Dell Server Configuration Using OME, IDRAC and Recite Tool

This white paper is for informational purposes only, and may contain typographical errors and technical inaccuracies. The content is provided as is, without express or implied warranties of any kind.

Agent Free (iDRAC) Server

Configuration using OME and Recite

Tool

This Dell Technical White Paper provides information about how to perform cloning operations and setting other configurations using OME and Recite Tool

Authors:

Pavana Subbarao

Rajaneesh Shresta

Steven Zessin

Dell Product Group

ii Agent free (iDRAC) Serve configuration using OME and Recite tool

Contents

Introduction ....................................................................................... 3

Recite Tool ........................................................................................ 4

Prerequities for running scripts using OpenManage Essentials ............................ 5

HOW To: ........................................................................................... 5

Enable IPMI over LAN ............................................................................ 5

Disable IPMI over LAN ......................................................................... 11

Enable Integrated RAID Controller .......................................................... 13

Disable Integrated RAID Controller .......................................................... 15

Enable Integrated SAS Controller ............................................................ 18

Disable Integrated SAS Controller ........................................................... 19

Export Lifecycle Controller Log .............................................................. 21

Profile Cloning .................................................................................. 23

BIOS Profile Cloning ........................................................................... 23

NIC Profile Cloning ............................................................................. 27

NIC Profile Get Task: .......................................................................... 27

iDRAC Profile Cloning .......................................................................... 30

Parameter Description ........................................................................ 34

Password Configuration Notes................................................................ 35

3 Agent free (iDRAC) Serve configuration using OME and Recite tool

Introduction

OpenManage Essentials (OME) is a hardware management application that

provides a comprehensive view of Dell systems, devices, and components in

the enterprise’s network. OpenManage Essentials is a web-based and one-to-

many systems management application. Using OME, you can discover and

inventory Dell systems and other devices and components, monitor system

health, and perform system updates.

A Management station can be any computer where OpenManage Essentials is

installed to monitor and discover a managed system.

OME Home Page on Dell Tech center: http://www.delltechcenter/ome

This whitepaper describes how to use OpenManage Essentials to perform

the following tasks on select iDRACs using OME’s remote tasks feature and

Recite Tool.

- BIOS Profile Cloning or modify settings

- NIC Profile Cloning or modify settings

- iDRAC Profile Cloning or modify settings

- Enable/Disable IPMI over LAN: User can perform power on/power off

tasks on servers from OME when IPMI over LAN is enabled.

- Enable/Disable Integrated RAID Controller

- Enable/Disable Integrated SAS Controller

- Export LifeCycle Controller log

http://www.delltechcenter/ome

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20123705.aspx


Recite Tool

Recite is an independent external tool to OME that provides a simple and fast

interface for the Dell Lifecycle Controller API. The Recite Windows

executable bundles the required Python environment into one package.

Additionally, Recite utilizes the WSMAN interface to interact with the

Lifecycle Controller API.

The Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller with Lifecycle Controller

(iDRAC6 with Lifecycle Controller 1 or iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller 2) is

an embedded device in all Dell PowerEdge™ servers that helps IT

administrators manage, monitor, update, and deploy Dell servers.

To learn more about Lifecycle Controller and iDRAC, see the following links.

http://www.delltechcenter.com/lc

http://www.delltechcenter.com/idrac

To download and learn more about recite tool, see

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/2012370

5.aspx






Prerequities for running scripts using OpenManage

Essentials

1. Install OME 1.1 and apply OME 1.1.1 patch.

2. Download recite tool from Dell tech Center.

3. Extract the contents of recite.zip to the system where OME is installed.

4. Make sure port 443 is enabled.

HOW To:

Enable IPMI over LAN

This feature is supported only on iDRAC 7.

Enabling "IPMI over LAN" allows user to perform operations using IPMI

protocol. Common use cases include power ON/PowerCycle the server,

retrieving SEL logs etc.

1. Launch OME.

2. Perform Discovery and Inventory of iDRAC7 using WSMAN or SNMP

protocol. All discovered iDRACs will classify as RAC in the Device Tree.

IDRACs classified as RACs in the Device tree Figure 1.

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems-management/w/wiki/1989.openmanage-essentials.aspx

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems-management/w/wiki/1989.openmanage-essentials.aspx


3. Navigate to Manage > Remote Tasks.

Remote Tasks Figure 2.

4. Click on “Create Command Line Tasks”.

Remote Tasks Figure 3.

5. “Create a Command Line Task” window is displayed.

6. “General “tab is displayed.

7. Select “Generic command task” option – Enter task name “Enable IPMI

over LAN” or use the default one.


8. In the command field enter the location of the recite.exe that was

extracted from the zip folder that was downloaded from Dell Tech

Center.

9. In the Arguments field, Enter” IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP

"ApplyAttributes Target=iDRAC.Embedded.1

AttributeName=IPMILan.1#Enable AttributeValue=Enabled"”.

Click here for more information about Arguments.

10. Check “Output to file” to redirect the task output to a file

11. Script Credentials section is displayed. Enter Credentials of the iDRAC as

shown in the figure below.


Creating command line task – Enable IPMI over LAN Figure 4.

12. Click Next.

13. “Task Target” tab is displayed.

14. Select the iDRAC 7 Targets that you want to enable “IPMI over LAN” on.


Selecting Targets – To Enable IPMI over LAN Figure 5.

15. Click Next.

16. “Schedule and Credentials” tab is displayed.

17. Set schedule – user can either choose run now or set schedule.

18. Enter credentials of the OME Administrator who has the privileges to run

the task on this server.


Schedule and Credentials Tab Figure 6.

19. Click Finish. Task gets created and completes successfully.

Task Created Figure 7.

20. Double click on the task to view task details


Task output Figure 8.

21. To check if the “IPMI over LAN” is enabled, log into iDRAC console.

Navigate to iDRAC Settings -> Network Settings -> IPMI settings

Disable IPMI over LAN

This feature is supported only on iDRAC 7

1. Repeat Steps 1 to 21 from “Enable IPMI over LAN ” Section. In step 7,

Change the task name to “Disable IPMI over LAN” and in Step 9, use the

following arguments in the Arguments field”

IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP "ApplyAttributes

Target=iDRAC.Embedded.1 AttributeName=IPMILan.1#Enable

AttributeValue=Disabled"”.



Creating Command Line Task – Disable IPMI over LAN Figure 9.

2. To check if the “IPMI over LAN” is enabled, log into iDRAC console.

Navigate to iDRAC Settings -> Network Settings -> IPMI settings


Enable Integrated RAID Controller

This feature is supported on systems (iDRAC 6 and iDRAC 7) that have

integrated RAID controllers. Enable Integrated RAID controller to leverage

its capabilities and access internal drives attached to it using the steps

mentioned below.

1. Repeat Steps 1 to 21 from “Enable IPMI over LAN” Section. In step 7,

Change the task name to “Enable Integrated RAID Controller” and in Step

9, use the following arguments in the Arguments field ”

IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP InstanceID=BIOS.Setup.1-

1:IntegratedRaid NewValue=Enabled c:\reciteTool\clone.py” – where

“c:\reciteTool\clone.py" is the location of the clone python file that was

extracted along with recite.exe from recite zip folder.


2. To verify that the RAID controller has been enabled, run the following

command


Creating Command Line Task – Enable RAID Controller Figure 10.

Output of Task Run:

DCIM_BIOSEnumeration

AttributeDisplayName = Integrated RAID Controller

AttributeName = IntegratedRaid

CurrentValue = Disabled

Dependency


DisplayOrder = 1003

FQDD = BIOS.Setup.1-1

GroupDisplayName = Integrated Devices

GroupID = IntegratedDevices

InstanceID = BIOS.Setup.1-1:IntegratedRaid

IsReadOnly = false

PendingValue = Enabled

PossibleValues = Enabled

PossibleValues = Disabled

PossibleValuesDescription = Enabled

PossibleValuesDescription = Disabled

Disable Integrated RAID Controller


integrated RAID controllers. If you chose to use an Add-on RAID controller

instead of Integrated RAID controller, then Integrated RAID controller can

be disabled as described below


Change the task name to “Enable Integrated RAID Controller” and in Step 9,

use the following arguments in the Arguments field ”


1:IntegratedRaid NewValue=Disabled c:\reciteTool\clone.py” – where





2. To Verify that the RAID Controller has be disabled, run the following

command

Creating Command Line Task – Disable RAID Controller Figure 11.


Output of Task Run:


AttributeDisplayName = Integrated RAID Controller

AttributeName = IntegratedRaid

CurrentValue = Enabled

Dependency

DisplayOrder = 1003


GroupDisplayName = Integrated Devices

GroupID = IntegratedDevices

InstanceID = BIOS.Setup.1-1:IntegratedRaid

IsReadOnly = false

PendingValue = Disabled



PossibleValuesDescription = Enabled

PossibleValuesDescription = Disabled


Enable Integrated SAS Controller


integrated SAS controllers.





1:IntegratedSas NewValue=Enabled c:\reciteTool\clone.py” – where




Creating Command Line Task – Enable SAS Controller Figure 12.


Output of Task Run:


AttributeName = IntegratedSas

CurrentValue = Disabled

DefaultValue


InstanceID = BIOS.Setup.1-1:IntegratedSas

IsReadOnly = false

PendingValue = Enabled



Disable Integrated SAS Controller


integrated SAS controllers.





1:IntegratedSas NewValue=Disabled c:\reciteTool\clone.py” – where





Creating Command Line Task – Disable SAS Controller Figure 13.

Output of Task Run:


AttributeName = IntegratedSas

CurrentValue = Enabled

DefaultValue



InstanceID = BIOS.Setup.1-1:IntegratedSas

IsReadOnly = false

PendingValue = Disabled



Export Lifecycle Controller Log

Assuming a Dell update package (DUP) was pushed from OME to the

managed server via iDRAC and the package failed to download. Users can

review the LC log to determine the reason for failure and take necessary

actions. Similarly if the virtual console start/stop did not work or the

remote login to iDRAC failed, LC log will provide useful information for

troubleshooting.


Change the task name to “Export LC Log” and in Step 9, use the following

arguments in the Arguments field ” IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP

"ExportLCLog IPAddress=xxx ShareName=foldername

FileName=$RAC_IP.xml ShareType=2 Username=John Password=doe

Workgroup=workgroup"”

Where:

- IPAddress: IP address of the network share location where Log is saved

- ShareName : is the name of the share on the network location where the

file is saved


- FileName: is the name that the user wants to save the log as. $RAC_IP is

replaced by the IP address of iDRAC (this will allow single log file to be

created per iDRAC. Ex: If the task is run against 10 iDRACs, 10 files will be

created with name: <Filename>_iDRACIPAddress.txt)

- ShareType : 2 for CIFS export(Windows OS), 0 for NFS export(Linux OS)

- Username and Password: User with privileges to access the share

- Workgroup: is the name of the workgroup that the user belongs to.


Creating Command Line Task – Export LC Log Figure 14.


Profile Cloning

BIOS/NIC/iDRAC profile cloning has 2 steps

1. Getting data from the source server

2. Setting data on the destination server

Only applicable data from the source server will be set/applied on the

destination server.

Ex: Passwords will not be cloned/applied from source to the destination

server.

BIOS Profile Cloning

BIOS profile cloning feature allows the user to apply all cloneable BIOS

settings from a specified server to one or more blades. Cloneable BIOS

settings are those BIOS settings that can be modified and are intended to be

replicated across servers.

A prerequisite step before creating the BIOS profile is configuring the BIOS on

a server that you want to replicate to the other servers. To accomplish this

step, reboot the server and press F2 at boot up time. Configure the BIOS

settings.

BIOS Profile Get Task:


Change the task name to “BIOS Profile Get” and in Step 9, use the

following arguments in the Arguments field ”


IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP COMP=BIOS c:\reciteTool\clone.py”

– where “c:\reciteTool\clone.py" is the location of the clone python file

that was extracted along with recite.exe from recite zip folder.


2. A file with the IP of the target will be created in the folder that contains

recite.exe and clone.py files.

Creating Command Line Task – BIOS Profile Get Task Figure 15.


BIOS Profile Set Task:


Change the task name to “BIOS Profile Set” and in Step 9, use the


IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP

REF=c:\\windows\\syswow64\\xxxx.ini c:\reciteTool\clone.py” – where

c:\\windows\\syswow64\\xxxx.ini is the location of the output file that

was generated when the Get command line task was executed on the

source server. The location of the ini file depends on the location of

cmd.exe.



Creating Command Line Task – BIOS Profile set Task Figure 16.


NIC Profile Cloning

NIC configuration allows the user to set up or modify configuration settings

for supported NIC cards (e.g. Intel, Qlogic, and Broadcom). These

configuration settings can be set or updated remotely on a server with Dell

Lifecycle Controller using OME and recite tool.

Few settings that users would like to clone:

Enable or disable NIC partitioning

Enabling or disabling NIC personality using NicMode attribute.

Enabling or disabling iSCSI personality using iScsiOffloadMode attribute.

Enabling or disabling FCoE personality using FCoEOffloadMode attribute.

Setting bandwidth on CNA using MaxBandwidth and MinBandwidth attributes.

Few settings that can be modified:

Setting virtual address attributes (VirtMacAddr, VirtIscsiMacAddr,

VirtFIPMacAddr, VirtWWN, VirtWWPN) on CNA

NIC Profile Get Task:


Change the task name to “NIC Profile Get” and in Step 9, use the


IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP COMP=NIC c:\reciteTool\clone.py” –

where “c:\reciteTool\clone.py" is the location of the clone python file

that was extracted along with recite.exe from recite zip folder.





Creating Command Line Task – NIC Profile Get Task Figure 17.

NIC Profile Set Task:


Change the task name to “NIC Profile Set” and in Step 9, use the








cmd.exe.


Creating Command Line Task – NIC Profile Set Task Figure 18.


iDRAC Profile Cloning

iDRAC profile Cloning feature allows the user to apply all clone able iDRAC

settings from a specified server to one or more blades. Clone able iDRAC

settings are those iDRAC settings that can be modified and are intended to be

replicated across servers.

A prerequisite step before creating the iDRAC profile is configuring the iDRAC

on a server that you want to replicate to the other servers. To accomplish

this step, launch the iDRAC console from OME and configure the iDRAC

settings to your desired settings. Save the settings and make sure the settings

are reflected in the iDRAC console.

iDRAC Profile Get Task:


Change the task name to “iDRAC Profile Get” and in Step 9, use the


IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP COMP=iDRAC

c:\reciteTool\clone.py” – where “c:\reciteTool\clone.py" is the location of

the clone python file that was extracted along with recite.exe from recite

zip folder.

Click here, for more information about Arguments.




Creating Command Line Task – iDRAC Profile Get Task Figure 19.

3. Upon success, the recite tool outputs the information in an INI file named

with the IP address of the iDRAC. The INI file contains the list of all iDRAC

attributes in the iDRAC.


iDRAC Profile Set Task:


Change the task name to “iDRAC Profile Set” and in Step 9, use the







cmd.exe.


The recite tool along with the python script, sets the attributes defined in an

INI file, reports any errors related to setting those attributes, creates a

targeted config job and then provides updates on the status of the job that

is created and exits when the job is completed.


Creating Command Line Task – iDRAC Profile Set Task Figure 20.


Parameter Description

Name of the attribute Type Description/Value

ApplyAttributes() Used to set or change the value of

an iDRAC Card attribute

Target String FQDD of the iDRAC Card

AttributeName[] String An array of values, where each

value shall be formatted in the

following way: <GroupID property

value>#<AttributeName property

value>.

Example: “MyGroup#MyAttribute

AttributeValue[] String Shall contain the desired attribute

values.

If the value is valid, the CurrentValue

or PendingValue property of the

specified attribute will be modified.

InstaneID String The property value shall be unique

key value

COMP String Component to be cloned

REF String Input file name with configuration

details

$RAC_IP If these arguments are used, a new

tab will appear in the wizard. In this

tab you can select which targets you

wish to use to pass and IP of a device


to the command line. $RAC_IP is

used for a iDRAC IP

$USERNAME iDRAC username

$PASSWORD Password to access iDRAC

Password Configuration Notes

"The script does not copy passwords into the ini file so if passwords

are not added the users are created with six asterisks as the

passwords."

"Do Not change the password of the User being used to push the

configuration"

"Either remove the users data from the ini file or set the users

password in the ini to its current password"


References:

OpenManage Essentials

http://www.delltechcenter.com/ome

Recite Tool


5.aspx

Scripting the Dell Lifecycle Controller Wiki

http://www.delltechcenter.com/LCscripts

Lifecycle Controller


Dell Remote Access Controller – DRAC /iDRAC


White Paper References:

Installing OME


4.aspx

Making my environment manageable for OpenManage Essentials:


7.aspx

Discovery and Inventory of Dell Devices using OME

http://www.delltechcenter.com/ome



http://www.delltechcenter.com/LCscripts









3.aspx

Dell iDRAC Card Profile 1.3


0.aspx

Lifecycle Controller Best Practice Specifications


3.aspx

Learn more

Visit DellTechcenter.com/OME for more information on Dell OpenManage Essentials.

© 2013 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dell and its affiliates cannot be responsible for errors or omissions in

typography or photography. Dell and the Dell logo are trademarks of Dell Inc. Microsoft, Windows, and the

Windows logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States

and/or other countries. Intel and Xeon are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other

countries. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities

claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell disclaims proprietary interest in the marks and

names of others.

January 2013 | Rev 1.0







http://www.dell.com/PowerEdge/Rack

Dell Server Configuration Using OME, IDRAC and Recite Tool

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