Revision 11 posted to TechCenter Chats - Wiki by DELL-Sheetal G on 5/16/2013 9:54:13 AM
5-16-2013 - TechChat: Your Feedback Helps shape the future of Dell iDRAC
| Dell TechCenter | Welcome to the Dell iDRAC chat, today we are want to hear your feedback on how iDRAC & Lifecycle Controller can be improved |
| Dell TechCenter | Welcome erson |
| Dell TechCenter | I'm sure you have lots of suggestions for the team :) |
| erson | hi |
| Dell TechCenter | @erson - How's everything in your world? |
| Sully | hello |
| Dell TechCenter | Hi Sully, where are you joining us from? |
| Sully | Atlanta |
| Dell TechCenter | Cool - I (Peter) used to live in Atlanta for 12 years |
| erson | Pretty great, doing a big project connecting our offices with redundant IP-transit, our own PIv4/PIv6/AS and p2p transparent ethernet tunnels. |
| Dell TechCenter | Used to work at Bellsouth |
| Dell TechCenter | Hi Robert |
| Sully | eh, i have a friend that worked in the field there doing IFITL |
| Robert Pound | Hello |
| Dell TechCenter | @erson that sounds like a cool project |
| Dell TechCenter | @erson does Dell or iDRAC fit somewhere into that solution? |
| Dell TechCenter | @HoosierCAB - welcome, good to see you back |
| HoosierCAB | had to put a reminder back on my calendar, been missing these. |
| Dell TechCenter | We'll wait 5 more minutes to give folks time to join the chat |
| Dell TechCenter | @hoosierCAB - do you have plenty of free time now that kids are leaving? |
| hypervfan | Hi all |
| Dell TechCenter | hi hypervfan, Michael D! |
| HoosierCAB | I wish, we're moving workstations around and getting ready for the summer conference season. |
| MichaelD | Anymore higher ed is year round |
| HoosierCAB | my best chance at a slow time is July, and we just scheduled the payroll system upgrade for then. |
| MichaelD | Christmas break/new years and spring break are the slow times for me; office is a ghostland during those times. |
| Graeme Bray | Is there audio for this conference? |
| Yogeshpk@Dell | @Bray there will not be audio |
| erson | @Dell TechCenter: sadly no, but our new network setup enables us to deploy and manage Dell hw at the company we recently bought with ~100 employees. They currently have a bunch of brands, so we're going to gradually replace everything with Dell hw. |
| Meghna@Dell | @Graeme - No audio |
| Dell TechCenter | we'll start in a couple minutes - feel free to answer the questions that will be appear throughout the chat |
| Dell TechCenter | no audio on this - it's text only |
| Graeme Bray | Thank you |
| Dell TechCenter | OK we're getting ready to start the chat |
| Doug - Dell | @Michael - ActiveX is the option instead of Java |
| Dell TechCenter | The purpose of today's discussion is really to gain feedback from you, the users of iDRAC |
| Dell TechCenter | to understand how you use the product, understand your pain points, and how we can improve future versions of iDRAC / Lifecycle controller |
| MichaelD | @Doug Only if you use IE |
| Dell TechCenter | We have many of the engineers that work on iDRAC present in the room today and they will be listening to your feedback & answering your questions |
| Dell TechCenter | if you have a suggestion at any time, feel free to either put it in the main body the chat here, or to provide a short answer in the poll windows |
| Doug - Dell | @Michael - what other option are you thinking of? |
| Dell TechCenter | We'll be talking about various features of iDRAC during the chat, and will be asking some poll questions as well |
| Graeme Bray | I had posted earlier that we are trying to replace the functionality of Avocent DSView to utilize the extended functions of iDRAC5,6 and 7. We need a console (that is not OME), that can replace this same functionality. |
| Dell TechCenter | Meghna@Dell will be leading the chat for the next few minutes, presenting a powerpoint deck on Agent Free Monitoring on iDRAC |
| Meghna@Dell | Let's get started on Agent Free Monitoring |
| Meghna@Dell | Agent Free Monitoring is the ability to manage server hardware with embedded tools.– No need for CDs or DVDs&ndash No need for OS instrumentation and applications |
| Meghna@Dell | This can be managed in 2 ways : Staged and Run Time |
| Meghna@Dell | – Staged :configuration and firmware updates are stages and applied at the next server boot |
| MichaelD | @Doug Not sure what the viable options are, just that IE isn't always an option and java is a security risk I'd rather not install. |
| Doug - Dell | @GB - what is it about OME that won't work? |
| Meghna@Dell | – Run Time :Monitoring of the end device is done while the system is up and running. |
| Meghna@Dell | Just to calrify staged = while host is running |
| WayneL@Dell | So updates and configuration can be staged without interruption to the OS |
| Meghna@Dell | We can manage :– Hardware inventory and firmware version– Firmware update– Configuration– Monitoring– SNMP Traps- Web Services API and WS-Eventing Subscription/Notification service |
| BCS | Is Agent Free Monitoring already included in iDRAC7? |
| MichaelD | With iDRAC 7 yes |
| Choudary@dell.com | @BCS:Yes, it is already part of iDRAC7 |
| BCS | thx |
| Graeme Bray | OME provides good functionality, but we are required to scan our rather large network environment weekly to pull this in. It doesn't automatically remove old systems that have been replaced. We have to have 4 different environments based on our datacenter locations/firewalls that prevent one OME console from doing what we want. And its slow...and silverlight.. |
| Doug - Dell | @MD - right now, only options are Java and ActiveX. Working on other options, but they are down the road |
| Jon Hass @ Dell | @BCS iDRAC7 with Express or Enterprise license supports Agentless monitoring |
| Meghna@Dell | Let me talk about how staged operation is performed |
| BCS | oh that's interesting, so you gotta need the 'better' license to use.... i think we do have a couple of enterprise licenses actually |
| Doug - Dell | @GB -- we'll need to discuss changes coming up for OME but we don't have the right folks in this forum |
| Meghna@Dell | Remote Operation:- Remote console sends WSMAN/RACADM commands to iDRAC to check Driver/firmware inventory, update firmware, and configure hardware– iDRAC stores and stages requests until the next reboot or at the time scheduled– System is rebooted to UEFI where configuration and updates are applied |
| BCS | oops both Express and Enterprise have it. got it |
| Meghna@Dell | Here are the devices/components that can be managed.– BIOS– Storage (RAID)– NIC/LOM/NDC– FC-HBA |
| Graeme Bray | Doug - Thanks. Do you know an approximate ETA of the new OME? |
| Meghna@Dell | ANY QUESTIONS ON STAGED OPERATION |
| Sully | watching |
| Meghna@Dell | oops caps was on |
| Jon Hass @ Dell | @BCS Agentless monitoring is available for RAID storage, NICs, CNAs, and FC HBAs. THese components are in addition to the traditional baseboard devices like Fans, PSUs, CPUs, DIMMs, etc. |
| Dell TechCenter | @Graeme - a little birdy told me that a new version is coming out within the next few months, but that's just a rumor |
| Dell TechCenter | expect official announcements on Dell TechCenter |
| Meghna@Dell | In Real/Run time monitoring :– iDRAC polls devices via a direct PCIe connection for inventory, status, and error reporting |
| BCS | thx |
| Meghna@Dell | and – Errors logged to Lifecycle Log (LC Log) |
| Meghna@Dell | and – SNMP Traps, emails, remote SysLog, WS-Event Notification generated when configured. |
| Graeme Bray | Thanks a bunch. |
| Meghna@Dell | The devices supported are : – PERC– NIC/LOM/NDC– FC-HBA– Baseboard components (Sensors, Fans, PSU, etc.) |
| Graeme Bray | Can you improve the update time on iDRAC via the CMC/online updates? They can take up to 10 minutes which is a long time to just wait. |
| Meghna@Dell | any questions on real/run time monitoring |
| RajaTamilarasan@Dell | @Graeme, are we talking about updating the iDRAC itself ? |
| Meghna@Dell | In the next few slides we will go through some screen shots of the iDRAC Web Interface that show the NIC and Storage Devices |
| BCS | i was wondering about that since we have several dozen iDRAC6 in place and the person responsible for it is complaining about not being able to monitor or get notifications when HDD failure occurs. So iDRAC7 DOES actually support PERC/HDD monotoring now. |
| Graeme Bray | Yes Raja |
| Meghna@Dell | This is the page shows the NIC and network related properties , any questions on this ? |
| Graeme Bray | Meghna - Can they clean up that side bar in general on the iDRAC? |
| Jon Hass @ Dell | @BCS Yes - iDRAC7 directly monitors PERC storage controllers, HDDs,and Enclosures without the need for OS based agents or applications. |
| RajaTamilarasan@Dell | @Graeme, we have optimized the iDRAC update starting 1.35.35 and you should see the performance improvement on subsequent updates starting 1.35.35 |
| Graeme Bray | Nothing seems to be consistent between the CMC (AD login requiring @domain), DRAC (provides drop-down), and the layouts are different |
| Meghna@Dell | @Greaeme - it is coming up soon |
| Doug - Dell | @GB - understood, and we are working to better align this. |
| Meghna@Dell | This is the page shows the NIC and network related properties , any questions on this ? |
| Graeme Bray | Thanks. We've voiced our concern to our OSE. I'm glad it was heard. |
| Graeme Bray | Meghna - are you going to review the memory information page as well? |
| Meghna@Dell | @Greaeme - Not today ;( |
| Jon Hass @ Dell | Besides the iDRAC GUI, the real time monitoring information for RAID storage, NICs, CNAs, and FC-HBA is also available via RACADM, SNMP and the WSMAN APIs. |
| RajaTamilarasan@Dell | @Graeme, sure, starting 1.35.35 iDRAC updates doesnt require a host reboot and hence should be multiple folds faster than what you are currently experiencing... |
| Meghna@Dell | This is the Storage Summary view , any questions ? |
| Meghna@Dell | And now the Controller , any questions on this ? |
| Meghna@Dell | And finally the Physical Disks , any questions on this ? |
| Doug - Dell | What do you like best about Disk View? What's missing? |
| Graeme Bray | Drive Speed - 10K vs 15K |
| Sully | yup |
| Sully | maybe response time as well |
| Meghna@Dell | @Graeme - Coming up sooon |
| Graeme Bray | Maybe any errors that have been detected on the disk but not yet flagged as predictive failure. Not sure if that's possible, but I've seen it send Dell SupportAssist cases |
| Sully | i was about to say SMART |
| BCS | me too SMART |
| BCS | not just dumping SMART values, but convert them in a readable comprehensable way |
| Choudary@dell.com | @GB: We do log predictive failures |
| Graeme Bray | Choudary - I understand that, but a DSET can pull some specific information that Dell Support detects, but we don't know what drive it is as it hasn't hit a threshold to mark the drive as Predictive. Talking real-world experience here |
| Choudary@dell.com | @BCS: The new log format supports both detailed description and correction actions |
| Sully | maybe a status lnk that says disk health, with a healthy or unhealthy status |
| Sully | and that link goes to the log or wherever to show what the failures are |
| Sully | i see the green check, but does it do that |
| Choudary@dell.com | @Sully: In storage specific page we have a log that only shows Storage events |
| BCS | i'm sorry I have to go; thanks for the information. have a nice day/week |
| WayneL@Dell | Question:Does anyone use the Firmimg.D7 image to update the iDRAC through theUI or do you use the Windows or Linux update package. |
| Meghna@Dell | That concludes the power point slides ! |
| Graeme Bray | Wayne - I use that to update via the CMC (unfortunately not iDRAC7, but previous version). Other than that, the Windows update |
| BCS | I used the iDRAC GUI through the browser to update an iDRAC6 with the D6 image. Same with D5 image. Worked fine. |
| BCS | bye |
| Choudary@dell.com | Would you like anything added in the Quick Launch sections of the web interface of iDRAC ? |
| Graeme Bray | the iDRAC 7 requires an SD card to update via CMC for the M620 |
| Dell TechCenter | For the rest of the chat, we're pretty much open mic - feel free to suggest anything in terms of iDRAC & Lifecycle controller. We'll be asking some questions of you as conversation starters as well |
| Graeme Bray | Can the Dell iDRAC/CMC team work on more comprehensive documentation for the RACADM commands? The only way to find what you are looking for is either a) Google B) Guess C) Forget it and do it manually |
| WayneL@Dell | @Graeme -- That is correct from CMC UI. Do you use the Windows DUP from the CMC or iDRAC UI? |
| erson | Does Dell provide any documentation regarding integrating DRAC into SCVMM 2012 SP1? |
| Graeme Bray | We use the DUP when we build servers using MDT, other than that we use the drac EXE to extract the files normally, to get the .b7 file or whatever it is |
| Sully | It doesn |
| Meghna@Dell | @GB - for racadm we have detailed dcoumentation for racadm - RACADM Reference RACADM Command Line Reference Guide - http://downloads.dell.com /Manuals/all-products/esuprt_electronics/esuprt_software/esuprt_remote_ent_sys _mgmt/integrated-dell-remote-access-cntrllr-7-v1.30.30_Reference%20Guide_ en-us.pdf?c=us&l=en&cs=555&s=biz |
| Sully | It doesn't do that, just checked |
| Dell TechCenter | @Erson - let me follow up o the SCVMM 2012 SP1 documentation question with the engineering contact in charge of that |
| RajaTamilarasan@Dell | You could also "remotely" update BIOS, Device firmware, Apps etc on your PowerEdge servers using WSMAN... you can find more information at http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20065936 /download.aspx |
| Choudary@dell.com | @Sully: is this DRAC7? |
| Graeme Bray | Can DRAC be set to DHCP automatically instead of 192.168.0.130 when it first shows up? That would help for auto-deployments, especially for rack mount servers |
| Sully | yes |
| Sully | R420 |
| Choudary@dell.com | @Sully: This is what you should see |
| Choudary@dell.com | Recently Logged Storage EventsSeverity Date/Time Description Tue, 14 May 2013 20:37:25 Login for root from 10.30.215.5 using GUI. |
| Sully | yes DHCP would be great |
| Doug - Dell | @GB - yes, we will offer a DHCP option from the factory in June-ish timeframe |
| WayneL@Dell | @Graeme - The 1.35.35 firmware, with Express or Enterprise license can use either the Windows DUP or the D7 image. Same interface will accept either one. |
| Graeme Bray | Wayne - Not from the CMC. We deploy mostly M620 blades that require an SD card. Is this a specific card or could it be any type of card? |
| Sully | C@D, yes I see that, but it would be good to have the smart status info presented when you click the green Check or say Red X by health |
| Doug - Dell | @GB - Dell suggests Class 10 SD cards |
| Choudary@dell.com | @Sully: I see, good suggestion. |
| MichaelD | @Graeme - Only SD cards bought from Dell are supported, but there is nothing keeping you from using a 3rd party card |
| Sully | I have a question, where can I set the hostname of the DRAC card itself |
| Doug - Dell | DRAC6 requires Dell SD cards. CMC is open, as well as DRAC7. Again, Class 10 preferred for wear leveling |
| Graeme Bray | Sully - from Windows - racadm config -g cfgLanNetworking -o cfgDNSRacName %Computername% |
| Sully | can that be put in the gui, lol |
| Choudary@dell.com | @Sully iDRAC Settings-Network->Common setting |
| Graeme Bray | In the GUI its under Network Settings |
| erson | Is the ability to able to record remote console sessions planned? |
| Sully | ah |
| Graeme Bray | We use that command (as well as others) in a script that configures every DRAC during deployment. Prevents a root/calvin situation |
| Sully | that calvin |
| Choudary@dell.com | @Erson: Yes it is comming |
| Choudary@dell.com | Are you aware that no BIOS set up changes required to redirect Serial over LAN with iDRACC7 1.30.30 or later ? |
| Graeme Bray | This quetsion is to anyone at Dell, whether its iDRAC or OMSA team. Can you please include something, somewhere, to show the actual speed of the memory, whether its PC3-10600 or PC3-8500, etc? When you buy memory, you have to know this otherwise the system can choke on the new/old stuff |
| erson | Does the latest DLCI for SCCM support SCCM 2012 SP1? |
| Dell TechCenter | @erson - what feature/functionality are you interested in from an SCVMM2012 SP1 perspective with iDRAC? |
| Doug - Dell | @GB - we show speed -- what is PC3? |
| Yogeshpk@Dell | @erson DLCI 2.0.1 has support for SCCM 2012 |
| Dell TechCenter | @erson - as I understand it, they are currently working on documentation but I might be able to get you an answer now if you are more specific |
| Doug - Dell | @GB -- we show speed in MHz in the GUi |
| Yogeshpk@Dell | @erson http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems-management/w/wiki /4126.dell-lifecycle-controller-integration-for-configuration-manager.aspx |
| Meghna@Dell | RACADM now enables you to configure BIOS , NIC attributes – have you considered using it ? |
| Graeme Bray | Doug - No you don't. Its the actual memory speed on the system. Our Onsite Engineers from Dell haven't been able to find it |
| Graeme Bray | Meghna - already use it - Power Management and Hyperthreading. Works great! |
| Meghna@Dell | @GB - Good to know ! |
| Graeme Bray | Doug - There are different types of DDR3 RAM that don't show which is which. We've run into the issue that we buy new memory per what Dell says, and its the wrong speed compared to what came in the system. |
| erson | @Dell TechCenter:The OOB functionality and for bare metal deployment in SCVMM is what I'm specifically interested in |
| Meghna@Dell | 3) Have the improvements in web interface of iDRAC7 simplified usability? |
| steven_zessin | shortcut....DellTechCenter.com/DLCI |
| Graeme Bray | Any improvements planned to allow more chassis' to be managed by Group Administration? |
| Sully | as far as memory, they may not be able to show speed, but part # or serial of the memory stick would help |
| Sully | im not sure what can be shown, but one of those would help |
| Graeme Bray | @Sully - Agreed. You can't trust the online configuration piece to get the proper module. More information will never hurt the end engineer. We will gather what information we need. |
| Choudary@dell.com | @Sully: This is what we show |
| Choudary@dell.com | BankLabel ACurrentOperatingSpeed 1333DeviceDescription DIMM A1FQDD DIMM.Socket.A1InstanceID :0 :DIMM.Socket.A1LastSystemInventoryTime 2012-09-26T17:28:0:22ManufactureDate Mon Apr 23 07:00 2012 UTC Manufacturer Hynix SemiconductorMemoryType DDR-3Model DDR3 DIMMPartNumber HMT351U7CFR8A-H9PrimaryStatus OKRank Double RankSerialNumber 41CFAD10Size 4096 MBSpeed 1333 MHz |
| Graeme Bray | Where are you pulling that from Choudary? |
| Doug - Dell | What is on screen is the memory page |
| Sully | yeah where |
| Sully | i am in one of the idrac7s myself and thats all i see is what shared on the screen |
| Dell TechCenter | @Graeme - about the CMC, I'm not aware of increasing the number of Chassis you can manage at this time - you have more than 9 in your environment? |
| Choudary@dell.com | @GB:Server->System Inventory |
| Sully | maybe make a link for more info on the memory page that shows that info |
| Dell TechCenter | We're coming up on time for the chat - if you have any final questions, ask them now for the last few minutes |
| RajaTamilarasan@Dell | @Graeme, the image thats shared on the right is from the IDRAC GUI, Server --> Hardware --> Memory, this gives you details about the memory thats installed on your server |
| Dell TechCenter | you can always also leave comments on www.delltechcenter.com or email us at enterprise_techcenter@dell.com |
| Graeme Bray | Where did you pull the information on what model and part it was? |
| Graeme Bray | I see that on my iDRAC7 R820 that was just installed |
| Graeme Bray | Ohh I see now. Can you port this back to iDRAC6? pretty please? |
| Sully | lol |
| RajaTamilarasan@Dell | In addition, you can also navigate to the Server --> System Inventory --> Hardware Inventory tab, which will give you detailed information about every memory module thats installed |
| Sully | it would be nice |
| Dell TechCenter | @Graeme haha |
| Graeme Bray | There is still a large installed user base of iDRAC6. This would be very helpful to your end users. |
| Dell TechCenter | @GB - understand your needs - thought your "pretty please" was funny - checking on iDRAC6 status right now |
| RajaTamilarasan@Dell | @GB, yes we do support this in 11G (iDRAC6) also |
| RajaTamilarasan@Dell | sharing a screen shot... |
| RajaTamilarasan@Dell | @GB, the screen shot that you are seeing on the right is from a DRAC6, System --> System Inventory --> Hardware Inventory |
| Dell TechCenter | @Graeme - see the screen to the right |
| Sully | oh nice |
| Graeme Bray | Thanks. Mine gave me a hardware error. I'll try a different one |
| Graeme Bray | My last question - any chance of adding support for Chrome in a future release? |
| Choudary@dell.com | @GB Wait for some time and try again. |
| WayneL@Dell | @GB -- You do need to have Collect System Inventory on Reboot (CSIOR) enabled |
| Meghna@Dell | @GB - We already support Chrome since 1.30.30 , Q4 release |
| Dell TechCenter | Thanks for joining everyone - at this point let's close out the chat - we have gone over by a few minutes. Tomorrow we'll have a chat transcript posted on www.delltechcenter.com/chat |
| RajaTamilarasan@Dell | Thanks everyone... |
| Dell TechCenter | if you have further questions leave us a comment on Dell TechCenter in the systems management forum |
| Graeme Bray | Thanks Everyone. |
| Dell TechCenter | or email enterprise_techcenter@dell.com |
| Meghna@Dell | Thanks everyone ! |
| Dell TechCenter | thank you for the great questions and suggestions |
| Dell TechCenter | we appreciate your attendance |
| Dell TechCenter | also, see you next week for our Power & Cooling chat! |