RMU build Gen-1.5: IV. Best Practices - C. Dell OpenManage Enterprise

This page is part of the Gen-1.5 RMU build runbook.

Go back to the previous section: B. Install RACADM Tool on RMU

C. Dell OpenManage Enterprise (Recommended)

This is a service that allows you to talk to the Baseboard Management Controller(s) (BMC) of your IC nodes. This service will allow you to discover your Dell’s servers iDRACs (Dell’s version of a BMC.) Once configured, you will be able to apply firmware updates remotely.

Create VM

From the main Proxmox page, select Create VM to launch the Create: Virtual Machine dialog window.
Tick the Advanced box and the Start at boot: box, then enter VM ID of 123, set Name: to <dc>-ome. Enter 10 into the Start/Shutdown Order:. Select Next.
Select Do not use any media. Set Type: to Other. Select Next.
Ensure that Graphic card: is set to Default, SCSI Controller: is set to VirtIO SCSI single, Machine: is set to Default (i440fx), BIOS: is set to Default (SeaBIOS). Select Next.
Ensure that Bus/Device: is set to IDE & 0, Storage: is set to local-zfs, Disk size (GiB): is set to 8, Backup: box is ticked, Async IO: is set to Default (io_uring). Select Next.
Set Sockets to 1, set Type: to X86-64-v2-AES, set Cores: to 8. Select Next.
Set Memory(MiB): to 16767 and Minimum memory (MB): to 2048. Select Next.
Set Bridge: to vmbr1, set Mode: to Intel E1000, Disable the Firewall: tickbox. Select Next.
Do NOT tick the Start after created because we need to map the (soon to be downloaded) OME image to a disk. Select Finish.

Download & Import OME

On the RMU, download OME virtual image

Open a shell console on the RMU

wget --user-agent="Mozilla" -O ome.zip 'https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER07474001M/1/openmanage_enterprise_kvm_format_3.6.1.zip?uid=c802e350-6536-4f28-7a66-93b4f844cd30&fn=openmanage_enterprise_kvm_format_3.6.1.zip'

Unzip the downloaded file

apt update && apt install unzip -y
unzip ome.zip

Import the QCOW2 image into the OEM VM’s space

cd appliance/qemu-kvm/
qm importdisk 123 openmanage_enterprise.qcow2 local-zfs

Configure the imported disk as the boot disk for the VM
Select the OME VM on the left side
Select Hardware
Double click Unused Disk
Set Bus/Device: to VirtIO Block. Select Add
Select Options and double Click Boot Order
Move the device with description local-zfs:vm-123-disk-1… to position 1. Tick the enable box next to it.
Untick the enable box for all other boot devices Select OK
When complete, your options screen should look like the following
Select the OME VM and start it.

Configure OME

Select the OME VM and Select Console
Wait for the VM to start, please be patient as this is it’s first boot. (You can use your tab key to scroll through the options available and hit enter to select)
Select Accept
Select your keyboard type
Create a non trivial password and store it in your password manager.
Once you enter in your password, hit tab to scroll over apply and then enter to select.
Use your arrow keys to scroll down to Set Networking Parameters and hit enter
Hit enter on the available Network adapter
Enter in your new non trivial password you just made.
Hit tab to scroll over Continue and hit enter
Set static IPv4 IP Address to 10.10.100.23
- You can use the arrow keys to get to DHCP and then hit tab to enter the editable text fields
Set Static Gateway to 10.10.100.1
Set Static Subnet Mask to 255.255.255.0
Set Static Preferred DNS server to 1.1.1.1
Select Apply
Enter in your non trivial password and select Continue

Share Services with Teleport

Open a shell on your RMU server and edit /etc/teleport.yaml with your favorite text editor

Add the following section under the app_service -> apps stanza

Make sure your indention follows the previous name: bo1-rmu section

Replace the instances of “bo1” and .dfinity.network with the placeholders used earlier in the runbook

- name: bo1-ome
      uri: https://10.10.100.23:443
      public_addr: "bo1-ome.teleport.bo1.dfinity.network"
      insecure_skip_verify: true
      rewrite:
        redirect:
        - "10.10.100.23"
        - "bo1-ome.teleport.bo1.dfinity.network"
      labels:
        dc: "bo1"

Then, reload the teleport services (WARNING: if you are accessing the RMU shell via teleport, your connection will get disconnected):
```
systemctl restart teleport
```

Configure OME Web GUI

Go to your Teleport Resources page and find the tile for OME.
Select it to launch the web page, you should be brought to the following screen.
Input your credentials NOTE: admin is the default user for this service, input the password you made during this step.
Select Initial Settings under Step 1
Expand Time Configuration and enter in your timezone settings
- We recommend to use UTC. That's what DFINITY as uses, and if you have more than 1 data center, it's nice to use one timezone for all. You may, however use whatever you like.

Discover Your Nodes

On Step 2 Select Discover Devices which should bring up the Create Discovery Job Dialog Box.
Under Device Type, click the drop down and select Server.
- Ensure that Dell iDRAC is selected and click OK.
Under IP/Hostname/Range enter 10.10.100.53-10.10.100.99.
Under Services API Credentials enter in the user name and password for the iDRACs. Note: If you have a different password for each iDRAC, each one will need its own box, hit add and only put the single IP
Select Finish
- If not all nodes are discovered on the first attempt, you can try again using a narrower range or you can add each host separate with its own password (if not all servers have the same iDRAC password)
You can monitor the status of the discovery by selecting monitor in the top navigation bar and then jobs

Create a baseline

Select Configuration and then Firmware/Driver Compliance
Select Create Baseline
In the Create Update Baseline dialog box, select Add next to Catalog
Input a name for the catalog, IE Dell Catalog
Ensure that Latest Component versions on Dell.com is enabled
Select Finish
Input a Baseline name, we recommend including the <dc> name
Select Next
Select Select Devices
Select all devices by clicking the small box, and then ticking Across all pages
Select OK
Select Finish

Applying Firmware Updates

Single Server

Select Devices
Select the IP address within the Name column to select a single device
Select Firmware/Drivers
Select the baseline you made earlier in the dropdown
Tick all the firmware updates you wish to apply
Select Update
Select Update Now
Set Reboot Server immediately. to Graceful Reboot with Forced Shutdown
Tick Reset idrac
Tick Clear Job Queue
Select Update

.

Multiple Servers

Select Configuration and then Firmware/Driver Compliance
Tick the box next to the baseline we made earlier
Select Check Compliance to ensure that available firmware updates are up to date
Select View Report
Tick the boxes next to the servers you wish to update
Select Make Compliant
Select Update Now
Set Reboot Server immediately. to Graceful Reboot with Forced Shutdown
Tick Reset idrac
Tick Clear Job Queue
Select Update

_{_}

Continue to next section: D. Update Firmware on SuperMicro Nodes

Or skip and jump to E. Enable Remote Access to Servers Console

Go to the index of the Gen-1.5 RMU build runbook.