Dell OpenManage IT Assistant Version 8.7 Owner's Manual

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DELL(TM) OPENMANAGE(TM) IT ASSISTANT VERSION 8.7 README

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Version - 8.7 Release Date - July 2010

NOTE: Dell OpenManage Systems Management software, including IT Assistant and its documentation, is available on the "Dell Systems Management Tools and Documentation" DVD and on the Dell Support website at "support.dell.com."

IT Assistant provides a central point of access to monitor and manage systems on a local area network (LAN) or the 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.

##################################################################### CONTENTS #####################################################################

This file contains the following sections:

* Criticality

* Compatibility/Recommended Requirements

* Release Highlights

* Installation

* User Notes

* Known Issues

* Documentation Errata

* Third Party Disclaimer

##################################################################### CRITICALITY #####################################################################

2 - Recommended

Dell recommends applying this update during your next scheduled update cycle. The update contains feature enhancements or changes that will help keep your system software current and compatible with

other system modules (firmware, BIOS, drivers, and software).

##################################################################### COMPATIBILITY/RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS #####################################################################

--------------------------------------------------------------------Minimum Supported Operating System Requirements for IT Assistant (by Enterprise Size)

--------------------------------------------------------------------Small (up to 500 Managed Systems):

- Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Professional with SP2

- Windows Vista(R) (Business and Enterprise Editions)

- Windows Server(R) 2003 with SP2

- Windows Server 2003 R2 (Standard, Enterprise, and Web Editions)

- Windows Server(R) 2008 (includes Standard, Enterprise, and Web Editions)

NOTE: If you run Internet Explorer in Protected Mode on Windows Server 2008, Internet Explorer cannot gain write access to the files in a user's profile or system locations. Due to this reason, the exported data from IT Assistant to these locations is not visible in the expected location. You can view files created by IT Assistant on the user's profile from the virtualized "UserProfile" folder ("%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Virtualized\{system drive letter}\Users\{username}").

Large (500+ Managed Systems):

- Windows Server(R) 2008 (includes Standard, Enterprise, and Web editions)

For more information on this issue, see "http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/ en-us/IETechCol/dnwebgen/ProtectedMode.asp"

- Windows Server 2003 with SP2

- Windows Server 2003 R2 (Standard and Enterprise Editions)

NOTE: If you have a problem when launching any URL using an IPv6 Link Local address, see the browser and/or Operating

System documentation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------Recommended Minimum Hardware Configuration for IT Assistant (by Enterprise Size)

--------------------------------------------------------------------Small (up to 500 Managed Systems):

- Processor: 1 processor (1.8-GHz minimum)

- Memory: 1-2 GB

- Disk Space: at least 4 GB

Large (500+ Managed Systems):

- Processor: 2 to 4 processors (800-MHz minimum)

- Memory: 2-4 GB

- Disk Space: as much as 10 GB

NOTE: The disk space needed may increase based on the: * Number of Dell Update Packages you import for software update. * Number of MSI files you import for software deployment * Amount of performance monitoring sample data you collect

--------------------------------------------------------------------Recommended Operating System Updates

--------------------------------------------------------------------* If you have set up WMI discovery and enter incorrect credentials, the memory consumed by the IT Assistant services keeps increasing. After running for a few days, this could cause IT Assistant services to crash due to insufficient memory. This has been traced to memory leaks in the underlying COM libraries.

Affected operating system:

Windows 2000 SP4 For more information, see the Microsoft KB articles at: "http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=891861" "http://support.microsoft.com/kb/891861/en-us"

* If you have set up WMI discovery/performance monitoring, the memory consumed by IT Assistant services keeps increasing. If performance monitoring is run for a few days, it could cause IT Assistant services to crash due to insufficient memory.

Affected operating system:

- Windows Server 2003 SP1

- Windows XP SP2

For more information, see the Microsoft KB at: "http://support.microsoft.com/kb/911262/en-us"

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Additional Software Required to Run Some Features of IT Assistant

--------------------------------------------------------------------* For Dell/EMC storage arrays, ensure your array is FLARE(R) version 19 or above. You should also install Navisphere(R) Secure CLI (version 19 or above) on your management station.

NOTE: This CLI software is part of the IT Assistant install.

--------------------------------------------------------------------Recommended SQL Server Updates

--------------------------------------------------------------------If SQL Server 2000 is the default database, upgrade to SQL Server 2000 SP3.

If SQL Server 2005 is the default database, upgrade to SQL Server 2005 SP1.

###################################################################### RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS ###################################################################### * Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 IT Assistant can discover and manage servers installed with Red Hat(R) Enterprise Linux® 5.5 operating system. You must also install the required Dell OpenManage software from the OpenManage product suite to discover and manage devices.

* SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 IT Assistant can discover and manage servers installed with SUSE(R) Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 operating system. You must also install the required Dell OpenManage software from the OpenManage product suite to discover and manage devices.

* Support for New Alerts IT Assistant can receive the following new alerts from Dell OpenManage Storage Management:

- Persistent hot spare, disk power property, and configuration command related alerts from controllers.

- Check consistency and availability related alerts from virtual disks.

- Physical disk power status and physical disk configuration data related alerts from physical disks.

##################################################################### INSTALLATION #####################################################################

(A) First-time Installation of IT Assistant 8.7

See the "Dell OpenManage Installation and Security User's Guide" and "Dell OpenManage IT Assistant Version 8.7 User's Guide" for instructions on setting up IT Assistant for the first time on a system.

(B) Upgrade from IT Assistant 6.x to IT Assistant 8.7

IT Assistant 8.7 does not support a direct upgrade from versions 6.x or older. To upgrade from version 6.x to 8.7, first install version

7.0, and then apply version 8.7 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:

(a) Global configuration settings (b) Discovery configuration settings (c) Event Stored actions

Any other database information such as custom groups, custom event filters, or event categories will not be migrated because the database schema is not compatible with earlier versions of IT Assistant. To save this information, back up your original database before upgrading.

If you have changed the data that was pre-populated as part of the 7.0 install in the Report and EventSource tables, but want to retain this data after upgrading to version 8.7, take a back up of these tables and restore them manually after the upgrade.

NOTE: If you used the CIM protocol before an upgrade, then after an upgrade, it is important to verify the CIM credentials. CIM credentials should be qualified with a domain or localhost if no trusted domain is configured (for example, domain\administrator or localhost\administrator). You can view the CIM credentials by editing the imported discovery ranges in the "CIM Configuration Pane." If the CIM credentials are not qualified with a domain or localhost, devices will not be discovered through the CIM protocol.

##################################################################### USER NOTES #####################################################################

* 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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------Software Updates

--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: IT Assistant does not support the software update task on the management station. This is because a software update may require a reboot that may affect other scheduled tasks that are run on the management station. You can perform software updates using the "Dell Systems Management Tools and Documentation" DVD 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 passes your

password as a command-line parameter to Plink.

NOTE: This occurs only on the IT Assistant management station. Passwords are always encrypted when transferred to the managed system.

If passing passwords through the command line on the IT Assistant management station is of concern, you can configure the updates to use RSA keys instead of passwords. A blank password in IT Assistant will trigger SSH authentication using the RSA keys.

To create RSA keys, perform the following steps:

NOTE: It is assumed that you are running an SSH2 server and are using the RSA2 keys.

1. Run PuTTYgen (or your preferred mechanism) for generating public/ private key pairs. You can save your private keys (".ppk" files) to 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 AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABJQAAAIEAxfMzTwS4Cwnua61h7kiad9l3Hvl SeFIYPsZOrCYMuA++

9mPRraUEtrKNkwdaPKqPnc2/JFHyAxOu31jfUgQqgM2CSqwdr7fuowjseVVPTuG 5JdVR1BwUAXlJK/ 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"

The public keys are saved in the following configuration file on the Linux system. ~/.ssh/authorized_keys2

2. Create this file, if it is not present.

3. You can store the 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.

This is a sample "sshconfig.pro" file where you can 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 set up 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\SysMgt\ITAssistant\bin directory

NOTE: A blank password in IT Assistant triggers SSH authentication using the RSA keys instead of using passwords. IT Assistant then attempts to find the entry in the "sshconfig.pro" file. If IT Assistant finds the system and user or global key in "sshconfig.pro", it uses the ".ppk" file for establishing an SSH connection to the server. However, if IT Assistant cannot find this information, it assumes that you meant to enter a blank password.

Dell recommends that SSH version 2 or above be used on the managed system for better security.

For more information on the usage of public keys for SSH authentication, see "http://www.tartarus.org/~simon/puttydoc/Chapter8.html"

--------------------------------------------------------------------Reports

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1) When you install IT Assistant, an in-built utility generates a report on the applicable software updates on the systems that IT Assistant discovered. This report is generated by comparing the versions of the packages/bundles imported into the IT Assistant repository (in the Software Updates) and the versions installed on the managed systems. The utility is present under the folder "<ITA Installation Directory\bin>" and is named "itacompliance.vbs". The report is generated in Microsoft Excel(C) format.

Usage: The utility should be run on the system where the IT Assistant database is installed. By default, IT Assistant and the IT Assistant database are installed on the same system. However, if you use a remote database, copy the following files from the IT Assistant bin folder to the system running the remote database.

- itacompliance.vbs

- compliance.xml

Create a folder "Reports" under C:\. The report will be saved in a folder. Run the compliance utility from "Windows Explorer" or from the command line. If the utility prompts for the name of the report file, specify only the file name with a ".xls" extension. It will then connect to the IT Assistant database and generate the report. The report is saved in the "C:\Reports". You can view this file using Microsoft Excel.

The report contains the following columns: Computer Name, Service Tag, Server Model, Patch Name, Software Type, Customer Hardware,

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