DELL POWER SOLUTIONS Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, August 2005. Copyright © 2005 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. August 200514

SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

Dell OpenManage IT Assistant (ITA) 7 provides several

key features not available in previous releases, includ-

ing enhanced security and a redesigned user interface

as well as additional capabilities for creating dynamic

groups, managing tasks, controlling devices, launching

applications, reporting device information, updating soft-

ware, and troubleshooting. This article explores significant

new features of ITA 7.

Enhanced securityDell OpenManage IT Assistant 7 has significantly

enhanced administrative security compared to previous

versions of ITA. For example, ITA 7 employs HTTP over

Secure Sockets Layer (HTTPS) communication between

the user interface and the management station, authenti-

cation using OS credentials, and single sign-on capability

to enable a seamless security login model.

Roles within IT Assistant To enable seamless integration with the security model

that is built into Microsoft® Windows® operating systems,

ITA 7 uses the OS to authenticate users rather than defining

a proprietary user access model. Each user is automatically

assigned a role—User, Power User, or Administrator—based

on that individual’s privileges on the management station

or role as configured in the Microsoft Active Directory®

directory service. The Dell OpenManage Version 4.3 Instal-

lation and Security User’s Guide describes the process for e

extending the Active Directory schema to enable user roles

to be configured via Active Directory.1

The ITA user roles and privileges are as follows: User,

read-only access; Administrator, full access to ITA opera-

tions; and Power User, access to several administrative

functions except for the abilities to modify discovery con-

figuration settings, modify alert management settings,

delete tasks, and schedule tasks for later execution.

Single sign-on capabilityTo enable a seamless login, ITA 7 also supports single

sign-on. This support means a user is not required to

log in again after already logging in to the OS. To enable

single sign-on support, administrators must navigate to

Tools>Internet Options in the menu bar of Microsoft

Internet Explorer. In the Internet Options pop-up window,

BY SUDHIR SHETTY

Introducing Dell OpenManageIT Assistant

Dell™ OpenManage™ IT Assistant (ITA) 7 introduces features that can significantly

enhance an organization’s capability to manage its systems from a centralized console.

For example, ITA 7 enables administrators to obtain detailed hardware and software

inventory information from a centralized database, run reports against that data, create

and run scheduled tasks for selected devices, and create dynamic groups of systems

based on inventoried hardware and software assets in the database.

Related Categories:

Change management

Dell OpenManage

Systems management

Visit www.dell.com/powersolutions

for the complete category index.

The Dell OpenManage Version 4.3 Installation and Security User’s Guide is available at support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smsom/4.3/en/ug/index.htm.e

SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

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administrators should select the Security tab and then set the Web

content zone in which the ITA management station resides; best

practices recommend selecting the “Trusted sites” zone to avoid

other security pop-ups. Next, administrators should click the Custom

Level button and select the radio button next to “Automatic logon

with current username and password.” To enable remote login to

a management station, administrators should use the following for-

mats to define the URL that points to that management station:

• Authentication using the local system’s user credentials:

https://machinename:2607/?authType=ntlm&application=

ita&locallogin=true • Authentication using Active Directory: https://

machinename:2607/?authType=ntlm&application=ita

Redesigned user interfaceThe standardized look-and-feel of the redesigned ITA graphical user

interface (GUI) enables administrators to create objects through

intuitive wizards and to easily invoke actions by right-clicking or

using the Actions menu.

Because the GUI is Web based, remote administrators can manage

their networks via a Web browser. ITA 7 supports Microsoft Internet

Explorer on Windows operating systems and Mozilla 1.7.3 (or later)

on Linux®x operating systems. ®

Dynamic groups Administrators can create dynamic groups based on dynamic queries

or static selection of devices within the device tree. First, administrators

must right-click on the All Groups node and then select “New Group.”

In the device selection pane of the Add Group Wizard (see Figure 1),

administrators can either manually select the devices that constitute the

group or define a query that determines group membership.

Figure 1. Device selection pane within the Add Group Wizard

SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

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A query definition is based on the data that is inventoried from

remote devices. To define a query, administrators should select the

radio button next to “Select a query” and click the New button.

Administrators can then define the device group based on certain

criteria. For example, an administrator could define a group that

comprises servers located in Austin, Texas, by leveraging the server

naming convention the organization uses—including “aus” in the

domain name. As shown in Figure 2, this example scenario uses the

query “Name Contains ‘aus’ AND Device Type Is Server.”

As servers are added or deleted, the group membership is modi-

fied dynamically to reflect those changes. The updated custom group

appears in the device tree. This new custom group can be leveraged

in other areas of Dell OpenManage IT Assistant that are dependent on

device groups such as reporting, task management, and event filters.

Task management Dell OpenManage IT Assistant provides a powerful task man-

agement infrastructure that allows administrators to create and

schedule tasks. The following sections describe the different types

and categories of tasks. For each task category, administrators can

choose the target devices for the task as well as the schedule cor-

responding to the task. Figure 3 shows the task panel view.

Command-line tasksThe ITA 7 command-line interface (CLI) allows administrators

to perform generic CLI activities, including Intelligent Platform

Management Interface (IPMI) tasks, remote client instrumentation

tasks, and remote Dell OpenManage Server Administrator tasks.

Generic CLI tasks. The CLI enables system administrators to

run a custom, user-defined task against a specific set of devices.

This provides the flexibility to schedule and run user-defined scripts

or programs against a selected set of devices.

IPMI tasks. Administrators can run CLI tasks against the base-

board management controller (BMC) of a target server. For example,

administrators can reset the device and clear the system event log.

Administrators use the in-band Dell OpenManage Server Agent to

discover the BMC. Note: This requires the BMC Management Utility

to be installed on the management station running ITA.

Remote client instrumentation tasks. Administrators can per-

form remote Dell OpenManage Client Connector CLI tasks against

client devices running Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation

7.x or later. This enables administrators to perform BIOS updates

for remote client devices and set values via Common Information

Model (CIM) to update client BIOS configuration parameters. Note:

This requires Client Connector 2.0 (or later) to be installed on the

management station running ITA.

Remote Dell OpenManage Server Administrator tasks.

Administrators can perform remote server administration CLI tasks,

extending the powerful Dell OpenManage Server Administrator

CLI to a one-to-many context. Note: Server Administrator 2.0 (or

later) must be installed on the remote target device to enable this

functionality. The Server Administrator CLI enables administrators

to perform a wide variety of configuration and reporting tasks such

as clearing Embedded Server Management (ESM) logs, reporting

on storage attributes, and running diagnostics.

Device controlITA 7 enables administrators to control devices using functions such

as device wake-up and device shutdown over the network.

Device wake-up. Administrators can wake up devices on the

network using the standard Wake-on-LAN (WOL) magic packet.

Note: Network interface cards on the target devices must support

this feature for this capability to work in a distributed environment.

Also, the intermediate routers must be configured to enable directed

broadcasting or subnet broadcasting.

Device shutdown.Administrators can shut down devices on the net-

work, using either the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)

Figure 3. Task panel view showing successful run of a Server Administrator CLI task to clear the ESM logs

Figure 2. Query definition pane for creating a new device query

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protocol or Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). In addi-

tion, administrators can remotely reboot, power cycle (if supported),

or power down the remote systems if they possess the appropriate

administrative credentials.

Software update tasksITA 7 also enables administrators to perform remote server software

updates and remote client software updates over the network.

Server software update. Administrators can perform a remote

software update of a server. Note: This requires that Server Admin-

istrator 2.0 (or later) be installed on the remote device. Remote

software updates can also be initiated after administrators run

a compliance report against a specific Dell Update Package or a

System Update Set.

Client software update. Administrators can perform a remote

update of a client BIOS using the client software update mechanism.

Note: To view this task type in the ITA 7 user interface, administra-

tors must install Client Connector 2.0 (or later) on the management

station running ITA.

For more information about updating software through ITA,

see the “Software updates” section in this article.

Application launchDell OpenManage IT Assistant 7 provides a consolidated launch

point for several individual device managers—including Dell

OpenManage Server Administrator; Dell OpenManage Array Manager;

the console for Dell remote access controllers; the console for Dell

PowerConnect™ switches; and the console for digital keyboard,

video, mouse (KVM) switches. ITA 7 can launch one-to-one element

managers or applications for a specific device. The applications

that are enabled for a particular device are typically determined

by the applications that are installed on the management station,

the applications that are installed at the user interface tier, and the

capabilities of the target device.

Figure 4 shows an example user interface in which the admin-

istrator has the options of launching the Server Administrator, Array

Manager, and Remote Desktop Connection applications against

a specific device. Server Administrator and Array Manager were

enabled for this device because the appropriate agent software was

detected on the remote target device. Remote Desktop Connection

is enabled for devices running a Windows OS.

Reporting Dell OpenManage IT Assistant 7 is designed to gather data from a wide

variety of devices and consolidate that information into a centralized

database. The Report Wizard enables administrators to create custom

reports that identify specific inventoried attributes for a selected set

of devices. ITA 7 provides a rich reporting infrastructure that allows

administrators to report on data attributes that are retrieved from

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remote agents. For example, ITA 7 can report on data about stor-

age, cost of ownership, hardware inventory, and software inventory.

Reports can be executed and displayed as HTML, comma-separated

value (CSV), or XML. CSV reports can be imported into a third-party

tool such as Microsoft Excel to enable complex data charting and

graphing capabilities.

Software updates Dell OpenManage IT Assistant 7 enables administrators to view

the Dell Update Packages and System Update Sets that reside on

the Dell PowerEdge™ Updates CD, which is available as part of the

Dell OpenManage Subscription Service. A System Update Set is a

certified aggregate of Dell Update Packages that are specific to a

hardware platform. Dell Update Packages are also available on the

Dell support Web site at support.dell.com.

ITA 7 enables administrators to gather software inventory from

target devices, compare it with a Dell Update Package or System

Update Set, and report on devices that are not compliant with the

updates. In addition, ITA 7 can schedule a remote software update

for remote devices.

For example, a compliance report could be run against the

System Update Set for the Dell PowerEdge 2800 server. The report

might show two systems on the network that have an outdated

BIOS and outdated BMC firmware. The administrator could then

create a software update task that would run the System Update

Set to bring the two target systems into compliance.2

Troubleshooting Dell OpenManage IT Assistant includes a troubleshooting tool to

help diagnose common networking problems for remote devices.

Network administrators can use ITA 7 to run a set of test suites

to verify appropriate device connectivity (see Figure 5). This

enables network administrators to use SNMP or CIM to check

device communication capability, port connectivity on a specific

port, or Domain Name System (DNS) configuration. Trouble-

shooting tips are also provided to help administrators diagnose

and correct network connectivity issues within their specific

IT environments.

The ITA 7 services tier configuration tests help ensure that

administrators have set up the e-mail configuration correctly. E-mail

alerts are among the actions that can be configured for an incoming

alert from a remote device.

Enhanced systems management across the data centerDell OpenManage IT Assistant 7 introduces significant features

that are designed to enhance enterprise systems management.

ITA 7 provides a centralized console for viewing hardware and

software asset inventory, performing tasks, and running reports

on data gathered from remote target devices. Such capabilities can

help streamline systems management across the data center.

Sudhir Shetty works in the Dell Systems Management Consoles Group responsible for defining IT Assistant software functionality. He has an M.S. in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin.

2 For more information about compliance reports and the software update process, see “Software Change Management Using Dell OpenManage IT Assistant” by Sudhir Shetty, Steve Heracleous, and Rohit Sharma in Dell Power

Solutions, August 2005; www.dell.com/downloads/global/power/ps3q05-20050106-Sharma.pdf.

Figure 5. Results of the Port Connectivity and SNMP Connectivity tests run against aspecific target device

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Dell OpenManage:www.dell.com/openmanage

Figure 4. Application launch options for a single server device