Dell Openmanage on VMWare ESXi

[n_K]

So I've got a dell poweredge 2950, server was running windows server 2003 as a base OS, but I upgraded to VMWare ESXi 5...

So, openmanage worked perfectly fine on windows, but after moving to VMware and installing the dell openmanage VIB on the ESXi host and putting dell openmanage remote node on a VM, I can try logging it to it and I know the connection is working because I get 'invalid certificate' if I do not ignore SSL errors, but once I ignore SSL errors then I get a common problem (as it appears) with the 'Internal Error'.

I've tried a few solutions to fix it but none of them appear to have worked, so I'm quite confused (and annoyed) at the whole experiance, if a RAID drive fails, I need to reboot and go into the PERC configuration tool from BIOS to add another drive - absolute joke.

Anyone tried/suceeded in setting up dell openmanage on VMware ESXi? Or got any tips on how to get it working, or what services might need enabling / allowed through the firewall?

[Depicus]

I tried once for half a day but because it cannot talk directly to the hardware I could never get it to work. At least when I gave up that was what I read.

[n_K]

Lucky. All I get is 'Login failed....

Internal Error' :(

[Depicus]

Lucky. All I get is 'Login failed....

Internal Error' :(

Not that lucky as I got as far as you did with the login error.

[n_K]

Oh so that's what the error means, it can't 'talk to the hardware'? :(

[remixedcat]

check this page out??

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/b/techcenter/archive/2011/08/26/dell-openmanage-server-assistant-omsa-support-for-vmware-esxi-5-0.aspx

[Depicus]

check this page out??

http://en.community....e-esxi-5-0.aspx

Might have to give it another go then - thanks :)

[remixedcat]

you're welcome ;-) yeah there was some changes in esxi 5 compared to other versions that broke a few things on older openmanage....

[n_K]

check this page out??

http://en.community....e-esxi-5-0.aspx

That's the guide I followed, if you read the comments at the bottom of the link at the top, you'll see loads of others still have the same problem.

[remixedcat]

hmmm that sucks...

ok I looked around and some people have gotten it to work by thinking it was RHEL but that's a little too ghetto of a fix.,..

[remixedcat]

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1902330#1902330

one wonky fix I found off vmware's site...

[n_K]

No dice :(

[remixedcat]

that sucks. yah think dell would be even more on to this by now tons of datacenters use that. and I've even seen cases where people would check all networking and it was fine... just the dell openmanage software being a pain.

I might go ahead and find that ghetto fix if you want...if you are very desperate.

[n_K]

Only if you've got spare time.

It does annoy me though, got a dell poweredge 2950, upgraded it to PERC 6 and DRAC 5 and the DRAC cannot see or configure the PERC 6, the VMware solution doesn't work so it's literally complete blackout to fix any hardware problems :@

[remixedcat]

ghetto fix if you're desperate:

http://www.liquidstate.net/blog/technology/using-dell-openmanage-with-vmware-esxi-4-x/

[rootwiler]

Using the vSphere CLI

1 Copy the Dell_OpenManage_ESXi_OM650-offline_bundle-467660.zip

file to the /var/log/vmware folder on the ESXi5.0 server.

2 Shut down all guest operating systems on the ESXi host and run the ESXi

host in maintenance mode.

3 If you are using Windows, navigate to the directory in which you have

installed the vSphere CLI utilities to run the command mentioned

in step 4.

If you are using vSphere CLI on Linux, you can run the command in step 4

from any directory.

4 Run the following command:

esxcli --server <IP Address of ESXi 5.0 host>

software vib install -d /var/log/vmware/<Dell

OpenManage file>

5 Type the root user name and password of the ESXi host when prompted.

The command output displays a successful update.

6 Restart the ESXi host system.

Link to Offline File -- > http://en.community....5/download.aspx

Step 4 would look something like this

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vSphere CLI\bin>esxcli --server 192.168.205.130 software vib install -d /var/log/vmware/Dell_OpenManage_ESXi_OM650-offline_bundle-467660.zip

Did this for a few servers already.. worked flawlessly!

I use WinCP ( http://winscp.net/eng/index.php ) for Step 1 to copy files from my Windows machine to ESXi host.

You'll also have to sign into your vmware account and download the vShpere CLI

http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vcli/

Edited March 5, 2012 by rootwiler

[remixedcat]

I think that was on vmware's forums and some people said it didn't work :-(

[rootwiler]

it works if its done right. Did it a few times and it works great!

You do have to update your client that connects to OpenManage. I've used this method multiple times already and worked flawless every time.

[remixedcat]

oh cool well hope this works for the OP and thanks.

[rootwiler]

One more thing, enable SSH on your esxi 5 host

http://www.thomasmaurer.ch/2011/08/enable-ssh-on-esxi-5-via-vsphere-client/

[n_K]

I originally installed it using SSH on the server, it's definately installed and it's definately running (I restarted the dell services and all say they are running).

Nice one on the RHEL tip, I'll give that a go later on a linux VM instead of the windows server one, I tried getting the dell vcenter VM working last night but basically it won't even let you login unless you've got a DHCP server, which is such an awfully stupid design flaw.

[remixedcat]

so the above suggestion didn't work?? bleh! that sucks. so many people are having problems. It's not vmware's fault though.

[n_K]

Given up with the dell vcenter VM as well, finally got static UP working after I booted a live cd and edited the file manually.

But it didn't work, gives a 'Unable to talk to the licensing server, make sure all appliance applications are running'... I've basically ****ing had it with dell and would probably never buy a server from them again.

Worst of it all is, the openmanage VIB obviously works as there is a 'health' tab whilst using the vsphere client which is listing the fan status, watchdog status, hard drive status etc. but doesn't allow you to control anything, just view it.

Final try of getting centOS and adding the dell repo to it and seeing it that works, if not, I officially give the hell up with this, spent probably about 2 entire whole days on this and got no-where.

[remixedcat]

why in the hell didn't dell make it work with esxi 5? vmware works with people to resolve the issues so if dell is too lazy then it's thier fault.

[n_K]

Goodness knows.

Probably does work with esxi 5, but only with the servers they still sell.

[remixedcat]

ESXI 5 was released a long time ago.... yah think they'd have the time to do dat and get it all fixed by now....