Dell Server Management Pack with Agent-Free and SNMP Monitoring

This post gives instructions on how to setup the Agent-Free Monitoring with WSman and SMASH discovery and then SNMP Monitoring through the iDracs.  Some of this document I have copied from another document, but heavily modified to make corrections and added a good bit of instruction so that it will be a more complete guide.

Deploying the Dell Server Management Pack

Follow this procedure to deploy the Dell Server Management Pack (MP) for SCOM.

1.1 Network prerequisites

All iDRAC IPs must be accessible from the Management Console and routable to the management network.  From the Management Console ping the IP of each iDRAC to ensure it is reachable.

1.2 Hardware Prerequisites

Validate on each iDRAC that its Alerts are set to Enabled and Alerts set to go to the OpsMgr server.

NOTE: If you have a lot of iDracs and want to programmatically set this on all at once, you can either use OpenManage Essentials, or I will post a script or link to one soon to do this.

1. Login to each iDrac and go to Alerts.  Set Alerts to Enabled and then click the Apply button in the same box.

2. Set Alerts and Remote System Log Configuration.  The SNMP Trap needs to be set on all 19 pages.  Select SNMP Trap box from the title bar which will check all boxes for SNMP traps on that page.  Then click the right arrow to advance to the next page and select the SNMP Trap box from the title bar again to mark all on that page.  Continue doing this on each page until all 19 pages are done and then click the Apply button. 

3. Next, click over to the SNMP and Email Settings page.  Under IP Destination List, add your OpsMgr server IP, and enable the State box.  The Community String will be used to create a Run As Account in OpsMgr in section 1.7 below.

1.3 Install Steps for Configuring the WS-Management and SMASH Device Template

Download the System Center Monitoring Pack for WS-Management and SMASH Device Discovery: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29266

1. Launch the WS-ManagementAndSMASHDeviceDiscoveryTemplate.msi file.

2. Click Next.

The license agreement is displayed.

3. To continue the installation, accept the license terms after reading them, and click Next.

4. Click Change (if necessary) to change the default installation folder and click Next.

5. Click Install.

6. Log on to OpsMgr 2012 R2 as an administrator for the OpsMgr Management group, preferably by right clicking and selecting Run As Admin.

7. On the OpsMgr console, click Administration, and then click on Import Management Packs under Actions.

8. Add from Disk.  Select No for Online Catalog Collection.

9. Select Management Packs to Import.  Import the MPB file from the extracted location.

“C:\Program Files(x86)\System Center Management Packs\WSManagementAndDeviceDiscoveryTemplate\

Microsoft.SystemCenter.OutofBand.SMASH.Library.mpb”

10. Click Install.

11. Once completed Select Close

12. On the OpsMgr console, click Authoring.

13. Expand Management Pack Templates.

14. Once that is done you should see 'WS-Management and SMASH Device Discovery".

15. At the bottom of the left navigation pane, click Add Monitoring Wizard.

16. The Add Monitoring Wizard screen appears.

17. On the Select Monitoring Type screen, select WS-Management and SMASH Device Discovery and click Next.

19. On the General Properties screen, enter a friendly name and description.  In the Name field provide a name for the wizard.

20. Under Management Pack, click New.

21. The Create a Management Pack screen appears.  Provide a name for the management pack in the Name field, such as Dell OOB MP, and click Next.

For information on creating a management pack, see the OpsMgr documentation at technet.microsoft.com.

22. Click Create.

23. The management pack you created is selected in the Management pack drop-down box. Dell OOB MP

24. Click Next.

25. On the Specify the target drop-down menu, select a resource pool for monitoring out-of-band

Devices.  If you have created a resource pool with a limited set of management servers, use that.  Otherwise, use All Management Servers Resource Pool and click Next.

26. On the Specify the account to be used to run discovery screen, click New and create a Simple Authentication RunAs Account.  This Simple Authentication RunAs Account will be the credentials used to access the iDRAC.

27. For Display Name use iDRAC ACCOUNT

28. On the Credentials page, enter your iDrac credentials.  Click Next.

29. On the Distribution Security page, select Less Secure – I want the credentials to be distributed automatically to all managed computers.

30. Select Create then Select Close.

31. On the Credentials Screen, select the RunAs Account you created from the RunAs Account drop-down menu and click Next.

32. On the Devices page, specify the devices you want to monitor. Here you will add your iDRAC IPs. Click Add.

33. On the Add Devices screen specify the iDRAC IP address of the systems you want to monitor using the Server (out-of-band) monitoring feature.  You can specify the iDRAC IP address of the systems by:

• Scanning the IP Subnet that you provided.

• Scanning a specified IP Range.

• Importing a text file containing the list of iDRAC IP addresses.  If you list contains more than 100 IPs, please split it into multiple files with less than 100 in each test file.

34. Click Advanced Options, select the Skip CA Check and Skip CN Check option and click OK.

35. Click Scan for Devices to search for Dell PowerEdge 13G systems on your network. Depending on the number of devices it may take quite a while.

36. The IP addresses that were able to be communicated with are listed under Available Devices. Highlight the devices click Add to add the list of IP addresses you want to monitor and click OK.

38. Back on the Specify the devices you want to monitor screen click Next and then on the Summary screen click Create.

40. On the OpsMgr console, click Monitoring.

41. Expand → WS-Management and SMASH Monitoring → WS-Management Device State.

The Dell servers will appear here after the automatically triggered SMASH discovery is completed by the OpsMgr.  NOTE: This may take between 5 and 20 minutes.  NOTE: do not proceed past this section if SMASH Device State is not populated.

42. Continue if the SMASH Device State is populated

1.4 Install steps for Dell Server Management Pack Suite

***NOTE:  A newer version has been released and should be used instead of 6.1.1.  http://bradsjumpbag.blogspot.com/2016/02/dell-scom-management-pack-62-released.html***

Download the Dell Server Management Pack Suite for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager v6.1.1: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=8F4J0

Open an administrative command prompt window and run Dell_Server_Management_Pack_Suite_v6.1.1_A00.exe

The following MPs are automatically imported after the installation of Dell Server Management Pack

Suite:

• Agent-based monitoring feature.

• Agent-free monitoring feature.

• Dell Feature Management Pack. The Feature Management Dashboard is displayed under

Monitoring → Dell on the OpsMgr console. Refer to the individual monitoring sections in the User Guide for importing the monitoring features.  http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/dell-srvr-mgt-pck-v6.1.1-mscom/manuals

NOTE: It can take 15-30 minutes before the Feature Management State Dashboard is populated.

1.5 Set the Agent-Free Monitoring Level

1. Go to the navigation pane and select Monitoring. Select Dell Feature Management Dashboard.

2. Select Server and Rack Agent-Free Monitoring

3. From Task Pane, use either "Set to Agent-free Detailed Feature" or "Set to Agent-free Scalable Feature" depending on the unit monitors you want to be available.  See link in Note below.

4. Do not close the task window until it has finished.

NOTE: Keep in mind that many of the unit monitors are not enabled by default.  http://bradsjumpbag.blogspot.com/2015/07/dell-opsmgr-mp-suite-unit-monitors-for.html

1.6 Install iDRAC Monitoring Feature

From the Dell Feature Management State Dashboard install the iDRAC Monitoring Feature.

1. Go to the navigation pane and select Monitoring. Select Dell Feature Management Dashboard.

2. Select DRAC Monitoring

3. From Task Pane select Import DRAC Monitoring Feature.

4. Do not close the task window until it has finished.

1.7 Discovering iDRAC Devices

The DRAC devices must be discovered as network devices under the Administration section of the

OpsMgr console.

Create a Community String Run As Account:

1. Log on to the management server as an OpsMgr administrator, preferably by right clicking and selecting Run as Admin.

2. On the OpsMgr console, click Administration.

3. Right click on Run As Configuration -> Accounts and select Create Run As Account.

4. Change the Run As account type to Community String, give it a name in Display name, and click Next.

5. On the Credentials page, type in the community string exactly as it was on the iDrac SNMP and Email Settings page.  This is essentially a password and is case sensitive.  Click Next.

6. Select Less secure on the Distribution Security page and click Create.

Associate the Community String account with the SNMP Monitoring Profile:

1. Click on Run As Configuration -> Profiles.

2. Find SNMP Monitoring Account, right click on it and select Properties.

3. On the General page click Next.

4. On the Add Run As account page, click Add.

5. In the Run As account drop down box, select the Community String account we just created.  Leave it targeted to All target objects.

6. Click Save and then Close.

To discover DRAC devices:

1. At the bottom of the navigation pane, click Discovery Wizard.

2. Run the Discovery Wizard, select Network devices and follow the instructions on the screen.

3. On the Default Accounts page, click the Create Account button.

4. The Create Run As Account Wizard will open with the type already selected on CommunityString.

5. In Display name field, enter a name for the account and click Next.

6. On the Provide account credentials page, in the Community string field, type in the same community string that was on the SNMP and Email Settings page in the iDrac from section 1.2 above and then click Create.

7. Back in the Specify the default Run As account for discovery page, select the Run As Accounts you want to use for your iDracs.

8. On the Specify devices page click Add or Import.  With Add, you will type in a single iDrac IP at a time and you can specify specific Run As Accounts if they are different on some iDracs.  Import will let you use a text file.  The Access Mode can stay on ICMP and SNMP.

9. On the Schedule the network discovery page, select Run the discovery rule manually.

10. Finish creating the discovery rule and select the box to Run the discovery after the wizard is closed.

11. Once the iDracs have been discovered they will show up under Monitoring → Dell → State Views →DRAC.

1.8 Monitoring

After you install the Dell Server Management Pack Suite, you can use the Monitoring pane of the

OpsMgr to select views that provide complete health information of the discovered Dell DRAC devices.

The DRAC monitoring feature discovers and monitors the health of the Dell DRAC devices. It includes monitoring health of Dell DRAC devices, both at regular intervals and on occurrence of events.

1.9 Validate Alerts and SNMP traps

Send a Test Alert from the iDRAC console.

The Alert will show up under Dell -> Alerts Views -> RemoteAccess Alerts

2.0 SNMP Monitoring Account Options

If you want to the SNMP Monitoring Account to be targeted more tightly, you can target specific classes instead of leaving it targeted to “all targeted objects”.  The specific classes you may want to use include:

Dell Modular Chassis

Dell CMC

Dell DRAC/MC

Dell Server

Dell iDRAC

Dell Remote Access Controller Group

You may not need all of these.  I put them here because I have all of them mainly for the troubleshooting that I do to cover my bases.