OME Tips and Tricks

We will use this document to capture ideas on how you might use OpenManage Essentials to help you in your day-to-day work.

Please feel free to post ideas in the forum and we’ll keep the page  updated here.

Thanks,

The OME Team.

 

Tip List Table of Contents:

 

Tip #1  - Blink your server bezel using an OME command line task.

This is a quick way to identify a server in a rack using OME. 

  1. Go to Manage | Remote Tasks
  2. Right-click on Command line to create a new task.
  3. Choose the “Remote Server Administrator Command” radio button.
  4. Enter the following in Command: “omconfig chassis leds led=identify flash=on timeout=20”  (no quotes)
  5. Run this task and your bezel light will blink and then stop automatically.

 

 

Tip #2 – Using Powershell to install 3rd party applications remotely using OME.

One of the most exciting and important features of PowerShell 2.0 is the remoting capability. PowerShell remoting enables management of computers from a remote location.  We captured this tip information in a whitepaper available on delltechcenter.com/ome or you can download here.

 

Tip #3 – Using OME to provide hardware monitoring in your KACE environment.

If you use KACE to manage your environment, you can add in an OME install (either VM or physical) to provide hardware monitoring capabilities and the ability to send alerts to the KACE service desk and automatically open trouble tickets.  Details on how to set this up are in the whitepaper section of delltechcenter.com/ome or can be downloaded here and here.

 

 Tip #4 - Sorting and filtering your reports and grids in OME

Many of the reports and grids in OME have a grey bar above the grid that says "Drag a column header and drop it hear to group by that column".  This is a great feature that allows you to change the way that the report data is viewed.  You can also do this for multiple columns.  Give it a try.

  Tip #5 - Registering DRAC names in DNS

This is a PowerShell script shared by nfields03. You can run this and target the DRAC group. The script reads the hostname from the DRAC and uses it to configure the name the DRAC registers in DNS along with the AD authentication.  

Note: This uses Ben's library functions. Here is the link to the library

practicaladmin.wordpress.com/idrac-ps-library

##########################################

function Parse-RACGetOutput ($RACOutput) {

$arrayobj = @()

foreach ($line in $RACoutput) {

if ($line -ne "") {

$line = $line.Trim("# ")

$result = $line.Split("=")

if ($result[0] -ne "") {

$object = New-Object system.Object

$object | add-member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Property -value $result[0]

$arrayobj += $object

}

}

}

return $arrayobj

}

function RACConfig ($Hosts)

{

# Change to path where racadm.exe is located, default location in Windows 2008 R2 with OME

$RacDir = "&`"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\SysMgt\rac5\racadm.exe`""

# Change username and password for the ones configured on your iDRAC, keep the

# space after the password to ensure the command runs correctly

$UserPass = "-u root -p calvin "

# Change your Domain to match your environment

$MyDomain = "COMPANY.com"

# Assemble Command for querying hostname if OMSA is installed

$QueryHostname = $RacDir + " -r " + $Hosts + " " + $UserPass + "getconfig -g cfgLanNetworking -o cfgDNSRacName"

$result = Invoke-Expression $QueryHostname | select -skip 3

$HostName = Parse-RACGetOutput ($result)

$ShortHost = $HostName.property

# AD groups that will have admin rights on iDRAC

$RacGroup1 = "COMPANY-FULL-ADMINS"

$RacGroup2 = "COMPANY-CONSOLE-ADMINS"

# Assemble Commands for configuration

$RacCommands = @("-g cfgLanNetworking -o cfgDNSServer1 1.1.1.1",

"-g cfgLanNetworking -o cfgDNSServer2 2.2.2.2",

"-g cfgLanNetworking -o cfgDNSRacName $ShortHost",

"-g cfgLanNetworking -o cfgDNSDomainName DRAC.COMPANY.COM",

"-g cfgLanNetworking -o cfgDNSRegisterRac 1",

"-g cfgLanNetworking -o cfgDNSServersFromDHCP 0",

"-g cfgLanNetworking -o cfgDNSDomainNameFromDHCP 0",

"-g cfgActiveDirectory -o cfgADEnable 1",

"-g cfgActiveDirectory -o cfgADType 2",

"-g cfgActiveDirectory -o cfgADDcSRVLookupEnable 1",

"-g cfgActiveDirectory -o cfgADDcSRVLookupDomainName $MyDomain",

"-g cfgActiveDirectory -o cfgADGcSRVLookupEnable 1",

"-g cfgActiveDirectory -o cfgADGcRootDomain $MyDomain",

"-g cfgActiveDirectory -o cfgADCertValidationEnable 1",

"-g cfgStandardSchema -i 1 -o cfgSSADRoleGroupName $RacGroup1",

"-g cfgStandardSchema -i 1 -o cfgSSADRoleGroupDomain $MyDomain",

"-g cfgStandardSchema -i 1 -o cfgSSADRoleGroupPrivilege 0x000001ff",

"-g cfgStandardSchema -i 1 -o cfgSSADRoleGroupName $RacGroup2",

"-g cfgStandardSchema -i 1 -o cfgSSADRoleGroupDomain $MyDomain",

"-g cfgStandardSchema -i 1 -o cfgSSADRoleGroupPrivilege 0x00000071",

"-g cfgUserDomain -o cfgUserDomainName -i 1 $MyDomain")

#Export Root Certificate as Base-64 place in directory below

$RootCert = "C:\temp\COMPANYROOTCA.cer"

$CertCommand = "-t 2 -f " + $RootCert

$FullCommand = $RacDir + " -r " + $Hosts + " " + $UserPass

foreach ($element in $RacCommands) {

$Run = $FullCommand + " config " + $element

Write-Host $Run

Invoke-Expression $Run

}

$UploadCert = $FullCommand + " sslcertupload " + $CertCommand

Write-Host $UploadCert

Invoke-Expression $UploadCert

}

RACConfig ($args[0]);

#################################################