Deploying Dell OpenManage On VMware ESXi

Deploying Dell OpenManage Server Administrator on
VMware ESXi Using Dell Online Depot and VMware

Update Manager
July 2013
Deepti Madhu
Krishnaprasad K
Deploying Dell OpenManage Server Administrator on VMware ESXi using Dell online depot and VMware Update Manager
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THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL
ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.
2013 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material in any manner whatsoever without the
express written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. For more information, contact Dell.
Dell, the DELL logo are trademarks of Dell Inc. VMware, ESXi are trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the
United States and/or other jurisdictions. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this
document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc.
disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.
July 2013
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Table of Contents
Introduction to OMSA and VUM ................................................................................................................... 4
Prerequisites for installing OMSA using VUM .............................................................................................. 4
Maintaining Local Online VMware Depot ..................................................................................................... 4
Deployment of OMSA Using VUM ................................................................................................................ 4
Automation using PowerCLI........................................................................................................................ 14
Troubleshooting Issues ............................................................................................................................... 14
Summary ..................................................................................................................................................... 15
References .................................................................................................................................................. 15
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Introduction to OMSA and VUM

Dell OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) is a software agent that provides a
comprehensive, one-to-one systems management solution. OMSA is designed for system administrators
to manage server systems remotely on a network.
A software depot in VMware ESXi context is used to package and distribute VIBs (vSphere
Installation Bundles). There are two types of depots online and offline. An online software depot is
accessed remotely using HTTP. An offline software depot is downloaded and accessed locally. Dell hosts
an Online depot for the end users to make it easier to deploy OMSA on VMware ESXi. We maintain the
latest revision of OMSA images specific for VMware ESXi hypervisor at this depot. The depot contains
multiple revisions of OMSA bits compatible for VMware ESXi 4.x and 5.x branches. This can be utilized by
VMware Update Manager (VUM) for installing OMSA software on VMware ESXi hosts.
This paper provides instructions to install OMSA on VMware ESXi using VUM and Dell Online
depot. The process is same for both VMware ESXi 4.x and 5.x versions.
Prerequisites for installing OMSA using VUM

The prerequisites required are:
Microsoft Windows system installed with VMware vCenter Server
VMware Update Manager (VUM) Plugin
Internet connectivity for the system installed with vCenter server and VUM - to access the Dell
Online depot.
Refer to VMware documentation on the installation steps of the above mentioned software. It is
possible to create a local depot as well if there is no internet connectivity to the system where VUM is
installed. Refer to the following section Maintaining local depot for details.
Maintaining Local Online VMware Depot

It is possible to have a local depot created for the users who do not want to have internet
connectivity to the server where the VUM and other VMware components are installed. A local depot
can be created using a system running the Linux operating system which has apache webserver installed.
After the webserver is setup, download all files from the Dell Online depot and save the files under the
webserver document root. Make sure that the directory structure is the same as the Dell Online depot.
Refer VMware document to know more on creating a vSphere Update manager depot.
Deployment of OMSA Using VUM

The URL for accessing the Dell online depot is https://vmwaredepot.dell.com/index.xml. The
following are the steps to make the Dell Online depot available to VUM:
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1. Set a proxy server in VUM to access the external sites from the local machine. If you use the local
depot which doesnt require a proxy server to communicate, then this step can be ignored. The
proxy server can be set in Configuration Download Settings section of Update Manager section
as shown below.
With a valid proxy server set in VUM, add the online depot URL and by clicking Validate URL button, the
connection will be shown as Connected which means that VUM is able to contact the Dell Online depot.
Click OK button to continue. The screenshot below shows the connection status.
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2. Navigate to Configuration Download Schedule section in VUM to download the available

OpenManage extensions to VUM repository as below. As an example, the Frequency tab is set to
Once and Start Time is set to Now. This task can be scheduled to a convenient time as well.
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3. After the download is complete, the packages/extensions downloaded can be viewed by navigating
to Patch Repository section as below.
4. Create a baseline out of the OMSA extensions as below.
A baseline in VUM is a package which is created out of multiple or single extensions/patches or upgrade
patches. In this case, we create a baseline with an OMSA extension to deploy it to VMware ESXi hosts.
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In the next window, select a specific Dell OMSA bundle to be deployed as below and click Next to
continue.
5. Add the VMware ESXi host to vCenter server and attach the baseline created in the previous
screen/window to the host as shown below.
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6. After the baseline is attached to the host, it is required to Scan the host to make it aware of the
baseline attached.
7. After the Scan is complete, the Host Compliance window will display as Non-Compliant. This is
because of a new extension attached to the host and the installation of that is not complete.
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8. Start staging so that VUM copies the OMSA extension package to the VMware ESXi host for
installation.
9. After the staging task is complete, you can view that the extension is staged to the host.
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10. Click Remediate, so that the extension copied to VMware ESXi host will get installed.
At this point, the host goes for a reboot to complete the installation of OMSA. After the reboot is
complete, you can view that the host is compliant and the OMSA extension has been installed
successfully.
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Using the Dell Distributed Web Server (DWS), login to the OMSA agent on VMware ESXi.
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Automation using PowerCLI

The whole patching process might be cumbersome to manually perform on multiple servers.
There are options available to automate the patching using the VMware PowerCLI. Refer to VMware
developer site to download the package. The command references and examples are available here.
Note that there are no local command line interfaces available for OMSA in ESXi.
Troubleshooting Issues
1. During the scan operation, the task failed showing unknown error
- Make sure that VMware ESXi host and vCenter servers are configured with DNS and
both the servers can resolve the hostnames between each other.
2. Tasks such as stage, remediate, scan fails with different error codes
- Refer to VMware KB to understand VUM log files and troubleshooting steps.
3. What are the other methods of deployment of OMSA on ESXi?
- Refer to OMSA User Guide available at Dell support site.
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Summary
This paper provides a step-by-step process to help you understand and deploy Dell
OpenManage software on VMware ESXi using the VMware Update Manager and Dell Online depot. The
procedure is same for VMware ESXi 4.x and 5.x revisions.
References
1. To know more about the OMSA support matrix, Refer to OpenManage Server Administrator
section at Dell website.
2. To know more about VMware Update Manager (VUM), Refer to VMware vSphere Update
Manager Documentation section at VMware website.
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Deploying Dell OpenManage Server Administrator on

VMware ESXi Using Dell Online Depot and VMware

Introduction to OMSA and VUM

Prerequisites for installing OMSA using VUM

Maintaining Local Online VMware Depot

Deployment of OMSA Using VUM

2. Navigate to Configuration Download Schedule section in VUM to download the available

4. Create a baseline out of the OMSA extensions as below.

Automation using PowerCLI

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