widely used by commercial systems management products and by custom programs and scripts developed by IT staff to automate
management functions such as discovery, inventory, health status checking, configuration, update, and power management. The
APIs supported by iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller include:
•
Redfish
- In 2015, the DMTF Scalable Platforms Management Forum published Redfish, an open industry-standard specification
and schema designed to meet the needs of IT administrators for simple, modern, and secure management of scalable platform
hardware. Dell is a key contributor to the Redfish standard, acting as co-chair of the SPMF, promoting the benefits of Redfish,
and working to deliver those benefits within industry-leading systems management solutions. Redfish is a next generation
management standard using a data model representation inside a hypermedia RESTful interface. The data model is defined in
terms of a standard, machine-readable schema, with the payload of the messages expressed in JSON and the OData v4
protocol.
•
WSMan
-The Web Services For Management (WSMan) API, first published by the DMTF in 2008, is the most mature and robust
API provided by iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller. WSMan uses a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) with data modeled using
the Common Information Model. WSMan provides interoperability between management applications and managed resources,
and identifies a core set of web service specifications and usage requirements that expose a common set of operations central to
all systems management.
•
IPMI
- The Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is a message-based, hardware-level interface specification that can
operate over both LAN and serial interfaces. IPMI is supported broadly by server vendors, systems management solutions, and
open source software.
•
SNMP
- The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) helps in standardizing the management of network devices.
SNMP allows commercial management consoles created for monitoring network switches and routers to also monitor X86
severs. SNMP is primarily used to deliver event messages to alert administrators of problems on their systems but can also be
used to discover, inventory and configure servers.
To assist automating system management tasks and simplify API integration, Dell provides PowerShell and Python libraries and script
examples utilizing the WSMan interface. The iDRAC with LC pages of Dell Techcenter offer a library of technical white papers
detailing the use of the embedded management APIs. For more information, see delltechcenter.com/iDRAC and
delltechcenter.com/LC.
Integration with third-party consoles
Dell EMC OpenManage provides integration with several leading third-party consoles, including:
OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft System Center
The combination of Dell OpenManage Integration Suite and Microsoft System Center simplifies and enhances deployment,
configuration, monitoring and updating of Dell servers and storage in physical and virtual environments. Our agent-free and agent-
based plug-ins deliver a unique level of integration and efficiency when managing Dell hardware within a System Center environment.
The OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft System Center includes: Dell Server and Storage Management Packs for System
Center Operations Manager (SCOM); Dell Server Deployment Packs and Update Catalogs for System Center Configuration
Manager (SCCM); and tools for optimizing management of Dell PowerEdge servers in virtual environments using System Center
Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM).
OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter
The OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter allows you to monitor, provision, and manage PowerEdge server hardware and
firmware. You can perform these tasks through a dedicated Dell menu that can be accessed directly through the VMware vCenter
console. OMIVV also allows granular control and reporting for the hardware environment using the same role-based access control
model as vCenter. The OpenManage Management Pack for vRealize Operations Manager is available with OMIVV v4.0 onwards.
This helps in checking hardware health and alerting into vRealize operations, which also includes dashboard and reporting on the
server environment.
You can manage and monitor Dell hardware within the virtualized environment
•
Alerting and monitoring environment for servers and chassis
•
Monitoring and reporting for servers and chassis
•
Updating firmware on servers
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