7.0 communicates through CIM only. |
IT Assistant provides the following features through Client Instrumentation 7.0:
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NOTE: Editing of CIM event sources through the event management system is not currently supported. |
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NOTE: This feature is supported only in systems with cost of ownership (COO) instrumentation. |
The COO MIF component is a relatively new offering from the DMTF defined under DMI and integrated into a system's DMI services. IT Assistant has the ability to browse this MIF, which helps organizations track and collect information about the ownership of information technology (IT) assets.
The COO MIF component defines the physical and fiscal aspects of IT investments such as ownership status, warranty information, lease term/cost/residual, and purchase information. This information helps organizations track and reduce maintenance and support costs.
This version of IT Assistant enables you to browse the COO MIF through SNMP as well as DMI.
See "Viewing Cost of Ownership MIF Information."
IT Assistant enables you to create custom groups in addition to the default groups, which are Servers, Desktops, Portables, and Workstations.
See "Custom Groups."
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service provides automatic configuration of the three essential TCP/IP parameters for systems on the network: IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway.
To configure DHCP on your network, you must designate a networked system to be a DHCP server. The DHCP server maintains a pool of IP addresses, assigns IP addresses to systems as they request them, and records the IP address assignments. Systems on the DHCP network issue the request for an IP address during their boot sequence. The DHCP server maintains the IP address assignments in a DHCP database.
Assigning IP addresses automatically through DHCP facilitates the configuration of a large number of systems and reduces human error.
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NOTE: Dell recommends that you assign a static IP address for the management station. If the IP address for this system is not static, other systems on the network that are inactive when the IP address changes will send events both to the previous IP address and the new IP address when they become active. This behavior can generate high levels of unnecessary network traffic if the IP address of the management station changes frequently. |
The event management system in this version of IT Assistant recognizes SNMP traps from Dell's Digital Console, which is a digital keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) switch, and can launch this KVM switch's management console. The client software for the KVM switch must be installed on the system from which you launch Internet Explorer to use IT Assistant. IT Assistant does not discover the KVM switch and does not display it as part of the system tree or status tree. If the KVM client software is present on the local system, you can launch the management console by clicking the Digital KVM Management entry under the Management branch of the navigation tree. If the KVM switch client software is not present, clicking Digital KVM Management generates an error message.
See "KVM Trap Configuration" and "KVM Management Console Launch."
IT Assistant discovers Embedded Remote Access (ERA), Embedded Remote Access Option (ERA/O), Embedded Remote Access/MC (ERA/MC), and Dell Remote Access Card III/XT (DRAC III/XT) controllers and enables you to connect to each controller's remote access interface. The remote access interface for DRAC III/XT, ERA, ERA/O allows remote management of the controller's host server. The remote access interface for ERA/MC allows remote power cycling of the server modules and management of shared resources in the controller's host chassis. For more information about DRAC III/XT, ERA and ERA/O, see the Dell Remote Access Controller (RAC) Installation and Setup Guide. For more information about ERA/MC, see the Embedded Remote Access/MC User's Guide. These documents are located on the documentation CD shipped with your system.
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NOTE: Configuration of DRAC III/XT, ERA, ERA/O, and ERA/MC controllers is not currently supported through IT Assistant. You must use Server Administrator or the racadm utility to configure DRAC III/XT, ERA, and ERA/O controllers. You must use the serial command shell interface or the remote racadm utility to configure ERA/MC. |
This version of IT Assistant discovers and manages systems running Red Hat Linux 8.0 if they are also running Server Administrator 1.3 or later.
IT Assistant recognizes DMI 2.0 network interface controller (NIC) instrumentation defined by a DMI 2.0 NIC MIF component. This instrumentation is available on some Dell systems. IT Assistant can browse this MIF for information about the NIC for the local or remote system.
See "CIM, DMI, and SNMP Information."
DMI is a nonproprietary, industry-standard interface for personal computers that allows management applications to remotely manage systems over a local area network (LAN) through a remote procedure calls (RPCs). In Dell systems, this management application takes the form of IT Assistant.
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NOTE: IT Assistant supports two types of RPCs: Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) on Microsoft operating systems and Open Network Computing (ONC) on Novell® NetWare®. |
The DMTF, of which Dell is a steering-committee member, created DMI. DMI works independently of any operating system and is able to report system asset, inventory, and status information.
A DMI management environment consists of a management application (often referred to as a management console) that issues requests to and receives responses from a management agent running on a remote managed system. In Dell systems, the management console is IT Assistant. Managed systems have hardware and software components (managed components), each of which has corresponding component instrumentation that interacts with the management (DMI) agent.
In a DMI management environment, the management console solicits information from the managed components. Status information on a DMI-instrumented system is read from component instrumentation and supplied to the management console by the DMI agent.
If an event such as extreme temperature or a fan failure occurs, the component instrumentation detects the problem and sends an unsolicited message to the DMI agent, which passes an alert to the management console. At this point, the system administrator can respond to the alert by issuing appropriate commands from the console. Systems management communication (requests, responses, and alerts) are carried over standard network transport protocols such as IP and IPX.
The structure of DMI data is specified by MIF files. MIF files are database schema, or "maps" to where instrumentation data resides on a managed system. If a DMI management console such as IT Assistant includes a MIF browser, the console can query the DMI agent for the MIF information and the corresponding DMI instrumentation data and can display the instrumentation data structure to the user along with the reported instrumentation data.
MIF files are text files organized hierarchically in descending order into components, groups, and attributes. Components and groups are organizational structures, and attributes have values (static and dynamic) that specify information about DMI-instrumented components. The components, groups, and attributes of a MIF file are defined by a DMTF working committee and are published in the form of a MIF definition document.
IT Assistant can browse DMI instrumentation data and present it in MIF file format, initiate management actions, and receive alerts from DMI-instrumented systems. IT Assistant also supports the Microsoft Systems Management Server for systems running the SMS client.
Dell has driven the development of additions to the standard groups and attributes contained in MIF files. Developed according to the DMTF guidelines, these groups and attributes extend to include characteristics unique to Dell systems. These groups display in a DMI browser just like any other DMTF groups. Examples of these Dell DMI groups, listed by class name, are the following:
Information about the DMTF is available on the World Wide Web at www.dmtf.org/.
See "RAC Support."
This version of IT Assistant supports Embedded Remote Access/MC (ERA/MC) controllers. ERA/MC controllers are remote access controllers (RACs) installed in modular systems such as the Dell™ PowerEdge™ 1655MC. IT Assistant discovers ERA/MCs and allows you to connect to the ERA/MC's remote access interface to perform power cycling of server modules installed in the modular system, get status for each server module and chassis component, and to manage shared resources in the modular system chassis. See the Embedded Remote Access/MC User's Guide for more information about using the ERA/MC controller.
This version of IT Assistant provides some automation in event log management. You can set the maximum number of records the event log can contain, a number of records at which to warn that the log is nearing the maximum, and the number of records to purge upon reaching the maximum.
See "Configuring Event Logging."
IT Assistant enables you to monitor events (SNMP traps, CIM indications, and DMI indications) generated by both server and client systems. You can configure event detection for the local system or remote systems in a network and specify responsive actions.
IT Assistant detects events for Dell and non-Dell systems and alerts you to potential system failures, to changes in system configurations, and to chassis intrusions. Events appear in the alerts window, and you can customize the alert message string.
IT Assistant detects events for all discovered, active, SNMP, CIM, and DMI-instrumented systems. IT Assistant updates the status indicator for a discovered, active, Dell-instrumented system if it detects an event from the system. The status indicator appears to the left of the Dell-instrumented system's name in the systems window and reflects the severity of the event.
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NOTE: The most severe event in a class of systems is also displayed to the left of the system group name (Servers, Desktops, Portables, Workstations, or Custom) in the home window and in the system tree. |
You can access information about an event in the alerts window. IT Assistant receives and reports SNMP traps, CIM indications, and DMI indications. New events are clearly marked by an alert indicator so that you can quickly acknowledge them and take appropriate action.
IT Assistant uses the following naming standards for reporting the event severity: Unknown, Normal, Warning, Critical.
IT Assistant provides continuous event monitoring even if no IT Assistant browser-based user interfaces are open. The IT Assistant connection service and the IT Assistant network monitoring service consistently listen for events and write these events into the IT Assistant data repository whenever they are received. These events can be viewed every time an IT Assistant user interface starts.
See "Event Management."
For servers running Server Administrator 1.1 and earlier, IT Assistant reports memory health information for each memory element as an error count for single-bit corrections and multibit errors. For servers running versions of Server Administrator later than 1.1, IT Assistant reports a failure mode for each memory element. Failure modes are based on the types of memory corrections or errors that have occurred and the frequency with which they have occurred.
A failure mode of NONE indicates that the memory element is working correctly and within specification. Other modes indicate a problem with the memory element. The other possible failure modes are:
IT Assistant enables you to quickly view the following most commonly accessed inventory information about a system:
See "Viewing and Exporting System Inventory."
This version of IT Assistant supports Intel® NIC SNMP instrumentation. Intel NICs now have their own MIB file and SNMP agent. IT Assistant loads the MIB file if an Intel NIC is installed on the managed node, allowing you to browse the MIB file on the Details tab of the systems window. The Network category of the IT Assistant event management system is prepopulated with events (SNMP traps) generated by this Intel SNMP agent.
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NOTE: This feature is supported only for client systems (desktops, workstations, and portable computers). |
This feature allows you to selectively enable, disable, or specify settings for legacy and legacy-free components in a Dell client system. You can configure the following components and obtain their status:
In addition, you can configure and obtain the status of the following legacy and legacy-free components on systems with earlier versions of Client Instrumentation:
The IT Assistant browser-based user interface and the IT Assistant services both support the Microsoft Windows XP Professional operating system. To run the interface on this operating system, you must use IE 6.0 or later.
The IT Assistant browser-based user interface and the IT Assistant services both support the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system. To run the interface on this operating system, you must use IE 6.0 or later.
This version of IT Assistant supports discovery of modular systems such as the Dell PowerEdge 1655MC. You can access the managed network switch, the ERA/MC controller, and each server module present in a modular system through the IT Assistant system tree.
See "Viewing and Managing Modular Systems."
IT Assistant recognizes video card and monitor instrumentation defined by a Dell monitor MIF component. This instrumentation is available on systems running Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows 2000 that have a DDC2B-compliant video subsystem and monitor.
See "CIM, DMI, and SNMP Information."
This version of IT Assistant discovers Dell™ PowerConnect™ managed switches in a network and displays them in the system tree. A link to a new group, Network Switches, is also provided on the home window. When you select a switch in the systems window, IT Assistant displays the switch status on the Status tab and enables you to remotely connect to the managed switch's management console. The event management system also recognizes SNMP traps from PowerConnect switches.
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NOTE: A firmware update will soon be available that will enable IT Assistant to display the status of the PowerConnect 3024, 3048, and 5012. |
See "Managed Network Switch Discovery" and "Managed Network Switch Trap Configuration."
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NOTE: Password security for client systems applies only to systems with an SMBIOS. Client systems with this BIOS have the SMBIOS Supported? attribute set to True in the Dell Configuration Group on the Details tab of the systems window. You may be prompted for the system setup password if one is assigned to the remote client system. |
IT Assistant enables you to remotely set up users and passwords on the local system, server systems, and on client systems equipped with SMBIOS. When the password is enabled, it is required to initiate any management action.
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NOTE: Password security is implemented entirely by Dell instrumentation; it is not based on operating system security features or network security features. |
See "User Setup for Systems and RACs."
IT Assistant also provides a password feature for specifying user rights to the program itself. IT Assistant services security enables you to specify a password for read-write access to IT Assistant, which is required to change configuration settings.
See "IT Assistant Services Security."
Some Dell PowerEdge systems support remote enablement and disablement of the hardware power switch on the main system chassis. Disabling the hardware power switch prevents accidental or intentional power interruption of critical systems through their external power button. If a system supports this feature, IT Assistant discovers the power button and displays its status in the status tree under Main System Chassis.
See "Power Button Settings."
PXE is an industry-standard specification that allows enterprise network clients to automatically download software images and configuration parameters. PXE makes it possible to remotely boot an operating system on a network client regardless of the current content of the client's hard drive.
Using IT Assistant, you can select PXE on Next Boot (this is an option on the Other tab of the system configuration window) if the system supports this feature. If this option is enabled, it overrides (ignores) the BIOS boot sequence on the next boot. On subsequent boots, the BIOS boot sequence is used.
The Dell OpenManage Remote Assistant Card II (DRAC II), Dell Remote Access Card III (DRAC III), Dell Remote Access Card III/XT (DRAC III/XT), Embedded Remote Access (ERA), and the Embedded Remote Access Option (ERA/O) are systems management hardware and software solutions designed to provide remote management capabilities for servers. Collectively, these solutions are known as remote access controllers (RACs). RACs are always installed into a host server system.
During normal system operation, a RAC provides management capability for its host. A RAC communicates with the host's embedded server management (ESM) system, which monitors critical server components. The RAC can send notifications to preset destinations on receipt of alerts generated by ESM. ESM generates alerts when component conditions on the host exceed threshold values. However, you cannot set alert thresholds for component conditions through the RAC; you must set the thresholds through IT Assistant.
If the host becomes inoperable, a RAC provides remote access, which is a communications path to the host using resources on the RAC (network interface controller [NIC], modem, serial port) rather than the host system's NIC.
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NOTE: Not all RACs have all three remote access resources (ports) described above (NIC, modem, serial port). See your RAC documentation for the remote access ports available on your RAC. |
Remote access allows you to get the system up and running as quickly as possible. While the system is down, a RAC provides alert notification and allows you to remotely restart the system. In addition, some RACs log the probable cause of system crashes and enable you to view the most recent crash screen.
IT Assistant discovers, monitors, and allows you to configure RACs installed in host servers. IT Assistant also enables you to connect to a RAC's remote access port(s), if available, and run the RAC's remote access interface, which is the program you use to access the RAC's server management capabilities.
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NOTE: Configuration of ERA, ERA/O, ERA/MC, and DRAC III/XT controllers is not currently supported through IT Assistant. You must use Server Administrator or the racadm utility to configure ERA, ERA/O, and DRAC III/XT controllers. You must use the serial command shell interface or the remote racadm utility to configure ERA/MC. |
For DRAC II, the remote access interface is the Dell OpenManage Remote Assistant program or the DRAC II Web Console program. For DRAC III, DRAC III/XT, ERA, and ERA/O, the remote access interface program is embedded in the RAC's firmware along with a Web server. This arrangement enables you to use IT Assistant or just a Web browser from any system on the network to connect to the RAC and run the remote access interface.
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NOTE: RACs communicate using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) only. |
See "RACs" for information about configuring a RAC.
See "Status Attributes" for information about setting alert threshold values for server components.
IT Assistant recognizes and displays DRAC III users that were created by either Server Administrator or the DRAC III racadm utility. For more information about Server Administrator, see the Server Administrator User's Guide. For more information about the racadm utility, see the Dell Remote Access Controller (RAC) Installation and Setup Guide. These documents are located on the documentation CD shipped with your system.
IT Assistant provides remote access to a specific managed server equipped with a RAC (except ERA/MC) even when normal network communication to that system is lost. Versions of IT Assistant earlier than 6.1 do not support remote access to a specific server when the server is down. This is because the RAC remote access interfaces are initiated against an individual server from the Status tab of the system window, and the Status tab is unavailable when a system is not operating.
IT Assistant provides a remote access address book to connect to a DRAC, DRAC II, or DRAC III on a failed server. When IT Assistant discovers one of these RACs, it stores (in the address book) all the NIC information required to connect to the RAC when communication to the host server is lost. System administrators can also add entries to the address book manually.
See "Address Book Management" for information on adding, removing, editing, and importing connection information for DRAC, DRAC II, or DRAC III.
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NOTE: This feature is supported only for client systems (desktops, workstations, and portable computers). |
IT Assistant enables the system administrator to remotely enable mapping of one or more DMI groups to a local directory or to the Microsoft SMS on systems that run the SMS client. IT Assistant creates a MIF file for the selected group(s) and exports the file to the user-defined or SMS directory.
The system that runs the SMS Administrator accesses the SMS directory. When the SMS inventory agent (part of the SMS client) runs on the client system, it collects the MIF file(s) from the SMS directory (usually \ms\sms\noidmifs) and adds the Dell DMI groups defined in the MIF file(s) to the SMS database. These mapped groups then appear in the Properties section of the SMS Administrator window. The Dell name precedes all of the Dell DMI groups.
See "MIF and SMS MIF Mapping on Remote Systems."
IT Assistant offers two methods by which to perform remote flash BIOS updates. The following subsections describe each method.
IT Assistant enables you to perform remote flash BIOS updates using User Datagram Protocol (UDP). In this method, IT Assistant sends UDP packets to signal the remote target system and to transfer a user-specified BIOS file, and then flashes the target system. Dell recommends this method for the following Dell systems:
The remote system must be active for the update to proceed.
See "Remote Flash BIOS" for instructions on using this method.
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NOTE: This method is not supported for servers. |
The UDP method of remotely flashing systems' BIOS can be unreliable because routers and hubs in a segmented network may block UDP packets. UDP also has no effective security to stop unauthorized users from performing a BIOS update.
For client systems running Client Instrumentation 6.0 and later, IT Assistant offers a different method that overcomes these issues. Using this version of IT Assistant, you can perform remote flash BIOS updates of client systems by using Microsoft Distributed Object Model (DCOM) technology. In this method, IT Assistant sends a user-specified BIOS flash file (.hdr file) to the IT Assistant services and packages it into a Microsoft cabinet (CAB) file. IT Assistant then contacts the client system through DCOM and tells it to retrieve the CAB file from a specific directory on the management station. The client retrieves the file, decompresses it, and performs a BIOS update.
This method is more reliable than UDP because:
This method is more secure than UDP because:
The legacy (UDP) method is also supported for Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation version 6.0 and later. However, IT Assistant does not automatically attempt the UDP method if the DCOM method fails. You must disable the DCOM feature and try again to use the UDP method.
See "Remote Flash BIOS" for instructions on using this method and enabling/disabling the DCOM feature.
IT Assistant enables you to restart and shut down remote systems on registered discovery ranges.
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NOTE: This feature is supported only on client (nonserver) systems that have an SMBIOS. |
See "Remote Restart and Shutdown".
Server Administrator is software that makes Dell servers manageable. It provides functions such as status monitoring of the server's components, configuration of the server's components, remote access to the server, and online diagnostics of the server hardware. Server Administrator supercedes previous Server Agent and Online Diagnostics software. Server Administrator complements IT Assistant by providing additional management functions and capabilities that are specific to servers.
IT Assistant uses information from Server Administrator to monitor and manage Dell servers. For these systems, Server Administrator enables IT Assistant's key functions of discovering systems in a network, identifying system status, notifying system administrators of status changes, logging of system events in a single database, and searching for systems based on attributes. Server Administrator also integrates with IT Assistant's ability to launch device management applications against specific systems. For example, this release of IT Assistant enables you to remotely launch Server Administrator on any discovered server that has Server Administrator installed.
Combined with its modular system support, IT Assistant becomes an ideal management platform for Dell modular systems. Because Server Administrator is installed on each server module in a modular system, you can conveniently use IT Assistant to launch Server Administrator against whichever server module you want to manage. When finished, you can easily manage other server modules in the same chassis by simply clicking another module in the IT Assistant system tree and launching Server Administrator again.
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NOTES: IT Assistant can initiate management
actions on, and receive alerts from, SNMP-instrumented Dell server systems. This feature
is supported on Dell servers instrumented with the Dell OpenManage HIP, Dell
OpenManage Server Agent, or Dell OpenManage Server Administrator. IT Assistant discovers SNMP-instrumented systems under the following conditions:
IT Assistant is able to communicate with SNMP
instrumentation agents because it has precompiled information regarding the structure of
the data that is retrieved by these agents. IT Assistant cannot load and retrieve MIB data
for SNMP agents for which it does not have precompiled information. |
SNMP management architecture, like DMI, consists of a management application (often referred to as a management console) that issues requests to and receives responses from a management agent running on a remote managed system (also referred to as the managed node). Managed systems have hardware and software components (managed components), each of which has corresponding component instrumentation that interacts with the management (SNMP) agent.
In an SNMP management environment, the management console solicits information from the managed components. Status information on an SNMP-instrumented system is read from component instrumentation and supplied to the management console (such as IT Assistant) by the management (SNMP) agent.
If an event such as extreme temperature or a fan failure occurs, the component instrumentation detects the problem and sends an unsolicited message (or trap) to the SNMP agent, which passes an alert to the management console. At this point, the system administrator can respond to the alert by issuing appropriate commands from the console. Systems management communication (requests, responses, and alerts) are carried over standard network transport protocols such as the User Datagram Protocol/IP (UDP/IP) and IPX.
The structure of SNMP data is specified by MIB files. MIB files, like MIF files, are database schema, or "maps" to where data resides on a managed system. Some applications can compile the MIB data schema and allow the user to browse the instrumentation data.
IT Assistant is not a MIB file compiler or browser, but does have information about Dell MIB files built in. IT Assistant can browse and report SNMP instrumentation data from Dell servers, but not from other SNMP-instrumented systems.
IT Assistant supports SNMP on either DMI-instrumented Dell PowerEdge servers equipped with the Dell OpenManage HIP and running the Microsoft SNMP service, or Dell PowerEdge servers instrumented with the Dell OpenManage Server Agent 4.0.
For servers instrumented with the Dell OpenManage HIP, IT Assistant can browse SNMP information, initiate management actions, receive SNMP traps, and evaluate the severity of events from these systems through the use of a DMI-to-SNMP mapper in the Dell OpenManage HIP. For systems instrumented with the Dell OpenManage Server Agent 4.0, IT Assistant does all of this using native SNMP instead of mapped DMI.
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NOTE: You must explicitly configure the managed node to forward SNMP traps to the management station. The capability to forward traps is operating-system dependent. |
The IT Assistant system tree displays system groups, and the systems within each group, in sorted alphanumeric order. This sort order makes it easy for the IT administrator who is managing hundreds or thousands of systems to locate specific systems in the system tree.
This version of IT Assistant offers an improved graphical user interface that has fewer redundant controls and that enables you to navigate to all windows (pages) of the application using a single tree-style panel, similar to the directory tree you use in Microsoft Windows. The navigation tree is totally separated from direct commands (Back, Refresh, Exit, and so on), providing a more efficient, logical grouping of functions.
Users of some previous versions of IT Assistant will notice that the toolbar at the top of the IT Assistant main window has been removed. Of the previous toolbar functions, Home, Inventory, Alerts, Search, and Systems are now available under the Views branch of the navigation tree, and Support, Help, Exit (Log Out), Back, Refresh, and Print are available in the upper right corner of the IT Assistant main window.
IT Assistant installs exclusively from the Systems Management CD to provide greater convenience, better automation of the installation process, and better integration with your other server management products.
IT Assistant enables you to manage the system configuration settings of systems equipped with an SMBIOS. The following are the SMBIOS options that you can configure:
See "Hardware Features and System Properties."
System name resolution is the networking term for the process of matching IP addresses to host names. Earlier versions of IT Assistant first attempt to resolve system names through the Domain Name Server (DNS), then through a managed node's instrumentation if DNS fails to preserve a standard naming convention across systems. However, beginning with IT Assistant 6.1, you can configure the method of system name resolution used by IT Assistant.
See "Configuring System Name Resolution."
It is often desirable to receive alerts when systems go down or power up. However, due to a lack of reliable before-the-fact indicators, it is very difficult for a local system instrumentation agent to detect when a system is about to go down or has just powered up. It is therefore equally difficult for a local agent to generate events to trigger the alerts.
The solution is to move the burden of detection from the managed system to a centralized location, such as the management station. The services can detect loss and reestablishment of communication with a managed system upon each status cycle; loss or reestablishment of communication is a reliable after-the-fact indicator of a system that has gone down or has just powered up. IT Assistant includes a feature that enables you to configure it to send SNMP traps to other management applications or to itself upon detection of a system up or system down status change. In addition, IT Assistant's event management database has been prepopulated with these events. Because IT Assistant, not managed system instrumentation, generates the traps, this feature is available even for managed systems without instrumentation.
See "Trap Configuration for System Up/Down."
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NOTE: This feature is available only on DMI 2.0-compliant client (nonserver) systems that also have a DMI 2.0-compliant Wakeup On LAN-compatible NIC. |
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NOTE: Wakeup On LAN is supported by default on the local subnet. For Wakeup On LAN to work across subnets, UDP port 68 must be open across the network router. |
IT Assistant uses Wakeup On LAN technology to enable you to turn on remote systems with Wakeup On LAN capabilities in the network that were turned off after being discovered.
See "Wakeup On LAN."