Dell PowerEdge MX7000 Server Configuration using OpenManage Enterprise Modular

Whitepaper

PowerEdge MX7000 Server Configuration

using OpenManage Enterprise Modular

Abstract

The purpose of this document is to provide the following information:

1. The basic lifecycle and best practices of MX7000 Templates/Profiles/Virtual­Identities(MAC/WWNs) deployment

2. Deploying profiles with virtual identities on MX7000 to achieve same functionality
as M1000e FlexAddress

3. FAQ and Recommended usage

4. Preview of enhancements in the upcoming releases

This document will not cover GUI wizard/workflow details, please refer to the following
documents for more details on how to use GUI workflows and wizards in configuring the
Templates/Profiles/Virtual-Identities(MAC/WWNs):

• OpenManage Enterprise Modular User’s Guide: https://topics-

cdn.dell.com/pdf/openmanage-enterprise-modular-v10001-poweredge­mx7000_users-guide4_en-us.pdf

• Advanced Server Configuration in Dell EMC OpenManage Enterprise 3.0 :

https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all­products/esuprt_software/esuprt_ent_sys_mgmt/dell-openmanage-enterprise­v32_white-papers5_en-us.pdf

• PowerEdge MX7000 Templates and Profiles :

https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/common/dellemc_mx7000_templates_profile
s.pdf

1 PowerEdge MX7000 Server Configuration using OME Modular

2 PowerEdge MX7000 Server Configuration using OME Modular

Revisions

Date

Description

4/9/2020

Initial release version 1.1

Acknowledgements

This paper was produced by the following:

Name

Prakash Nara

Dell EMC

3 PowerEdge MX7000 Server Configuration using OME Modular

Contents

Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... 1

Lifecycle and Best Practices of Templates/Profiles/IO-Identities Deployment ................... 4

Deploying Profiles with Virtual Identities on MX7000 to Achieve Same Functionality as

M1000e FlexAddress ................................................................................................................... 9

Preview of enhancements in the upcoming releases ........................................................... 15

4 PowerEdge MX7000 Server Configuration using OME Modular

Lifecycle and Best Practices of
Templates/Profiles/IO-Identities Deployment

There are two types of profile deployments. A profile deployed to a server directly
(referred as device profile deployment) and a profile attached to a slot which later gets
deployed to the inserted server (referred as slot profile).

Device profile:

• A profile created from a template is directly deployed on a server.

• Device profile deployment enables the server to retain any virtual identities

(MAC/WWNs) part of the profile when the server relocates to another slot
(assuming no slot profile is assigned) in the same chassis or a new chassis.
Device profile also supports migration of profile to allow rapid workload
recovery to a spare server in the domain (same chassis or another chassis in
the Chassis Group).

Slot profile:

• A profile created from a template is first attached to the slot and then later

deployed to the server inserted into the slot.

• Slot profile deployment enables the slot to own the profile and any virtual

identities (MAC/WWNs) part of the profile. Any server inserted into the slot is
guaranteed to get the same attached profile and virtual identities
(MAC/WWNs) deployed. This enables rip & replace of servers in the slot and
have the same attached profile (with MAC/WWNs) deployed on every new
server inserted into the slot.

What follows next is the process of creating templates, identity pools, VLANs and
deploying them as a device profile or slot profile. The below steps refer to numbers (0,
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12) in Figure 1 to help navigate the various steps
applicable through the lifecycle of the profile deployment.

5 PowerEdge MX7000 Server Configuration using OME Modular

Figure 1: Lifecycle of Template/Profile/IO-Identity configuration

Start

Network (VLANs)TemplateIdentity Pool

Now Template is

associated with

IO Pool and VLANs

Profile deployed

to server as

a device profile

Attached

to a

chassis slot

Profile deployed

to server

as slot profile

Moved server to

new (chassis/slot).

Server retains

MAC/WWNs

MAC/WWNs

reclaimed from

server

Profile with

MAC/WWNs moved

from old server

to new server

Moved server to

new (chassis/slot).

Server drops
MAC/WWNs

Removes the profile

from slot, further

steps needed to

cleanup

Insert server in empty slot

OR Remove existing server

and insert new server

Move

server

Detach

profile

Migrate

profile

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Create

Identity Pool

Create

Template

Create

VLAN

Edit

Network

Deploy

to Server

Attach

To Slot

Move

server

Detach

Profile

Update LANs in

Template

Associate Pool

to Template

Decide on

implementa

tion