Managing servers is always a challenge. Join us in our weekly chat sessions where this week we will discuss the unique challenges in managing a bladed environment and what tools Dell has to offer to help with those challeneges.

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Dell Blades Management

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Chat Transcript

	Stuart joined.
DELL-ScottH	hey stuart, you are about hour early too :-)
Stuart	Hi there :)
DELL-ScottH	you write my script yet ?
Stuart	Yeah, I am at work doing an upgrade... :(
DELL-ScottH	os or hardware ?
Stuart	hehehe no not yet....
Stuart	Vm coversion.... our Pabx server going virtual... we have a big Dr project going right now...
DELL-ScottH	cool, no special hardware needed on the pbx ?
Stuart	No (lucky for me) it is all Ip bases :)
Stuart	I did get the shirt btw... thanks heaps... I have just been off work for the last couple of weeks and so didn't have a chance to say thanks ... it is a great fit hehe
DELL-ScottH	If I had more time, I'd write that racadm script for you, I don't have all the older stuff to test with, and trying to get other community members to step up and help out, I don't want this to become "scott's script writting shop" :-)
DELL-ScottH	no problem, glad it fits, because shipping international was a pain .. too many forms, they acutually wanted to know the fibre content
Stuart	yeah for sure, I will have a go at it today but I have not done much scritping... I will pass it around the team and see if anyone else can help as well...
Stuart	hehe... sending me illegal fibre!! : )
DELL-ScottH	ok, I might be able to find some time, it's really not that hard ... yeah don't smoke it :-)
Stuart	So what is todays chat about?? looks like I will be able to join in..
DELL-ScottH	blade systems management on the M1000e, you have those ?
Stuart	No, I think we need them though... we have a secondary datacentre with limited rack space due to costs... but it is getting filled up what r200s/2950s and cisco routers/switches....
Stuart	ooops... my Vm conversion just completed.... I will be back in a few mins.... :)
DELL-ScottH	yeah, you might want to do a quick price check on similiary configured blade chassis with integrated switches, system might cost less, and less U space
DELL-ScottH	k
DELL-ScottH	philip, anything special we need to cover for you or your customers today ?
DELL-ScottH	or did you go to sleep already ? ::biggrin
Philip	Hi, no not sleeping yet.
Philip	Actually, I have fairly decent experience with our new Blades and a great management story!
DELL-ScottH	great, feel free to chime in during the discussion if you have relevant points to make
Philip	Although I am a Systems Consultant, in order to close a deal, I included my time to do the installation!!!
DELL-ScottH	whatever it takes, right ?
Philip	I setup 16 Blades with Vmware 3.5 in 4 hours...that includes getting it into the rack...
DELL-ScottH	wow, not bad, how did you load Vmware ? from Cd ?
Philip	Via idrac - remotely mounted Iso image of the Vmware Cd
Philip	Works like a dream!
DELL-ScottH	nice, so all 16 at the same time ? unattended install, or walk through the install ? Vm installs so fast, I guess really not need for unattended install with only 16
Philip	Just about all at same time. The Blades Management is super.
Philip	I just wanted to look on this discussion to see if anything new and useful is about...
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DELL-ScottH	not much new on this talk ...
DELL-ScottH	hey roger
Dell-RogerF	Afternoon.
DELL-ScottH	you can lurk and see what discussion come or, or chime in
DELL-ScottH	we'll be doing the flex address thing in a few weeks (days maybe), that will be new
Philip	ok
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DELL-ScottH	hello kristoffer
Kristoffer	Hi Scott
Kristoffer	and everybody else
DELL-ScottH	I hear you're going to do a case study ... wating for others to join
Dell-RogerF	Welcome back Kristoffer
Kristoffer	Thanks :-)
DELL-ScottH	should be some good press and promo , of course you have to have ytour homepage up :-)
Kristoffer	haha, yep.. working on it... just recieved some of my gear and I'm busy configuring it... Homepage got to wait a bit..
DELL-ScottH	fun fun , late hours , I'm a night owl I think that's why I've always liked It, all the fun stuff happens at night
DELL-ScottH	just ask stuart who is in Australia converting pbxs to Vmware servers as we speak :-)
DELL-ScottH	he said be right back about 30 mins ago, I knew it would take him longer that a second
DELL-ScottH	we'll start in a few minutes, give em a littel more time to join, and for Todd too ... Todd !!!
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DELL-ScottH	I guess i yelled loud enough
DELL-ToddM	Hello everybody
DELL-ScottH	hey todd
Kristoffer	hey
DELL-ScottH	giving everybody exactly .05 hours more to join
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DELL-ScottH	hey flakrat, welcome
flakrat	howdy
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DELL-ToddM	Hello David
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DELL-ScottH	alright, lets get started .... for you new comers, you can click "action" .. "recent room history" to catch up on anything you missed ... Todd can you tell all the newcomers this ? I swear I put it in the welcome text
David_Ouellette	afternoon
DELL-ToddM	Hey Kent
DELL-ScottH	so the format is very casual ..... I throw a few things out with links ...
DELL-ScottH	ohhhh , Roi
DELL-ScottH	Right click on the links, or you';ll get kicked out :-)
DELL-ScottH	and anyone can chime it at anytime, don't worry about interrupting, we can carry on multiple conversations
DELL-ScottH	so todays topic is Blade Systems management
DELL-ScottH	specifically we will cover the hardware management portions of the Dell poweredge M1000e
DELL-ScottH	I created a page to track all the updated topics we will be covering for the next few weeks ... http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/blades+management
DELL-ScottH	Just a reminder, that I'll also talk about upcoming events and new findings around this topic on my blog -- http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/systems+edge
DELL-ScottH	Ok, so the first thing to discuss around M1000e hardware management is the Cmc - the chassis managment controller ....
DELL-ScottH	it has a web interface that allows mgmt of the chassis
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DELL-ToddM	welcom steven
DELL-ScottH	We've got a demo of it here -- http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/poweredge+blade+demos
steven_chin	thanks
DELL-ToddM	You can get caught up by if you select Action -> Recent Room History
DELL-ScottH	The Wmv file is not posted on dell.com yet, but will be soon. Currently you can view the Youtube version on that page
DELL-ScottH	... unless you are behind the Dell firewall :-)
David_Ouellette	but these links can be saved and re-used at any time??
DELL-ScottH	Yes, this chat will have a transcript tomorrow morning for later viewing pleasure
DELL-ScottH	http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/chat+topics+and+transcripts
DELL-ScottH	So the Cmc gives a chassis level detail, for the individual blades in the chassis, each has an idrac (integrated Dell Remote Access Controller)
DELL-ScottH	the idrac allows remote access and Gui console access to each blade .... I've got a demo of the idrac that should be posted tomorrow
DELL-ScottH	look for it under the same page as the Cmc demo.
David_Ouellette	does the Idracs in teh blades have their own Ip addresses like typical idracs?
DELL-ScottH	yes
DELL-ScottH	each idrac has its own Ip and can be launched from the Cmc gui, or just by pointing to the idrac Ip
flakrat	do the idraqs and the cmc support snmp?
David_Ouellette	same level of security either way, I'd guess
DELL-ScottH	the idrac also "knows" which chassis it's in and allows launching of the Cmc console from within the idrac interface and vice-versa
DELL-ScottH	yes, both support Snmp
DELL-ScottH	I currently have their trap destinations set to the Ip address of our Ita machine in the lab
steven_chin	will there be support for something other than Snmp i.e. Wsman?
DELL-ScottH	@steven, not sure about the answer to that, I will send that question to the developers, I'll post the answer to the thread on the transcript, or send me a techcenter message to remind me as well
steven_chin	good deal
DELL-ScottH	The Cmc demo shows the Snmp configuration tab, so you can see it in action
David_Ouellette	can u share a quick blurp about what "wsman" is?
DELL-ScottH	two links
DELL-ScottH	http://www.dmtf.org/standards/wsman
DELL-ScottH	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ws-management
DELL-ScottH	it's another standard, in a world of standards, so many to choose from
David_Ouellette	does this replace the concept of "smash"? or augment it?
DELL-ScottH	alright, so the Cmc allows chassis level control, and control of the components in the chassis, you can power cycle the whole chassis, or blades, or the switches
DELL-ScottH	smash is geared toward Cli, webm and wsman are web services based ... so I would say augment
DELL-ScottH	both those standards come out of Dmtf
DELL-ScottH	Roger has heavy background in this stuff, I sense something good coming from him
Dell-RogerF	Fyi, The supported Wsman profiles of the Cmc are listed on page 29 of the Cmc User Guide http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smdrac3/cmc/en/ug/pdf/cmcug.pdf
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DELL-ScottH	perfect, documentation
DELL-ScottH	so using the Cmc and the idracs we can remotely manage the chassis and blades
DELL-ScottH	We've been doing it in our lab for quite awhile, and I can tell you that it's much easier than walking to our lab which is a few blocks away and no shade, and we're about to hit the hot months here in Texas
DELL-ToddM	Welcome Eric - You can click Action -> Recent Room History to get caught up on the conversation
eric_reed	I remember Round Rock in June...and thanks, yeah I'll catch up.
DELL-ScottH	If you scroll back through the chat, Philip from Israel joined early and he was able to install Vmware 3.5 using the virtual media connection of the idracs -- and installed all 16 blades, a chassis in the rack, and all connections in less than 4 hours
DELL-ScottH	pretty impressive that you can show up in the am and be done by lunch
eric_reed	Not bad at All.
DELL-ScottH	there was also a good article today from infoworld (not sure if you like the trade pubs or not :-) -- http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/06/09/25tc-dell-mseries_1.html
DELL-ScottH	but also tried to show some real world testing experience
DELL-ScottH	From a managment perspective it is definitely nice to have everything integrated in the chassis, you stil have to do some configuration, but for the most part everything talks to each other out of the box
steven_chin	do we have any examples of what systems managment tools our customers are using once the blades are up and running?
DELL-ScottH	So I've got the Cmc Demo, the idrac demo is coming, planning on doing a power managment demo -- any other demos that would help ?
DELL-ScottH	We plan on covering some of the other partner tools next week, but for the most part, customers use all the tools they are used to ....
David_Ouellette	particularly as they relate around pwr mgt
DELL-ScottH	the blades are just servers
steven_chin	i guess I was wondering if we know how many folks use Dell Systems managment vs other apps i.e. Ms Mom, Bmc, etc
DELL-ScottH	Altiris, Microsoft System Center, etc
steven_chin	and do we have any feedback related
eric_reed	yeah, my folks are going to want to know about overall systems management, how Landesk will play with it as opposed to the Dell|altiris tools, etc.
DELL-ScottH	Well the Openmanage line is good as a hardware element manager, and has integration points for Scom, Bmc, etc ... but I'm not sure we have a pulse on that
David_Ouellette	does the Altiris image capture the Vm if virtualized Os, or the entire physical contents - I'd assume it's only the Vm on the given blade...
steven_chin	perhaps we can have a future discussion topic around systems management?
DELL-ScottH	I'll have to ask an Altiris expert on that, I would assume just the Vm since it looks like a real box
DELL-ScottH	@steven, I'm going to point our internal partner relationship person at your query, see if she has some insight, current docs, or feedback on your question
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DELL-ToddM	Welcome abendorg - Click on Action -> Recent Room History to get caught up on the conversation
steven_chin	thanks
DELL-ToddM	And jump in when ready!
David_Ouellette	btw - the demo did lanuch for me - but comes up quite blurry
DELL-ScottH	so some resources around partner managment tools for the blade would be helpful ?
DELL-ScottH	@david, yeah Youtube compression, full Wmv will be available as soon as they post it on Dell.com, better resolution
DELL-ScottH	When I talk to the partner person, I'll link everything she gives me on the blades managment page -- http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/blades+management
steven_chin	can a link be placed ine transcript for where on dell.com the wmv will eventually be placed?
DELL-ScottH	if you need more, start a thread on that page and we'll see what we can provide.
DELL-ScottH	sure, one sec
DELL-ScottH	I've got a placeholder here -- http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/poweredge+blade+demos
DELL-ScottH	but the real link will be -- http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/solutions/blade-cmc-demo.wmv ... should be, cross your fingers, if you're reading the transcript and the link doens't work, go to the blade demo page
DELL-ScottH	yeah, still not there
steven_chin	thanks
DELL-ScottH	usually takes 2-3 days, submitted yesterday
eric_reed	[jeopardy Theme...]
DELL-ScottH	:-)
DELL-ScottH	other demos that would help ?
David_Ouellette	blades in conjunction with Vmware site mgt
DELL-ScottH	fyi, I've got a challenge out -- take a look -- you could earn a shirt -- http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/6-10-08+techcenter+shirt+anyone+%3f+-+comments
DELL-ScottH	check
	Stuart left.
flakrat	It might be useful to have a list of Oid's (is that right) for the Cmc and irdacs that can be used by monitoring agents like Nagios
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DELL-ScottH	ahh good idea, I started down that track when I talked about managing Hp servers -- http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/managing+non-dell+servers+with+ita
DELL-ScottH	@flakrat - post that as a thread on a page and I'll follow up
DELL-ScottH	coming up on the hour, I would like to yield the time for any open discussion ... next week we will talk about a new feature on the blades that is yet to be announced
DELL-ScottH	so we can't announce it, but if you've seen Hp's virtual connect, you might have an idea of what it is
DELL-ScottH	This chat will be available tomorrow in transcript format ... any other questions before we close it out ?
DELL-ScottH	stuart, your servers get converted succesfully ?
DELL-KentS	fkarat - This information is in the Omsa Snmp Reference guide here - http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/svradmin/5.4/en/snmp/html/index.htm
Stuart	The conversion went fine... but the application had licnece issues.... I have logged a call...
flakrat	Kent, thanks
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DELL-ScottH	Thanks Kent, that is a massive list of Object ids
Kristoffer	flakrat: I think you can download the mibs for the cmc on the support site...
DELL-KentS	There will be a quiz later ;)
Kristoffer	under m1000e
DELL-ScottH	try this link on for size -- http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/format.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&deviceid=1108&libid=36&releaseid=r179793&vercnt=2&formatcnt=0&systemid=pwe_m1000e&servicetag=&os=wnet&osl=en&catid=-1&impid=-1
flakrat	very cool
DELL-ScottH	should get you in the right direction
flakrat	yeah, much easier than using snmpwalk to find the right one
DELL-ScottH	Thanks again for everyone joining, tell your friends we are here !
steven_chin	thanks
Stuart	Thanks heaps Scott, and thanks to everyone that contributes to the site... Have a great day!
flakrat	thanks
DELL-ScottH	see you next week, and thanks to all
DELL-ScottH	get some sleep stuart
Kristoffer	thanks and see you
eric_reed	thanks, gents!
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Stuart	Hehe...going home at 12:30opm today... so that will be nice :)
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DELL-ToddM	Thanks everybody!
DELL-ScottH	hah todd, big chief tablet :-)
DELL-ScottH	http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/06-10-2008+storage+choices+for+virtualiation+can+be+easy+-+comments
DELL-ToddM	Somebody follows the links!
Stuart	Hey Scott, We will be implementing altiris in our environment soon... I was wondering if a web chat could be setup in a few weeks to talk about this? (unless it has been done??)
DELL-ScottH	Todd owns the roadmap, you have to bribe him
DELL-ScottH	have you seen their juice community ?
Stuart	I will need some time to get my head around it.... hehehe I can pay him in Wow gold?? hoiw is that?? :)
DELL-ScottH	Lol
Stuart	No... but I will have a look thismorning...
DELL-ScottH	we're Team Fortress 2 players
DELL-ScottH	:-)
DELL-ToddM	Altiris Chat - We can work on that. Will need to get our Altiris friends to participate
Stuart	Thanks, that would be great : )
DELL-ScottH	yeah, we need to build out an altiris side, but the juice community will be a quicker jump start for you
DELL-ScottH	http://juice.altiris.com/dell
Stuart	Okies, thanks again... have a great day!!
DELL-ScottH	u2
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