Support for Dell iDRAC Service Module

Operating system information

Server Administrator shares operating system information and hostname with iDRAC. The iSM provides similar information such as host OS name, server host IP address information, OS version, Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) with iDRAC. The network interfaces on the host OS are also displayed. By default, this monitoring feature is enabled. This feature is available even if Server Administrator is installed on the host OS.

Lifecycle Controller log replication into operating system

Replicates the Lifecycle Controller (LC) logs to the OS logs. All events that have the OS Log option as the target (in the Alerts page or in the equivalent RACADM or WSMAN interfaces) are replicated in the OS log using iSM. This process is similar to the System Event Log (SEL) replication performed by Server Administrator.

The default set of logs to be included in the OS logs is the same as the logs configured for SNMP traps/alerts. Only the events logged in the LC log after iSM was installed are replicated to the OS Log. If Server Administrator is installed, the monitoring feature is disabled to avoid duplicate SEL entries in the OS log.

Automatic system recovery feature

The Automatic System Recovery feature is a hardware-based timer, which is used to reset the server if there is a hardware failure. The feature can perform automatic system recovery operations such as reboot, power cycle, or power off after a specified time interval. This feature is enabled only when the operating system watchdog timer is disabled. If Server Administrator is installed, the monitoring feature is disabled to avoid duplicate watchdog timers.

Windows Management Instrumentation Providers

Windows Management Instrumentation Providers available with iSM exposes hardware data through Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). WMI is extensions to the Windows Driver Model that provides an operating system interface through which instrument components provide information and notification. WMI is Microsoft's implementation of the Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) and Common Information Model (CIM) standards from the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) to manage Server hardware, operating systems and applications. WMI Providers helps to integrate with Systems Management Consoles such as Microsoft System Center and enables scripting to manage Microsoft Windows Servers.

SupportAssist collection

The SupportAssist collection feature in iDRAC collects information about the hardware, OS, and relevant application data and compresses this information. Using iSM 2.0 or later versions, the OS Collector tool automatically collects relevant OS and hardware information, but you must do it manually. 

NVMe PCIe SSD device removal support

Removal of a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIE) Solid-State Device (SSD) without shutting down or rebooting the system. When removing a device, all the activities associated with the device must be stopped to prevent data loss. To prevent loss of data use the Prepare to Remove option, which stops all the device-associated background activities, after which allows the removal of the NVMe PCIe SSD.

Remote iDRAC hard reset

Via iDRAC, monitor the supported servers for critical system hardware, firmware, or software issues. Infrequently, an iDRAC may become unresponsive. Previously, a customer would have to turn off the server by unplugging the power from the server. Now, by using the Remote iDRAC hard reset feature, if an iDRAC becomes unresponsive, perform a remote iDRAC reset operation without the need to shut down the server. Administrative privileges on the host OS required to use this feature. By default, the remote iDRAC hard reset feature is enabled.

iDRAC access using Host OS

Using Dell’s PowerEdge Servers, manage the hardware or the firmware of a device through iDRAC by configuring an iDRAC dedicated network. Through the dedicated network port, access the iDRAC interfaces such as UI, WSMAN, RACADM, and Redfish client.

The prerequisite to manage the hardware or the firmware is to have a dedicated connection between a device and the supported iDRAC interface. The iDRAC access using Host OS feature, connect to an iDRAC interface from an OS IP or host irrespective of the connection between a device and an iDRAC dedicated network. This feature monitors the hardware or firmware even if the iDRAC is not connected to the servers.

In-band support for iDRAC SNMP alerts

Using iDRAC, an out-of-band server management and monitoring tool, the SNMP traps/alerts can be recorded in the log. However, from a host OS systems management using in-band agent perspective, the preference is more on the SNMP alert received from the host OS than the traps received from iDRAC. When an SNMP alert is received from iDRAC, it would be challenging to determine the source of the alert as it is from an iDRAC IP and not the system IP.

Starting iSM 2.3, you can receive SNMP alerts from the host OS which is similar to the alerts by iDRAC.

Enable WSMAN remotely

With the WMI information feature, you can connect to the host Microsoft Windows WMI namespace to monitor the system hardware. The WMI interface on the host is enabled by default, and you can access it remotely. However, if you want to access the WMI interfaces using WINRM’s WMI adapter, you have to enable it manually as it is not enabled by default. Using this feature, you can access the WINRM WMI namespaces remotely by enabling it during installation.

Note: System Management will not add any new features to WSMAN.

iDRAC Service Module factory install for Microsoft Windows (Customer opt-in)

iSM can now be factory installed for the Microsoft Windows operating system. By having iSM pre-installed, you can quickly access critical logs and support documents. When a Microsoft Windows operating system factory installation is selected, you can opt in to install iSM from the available options.

• iSM - Enabled - Provides factory installation of iSM in the Windows OS
• iSM - Disabled - Customers who do not want to have iSM installed in the OS should select this option

S.M.A.R.T Monitoring

S.M.A.R.T monitoring feature supports hard disk drives enabled with SATA in AHCI mode. It has integrated capability to monitor S.M.A.R.T alerts through iDRAC supported auditing methods for hard drives under SATA Chipset controller. Previously the alerts were monitored by any open-source utility to monitor the hard drives set in RAID Mode.

FullPowerCycle

FullPowerCycle feature provides a way to reset the server auxiliary power. An increasing amount of server hardware runs on server auxiliary power; and troubleshooting of some server issues requires you to physically unplug the server power cable to reset the hardware running on auxiliary power. This leads to someone having to physically unplug/plug the power cables, which lead to a significant cost and hassle for customers and support personnel. The FullPowerCycle feature enables the administrator to connect or disconnect the auxiliary power remotely without visiting the data center. This feature is supported on iDRAC9.

Correlation of software events to hardware failures for Microsoft S2D

The event log for hardware storage pool alerts or events are monitored through iSM with Server Storage correlation feature. The server storage subsystem is monitored when Dell storage controllers are used in RAID mode. But in Storage Spaces(SS) or Storage Space Direct(S2D), the server storage subsystem is monitored in a pass-through mode or the SATA chipset is used to create the storage pool. With this feature, the hardware-defined alerts covered by Life-Cycle log and software-defined alerts covered by OS logs are merged and the alerts are registered in the iDRAC Lifecycle logs. This feature is installed with the iDRAC Service Module package and is enabled by default. User can change the preferences in the iDRAC settings. As part of the monitoring, iSM audits the logs for potential failures and warnings. iSM embeds the SS correlation events on the Host to an equivalent LC event.

iSM SupportAssist Disk Auto Dispatch

As part of predictive alerting, if the server matches one of the following SNMP events: PDR16 and PDR63, a recommendation is sent from Dell support using email regarding the work order of the predictive failure or a bad disk block such as SSD's subject to the prevailing licensing terms and conditions. To work order parts, a service address to Dell support is required. This feature is available only on Windows and Linux operating systems.

iDRAC UI Launcher

Launch the iDRAC user interface from the local system by double-clicking the iDRAC user interface Launcher icon. The iDRAC UI login page opens in the default browser and iDRAC credentials can be used to log in to the iDRAC home page. This is supported only on the Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Single sign on (SSO) to iDRAC UI from Host OS administrators desktop

The single sign-on (SSO) feature enables an authenticated operating system administrator to directly access the iDRAC web interface without requiring login using separate iDRAC administrator credentials.

Enhanced security between iSM and iDRAC communication using TLS protocol

Starting iSM 3.4, the data communication between iSM and iDRAC happens through TLS protected USBNIC INET sockets. This ensures protection of all the data that transports from iDRAC to iSM over USBNIC. iSM and iDRAC use self-signed certificates to control Authentication. The self-signed certificates have 10 years of validity. Fresh self-signed certificates are generated while installing iSM every time.