Dell Server Configuration Using OME, IDRAC and Recite Tool

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.

Agent Free (iDRAC) Server
Configuration using OME and Recite
Tool
This Dell Technical White Paper provides information about how to
perform cloning operations and setting other configurations using OME
and Recite Tool

Authors:
Pavana Subbarao
Rajaneesh Shresta
Steven Zessin

Dell Product Group

ii Agent free (iDRAC) Serve configuration using OME and Recite tool

Contents
Introduction ....................................................................................... 3
Recite Tool ........................................................................................ 4
Prerequities for running scripts using OpenManage Essentials ............................ 5
HOW To: ........................................................................................... 5
Enable IPMI over LAN ............................................................................ 5
Disable IPMI over LAN ......................................................................... 11
Enable Integrated RAID Controller .......................................................... 13
Disable Integrated RAID Controller .......................................................... 15
Enable Integrated SAS Controller ............................................................ 18
Disable Integrated SAS Controller ........................................................... 19
Export Lifecycle Controller Log .............................................................. 21
Profile Cloning .................................................................................. 23
BIOS Profile Cloning ........................................................................... 23
NIC Profile Cloning ............................................................................. 27
NIC Profile Get Task: .......................................................................... 27
iDRAC Profile Cloning .......................................................................... 30
Parameter Description ........................................................................ 34
Password Configuration Notes................................................................ 35

3 Agent free (iDRAC) Serve configuration using OME and Recite tool

Introduction
OpenManage Essentials (OME) is a hardware management application that
provides a comprehensive view of Dell systems, devices, and components in
the enterprises network. OpenManage Essentials is a web-based and one-to-
many systems management application. Using OME, you can discover and
inventory Dell systems and other devices and components, monitor system
health, and perform system updates.
A Management station can be any computer where OpenManage Essentials is
installed to monitor and discover a managed system.
OME Home Page on Dell Tech center: http://www.delltechcenter/ome

This whitepaper describes how to use OpenManage Essentials to perform
the following tasks on select iDRACs using OMEs remote tasks feature and
Recite Tool.

- BIOS Profile Cloning or modify settings
- NIC Profile Cloning or modify settings
- iDRAC Profile Cloning or modify settings
- Enable/Disable IPMI over LAN: User can perform power on/power off
tasks on servers from OME when IPMI over LAN is enabled.
- Enable/Disable Integrated RAID Controller
- Enable/Disable Integrated SAS Controller
- Export LifeCycle Controller log


Recite Tool
Recite is an independent external tool to OME that provides a simple and fast
interface for the Dell Lifecycle Controller API. The Recite Windows
executable bundles the required Python environment into one package.
Additionally, Recite utilizes the WSMAN interface to interact with the
Lifecycle Controller API.
The Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller with Lifecycle Controller
(iDRAC6 with Lifecycle Controller 1 or iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller 2) is
an embedded device in all Dell PowerEdge servers that helps IT
administrators manage, monitor, update, and deploy Dell servers.
To learn more about Lifecycle Controller and iDRAC, see the following links.
http://www.delltechcenter.com/lc
http://www.delltechcenter.com/idrac
To download and learn more about recite tool, see
http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/2012370
5.aspx


Prerequities for running scripts using OpenManage
Essentials
1. Install OME 1.1 and apply OME 1.1.1 patch.
2. Download recite tool from Dell tech Center.
3. Extract the contents of recite.zip to the system where OME is installed.
4. Make sure port 443 is enabled.

HOW To:
Enable IPMI over LAN
This feature is supported only on iDRAC 7.
Enabling "IPMI over LAN" allows user to perform operations using IPMI
protocol. Common use cases include power ON/PowerCycle the server,
retrieving SEL logs etc.
1. Launch OME.
2. Perform Discovery and Inventory of iDRAC7 using WSMAN or SNMP
protocol. All discovered iDRACs will classify as RAC in the Device Tree.

IDRACs classified as RACs in the Device tree Figure 1.


3. Navigate to Manage > Remote Tasks.

Remote Tasks Figure 2.
4. Click on Create Command Line Tasks.

Remote Tasks Figure 3.
5. Create a Command Line Task window is displayed.
6. General tab is displayed.
7. Select Generic command task option Enter task name Enable IPMI
over LAN or use the default one.


8. In the command field enter the location of the recite.exe that was
extracted from the zip folder that was downloaded from Dell Tech
Center.
9. In the Arguments field, Enter IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP
"ApplyAttributes Target=iDRAC.Embedded.1
AttributeName=IPMILan.1#Enable AttributeValue=Enabled".
Click here for more information about Arguments.
10. Check Output to file to redirect the task output to a file
11. Script Credentials section is displayed. Enter Credentials of the iDRAC as
shown in the figure below.


Creating command line task Enable IPMI over LAN Figure 4.
12. Click Next.
13. Task Target tab is displayed.
14. Select the iDRAC 7 Targets that you want to enable IPMI over LAN on.


Selecting Targets To Enable IPMI over LAN Figure 5.
15. Click Next.
16. Schedule and Credentials tab is displayed.
17. Set schedule user can either choose run now or set schedule.
18. Enter credentials of the OME Administrator who has the privileges to run
the task on this server.


Schedule and Credentials Tab Figure 6.
19. Click Finish. Task gets created and completes successfully.

Task Created Figure 7.
20. Double click on the task to view task details


Task output Figure 8.
21. To check if the IPMI over LAN is enabled, log into iDRAC console.
Navigate to iDRAC Settings -> Network Settings -> IPMI settings

Disable IPMI over LAN
This feature is supported only on iDRAC 7
1. Repeat Steps 1 to 21 from Enable IPMI over LAN Section. In step 7,
Change the task name to Disable IPMI over LAN and in Step 9, use the
following arguments in the Arguments field
IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP "ApplyAttributes
Target=iDRAC.Embedded.1 AttributeName=IPMILan.1#Enable
AttributeValue=Disabled".


Creating Command Line Task Disable IPMI over LAN Figure 9.
2. To check if the IPMI over LAN is enabled, log into iDRAC console.
Navigate to iDRAC Settings -> Network Settings -> IPMI settings


Enable Integrated RAID Controller
This feature is supported on systems (iDRAC 6 and iDRAC 7) that have
integrated RAID controllers. Enable Integrated RAID controller to leverage
its capabilities and access internal drives attached to it using the steps
mentioned below.
Change the task name to Enable Integrated RAID Controller and in Step
9, use the following arguments in the Arguments field
IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP InstanceID=BIOS.Setup.1-
1:IntegratedRaid NewValue=Enabled c:\reciteTool\clone.py where
c:\reciteTool\clone.py" is the location of the clone python file that was
extracted along with recite.exe from recite zip folder.
2. To verify that the RAID controller has been enabled, run the following
command


Creating Command Line Task Enable RAID Controller Figure 10.
Output of Task Run:
DCIM_BIOSEnumeration
AttributeDisplayName = Integrated RAID Controller
AttributeName = IntegratedRaid
CurrentValue = Disabled
Dependency


DisplayOrder = 1003
FQDD = BIOS.Setup.1-1
GroupDisplayName = Integrated Devices
GroupID = IntegratedDevices
InstanceID = BIOS.Setup.1-1:IntegratedRaid
IsReadOnly = false
PendingValue = Enabled
PossibleValues = Enabled
PossibleValues = Disabled
PossibleValuesDescription = Enabled
PossibleValuesDescription = Disabled

Disable Integrated RAID Controller
integrated RAID controllers. If you chose to use an Add-on RAID controller
instead of Integrated RAID controller, then Integrated RAID controller can
be disabled as described below
Change the task name to Enable Integrated RAID Controller and in Step 9,
use the following arguments in the Arguments field
1:IntegratedRaid NewValue=Disabled c:\reciteTool\clone.py where


2. To Verify that the RAID Controller has be disabled, run the following
command

Creating Command Line Task Disable RAID Controller Figure 11.


Output of Task Run:
AttributeDisplayName = Integrated RAID Controller
AttributeName = IntegratedRaid
CurrentValue = Enabled
Dependency
DisplayOrder = 1003
GroupDisplayName = Integrated Devices
GroupID = IntegratedDevices
InstanceID = BIOS.Setup.1-1:IntegratedRaid
IsReadOnly = false
PendingValue = Disabled
PossibleValuesDescription = Enabled
PossibleValuesDescription = Disabled


Enable Integrated SAS Controller
integrated SAS controllers.
1:IntegratedSas NewValue=Enabled c:\reciteTool\clone.py where

Creating Command Line Task Enable SAS Controller Figure 12.


Output of Task Run:
AttributeName = IntegratedSas
CurrentValue = Disabled
DefaultValue
InstanceID = BIOS.Setup.1-1:IntegratedSas
IsReadOnly = false
PendingValue = Enabled

Disable Integrated SAS Controller
integrated SAS controllers.
1:IntegratedSas NewValue=Disabled c:\reciteTool\clone.py where


Creating Command Line Task Disable SAS Controller Figure 13.

Output of Task Run:
AttributeName = IntegratedSas
CurrentValue = Enabled
DefaultValue


InstanceID = BIOS.Setup.1-1:IntegratedSas
IsReadOnly = false
PendingValue = Disabled

Export Lifecycle Controller Log
Assuming a Dell update package (DUP) was pushed from OME to the
managed server via iDRAC and the package failed to download. Users can
review the LC log to determine the reason for failure and take necessary
actions. Similarly if the virtual console start/stop did not work or the
remote login to iDRAC failed, LC log will provide useful information for
troubleshooting.
Change the task name to Export LC Log and in Step 9, use the following
arguments in the Arguments field IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP
"ExportLCLog IPAddress=xxx ShareName=foldername
FileName=$RAC_IP.xml ShareType=2 Username=John Password=doe
Workgroup=workgroup"
Where:
- IPAddress: IP address of the network share location where Log is saved
- ShareName : is the name of the share on the network location where the
file is saved


- FileName: is the name that the user wants to save the log as. $RAC_IP is
replaced by the IP address of iDRAC (this will allow single log file to be
created per iDRAC. Ex: If the task is run against 10 iDRACs, 10 files will be
created with name: <Filename>_iDRACIPAddress.txt)
- ShareType : 2 for CIFS export(Windows OS), 0 for NFS export(Linux OS)
- Username and Password: User with privileges to access the share
- Workgroup: is the name of the workgroup that the user belongs to.

Creating Command Line Task Export LC Log Figure 14.


Profile Cloning
BIOS/NIC/iDRAC profile cloning has 2 steps
1. Getting data from the source server
2. Setting data on the destination server

Only applicable data from the source server will be set/applied on the
destination server.
Ex: Passwords will not be cloned/applied from source to the destination
server.

BIOS Profile Cloning
BIOS profile cloning feature allows the user to apply all cloneable BIOS
settings from a specified server to one or more blades. Cloneable BIOS
settings are those BIOS settings that can be modified and are intended to be
replicated across servers.
A prerequisite step before creating the BIOS profile is configuring the BIOS on
a server that you want to replicate to the other servers. To accomplish this
step, reboot the server and press F2 at boot up time. Configure the BIOS
settings.

BIOS Profile Get Task:
Change the task name to BIOS Profile Get and in Step 9, use the


IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP COMP=BIOS c:\reciteTool\clone.py
where c:\reciteTool\clone.py" is the location of the clone python file
that was extracted along with recite.exe from recite zip folder.
2. A file with the IP of the target will be created in the folder that contains
recite.exe and clone.py files.

Creating Command Line Task BIOS Profile Get Task Figure 15.


BIOS Profile Set Task:
Change the task name to BIOS Profile Set and in Step 9, use the
IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP
REF=c:\\windows\\syswow64\\xxxx.ini c:\reciteTool\clone.py where
c:\\windows\\syswow64\\xxxx.ini is the location of the output file that
was generated when the Get command line task was executed on the
source server. The location of the ini file depends on the location of
cmd.exe.


Creating Command Line Task BIOS Profile set Task Figure 16.


NIC Profile Cloning
NIC configuration allows the user to set up or modify configuration settings
for supported NIC cards (e.g. Intel, Qlogic, and Broadcom). These
configuration settings can be set or updated remotely on a server with Dell
Lifecycle Controller using OME and recite tool.

Few settings that users would like to clone:
Enable or disable NIC partitioning
Enabling or disabling NIC personality using NicMode attribute.
Enabling or disabling iSCSI personality using iScsiOffloadMode attribute.
Enabling or disabling FCoE personality using FCoEOffloadMode attribute.
Setting bandwidth on CNA using MaxBandwidth and MinBandwidth attributes.

Few settings that can be modified:
Setting virtual address attributes (VirtMacAddr, VirtIscsiMacAddr,
VirtFIPMacAddr, VirtWWN, VirtWWPN) on CNA

NIC Profile Get Task:
Change the task name to NIC Profile Get and in Step 9, use the
IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP COMP=NIC c:\reciteTool\clone.py
where c:\reciteTool\clone.py" is the location of the clone python file
that was extracted along with recite.exe from recite zip folder.



Creating Command Line Task NIC Profile Get Task Figure 17.

NIC Profile Set Task:
Change the task name to NIC Profile Set and in Step 9, use the


cmd.exe.

Creating Command Line Task NIC Profile Set Task Figure 18.


iDRAC Profile Cloning
iDRAC profile Cloning feature allows the user to apply all clone able iDRAC
settings from a specified server to one or more blades. Clone able iDRAC
settings are those iDRAC settings that can be modified and are intended to be
replicated across servers.
A prerequisite step before creating the iDRAC profile is configuring the iDRAC
on a server that you want to replicate to the other servers. To accomplish
this step, launch the iDRAC console from OME and configure the iDRAC
settings to your desired settings. Save the settings and make sure the settings
are reflected in the iDRAC console.

iDRAC Profile Get Task:
Change the task name to iDRAC Profile Get and in Step 9, use the
IP=$USERNAME:$PASSWORD@$RAC_IP COMP=iDRAC
c:\reciteTool\clone.py where c:\reciteTool\clone.py" is the location of
the clone python file that was extracted along with recite.exe from recite
zip folder.
Click here, for more information about Arguments.


Creating Command Line Task iDRAC Profile Get Task Figure 19.
3. Upon success, the recite tool outputs the information in an INI file named
with the IP address of the iDRAC. The INI file contains the list of all iDRAC
attributes in the iDRAC.


iDRAC Profile Set Task:
Change the task name to iDRAC Profile Set and in Step 9, use the
cmd.exe.
The recite tool along with the python script, sets the attributes defined in an
INI file, reports any errors related to setting those attributes, creates a
targeted config job and then provides updates on the status of the job that
is created and exits when the job is completed.


Creating Command Line Task iDRAC Profile Set Task Figure 20.


Parameter Description
Name of the attribute Type Description/Value
ApplyAttributes() Used to set or change the value of
an iDRAC Card attribute
Target String FQDD of the iDRAC Card
AttributeName[] String An array of values, where each
value shall be formatted in the
following way: <GroupID property
value>#<AttributeName property
value>.
Example: MyGroup#MyAttribute

AttributeValue[] String Shall contain the desired attribute
values.
If the value is valid, the CurrentValue
or PendingValue property of the
specified attribute will be modified.
InstaneID String The property value shall be unique
key value
COMP String Component to be cloned
REF String Input file name with configuration
details
$RAC_IP If these arguments are used, a new
tab will appear in the wizard. In this
tab you can select which targets you
wish to use to pass and IP of a device


to the command line. $RAC_IP is
used for a iDRAC IP
$USERNAME iDRAC username
$PASSWORD Password to access iDRAC

Password Configuration Notes
"The script does not copy passwords into the ini file so if passwords
are not added the users are created with six asterisks as the
passwords."
"Do Not change the password of the User being used to push the
configuration"
"Either remove the users data from the ini file or set the users
password in the ini to its current password"


References:
OpenManage Essentials
http://www.delltechcenter.com/ome
Recite Tool
5.aspx
Scripting the Dell Lifecycle Controller Wiki
http://www.delltechcenter.com/LCscripts
Lifecycle Controller
http://www.delltechcenter.com/lc
Dell Remote Access Controller DRAC /iDRAC
http://www.delltechcenter.com/idrac

White Paper References:
Installing OME
4.aspx
Making my environment manageable for OpenManage Essentials:
7.aspx
Discovery and Inventory of Dell Devices using OME


3.aspx
Dell iDRAC Card Profile 1.3
0.aspx
Lifecycle Controller Best Practice Specifications
3.aspx

Learn more
Visit DellTechcenter.com/OME for more information on Dell OpenManage Essentials.
2013 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dell and its affiliates cannot be responsible for errors or omissions in
typography or photography. Dell and the Dell logo are trademarks of Dell Inc. Microsoft, Windows, and the
Windows logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States
and/or other countries. Intel and Xeon are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other
countries. 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 disclaims proprietary interest in the marks and
names of others.
January 2013 | Rev 1.0

Dell Server Configuration Using OME, IDRAC and Recite Tool

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