Dell OpenManage IT Assistant Version 7.2 Owner's Manual

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DELL OPENMANAGE(TM) IT ASSISTANT VERSION 7.2 README
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NOTE: This readme provides information for IT Assistant version 7.2.
IT Assistant provides a central point of access to monitor and manage systems on a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN). By allowing an administrator a comprehensive view across the enterprise, IT Assistant can increase system uptime, reduce repetitive tasks, and prevent interruption in critical business operations.
This file contains updated information for your "Dell OpenManage IT Assistant User's Guide" and any other technical documentation included with IT Assistant.
You can access all the documentation from the Documentation CD or from the Dell(TM) Support website at "support.dell.com."
##################################################################### CONTENTS #####################################################################
This file contains the following sections:
* Criticality
* Compatibility/Recommended Requirements
* Release Highlights
* Installation
* User Notes
* Known Issues
* Third Party Disclaimer
##################################################################### CRITICALITY #####################################################################
2 - Recommended
##################################################################### COMPATIBILITY/RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS #####################################################################
=====================================================================
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Minimum Supported Operating System Requirements for IT Assistant
(by Enterprise Size)
1. Java security dialog box: ITA 7.2 does not display the Java
===================================================================== Small (up to 500 Managed Systems):
Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Professional with SP1 Windows 2000 with SP4 Windows Server(TM) 2003
Large (500+ Managed Systems):
Windows Server 2003 Windows 2000 with SP4
--------------------------------------------------------------------­Recommended Minimum Hardware Configuration for IT Assistant (by Enterprise Size)
--------------------------------------------------------------------­Small (up to 500 Managed Systems):
Processor: 1 processor (1.8-GHz minimum) Memory: 512 MB Disk Space: at least 1 GB
Large (500+ Managed Systems):
Processor:2 to 4 processors (800-MHz minimum) Memory: 1-2 GB Disk Space: as much as 5 GB
NOTE: The amount of disk space needed may increase if you import multiple Dell Update Packages.
##################################################################### RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS #####################################################################
Updates on the previous release ( IT Assistant version 7.1 )
- Event Source:
1. A new Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) trap has been added: "asfTrapCPUNotPresent."
2. The severity for “asfTrapSystemEventLogFull” has been identified as “Critical.”
3. The severity for “asfTrapBatteryFailed" has been identified as “Critical.”
- The following issues have been fixed in the software update feature:
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Security warning dialog box when you navigate to
"Manage"->"Software Updates" and open a catalog.xml file.
upgrade it is important to verify that the CIM credentials are
2. Blank error message blocks the software repository feature: IT Assistant version 7.1 would stop responding, displaying a blank error dialog box if you imported software packages/bundles, closed the browser, re-opened it, and navigated to "Manage" -> "Software Updates." This issue has been resolved in this release of IT Assistant.
##################################################################### INSTALLATION #####################################################################
(A) First-time Installation of IT Assistant version 7.2
For instructions for a first time installation of IT Assistant on a system, see the "Dell OpenManage Installation and Security User's Guide."
(B) Upgrade from IT Assistant 6.x to IT Assistant version 7.2
IT Assistant version 7.2 does not support a direct upgrade from version 6.x or later. To upgrade from version 6.x to 7.2, first install IT Assistant version 7.0, and then apply version 7.2 as an upgrade.
NOTE: During an upgrade from version 6.x of IT Assistant to version
7.0, the installation will preserve the following settings by default:
(a) Global configuration settings (b) Discovery configuration settings (c) Event Stored actions
Any other database information such as custom groups, custom event filters, and event categories will not be migrated because the database schema is not compatible with previous versions of IT Assistant. If you want to save this information, you must backup your original database before upgrading.
(C) Upgrade from IT Assistant version 7.0/7.1 to IT Assistant version 7.2
If you have changed the data (that was pre-populated as part of the IT Assistant version 7.0 install in the Report and EventSource tables) that you want to preserve after upgrading to IT Assistant version 7.2, take a backup of these tables and manually restore them after the upgrade.
NOTE: If the CIM protocol was used before an upgrade, after the
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qualified with a domain or localhost if no trusted domain is
configured (for example, domain\administrator or
~/.ssh/authorized_keys2
localhost\administrator). The CIM credentials can be seen by editing the imported discovery ranges in the CIM Configuration pane. If this is not done, devices will not be discovered through the CIM protocol.
##################################################################### USER NOTES #####################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------­Software Updates
--------------------------------------------------------------------­Note: IT Assistant does not support software updates on the management station. This is because a software update might require a reboot which would impact other scheduled tasks being run on the management station. Updates can be performed using the "Dell PowerEdge(TM) Updates" CD after closing the IT Assistant application.
--------------------------------------------------------------------­Software Updates For Linux
--------------------------------------------------------------------­To perform a remote Linux software update, IT Assistant uses Plink for SSH communication. By default, IT Assistant will pass your password as a command-line parameter to Plink. Note that this occurs only on the IT Assistant server. Passwords are always encrypted when transferred to the managed system. If you are concerned about passing passwords through the command line on the IT Assistant server, configure the updates to use RSA keys instead of passwords. A blank password in IT Assistant will trigger SSH authentication using RSA keys. The following steps guide you through the process for creating RSA keys. This process assumes that you are running an SSH2 server and that you are using RSA2 keys.
1. Run PuTTYgen (or your preferred mechanism) for generating public/ private key pairs. You can save your private keys (".ppk" files) at any location on your system.
The following is a sample public key that you would put in a file that you create called "authorized_keys2 for RSA2 keys".
ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABJQAAAIEAxfMzTwS4Cwnua61h7kiad9l3HvlSeF IYPsZOrCYMuA++9mPRraUEtrKNkwdaPKqPnc2/JFHyAxOu31jfUgQqgM2CSqwdr7fu owjseVVPTuG5JdVR1BwUAXlJK/Hy1BM+mkKHMuNe0jTrN/gUxcmlA0lHFaFNRjV++ AeM15upJsk= rsa-key-20050209
Linux ships with other utilities for creating public/private key pairs. You can download PuTTYgen from the following Web address: "http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html"
Your public keys are stored in the following configuration file on the Linux system.
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2. Create this file, if it is not present.
KNOWN ISSUES
3. You can store your private keys in the directory of your choice. For security reasons, it is recommended that you set the appropriate permissions for your private key files.
Here is a sample "sshconfig.pro" file where you will configure the names and location of your private keys. #server[.user]=<path-to-file> #A server-name of global would be appropriate to accommodate a network where all or most systems are setup using the same key. #global[.user]=<path-to-file> global.root=C:\SSH Private Keys\root\global_root_privatekey.ppk global.fred=C:\SSH Private Keys\fred\global_fred_privatekey.ppk
192.168.157.149.root=C:\SSH Private Keys\root\system1_root_privatekey.ppk
192.168.157.151.fred=C:\SSH Private Keys\fred\system2_fred_privatekey.ppk
4. Copy "sshconfig.pro" to the bin folder of IT Assistant. By default, this folder is located at: "c:\Program Files\Dell\SysMgmt\ItAssistant\bin" directory
Entering a blank password will trigger the usage of the RSA keys instead of passwords. IT Assistant will then attempt to find the entry in the "sshconfig.pro" file. If IT Assistant can find the system and user or global key in the above file, IT Assistant will use the ".ppk" file for establishing an SSH connection to the server. If IT Assistant cannot find this information, then it will assume that you meant to enter a blank password.
For further documentation on the usage of public keys for SSH authentication, see the following Web address: "http://www.tartarus.org/~simon/puttydoc/Chapter8.html"
5. Create templates for the Import Node List Utility. A template can be created in IT Assistant by entering a discovery range. To create a template for the Import Node List Utility, perform the following steps:
a) Log on to IT Assistant. b) In the "Discovery and Monitoring" menu, select "Ranges." c) Right-click on "Include Ranges" in the "Discovery Ranges" tree and select "New Include Range..." d) In the "New Discovery Wizard-Step 1 of 6," select "Host Name." e) Enter the template name in "Host Name." (For example, template_1).
Complete the wizard by entering the required protocol configurations. The template you have created can be used in the Import Node List Utility.
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The following are known issues for IT Assistant version 7.2.
select that system in the device selection tree pane, but do not
* If you attempt to update the BIOS from version A05 or earlier on a PowerEdge 1500SC that has 4 GB of system memory installed, the system stops responding on the BIOS post screen. The system must be rebooted manually and the BIOS will not be updated. To avoid this issue, you can either use the diskette flash method or you can temporarily clear some space before performing the update. (148580)
* If you have a Windows firewall configured on the management station or the managed system, the following configuration changes need to be made to enable remote Server Administrator CLI and software updates to work successfully.
Management Station:
1) Open TCP port 135.
2) Add the application "omremote.exe" (located in ITAssistant\bin) to the Firewall exception list.
Managed System:
If you have Windows firewall configured, enable remote administration by invoking the following command in the command prompt:
"netsh firewall set service RemoteAdmin"
For additional information on connecting through the Windows firewall, see the Platform SDK: Windows Management Instrumentation (Connecting through Windows Firewall) on Microsoft's MSDN website. "http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/wmisdk/wmi/ connecting_through_windows_firewall.asp" (141134)
* When running Firefox on Red Hat(R) Enterprise Linux (versions 3 and
4), the focus on a component may disappear when you hide a Modal Dialog. This is a known issue with Java (Issue ID: 6274378). To solve this issue and to re-gain application focus, click outside the context of the browser in which IT Assistant is running, and then click "Back" within the IT Assistant UI. (146975)
* The preference and help pages on the IT Assistant browser will be active only after IT Assistant is completely loaded. (145205)
* If you create a Generic Command Line Task, you cannot enter the Server Administrator Command Line executable directly. (for example, "omreport system summary"). To create a Server Administrator Command Line Task that runs against the system where the IT Assistant services are installed,
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enter credentials for the task. (139376)
* Dell PowerEdge(TM) servers with DRAC III, DRAC III/XT, ERA, or ERA/O will be displayed in the IT Assistant Device tree under modular systems if the out-of-band SNMP agent property is enabled with racadm. This property is not supported on the DRAC III family and will be disabled in the next firmware release. If you see servers with a DRAC III card under modular systems, use the racadm command-line utility to disable the property with the following command:
Locally on the server with the DRAC card:
"racadm config -g cfgOobSnmp -o cfgOobSnmpAgentEnable 0"
Remotely from a management station with the RAC management software installed:
"racadm -r <ipaddress of RAC card> -u <RAC username> -p <RAC password> config -g cfgOobSnmp -o cfgOobSnmpAgentEnable 0" (139394)
* On Windows 2000, you may get an error message when you launch the Remote Desktop Connection application using the right-click menu option on the Device tree. This issue may occur because older versions of the client do not get installed in the system path. To correct this problem, install a later version of the Remote Desktop Client (6.0.2600.0 or higher). You can download the client from the Microsoft's website at: "http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tools/rdclientdl.mspx." (139630)
* When running Mozilla on Linux: Using the "View | Reload" (Ctrl + R) command in Mozilla results in unpredictable behavior. IT Assistant may reload in some cases, but at other times you may see the following message:
"An instance of the IT Assistant console is already running on this device."
To correct this issue, close the browser session and open a new one. (132635)
* When name resolution on an IP address to a host name fails using DNS, then IT Assistant attempts to resolve the name using the NetBIOS name query. This action may cause the device to appear in IT Assistant with the NetBIOS name even if it does not have a DNS entry. (138013)
* The IT Assistant UI supports the Mozilla browser only on systems running the Linux operating system. On systems running the Windows operating system, the supported browser is Internet Explorer. (137365)
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* If you use a special character font (for example, Wingdings(R) or a
similar font) for your report name, the report is saved correctly but the name will be displayed as question marks instead of the special character font. To avoid this issue, use only standard fonts for report names. (135701)
* If you have JRE versions 1.3 and 1.5.0 installed on your IT Assistant UI client, and you uninstall an older version of the JRE, the IT Assistant UI may request that you reinstall JRE version
1.5.0. To correct this problem, uninstall JRE version 1.5.0 and then reinstall it by opening the IT Assistant UI. (137304)
For more information about this issue, see bug ID:4994468 on "http://bugs.sun.com."
* When opening the IT Assistant UI, you must respond to the security certificate challenge box within approximately 5 minutes; otherwise, the UI will time-out and fail to load. To correct this problem, close the current UI and re-open it. (102193)
* IT Assistant version 7.2 does not work well with operating system schemes that use very large fonts (for example, various "High Contrast" schemes in Windows). Changing the display settings to use such a scheme may cause text in various parts of IT Assistant to appear incomplete or truncated. If you notice this issue, change the Display properties.
To change the Display properties on Windows systems:
1. Go to "Start"->"Settings"->"Control Panel"->"Display Settings," and then go to the "Appearance" tab.
2. Select a scheme with smaller fonts.
3. Close the browser and restart IT Assistant to implement the new settings.
On Linux systems, similar problems may occur if the system font size selected is too large. To correct this issue, select smaller fonts ("Start" -> "Preferences" -> "Fonts") and restart the application. (102193)
* To disable mnemonics at the operating system level, you must close and restart the IT Assistant browser session. Doing so allows the JRE to re-load and implement the new settings. (120978)
* When managing an environment with more than 2000 devices, you must increase the amount of memory allocated to the JRE heap.
To do so, go to the Windows Control Panel and click the "Java" icon to display the "Java Control Panel." Click the "Java" tab. Then click "Java Applet Runtime Settings | View...". Enter the following in the "Java Runtime Parameters" section:
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-Xmx256m
(123581)
languages displayed in the client system. To correct this
* Changing the display "Scheme" option under "Preferences," which you access on the topmost IT Assistant menu bar is not supported in ITA 7.2. (123829)
* When viewing IP addresses of Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems on the "Details" page, the information may not be aligned correctly. This issue has been fixed in the Red Hat net-snmp package. To correct this issue, install the latest Red Hat net-snmp package on the managed system. (131619)
* If you try to open a second session of IT Assistant on the same system while using the Mozilla browser, an error message is displayed stating that only one browser session at a time may be used. You should close the second browser session using the Mozilla "File | Close" command or by clicking the "X" in the top right of the browser window. Do not click the IT Assistant "Logout" hotlink on the top Global Navigation bar at the top right of the window. Since only one session is allowed per client, clicking "Logout" would have the effect of logging out of the first browser session as well. (131954)
* A registry editor error occurs while opening the IT Assistant UI on a system with less than the required space. The IT Assistant client requires 25 MB of available hard-drive space. (132615)
* The reporting system generates its output in Unicode format ("http://www.unicode.org"). To open the CSV reports in Excel, you should start Microsoft Excel and run the "File | Open" command. This displays the Import Wizard. Choose the "comma delimited" option to open the report with the data in the correct columns. (132619)
* In certain cases, when you mouse over a device while in the Topology view, instead of the proper tool tip being displayed which contains device data, a white box or flicker appears. This condition usually occurs when hovering over a device near the bottom of the screen. (133161)
For more information about this issue, see bug ID:4762705 on "http://bugs.sun.com."
* "Device Name" is a default field and is present in all reports. (134260)
* For Remote Access Controllers (RACs) that have instrumentation installed and that are running on the host operating system, the RAC IP addresses are shown in the "RACDevice" table. (134365)
* If your browser is set to a language that is different from the language setting on the IT Assistant system, you may see both
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situation, set the browser and the system to the same language.
(133691)
display the new IP Address. This problem is likely to affect
* If an alert storm is sending more than 5 traps a second to IT Assistant, it could take IT Assistant several minutes to process all the alerts. New alerts that are received in the interim will not be displayed in the UI until all of the alerts in the storm are processed.
* Pressing “Next,” “Previous,” or “Refresh” in the "Alerts" page of the UI while a constant stream of alerts are being processed by IT Assistant may cause the counters in the "Alerts" page of the UI to fall short. To resolve the alert count problem, click "Refresh" when the constant stream of alerts has subsided. The refresh does not impact any alert actions. (134862)
* When creating or updating a task, the stamp for the creation or update time is that of the IT Assistant UI. The "Last Run Time" displayed on the summary report, however, is the time of the IT Assistant Services system. If there is a significant variation in the UI and Services system time, it is possible that a scheduled task may not execute or show that it was executed before it was created. (137997)
* For Network Interface Card (NIC) information on systems, IT Assistant uses the operating system's provider(s) to retrieve data rather than Dell OpenManage Server Administrator. This behavior can result in discrepancies in reporting NIC information between IT Assistant and Server Administrator. For example:
1. On Linux systems, adapters may be named differently between IT Assistant and Server Administrator. For example, IT Assistant may report a NIC adapter as "eth0," while Server Administrator shows the actual manufacturer name of the NIC.
2. If more than one NIC card is not configured with an IP address, IT Assistant may only show one of the cards with an IP address of 0.0.0.0.
3. IT Assistant may not report disabled NIC adapters.
* IT Assistant may not allow the user to log in if the host name/domain name contains non-standard characters. Standard characters include letters (A-Z, a-z), digits (0-9), and hyphen (-). For more information on this issue, see the Microsoft article at "http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;153529." (152055)
* During discovery, if a device is discovered using “host name,” and if its IP Address changes later, IT Assistant will display two devices after the next discovery cycle. One device will display the old IP address and status as "Power Down," while the other will
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systems which have DNS-DHCP IP addressing and for which the IP
addresses frequently change. To eliminate a duplicate device delete
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or
the device with the old IP address. (148069)
* IT Assistant will discover a Remote Access Controller under the RAC group only if IT Assistant can communicate out-of-band (bypassing the operating system) with the SNMP agent on the controller. DRAC III (and below), do not have this capability, and hence are not grouped under the RAC group. DRAC 4 (and later) support out-of-band communication with the SNMP agent are discovered under the RAC group. (151535)
* The choice of protocols specified for discovering and managing the devices can result in varying levels of manageability. For instance, if you choose to manage devices in your network using only CIM and not SNMP, the devices with only SNMP agent (example DRAC) are classified under "Unknown" group and consequently, the application launch (example RAC console) functionality may not work. To avoid such issues, make a careful choice of the protocols while configuring discovery ranges, keeping in mind the devices (and protocols supported by agents running on those devices) that you are going to manage. (153729)
* If you change Web server properties (like the HTTPS port and session timeout) that require the Web server to be restarted after applying changes, you have to manually restart the "IT Assistant Connection Service" under "Administrative Tools" in the "Control Panel." If you fail to restart the service manually, the Web server will continue with the old settings. (152604, 152476)
* The processor count in IT Assistant will differ for managed systems that contain processors with multiple cores or hyperthreading enabled. The count will differ based on whether the managed system is discovered using the CIM or SNMP protocol. The systems discovered using SNMP will report physical processors, and the systems discovered using CIM will report logical processors.
* After the Java Runtime (JRE) is installed, if you change the OS language of the system from where the IT Assistant UI is run (from the Regional and Language Options settings), the JRE might fail to load using the new OS language and exit during the IT Assistant startup. For the language changes to be supported by the JRE, un-install JRE and then launch IT Assistant. This will install the JRE with support for the new OS language.
##################################################################### THIRD PARTY DISCLAIMER ##################################################################### The following disclaimer applies to the "TreeTable" control code in IT Assistant:
Copyright 1997, 1998 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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without modification, are permitted provided that the following
conditions are met:
- Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
- Redistribution in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
Neither the name of Sun Microsystems, Inc. or the names of contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
This software is provided "AS IS," without a warranty of any kind. ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE HEREBY EXCLUDED. SUN AND ITS LICENSORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LIABILITIES SUFFERED BY LICENSEE AS A RESULT OF OR RELATING TO USE, MODIFICATION OR DISTRIBUTION OF THIS SOFTWARE OR ITS DERIVATIVES. IN NO EVENT WILL SUN OR ITS LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST REVENUE, PROFIT OR DATA, OR FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF SUN HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
You acknowledge that this software is not designed, licensed or intended for use in the design, construction, operation, or maintenance of any nuclear facility.
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Information in this document is subject to change without notice. (C) 2006 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text: "Dell," "Dell OpenManage," "PowerConnect," and "PowerEdge" are trademarks of Dell Inc.; "Windows Server" is a trademark, and "Microsoft," "Windows," and "Wingdings" are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; "Red Hat" is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc.; "Sun Microsystems" and "Java" are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.
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January 2006
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