Introduction to Remote Install: Dell OpenManage Remote Install User's Guide

Introduction to Remote Install: Dell OpenManage™ Remote Install User's Guide

	Overview		Terminology
	Features		Other Documents You May Need
	System Requirements

Overview

Remote Install is a solution for remotely provisioning and configuring Dell™ PowerEdge™ 1655MC systems. Remote Install performs unattended, simultaneous provisioning and configuration of systems over the network by leveraging image-based technology.

The imaging process involves capturing an image from a source system, creating an image file in a storage location, and then remotely deploying the image to multiple target systems. Images are managed by an image server, which is the system running Remote Install. You can manage the imaging process remotely from an admin console, which is a system running a Web browser and displaying content served by the image server. See "Terminology" for definitions of essential Remote Install terms.

Features

Provides Dell OpenManage Web-based user interface for remote access.
Automatically detects supported systems as they are added to the network.
Performs large-scale provisioning from a central site.
Automatically deploys an operating system image and configuration to new systems.
Remotely installs an operating system onto bare-metal systems across the network.
Recovers a system, including the operating system and software, across the network.
Remotely configures systems or operating system components.
Expands provisioning capability using image and RAID package import and export.
Remotely configures RAID settings of target systems before deployment of the operating system.
Provides export log and report for ease of support.
Uses Dell Service Tags as unique system IDs.

System Requirements

Table 1 shows Remote Install components and requirements.

Table 1: Remote Install System Requirements

Component	Specification	Operating Systems Supported by Remote Install
Image server	Dell PowerEdge system with 256 MB or more of RAM NOTE: You cannot install the image server and target system software on the same system.	Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows Server 2003 (Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, and Web Edition)
Storage	Dell storage devices with a minimum of 10-GB storage capacity	Any local or remote storage devices
Target system	Dell PowerEdge 1655MC system PXE boot order before hard drive NIC with PXE 2.x support	Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003 (Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, and Web Edition), and Red Hat Linux 9. NOTE: You can manage target systems created with Remote Install version 1.0 with an image server running Remote Install version 1.1, but you cannot capture images from them. See "Upgrading to Remote Install Version 1.1."
Admin console	Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x or later Netscape Navigator 6.x or later SSL	Windows 2000, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows Server 2003 (Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, and Web Edition), and Red Hat Linux 9

Terminology

Throughout this guide, the following terms are frequently used. Although similar terminologies have been used to refer to similar definitions, Remote Install uses terms listed below with the following specific meanings:

Image server — A system on which Remote Install is installed.
Capture image — The process of saving the content of the hard drive in the target system into a file.
Deploy image — The process of writing the captured image to the hard drive of the target system.
Configuration — A representation of personalized data that will be applied to the target system, such as host name, IP address, and postoperating-system scripts.
Target system — A system that Remote Install manages. The target system for the capture operation is the source system that has the image you want to capture. The target system for the deploy operation is a system that you want to provision and configure with a captured image.
Admin console — A system running a Web browser, through which the user accesses the image server and the Remote Install Web-based interface.
Image — A snapshot of a target system, representing the entire contents of the hard drive.
Management network — The set of systems managed by an image server.
Bare-metal system or bare metal — A target system that does not have an operating system installed.
Locally-installed system — A target system that has had its operating system installed from a Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD or a CD from an operating system vendor.
Preinstalled — A target system that has had its operating system installed at Dell.
PXE boot — The process in which Remote Install, using the PXE protocol, downloads its own active operating system to a target system's RAM and then boots the target system from RAM. Remote Install determines the target system's state after PXE boot.
Agents — Small programs that run on target systems for specific purposes. The Remote Install agents can be automatically downloaded from the image server or installed from external media. For more information about agents, see "Technical Notes — Agents."
Storage — A device that is attached to the image server to store images and RAID packages created by the image server.
RAID package — A program used to configure the RAID in a target system.
RAID installation — A process of configuring the RAID controller.
Import — The process of bringing an external image file or RAID package into the image server.
Export — The process of creating an external image file or RAID package file from the image server.