Altiris Deployment Solutionfor Dell Servers v2.0 SP1

Agenda• Dell IT Success Story• Deployment Solution for Dell Servers Overview• Single Image for Dell PowerEdge Servers White Paper• KeyLabs Study• Demo• Rip and Replace Process Flow / Blade Change Rule Options• Where to Go for More Information?

Dell IT Success Story• Dell IT global rollout of Deployment Solution:

– Japan, China, Ireland, Amsterdam Training Center, etc.

– Solution to drive global standardization and efficiency for server deployment

• Typical Build

– Update components pre-OS (BIOS, ESM, DRAC, etc.)

– Config BIOS, DRAC, BMC, RAID, etc.

– Unattended install of Windows/Linux (slipstream hotfixes, etc.)

– Server apps and agents

• Results

– Part of a project that reduced server deployment operations staff from 40 to 5!

– Admin Time: 6 hours per server to 20 minutes (includes cabling)

– Build time 2-4 hrs. per server (unattended by admin)

– Performed up to 80 simultaneous deployments

Where To Get Dell IT Case Study

"We are extremely pleased with the results of implementing Altiris Deployment Solution. We have reduced the console time for each server build dramatically. We have repeatable processes that can be used in each region." - Christopher Casias, Senior Systems Engineer of Wintel Engineering for Dell IT

www.altiris.com/dell

Deployment Solution for Dell Servers

• Altiris Deployment Solution for Dell Servers adds Dell-specific predefined jobs to the Altiris Deployment Solution console(s)

• Integrates the 16bit and 32bit Dell OpenManage Tool Kits (DTK) with 5th-9th generation support (DOS, WinPE, and Linux pre-boot supported environments)

• 1st product released from the Management Suite for Dell Servers (mid ’04)

• Top standalone server solution sold through Dell channel

• Considered a must have for all-in-one Dell Server provisioning

Benefits• Reduce administrator deployment time from hours to minutes• Pre-provision Dell Servers using MAC, Asset Tag, or Service Tag• Capture/Configure/Redeploy BIOS/BMC/RAID/DRAC (non-blade) settings

as 1:many application– Tokenization of DRAC and BMC settings– Define IP address pools for DRAC and BMC configuration

• Deploy Windows/Linux operating systems via image or scripted installs– Scripted install now uses common directory for mass storage and PnP drivers– Ability to import drivers from Dell Server Assistant (DSA) CD

• Power management through DRAC and BMC (IPMI)– Discover DRAC devices based on IP range and/or ability to manually add DRAC

and BMC IP addresses to database and associate with managed node• Install server applications (such as OMSA, SQL Server, Oracle 10g, ESX

Server, etc.), service packs, hotfixes, etc.• Ability to download Dell Update Packages (DUPs) from internet and/or

import from Dell Server Update Utility (SUU) CD (published quarterly) to patch HW as part of provisioning process

• Rip and replace support for PE1655MC, PE1855, and PE1955 Blade Servers

Updated! - Single Image for Dell PowerEdge Servers

• How to Build a Single Image for Dell PowerEdge Servers– Overview

– Best practices

– Methodologies used

– Step by step instructions

– Support files

• Download white paper: www.altiris.com/dell

Single Image for Dell PowerEdge Servers

20 PowerEdge Servers Successfully Tested!!Model Processor(s) PERC RAM Storage Add-on Cards

6300 Dual P3 Xeon 550Mhz PERC 2 1.5GB 16GB n/a

6450 Quad P3 Xeon 700Mhz PERC 2 512MB 18GB n/a

1550 P3 1.2Ghz PERC 2 2GB 36GB n/a

2550 Dual P3 1Ghz PERC 3/Di 2GB 36GB PERC 3/DCL

1650 Dual P3 1.4 Ghz PERC 3/Di 2GB 36GB n/a

1655MC P3 1.3Ghz PERC 4/im 512MB 18GB n/a

2600 Dual P4 Xeon 2.4 Ghz PERC 4/Di 2GB 36GB n/a

2650 Dual P4 Xeon 3.1 Ghz PERC 3/Di 6GB 36GB n/a

4600 Dual P4 Xeon 2.2 Ghz PERC 3/Di 4GB 36GB n/a

6650 Xeon 2.8Ghz PERC 3/QC 8GB 36GB n/a

4600 Dual P4 Xeon 2.2 Ghz PERC 3/Di 4GB 36GB n/a

750 P4 Xeon 2.8Ghz CERC SATA 1.5 1GB 36GB n/a

1750 Dual P4 Xeon 2.8Ghz PERC 4/Di 1GB 17GBPERC 4/DC, PERC 4/SC, DRAC 3

1850 Dual Xeon 3.4 Ghz PERC 4e/Di 2GB 136GB n/a

1855 Xeon 3Ghz LSI Ultra 320 SCSI 256MB 36GB n/a

2850 Dual Xeon 3.4 Ghz PERC 4e/Di 2GB 136GB n/a

860 P4 3Ghz SAS ATA/133 1GB 314GB n/a

1950 Dual Xeon 3Ghz PERC 5/i 2GB 36GB n/a

2900 Dual Xeon 3.2Ghz PERC 5/i 8GB 136GB n/a

2950 Dual Xeon 3Ghz PERC 5/i 2GB 36GB PERC 5/e

KeyLabs Independent Study

Server Deployment Time Comparison - For 25 Dell Servers

Server Builds Tested

Qty of 25 Dell PE 2650 Servers

Manual Installation

(hh:mm)

Dell Server Assistant CD

(hh:mm)

AltirisAdminTime

AltirisBuildTime

MS SQL 2000: - BIOS, RAID, DRAC config - Windows 2000 Advanced Server - SQL Server 2000 - Dell Update Packages

41:1526:15

(36% reduction)

5 sec.(99%

reduction)

4:15(90%

reduction)

RH Apache: - BIOS, RAID, DRAC config - Redhat EL 3.0 AS - LAMP (mySQL, Apache, PHP) - Dell Update Packages

30:2516:32

(46% reduction)

5 sec.(99%

reduction)

3:55(87%

reduction)

*Required an initial setup time of 3h:45m to install and configure Altiris

KeyLabs Independent Study (cont)

Microsoft SQL 2000 Server DeploymentAdmin Time Comparison

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No. of Servers Deployed

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Dell Server Asst. CD

Altiris

Download the study at www.dell.com/altiris

Altiris/Dell adds this value for Dell customers

RDP White Paper from Dell Custom Solutions

White paper from Dell Custom Solutions discusses how to install the Dell Deployment Add-on pack from Altiris inside HP’s RDP console. (“Zero Switch Cost”)

Go to www.dell.com/altiris for this and other white papers

Video – Installing Dell Management into RDP

This is a silent video demonstrating how Dell management (Altiris Deployment Solution for Dell Servers) can be snapped into HP's Rapid Deployment Pack (RDP) to manage a heterogenious environment of both HP and Dell hardware. (3m 33s) (50.6MB)

http://www.altiris.com/delldeploy 

DEMO(Screen Shots)

Imported Predefined Dell Jobs

• Predefined Dell jobs import into DS Console Jobs Pane

• Integrated Dell OpenManage Tool Kits with support for DOS, Linux, and WinPE Pre-OS environments

• Full provisioning support for 5-9G PowerEdge rack and tower models

Dell Config Utility - “Server Models” Tab

Select OS type and type of DUPs to be downloaded from published catalog (internet connection required). Multiple selections can be made by enabling corresponding checkbox here

Get DUP Catalog – Download published DUP catalog from Dell’s support website (internet connection required)

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3 Add to System – Select PE models are added to system out of the box. This button allows you to add legacy “Supported by DTK” servers to system for provisioning support

Remove From System – Removes selected PE models from system

Copy Utility Partition Image – Copies the upimg.bin file from DSA CD to install 32MB Dell utility partition as part of provisioning process

Edit Configuration File – Edit configuration files captured from running jobs in the predefined “1. Pre-OS Deployment Jobs” folder. Config files are now “tokenized” and allow easier 1:many deployments using custom and built-in DS tokens

Download DUPs – Downloads single or multiple selection of DUPs to appropriate PE model directories .\Dell\Toolkit\Systems…

Output of DRAC Config (PE1850)

Fields are “tokenized” to inject data from eXpress database before configuration occurs

Output of BIOS/BMC Config (PE1850)

Field is “tokenized” to inject data from eXpress database before configuration occurs

*Note – When using the Linux or WinPE jobs, the BIOS/BMC is captured as a single file (sysset.ini). When using the DOS jobs, the BIOS and BMC are captured separately (biosset.ini, bmcset.ini)

Dell Config Utility - “Server Models” Tab

Get catalog on startup – Automatically download published DUP catalog when Dell Configuration Utility is launched (internet connection required).

Get catalog and packages from – Specifies source of imported DUPs, Online from Dell’s support website or Local from Dell’s Server Update Utility (SUU) CD. ISO image of SUU CD can be downloaded from support.dell.com. CD is published on quarterly basis.

Supported by DTK – Allows you to filter PE models based on the pre-OS environment the DTK supports for bare metal provisioning. *To filter, check only the “Supported by DTK” box on the main screen of the “Server Models” tab. Then check the desired checkbox for the pre-OS environment on this screen. The results are displayed in the window of the main screen below the “Server Models to Display”.

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Dell Config Utility - “IP Ranges” Tab

1 Add – Adds user defined IP address pools for 1:many DRAC and BMC configuration. Works just like DHCP. Once IP address is used, it’s removed from pool.

Remove – Removes selected IP address range

Move Up – Moves selected IP address range up for higher priority

Move Down – Moves selected IP address range down for lower priority

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Dell Config Utility - “Power Control” Tab

Discovery Method – Discover DRAC (PE1655) / Non-Blade or IPMI devices. *PE1855/PE1955 DRAC IP’s and chassis positions have to be manually entered to enable power control

Begin IP – Starting IP range

End IP – Ending IP range

User name – User name configured for out of band management access. Default from factory is “root”

Password – Password configured for out of band management access. Default from factory is “calvin”

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2 Timeout per IP address – 10 seconds is the optimal interval to allow sufficient time for credentials to be verified

Verify existing power control entries – Initiates verification of entries in database vs. actual connectivity. If connectivity is not established, entries are removed from database

23 Computer ID from Deployment database – Computer ID

from Deployment database

Power control IP address – IP address of DRAC or BMC devices

Power control type – 1855 Blade (will work for PE1955 as well), DRAC (non-Blade), 1655 Blade, IPMI (BMC)

Chassis position – (1-10)

Power control user name – User name configured for out of band management access

Power control password – Password configured for out of band management access

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Dell Config Utility - “Power Control” Tab

Method – DRAC or IPMI

External dependency – IPMI has an external dependency to enable power control through this device, however is installed “out of the box”.

External file – BMCHEALTH.EXE is built-in and provides power control through IPMI interface. No dependency exists for DRAC.

Power Control Precedence – Specifies the order of devices that will be executed during the discovery.

Up/Down Arrows – Controls the order of the devices.

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Power Control from DS Console

• When DRAC or IPMI entries are added to database you go from this

• To this

• “Dell – Launch Interface” option is not available through IPMI interface, only DRAC. Option will be grayed out if BMC IP address is entered in database for managed node

Dell Config Utility - “OS Deployment” Tab

Operating system – Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 64-bit, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 64-bit, SUSE Linux, SUSE Linux 64-bit. *It is possible to copy other flavors of OS’s for scripted installs

Have the required source files been found? – This field indicates whether the source files have been copied for this flavor of OS or not

Source file location – The default path in which the source media will be copied. This default path can be changed if desired, but recommended to be left alone.

Copy source files from another location – Allows you to browse to the source media and copy to the source file location

Scripted install answer file – Path to the unattend.txt file for Windows scripted installs. The v2.0 release now uses one common unattend.txt file per OS type rather than per OS type and PE model type. The “Edit” button allows you to edit the unattend.txt file to enter items such as Product ID.

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Dell Config Utility - “OS Deployment” Tab

Add drivers – Add Mass Storage and Plug and Play (PnP) drivers automatically from the Dell Server Assistant (DSA) CD and/or manually from other file location(s)

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3 Add drivers from the Dell Server Assistant (DSA) CD – Browse to the DSA location

Server Models – Select the appropriate PE model(s) and OS type(s) and then click “Add from DSA”. *This is the most effective way to add Mass Storage and PnP drivers to the Altiris Server for deployments. The “OemPnPDriversPath” in the unattend.txt file is automatically populated.

4 Add a driver from another source – Manually import Mass Storage and PnP drivers from other file location(s)

Operating system – Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003

Driver type – Plug and Play and Mass Storage

Add From Other Source – Plug and Play driver types search for .INF file types. Mass Storage driver types search for a TXTSETUP.OEM file. All associated drivers are copied to their respective locations on the Altiris Server.

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Dell Config Utility - “Advanced” TabUpdate files – There is a known issue with the Microsoft communications driver Altiris uses for WinPE. WinPE image loads can take as long as 20 minutes without the fix (startrom.n12) applied. This button will allow a user to automatically update the associated file on the Altiris Server after obtaining from Microsoft Support. For more info refer to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906425. If the “startrom.n12” file is placed in the install directory BEFORE installing, the WinPE fix will automatically be applied.

Edit script settings – Here you can customize the scripts that provide the working environment of all the other scripts that are called. Items that can be set: whether or not to perform dynamic RAID configs, the ability to create custom RAID configs, whether or not to skip the RAID config completely, which drive to perform scripted OS installs from (default is 0), etc.

Import jobs to database – Allows you to import predefined Dell jobs to the DS Console Jobs Pane if adding a pre-boot environment after install. Can also re-initialize existing jobs if they were modified without making copies first.

Regenerate pre-boot images – Upon installing the Dell Deployment add-on, if the pre-boot images (DOS, Linux, WinPE) exist on the DS, they will be automatically updated. This button is helpful if the pre-boot images are created after the Dell Deployment add-on has been installed or if you corrupt the pre-boot images and need to re-create.

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Output of RAID Info (PE2950)

Output of System Info (PE2950)

Job history per blade.

Blade view

Rip and Replace Process Flow

PXE

1. Blade removed from slot 2

2. New blade inserted into slot 2

3. New bladepowered on

4. PXE server does not recognize the new blade as “managed” in it’s local cache

5. PXE server requests any pending job assignments from DS

6. DS determines the blade is new and executes the blade change rule (which is set to Re-deploy computer)

7. DS replays bay's history from the last Distribute Disk Image task forward (or a Run Script task with rem deployment start)

8. New blade is provisioned w/o a trip to the Altiris console

Blade Change Rule OptionsOptions Action

Re-Deploy Computer

All deployment tasks in the bay's history will be executed starting from the last Distributing a Disk Image task or Scripted OS Install task, or from any script (in a Run Script task) with this command: rem deployment start.

Run Predefined Job

The server will process any specified job to run automatically when a new server is detected in the bay.

Ignore the Change

The new server blade placed in the bay is not identified as a new server and no jobs are initiated. If the server existed in a previous bay, the history and parameters for the server are moved or associated with the new bay.

Wait for User Interaction

(default) No job is performed (the Deployment Agent on the server blade is instructed to wait). The icon on the console changes to reflect that the server is waiting.

For More information• User community:

– www.altiris.com/juice

– Other URLs: – www.dell.com/altiris

– www.dell.com/altiris/whitepapers

– www.altiris.com/dell• Weekly webinars schedule• Joint success stories• Data sheets

– www.altiris.com/delldeploy• Videos• White papers• Product documentation

• To download:– www.altiris.com/eval/dell

©April 19, 2023 Altiris Inc.

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