Installing Dell OpenManage with Ubuntu and Red Hat Linux

Dell OpenManage Server Administrator is a program for managing Dell machines. Dell provides support for Windows, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

There is, however, no support for Ubuntu whatsoever and no support for a Red Hat Yum Repository. Both of these failings are somewhat rectified by kind people working for Dell. Instructions from Dell regarding the Ubuntu APT repository and the Red Hat Yum Repository are available. The Dell wiki has more details on the Red Hat repository as well.

Over at Keith’s Code there is a fantastic tutorial on how to get Dell OMSA running on Ubuntu.

To get the yum repository loaded into Red Hat Enterprise Linux, just pull this file from the web and execute it:

wget -q -O - http://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/latest/bootstrap.cgi | bash

Note that these directions come from Dell’s repository page and the file itself comes from linux.dell.com. It pulls in some RPMs that load the repository and update the cache with the available files. This is what the execution looked like for me:

Downloading GPG key: http://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/latest/RPM-GPG-KEY-dell
    Key already exists in RPM, skipping
Downloading GPG key: http://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/latest/RPM-GPG-KEY-libsmbios
    Importing key into RPM.
Write repository configuration
Downloading repository RPM
Installing repository rpm: http://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/latest/platform_independent/rh50_64/prereq/dell-omsa-repository-2-5.noarch.rpm
Installing yum plugins for system id
Loaded plugins: rhnplugin, security
This system is not subscribed to any channels.
RHN channel support will be disabled.
dell-omsa-indep                                                                                                                       | 1.9 kB     00:00
dell-omsa-indep/primary                                                                                                               |  87 kB     00:00
dell-omsa-indep                                                                                                                                      655/655
dell-omsa-specific                                                                                                                    | 1.9 kB     00:00
dell-omsa-specific/primary                                                                                                            |  87 kB     00:00
dell-omsa-specific                                                                                                                                   655/655
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package yum-dellsysid.x86_64 0:2.2.26-6.2.el5 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: smbios-utils-python >= 2.2.0 for package: yum-dellsysid
--> Running transaction check
---> Package smbios-utils-python.x86_64 0:2.2.26-6.2.el5 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: python-smbios = 2.2.26-6.2.el5 for package: smbios-utils-python
--> Running transaction check
---> Package python-smbios.x86_64 0:2.2.26-6.2.el5 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: libsmbios = 2.2.26-6.2.el5 for package: python-smbios
--> Processing Dependency: python-ctypes for package: python-smbios
--> Running transaction check
---> Package libsmbios.x86_64 0:2.2.26-6.2.el5 set to be updated
---> Package python-ctypes.x86_64 0:1.0.2-1.1.el5 set to be updated
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
 
Dependencies Resolved
 
=============================================================================================================================================================
Package                                   Arch                         Version                               Repository                                Size
=============================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
 yum-dellsysid                             x86_64                       2.2.26-6.2.el5                        dell-omsa-indep                           16 k
Installing for dependencies:
 libsmbios                                 x86_64                       2.2.26-6.2.el5                        dell-omsa-specific                       1.5 M
 python-ctypes                             x86_64                       1.0.2-1.1.el5                         dell-omsa-specific                       215 k
 python-smbios                             x86_64                       2.2.26-6.2.el5                        dell-omsa-specific                        71 k
 smbios-utils-python                       x86_64                       2.2.26-6.2.el5                        dell-omsa-specific                        63 k
 
Transaction Summary
=============================================================================================================================================================
Install      5 Package(s)
Update       0 Package(s)
Remove       0 Package(s)
 
Total download size: 1.9 M
Downloading Packages:
(1/5): yum-dellsysid-2.2.26-6.2.el5.x86_64.rpm                                                                                        |  16 kB     00:00
(2/5): smbios-utils-python-2.2.26-6.2.el5.x86_64.rpm                                                                                  |  63 kB     00:00
(3/5): python-smbios-2.2.26-6.2.el5.x86_64.rpm                                                                                        |  71 kB     00:00
(4/5): python-ctypes-1.0.2-1.1.el5.x86_64.rpm                                                                                         | 215 kB     00:00
(5/5): libsmbios-2.2.26-6.2.el5.x86_64.rpm                                                                                            | 1.5 MB     00:06
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                                                                                                        222 kB/s | 1.9 MB     00:08
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Installing     : python-ctypes                                                                                                                         1/5
  Installing     : libsmbios                                                                                                                             2/5
  Installing     : python-smbios                                                                                                                         3/5
  Installing     : smbios-utils-python                                                                                                                   4/5
  Installing     : yum-dellsysid                                                                                                                         5/5
 
Installed:
  yum-dellsysid.x86_64 0:2.2.26-6.2.el5
 
Dependency Installed:
  libsmbios.x86_64 0:2.2.26-6.2.el5 python-ctypes.x86_64 0:1.0.2-1.1.el5 python-smbios.x86_64 0:2.2.26-6.2.el5 smbios-utils-python.x86_64 0:2.2.26-6.2.el5
 
Complete!
Loaded plugins: dellsysid, security
Cleaning up Everything
Done!

Activating the APT repository on an Ubuntu system is even easier; add this file to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ and do an apt-get update:

# Get latest Dell OpenManage software
deb http://linux.dell.com/repo/community/deb/latest /


Dell’s OMSA works with SNMP traps and with IPMI, so make sure that these are fully supported and enabled. There is a good introduction to IPMI from Intel that is often referenced, but is missing: it is available here (and is referenced as 25133701.pdf in links elsewhere). There’s also a good quick overview of IPMI from Terry Gleidt.

Using m4 with Nagios: Advanced Ideas

Nagios configuration has been traditionally cumbersome and extensive; there are a lot of things to configure. The addition of templating some time ago helped, but not entirely. A configuration element such as a server or a switch can take up a huge amount of configuration and be quite repetitive, too.

Using m4 can alleviate all of these problems. When combined with GNU Make and Nagios configuration directories, changing the configuration can be done quite simply and easily.

With this beginning of a Makefile in /etc/nagios, all *.cfg files will be converted to *.m4 files as they are included as
prerequisites:

M4=/usr/bin/m4
 
%.cfg : %.m4
        $(M4) -I conf.d/includes < $< > $*.cfg

With this default rule in place, and all configuration files in the conf.d directory can be converted with this
Makefile syntax:

FILES=$(wildcard conf.d/*.cfg)
 
all: $(FILES)


This uses the GNU Make wildcard function to generate a list of files easily. Other directories
can be added with new calls to the wildcard function; it is not recursive and won’t descend
into directories.

Finish off the Makefile with these:


restart: all
        service nagios3 restart
 
.PHONY: all restart

This makes it possible to put the m4 files into conf.d (with matching cfg file or it won’t activate!) and use
a library of predefined macro files included in conf.d/includes. If make is called with make restart then all
configuration files will be processed by m4 as needed and Nagios will be reloaded.

M4 should be included in the base Linux install – but often isn’t. Load it and use it today!

Bringing the Network up to (Gigabit) Speed

When looking at increasing network speed in the enterprise, there are a lot of things to consider – and missing any one of them can result in a slowdown in part or all of the network.

It is easy enough to migrate slowly by replacing pieces with others that support all of the relevant standards (such as 10/100/1000 switches). However, such a migration can bog down and leave old equipment in place and slowing down everyone.

First, determine if the infrastructure can handle the equipment. Is the “copper” of a sufficient grade to handle the increased demands? If not, then the cables will have to be replaced – perhaps with Cat-6 or better – or even fiber if your needs warrant it. Check for undue interference – fiber will not receive interference that copper would.

After the cabling is ready, check the infrastructure – all of it. It can be easy to miss one. Also check the capabilities of all. For example, can the switch handle full gigabit speeds on all ports at once? You might be surprised at the answer.

Once the equipment is in place – make sure that all clients are using gigabit speeds. Most switches should have indicators that tell if a port is running at a gigabit or not.

Make doubly sure that servers are running at full speed, as a slowdown there will affect everyone who uses that server. This becomes doubly important in the case of firewalls because of the impact.

Lastly, don’t forget telco equipment. If the connection to the T1 is still running at 100 megabits, then this will slow Internet access for the entire enterprise down.

One more thing – an upgrade such as this would be a perfect time to get more advanced equipment in house. Just be concious of the corporate budget. In such cases, it also helps to present improvements that the executives can see and experience personally rather than some elusive benefits that only the IT staff will see.

Good luck in your speed improvement project!