POWER SOLUTIONS

SYSTEMS MANAGEMENTInstrumented platforms can enable a complete life-cycleapproach to managing systems and storage. Dell platforms aredesigned to provide the needed management information and controlfunctions to support deployment, health status monitoring, faultrecovery, and change management. Partnering with key systemsmanagement vendors such as Altiris and Microsoft, Dell can providefor an expanding range of solutions by offering toolkits designed tolink Dell instrumentation with partner management software. Thiscombination of Dell and partner technologies can lead to enhancedchoices for systems management solutions.Today’s emerging standards are laying the groundwork forfuture management systems to deploy, monitor, and upgrade heterogeneousclients, servers, and storage systems from a central point ofcontrol (see Figure 2). Dell is helping to advance the standardizationof client, server, and storage management by participating innumerous organizations, including the following:• Unified Extended Firmware Interface (UEFI) Forum:Standardizing system firmware interfaces for client andserver BIOSs• Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) Forum:Developing standards for core server monitoring and control• Organization for the Advancement of Structured InformationStandards (OASIS): Driving the development, convergence,and adoption of e-business standards, includingWeb services for systems management• Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA): Standardizingthe management of storage subsystems• Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF): Creatingstandards for systems management information and access,including emerging standards for server management thatare being developed by the Server Management WorkingGroup (SMWG)Active involvement in the preceding initiatives helps Dell toenable maximum standardization of systems and storage instrumentationin Dell data center components and to make provisionsfor a far-reaching, standards-based systems managementframework.In addition, standardization is expected to lead to broader, moreversatile choices in systems management solutions, which can leadto a pivotal benefit: enabling providers to cost-effectively customizehardware and software products that are designed to meet thespecific management needs of individual IT organizations. Broaduse and acceptance of management standards may further developthe power of choice because an increasing number and variety ofproducts typically creates competition that in turn can help lowercost, drive innovation, and enhance quality.Dell OpenManage for ServersBy offering integrated hardware and software management capabilities,Dell OpenManage helps support server management solutions thatare designed to provide organizations of all sizes with an advanced,reliable, and easy-to-manage IT infrastructure (see Figure 3).Dell OpenManage for Servers can simplify operations and helpkeep overall management costs low by enabling standardizationand automation of server deployment, monitoring, and changemanagementtasks. Standards-based instrumentation built into thePowerEdge server BIOS, baseboard management controller (BMC),and remote access controller, as well as the Dell storage controllers,enables detailed inventorying, environmental monitoring, andserver and storage health monitoring.Dell PowerEdge servers are engineered for manageability, andDell OpenManage uses PowerEdge server instrumentation thatenables IT administrators to monitor and control server operations.The following sections describe Dell OpenManage components thataddress server deployment, day-to-day operations, and managementof server change.TodayExpand capabilitieswithtoolkit integrationDelltoolkitsNext stepDrivekey managementstandards• UEFI Forum• IPMI Forum• OASIS• SNIA• DMTFFigure 2. Path to centralized hardware managementGoalAchievestandards-basedmanagementPartner consolesIntegrated solutionsfrom managementprovidersServer deployment with Dell OpenManageDell OpenManage facilitates automation of single-server deploymentthrough Dell OpenManage Server Assistant, and automation of multiserverdeployment through the Dell OpenManage Deployment Toolkit(DTK). The DTK is typically used in conjunction with deploymentsolutions provided by partners, including Microsoft and Altiris.Dell OpenManage Server AssistantDell OpenManage Server Assistant (DSA) is a CD-based singleserverdeployment tool that is delivered with Dell PowerEdgeservers on the Dell PowerEdge Installation and Server ManagementCD. DSA works in conjunction with OS media from Microsoft,Novell, and Red Hat to provide step-by-step guidance for serverhardware configuration and OS installation. It includes tools and10DELL POWER SOLUTIONS Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, August 2005. Copyright © 2005 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. August 2005