The Dell™ OpenManage™ 6.1 suite of systems management tools is available and ready to help you manage your Dell PowerEdge™ 11th-generation servers. Learn where to get the best information to help you with a successful deployment of OpenManage IT Assistant.


Technical Community - Background Reading

Chat Transcript

KongY-Dell Welcome Xavier
KongY-Dell Welcome Erson. Congrats on being inducted to the Dell TechCenter Hall of Fame
erson Thanks
KongY-Dell Well deserved BTW
erson Just updated my profile a bit with an avatar and some information about myself. Jonathan said you guys would update the announcement a bit when I added an avatar, etc.
KongY-Dell @erson, yes that should happen shortly
KongY-Dell @xavier, if you don't mind me asking, what's your role at Xavier?
KongY-Dell Hi there Jeff. Jeff is our Linux and Storage guru
Xavier SAN *nix and system design
erson OpenManage 6.1 = OMSA 6.0.3, or is the documentation not updated yet?
Dell-Jeff_Sullivan Hola!
erson Hi Jeff
KongY-Dell @xavier, sweet
KongY-Dell @erson, let me check
erson Nice with two chats this week
erson Hi D_glynn
KongY-Dell Hi D_glynn
erson Deduplication is an interesting topic
Dell-d_glynn Hey all
Dell-Jeff_Sullivan @erson, agreed on deduplication. Did you see the chat topic for Thursday?
erson Yes
KongY-Dell Welcome @asudduth. I've posed your question on Twitter to the engineering team; but my contacts are out of the office today and for most of this week :( Will try to get you something through a different team
KongY-Dell Welcome Danocan
DanOCan Hello
asudduth @kongy_dell, thanks for letting me know
erson Kongy, can we expect some EqualLogic announcements soon?
KongY-Dell @erson, in terms of?
Dell-d_glynn My thought exactly...
erson I heard that support for 2 TB drives was coming and a smaller/simpler unit was in the line as well
KongY-Dell @erson, I don't think that Dell is going to acquire Data Domain :)
erson Have they accepted Netapp’s bid?
KongY-Dell @erson, I haven't heard of any announcements yet. If they do come out, they'll probably be blogged here: http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/insideit/default.aspx
KongY-Dell Welcome Bjb1964
KongY-Dell @erson, I'm not sure. Netapp did increase their bid to be greater than EMC's bid
KongY-Dell Welcome Double8pex
double8pex Hello
KongY-Dell Welcome Khsieh
KongY-Dell On a different subject than today's chat, Jeff Sullivan will be leading our Thursday chat on data deduplication: http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/insideit/archive/2009/06/05/the-future-of-data-deduplication.aspx
KongY-Dell http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/dell_tech_center/archive/2009/06/05/deduplication-and-hi-i-m-jeff.aspx
KongY-Dell Jeff will host this chat on Thursday at 3 PM CDT
KongY-Dell Welcome Kents
KongY-Dell Welcome Ally
KongY-Dell As always, select Action, Recent Room History to see previous dialogue
KongY-Dell Welcome Nitin. Welcome Vmdoug. Welcome Mr. Scott H
VMDoug Thanks, good to be here
DELL-ScottH Hey everybody! Sorry I'm late. Meeting with my manager on what I want to be when I grow up! :-)
DELL-ScottH Doug! Good to see you
KongY-Dell I think you should become a WSOP bracelet winner or a Quiznos franchisee ;)
DELL-ScottH Alright, my watch says 3 o'clock. Let me send one final spam tweet
KongY-Dell Hi there Mark
atxtraveler_on_twitter Howdy Kong!
VMDoug Hi Mark
atxtraveler_on_twitter Howdy, Boss!
erson Hi Scott
DELL-ScottH Okay, couple of house keeping issues before we start the general chat. Today's chat is recorded; you can view the transcript the next day on this same link that got you to the chat page. Don't worry about copying URL links; they will be all lit up in the transcript tomorrow. And if you click a link today, use a right-click or the chat will most likely kick you out! You can use Action, Recent Room History to catch up if you get kicked out or join in late, and ask questions at anytime. You are not being rude by doing so...this is a chat :-)
DELL-ScottH Hey Erson! Everyone, congrats to Erson, who is our newest TechCenter Hall of Fame inductee! www.delltechcenter.com/page/dell+techcenter+member+hall+of+fame
erson /me takes a bow
KongY-Dell Congrats Erson!
DELL-ScottH Alright, welcome everyone to this week's chat session. Today's topic is OpenManage 6.1, which is not even out yet :-)
erson Scott, you should update that Hall of Fame, now that I have an avatar and everything
DELL-ScottH So you guys are getting some behind-the-scenes information today. You're welcome, and don't share too much :-)
DELL-ScottH @erson, will fix it
erson Also managed to jot down some text about myself
VMDoug NDA stuff?
DELL-ScottH It's a little NDAish, but I'm okay with a little leakage
atxtraveler_on_twitter Right-click fail, then Java fail...I am back
erson /me expects that it relates to Windows 2008 and VMs
DELL-ScottH So OpenManage is the umbrella under which all Dell systems management products fall. All the news lately has been around OpenManage Dell Management Console, but I wanted to make sure that everyone understood that IT Assistant, OMSA, and the rest of the old, tried and true OM 5.x products you love (or have a relationship with) are updated to 6.x for the Dell 11th-generation line of products
DELL-ScottH Here's our OpenManage page on TechCenter: www.delltechcenter.com/page/openmanage+systems+management
DELL-ScottH OpenManage 6.0.1, 6.0.2, and 6.0.3 have been out to support the new Dell 11th-generation line of servers. Download link: http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?os=wnet&osl=en&catid=36&impid=-1&hidos=wnet&hidlang=en&systemid=pwe_r710
erson Is OMSA 6.0.3 part of OpenManage 6.1?
DELL-ScottH Hmm, that will be fixed in the transcript. Look for OpenManage 6.1 to be released soon, very soon. I won't say exactly when, but if you live in the states you can have a little pre-fireworks celebration around the release date :-)
DELL-ScottH So the new things in 6.1: support for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack (SP) 2. Support for Windows Server 2008 Foundation, support for Microsoft Internet Explorer version 8.0, and support for VMware ESXi 4.0 HDD and Flash Editions. Support for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11, support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server with Update 3, and support for these Dell Systems: PowerEdge T710, PowerEdge T410, and PowerEdge R410
DELL-ScottH I'll let that soak in for a second before telling a little more...
asudduth Will that support Windows 2008 R2?
VMDoug Hyper-V
asudduth Vmdoug, good question, if yes, what about Hyper-V R2 (Windows 2008 R2)
DELL-ScottH Okay, that was the list for 6.1 changes from 6.0.3
VMDoug But wait, there's more...
atxtraveler_on_twitter Good question, Doug
DELL-ScottH The “more” is that IT Assistant will now be supported in a virtualized environment: ESX, Hyper-V, and Xen
atxtraveler_on_twitter All versions of ESX?
DELL-ScottH ESX 3.5 U4, 4.0 and ESXi 3.5 U4 and 4
DELL-ScottH There is an extensive list and support matrix depending on if you are talking OMSA, DUPs, IT Assistant, etc. Will have it posted on release
erson Is there an end-of-life (EOL) date for IT Assistant?
asudduth On the download link I see 6.0.1 labeled 3/31/09. If I remember correctly we have/are trying to use 5.5.2, but I thought it was newer than 3/31. Maybe I'm confusing things
erson Hmmm, early July then
atxtraveler_on_twitter What is the current shipping version of ESXi that comes with the 11th-generation servers?
DELL-ScottH Late June
davidsinclair Is OpenManage going to go EOL at some point because of Dell Management Console?
DELL-ScottH @atx, 3.5 U4
erson Davidsinclair, Dell Management Console uses OMSA
DELL-ScottH So like all good things, there is overlap in the end of IT Assistant and the birthing of Dell Management Console
dandill It looks like I can't upgrade my IT Assistant 8.3 installation to 8.4 as the pre-req checker fails on my VM
DELL-ScottH I can tell you that we are nowhere near the end of IT Assistant support or releases for a while, and, yes, Dell Management Console still uses OMSA for an agent, and it will be around also
DELL-ScottH @dandill, what pre-req is failing?
dandill It says it's “not a supported system” :/
DELL-ScottH What server model?
dandill It's a VM
atxtraveler_on_twitter Where does the agent reside on ESXi boxes?
dandill Running on Dell hardware
DELL-ScottH On the ESXi boxes the 6.0.3 agent is built in
davidsinclair Why are SC models not supported for installation of OMSA, and will they ever be supported?
atxtraveler_on_twitter Built in to the VMware kernel?
DELL-ScottH @david, SC models by definition are lower-end, non-managed boxes. They are priced lower for that fact, and that's why they aren't supported. Trade-off for the price
double8pex Can Dell Management Console questions be answered here? Or am I in the wrong chat session?
dandill So, is there any way to run either of the Dell management consoles in a VM?
DELL-ScottH @atx, yes in the kernel
DELL-ScottH @dan, 6.1 is not released yet
DELL-ScottH It is the version that supports running in a VM. Few weeks yet
dandill Ah okay, 6.0.3 definitely won't let me upgrade
DELL-ScottH Dell Management Console is a different story and support for running in a VM is a little further out...although, this link should help: http://en.community.dell.com/groups/dell_management_console/wiki/dmc-faq.aspx
durkinr Scott, when 6.1 gets posted, how about you update your script posted here to install it in vSphere for me? I'm lazy
DELL-KentS @dandill, IT Assistant should install fine in a VM
dandill @kent, it doesn't; at least not the current 6.0.3. But I'm okay with waiting until 6.1. Thanks for the information, gents
DELL-KentS @dandill, 6.0.3 is OMSA
dandill I'm not going to argue with the fact that I just tried updating and it didn't let me do it. LOL
tonyhgras It's okay to have management traffic merged with general traffic in the server’s NICs?
DELL-ScottH @double, we are chatting OpenManage 6 today, but feel free to throw out any Dell Management Console questions, or post them here: http://en.community.dell.com/groups/dell_management_console/default.aspx
DELL-ScottH @durkinr, I will definitely update the script; make sure it still works :-) Or, how about you update it for me, and I'll nominate you to our Hall of Fame?
DELL-ScottH @tony, yes, you'll obviously have a separate network for out of band with the DRACs, but most customers have the management traffic running on a shared NIC
tonyhgras I mean OMSA-Dell Management Console communications and server applications traffic over the same NICs
durkinr I have too many scripts already (and I'm still lazy)
DELL-ScottH @durkinr, okay I'll let you continue to be lazy; that's my job—to try to make your job easier :-)
tonyhgras Isn't it a security risk?
DELL-ScottH FYI, there is no change in the 6.1 interface...so all the demos on our site stay the same: www.delltechcenter.com/page/openmanage+demos
DELL-ScottH @tony, encryption on the traffic; nothing is clear in the open
tonyhgras Thanks, Scott, make sense
DELL-ScottH If you work for the NSA, go ahead and make a separate network, I won't stop you
durkinr Demos and videos are good. Why are all the videos [untitled]? That makes it difficult to find what I'm looking for!
DELL-ScottH [untitled] where?
durkinr www.delltechcenter.com/videos. All of the titles listed under the videos are [untitled]
DELL-ScottH Oh, that's part of our Wetpaint provider provided video...I'll get that fixed, was not aware
atxtraveler_on_twitter Scott, what is the process of getting a free PowerVault M1000E?
DELL-ScottH Use the main link: www.delltechcenter.com/page/demonstrations, organized by subject
DELL-ScottH Lol, I think it would cost you more that just using money :-)
atxtraveler_on_twitter Had to try
durkinr Thanks for that link
DELL-ScottH Ah, the other essential resource: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smsom/
DELL-ScottH Support documents! Use that link when you want to RTFM slap someone :-)
DELL-ScottH The answer is definitely in there; I must say we have some really detailed documents
atxtraveler_on_twitter I love RTFMing!
DELL-ScottH Alright, questions?
DELL-ScottH So, OpenManage 6.1 is releasing soon, there’s support for IT Assistant in a VM, it supports all the 11th-generation hardware, and has the same interface you know and love—or like :-)
durkinr Um, I can hardly wait?
DELL-ScottH Congratulations again to Erson for being a great member of the community! www.delltechcenter.com/page/dell+techcenter+member+hall+of+fame
DELL-ScottH I know, such excitement! Mainly wanted to make you all aware that IT Assistant is still actively developed, and you don't have to do Dell Management Console yet if you are on the sidelines. When you start down the Dell Management Console road, we are here, and you should bookmark this group to help you out: http://en.community.dell.com/groups/dell_management_console/default.aspx
durkinr I've ordered new hardware to migrate from our PowerEdge 2650 running Altiris 6.5 to Altiris, er, Symantec 7.0 with Dell Management Console. You're welcome!
atxtraveler_on_twitter Congratulations, Durkin!
durkinr *Thanks!*
atxtraveler_on_twitter The PowerEdge 2650 was a heck of a box back in the early 2000s
DELL-ScottH W00t! thanks for the order!
DELL-ScottH Hey, no making fun :-)
durkinr That thing has been very reliable
atxtraveler_on_twitter Scott, I sold a ton of those back in the day
DELL-ScottH I'll put you in a time machine and make you install Veeam on a Ppro 200 MHz!
atxtraveler_on_twitter I still have my PowerEdge 2450 here in my office
erson What about support for Windows 2008 R2?
atxtraveler_on_twitter Haven't you seen some of our Reporter Enterprise reports? There are plenty of PowerEdge 2550s, which surface on a good poll of the environment
durkinr We were on Micron servers back then. Turned out to be a bad move, using Micron servers
DELL-ScottH Micron, wow! That was my first real PC in college
DELL-ScottH @erson, you are gone, but Windows 2008 R2 is not on the matrix. Will be in a point release
DELL-ScottH Erson, use Action, Recent Room History to get your answer :-)
DELL-ScottH One more thing for anyone reading the transcript—oldie but a goody: http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/dell_tech_center/archive/2008/02.aspx
DELL-ScottH This link will help explain all the OpenManage acronyms
DELL-ScottH Alright, thanks to everyone for joining in the chat today; if you have any questions, ask them directly on this page when the transcript is posted
erson Scotth, great. Is it not possible to install OMSA on Windows 2008 R2 at all, or is it just not supported?
DELL-ScottH It's testing statement. I haven't tried it yet, but our servers are trickling in, so will have some thoughts in a few weeks. Reminder, we have a chat hosted by Jeff on Thursday for Dell Deduplication solutions: www.delltechcenter.com/page/06-11-09+dell+deduplication+solutions
DELL-ScottH Thanks all !
KongY-Dell Thank you everyone!
erson Sleep is needed, I'm out!