Sunday, August 19, 2012

Installing Dell Openmanage on an ESXi Host

Found this when paroozing the VMware communities sites for more info on Dell Openmanage for ESX.


Section 1: Install the vSphere Client and put the target host in maintenance mode

1. Connect to your Host Server via Internet address.
2. Download the vSphere Client appropriate for your version of ESXi
3. Install the vSphere Client
4. Open the vSphere Client and connect to your vCenter or directly to the host
5. Shut down all the guests on the target host, or migrate them to another host.
6. Right click on the target host in the left hand pane and click "Enter Maintenance Mode."

Section 2: Install Dell OpenManage

1. Download and install ‘vSphere CLI’ from VMware website (you will need to create an account in order to login and download the file):

http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vcli/

Most recent at time of this post is: VMware-vSphere-CLI-5.0.0-615813.exe (https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/get-download?downloadGroup=VCLI50U1)

2. Obtain the Dell OpenManage package for ESXi:

v4.0 OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-6.3.0-2075.VIB-ESX40i_A00.9.zip
v4.1 OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-6.5.0-2247.VIB-ESX41i_A01.zip
v5.0 OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-7.1.0-5304.VIB-ESX50i_A00.zip


ESXi 4.0: http://ftp.dell.com/sysman/OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-6.3.0-2075.VIB-ESX40i_A00.9.zip
ESXi 4.1: http://ftp.dell.com/sysman/OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-6.5.0-2247.VIB-ESX41i_A01.zip
ESXi 5.0: http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/84/DriverDetails/DriverFileFormats/Product/poweredge-2950?DriverId=Y0WHR&FileId=2990390081&urlProductCode=False

3. Launch ‘vSphere CLI’ via Start > VMware > VMware vSphere CLI > Command Prompt.
4a. On ESXi 4.X, do the following:
- In the CLI window, type "cd bin" and hit enter to change the directory to the "bin" subfolder
- type "Vihostupdate.pl --server IpAddressOfHost -i -b PathToVIBinstallPackage" and hit enter.
(eg: Vihostupdate.pl --server 192.168.0.1 -i -b C:\OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-7.1.0-5304.VIB-ESX50i_A00.zip)

4b. On ESXi 5.X, do the following:

- Copy the zip file containing the VIB to a datastore that the host can access. I used the vSphere client to connect to the host, then hit the configuration tab, Storage, then right clicked on the default local storage and hit "browse datastore". From that window I created a new folder named "updates" and uploaded the file into it.

- Take note of the Datastore location and name that is shown under "Datastore Details" in the bottom pane while the datastore you uploaded the file to is selected. My local store was /vmfs/volumes/502e86dd-dfa6c7f0-9ce2-0022197a5bef ...

- In the CLI window, type "esxcli --server IpAddressOfHost software vib install -d PathToVIBinstallPackage" and hit enter.
(eg: C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware vSphere CLI>esxcli --server 172.16.8.201 software vib install -d  /vmfs/volumes/502e86dd-dfa6c7f0-9ce2-0022197a5bef/updates/OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-7.1.0-5304.VIB-ESX50i_A00.zip)


5. The system will prompt for the username ( root - then press enter) and the root password (then press enter). The update will now be applied to the ESXi server. The update will take approx 5mins on ESXi 4, and only moments on ESXi 5. (You can view the progress on the vSphere Client screen if you have it open).

Note, you may need to enable CIM providers as well... 4.1 and 5.0 do this automatically, but I think certain builds of 4.0 require you do it manually. You can do this by opening up the CLI again and typing CIMoemProviderEnabled = 1 (thanks to a comment below for pointing this out!)


6. Once completed, close the command prompt screen and reboot the ESXi server. Once the server has come back from being rebooted, using the vSphere Client, right click on the server which is in (maintenance mode) and choose “Exit Maintenance Mode”.


Section 3: Connect to the server via Server Administrator


1. Download the latest version of Dell Open Manage Server Administrator by entering the following into your web browser:

(Version 6.3) http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?s=biz&c=us&l=en&cs=555&k=managednode%2Cv.6.3.0&cat=sup

(Version 7.1) http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER00574377M/1/OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-WIN-7.1.0-5304_A00.exe

and searching for the right package for your needs.

For windows it is:

(6.3) OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-WIN-6.3.0-2075_A00.20.exe (125MB)
(7.1) OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-WIN-7.1.0-5304_A00 (186MB)

2. Install Server Administrator
3. Run Server Manager and choose "Manage a Remote Node", connect via IP Address, enter in the root and root password, and ensure "Ignore Certificate Warnings" is ticked.

NOTE: If your OMSA is responding extremely slow, as mine was, and you are using the Dell Customized version of ESXi 5.0 update 1, look at this article, which details an update to fix some CIM issues. You'll need to use vSphere Update Manager to install a patch on your hosts. http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2016538

14 comments:

  1. Thanks, well written. Cleaned up nicely and with direct links!!. So many versions of this out there, but everyone of them is missing something except this. Thanks a million. Happy I.T. brain mushing.

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  2. Don't forget the CIMoemProviderEnabled = 1, then reboot the host

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  3. Thanks for the tip. Post updated to reflect this, as well as instructions for ESXi 5.0!

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  4. Any tips on upgrading the OM package when dell releases them? Can you basically just do this command again with the new package even if an older package is installed?

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    1. I cannot say that I have had to do that first hand... Every time you update the ESXi base image, it removes these customizations, so you have to reinstall anyway. Regardless, I expect that when you try to install the new package, it will overwrite the old one, and show in the summary that the old version of the package was removed... Let me know if your findings differ!

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    2. I just took the plunge on a PowerEdge T710 that was initially installed with OM 6.x and my 7.1.0 OMSA couldn't connect to it (internal error) so I updated with the current 7.1.0 zip and now I can connect fine and OMSA now works on Firefox which is a bonus.

      Thanks again for your great tutorial. I just started really working with VMWARE last week since someone else set up our initial machines but I don't have time to wait on them for things.

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    3. Glad it worked for you! I'll add to my notes that it's an effective fix for broken OM packages, too! Thanks.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. This was REALLY great. I had to expand my RAID5 Array on my Dell PERC 6/i controller. Used your instructions to install OM Package 7.2 on my ESXi 4.1 servers and OM Server Administrator 7.2 on my Windows 7 PC and run Open Manage to Reconfigure my RAID setup. Took awhile to complete all the installs ect but seems to be working!

    Thank you SO MUCH !!!!

    -Jeff, Los Angeles, CA

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    1. Glad it worked out for you! It is indeed quite an ordeal...

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  7. I followed the instructions for esxi 4.1 and when I launch server manager I get login failed internal error.

    Ideas

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    1. Unfortunately that's a pretty generic error message... I would try searching the internet a bit for people with your same error message, see if anything matches your situation. Sorry, wish I could be more help!

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  8. Will this work with the ESXi 4.1 Free edition?

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    1. Yes, this should work for the free edition of ESXi as well as the full edition.

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