So Say SMEs in Virtualization & Cloud

In Episode 42, Kong Yang and Todd Muirhead talk about Todd's session at VMworld 2012 in Barcelona and the upcoming Dell TechCenter Tech Tuesday Chat covering VMware ESXi 5.1 on October 9th at 3PM CDT. We welcome your thoughts and feedback.

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Also, including Episode 41 which covered Commodities in the NFL and in IT.

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The Dell Customized ISO image for VMware vSphere 5.1(ESXi 5.1) is now available:

• Dell | VMware ESXi 5.1 Recovery Image Build #799733 v. A00 contains the ISO image to recover/re-install the ESXi image to SD card or USB Key on Dell PowerEdge servers.

Also, join DellTechCenter.com on October 9th at 3PM CDT for our Tech Tuesday chat covering Dell | VMware. We look forward to the conversations.

UPDATED: TechCenter will be joined on the Tech Tuesday Chat by Keith Matteson, Principal Engineer on the Operating Systems and Hypervisor Engineering Team at Dell.  He has been working on ESX integration on Dell servers since 2004, including design of ESXi 3.5 and the Dell SD card based Flash solution for ESXi. The Hypervisor engineering team works with VMware to ensure Day zero support of Dell Hardware on new Vmware releases and VMware HCL support for all new Server and Hardware releases from Dell.

A few weeks ago, a colleague and I each presented a workaround for booting Ubuntu 12.04 on some of Dell’s 12^th generation of PowerEdge Servers.

I am happy to report a third workaround today, which may be more attractive.  The 1.3.6 BIOS, which was released today, contains a workaround for the grub2 issue which prevented Ubuntu 12.04 (and other versions of linux which use grub2) from booting.  With this BIOS version, no other workaround should be necessary.

This post was co-written with Ajith George.

By now, you are probably familiar with Dell OpenManage, the systems management suite that allows you to manage, monitor, and maintain Dell servers, storage, and networking hardware through consoles such as the Dell developed OpenManage Essentials console.

Did you know also know that even if you are using a 3rd party systems management console (as many of you are), you can also monitor Dell hardware through OpenManage Connections and Integrations?

To better explain how to incorporate Dell OpenManage with other consoles, we now have over a dozen new Dell TechCenter pages for OpenManage Connections and Integrations. These pages cover feature descriptions, technical articles, product documentation and links to downloads for all OpenManage Connections and OpenManage Integration products.

What are the Differences between OpenManage Connections and OpenManage Integrations?

The OpenManage Connections pages contain detailed information about monitoring Dell devices within infrastructures managed by HP Operations Manager(HPOM), IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus and CA Network and Systems Management(CA NSM).

The OpenManage Integrations pages conatin detailed information about managing Dell devices using Microsoft System Center. This covers the Management Packs for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM), Dell Server Deployment Packs (DSDP) and Lifecycle Controller Integration (DLCI) for System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), and Integration Pack for System Center Orchestrator.

For more details click here to read our  wiki article on OpenManage Connections and Integrations.

Hello EQL Family,

The Cisco Nexus ecosystem is based on a virtualized chassis solution where Nexus 5000 (5k) switches
act as “fabric managers”and intelligent switches for unintelligent port expanders in the Nexus 2000 (2k)  
family that do not provide any intelligent data management, but must pass all traffic through a LAG to
one or more 5k class switches for processing.  This puts an additional burden on the interconnect
between the 2k port aggregator and the 5k fabric manager. 

The primary questions: 

• What is the impact of the Cisco Nexus architecture on EQL SAN design? 
• What are the Nexus design recommendations to ensure a high performance SAN?

This whitepaper focuses on best practice recommendations for designing and configuring an
EqualLogic SAN consisting of Nexus 5k family switches as an aggregation layer to downstream
Nexus 2k family of Fabric Extenders.
 
The goal of this paper is to answer the following questions:

1. Impact on SAN performance when arrays and hosts are attached to the same pair of FEXs?
2. Recommendations for using FEX / Switch architectures with EqualLogic?
3. Recommended configuration steps to implement that recommended architecture?

Cisco promotes a general Top of Rack/End of Row ( ToR/EoR ) deployment model for Nexus
products based on the Nexus 5k switch as an EoR switch and Nexus 2k as ToR port aggregator.

Considerations

Important considerations with Cisco Nexus Fabric Extenders and Dell EqualLogic storage are :

• The Cisco Nexus 2k Series Fabric Extenders perform no local switching.
• All traffic in and out of the switch must traverse the uplink between the Fabric Extender and the uplink switch.
• Related to the first consideration listed above, it is vital to remember that there is a potential
  oversubscription ratio of 1.2:1 on the Cisco Nexus 2248TP 1Gb Fabric Extender when all ports are utilized.

Understanding this factor is beneficial while designing the network. When designing a high throughput 
EqualLogic SAN, it is generally recommended to avoid oversubscription, however if an oversubscription
model is used, it is even more importantto recognize that performance will only be as greatas the most
restrictive bottleneck in the network path. Remember to note, EqualLogic consists of one active
controller and one passive controller, this can help avoid the oversubscription on Cisco Fabric Extenders
when active and passive connections are balanced across fabric extenders.

Remember: All traffic traversing the Fabric Extenders must be sent to the Cisco Nexus 5k for switching, 
                      the Fabric Extenders are incapable of local switching.

Note: This paper is to be used as guidance for configuring Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switches,
Cisco Nexus Fabric Extenders 2248TP, and EqualLogic PS-6000 Arraysand not intended to
be an all-inclusive document for other FEX scenarios. Other Fabric Extenders may have as
much as 12:1 oversubscription and we are concerned about this ratio of oversubscription between
the FEX and the upstream Nexus 5K switch.

We do not recommend solutions with large oversubscription ratio.  

Here is the link to the White Paper:

Best Practices for EqualLogic SANs Using Cisco Nexus 2248TP 1Gb Fabric Extender 

Until Next Time,

Twitter:    @GuyAtDell
Email:      guy_westbrook@dell.com
Chatter:  @EQL Tech Enablement

Guy

Click the link below to access the Storage Infrastructure and Solutions  (SIS)  Team publications library.
Which has all of our Best Practice White Papers, Reference Architectures, and other EQL documents:

 http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/storage/w/wiki/2631.storage-infrastructure-and-solutions-team.aspx

This blog post was originally written by Michael Schroeder and Thomas Cantwell.  Comments are welcome! To suggest a blog topic or make other comments, contact WinServerBlogs@dell.com.

To read more technical articles about Windows Server 2012 and Dell, go to the Windows Server 2012 page on Dell TechCenter.

Microsoft Windows Server® 2012 is now available preinstalled from the Dell factory!  Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the key features within the 300+ features available in Windows Server 2012.  This Windows Server release includes terrific building blocks for solutions created on our Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers and Storage.

Storage

1. Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX) - ODX offloads the storage transfers to the storage array in Windows Server 2012. This reduces network processing and lowers CPU utilization on the host when performing copy operations on one or more servers. ODX works well when managing large vhd or vhdx files with Hyper-V and can also greatly shorten your storage migration times. This technology works with the latest EqualLogic (& soon, Compellent) firmware release.

Virtualization

Dell PowerEdge12th generation servers and Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V offers much greater scale and  improved resiliency and efficiency at both the system and networking level over Windows Server 2008R2.

2. Hyper-V Scalability - With Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers, you can leverage greater local storage capabilities (or SAN capability via EqualLogic and Compellent storage), as well as large logical processor counts and higher memory capacity to achieve greater VM densities.

3. Consumed Memory Error – The PowerEdge R820 supports a new feature available with 4-socket systems called “Consumed Memory Error”, which can help you achieve a higher level of resiliency by consuming and isolating memory errors to specific VMs that can be taken down without affecting the host or other VMs.

4. Dynamic Virtual Machine Queues - Windows Server 2012 introduces Dynamic Virtual Machine Queues (D-VMQ) for Hyper-V. VMQ is a hardware virtualization technology that increases the efficiency of network processing when packets are received on a Hyper-V host. D-VMQ optimizes and automatically scales the number of processors that are in use, based on the traffic volume. Dell PowerEdge Servers with VMQ enabled network cards help you get the most out of your hardware and increase the scale of your Hyper-V solutions.

5. Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) - With Windows Server 2012, Dell PowerEdge 11th or 12th generation servers , and our SR-IOV supported/enabled networking adapters, you can take advantage of SR-IOV technology to achieve significant increases in virtual machine network throughput, while reducing performance overhead, so you can virtualize demanding workloads, such as SQL Server.

Systems Management

6. Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) – Orchestrating the update process for failover clusters is now simpler than ever. Both Dell Update Packages (DUPs) containing firmware and drivers, in addition to Microsoft updates leverage the Cluster-Aware Updating feature in Windows Server 2012 to automate the updating of drivers, firmware and OS patches  across clustered PowerEdge Servers while maintaining availability.  This solution-centric approach to updates ensures the cluster continues to run, as each server is updated and brought back online.

7. iDRAC7 Integration with PowerShell 3.0/CIM Cmdlets-  Microsoft Windows Server® 2012 introduces CIM Cmdlets with PowerShell 3.0 to help manage any server or device that complies with CIM and WS-Man standards. From a Windows® host, CIM sessions can be established to remotely connect to the iDRAC interface on your Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers. Once connected, you have access to a large number of management tasks, such as changing settings in the BIOS, collecting hardware inventory and many others.

Networking

8. Consistent Device Naming (CDN) - Consistent Device Naming and Windows Server 2012, along with natively supported NIC teaming, offer improved network setup, deployment, and management. NIC teaming requires that you know which network ports you want to team – with CDN, you can plug into the ports and identify with precision which ports these are in Windows Server 2012. With CDN, anyone using an automated process to build solutions can be sure to get the right port, every time, easing the management pain and increasing reliability.

9. 12G NDCs and Native NIC Teaming – Dell PowerEdge 12^th generation servers offer a new mechanism for integrated network devices, via the NDC (Network Daughter Card) – this allows the customer to choose the vendor and type of network support they need, such as Intel, Broadcom, 1 or 10 GB Ethernet support (or both) for their integrated networking solution.  This level of flexibility and configurability is new to Dell PowerEdge 12^th generation servers.

Windows Server 2012 complements this by adding natively supported NIC teaming. In the past, teaming configuration has been network card vendor specific. Now, with native support, managing NIC teaming can be consistent across any platform deployed with Windows Server 2012, regardless of the NIC vendor.

Power & Performance

10. Collaborative Processor Performance Control (CPPC) and Logical Processor Idling (LPI) - Windows Server 2012 improves power efficiency by adding new capabilities, such as CPPC and an improved LPI. CPPC leverages the existing Dell Active Power Controller (DAPC) infrastructure and adds OS “hints” to set the proper P-states for the processors. Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers support CPPC. LPI was available in Windows 2008R2 (called Core Parking), but has been enhanced in Windows 2012 to be more granular.

To learn more about Windows Server 2012 on Dell servers, visit the Dell product page on Windows Server 2012  

To view which Dell platforms support Windows Server 2012, visit the Operating System Support Matrix for Dell PowerEdge Systems

During Oracle Open World 2012, the Dell Oracle Database Solutions team presented eight technical sessions ranging from topics that included Virtualization, Database as a Service (DBaaS), Database Cloud, High Availability, Oracle VM Assemblies, and Oracle Database Migrations.  Such collaborations demonstrate how Dell and Oracle products work seamlessly together and give customers the power to do more with their investments. These topics illustrate just the tip of the iceberg of some of the solutions Dell offers around Oracle. For more info on Dell Oracle Database Solutions please check out our Dell Oracle Solutions Wiki 

Technical Sessions:

1. Oracle RAC migration with Oracle ASM and Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c
   Speakers: Wendy Chen, Vinod Emmanuel
   
   
2.  Near Zero downtime Oracle DB migration to latest Dell Servers & Storage
   Speakers: Wendy Chen, Vinod Emmanuel
   
   
3. Maximizing your Virtualized Environment with Oracle VM
   Speakers: Roger Lopez
   
   
4. Oracle RAC 11gR2 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
   Speakers: Roger Lopez 
   
   
5. Database as a Service using Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c  
   Speakers: Krishna Kapa, Roger Lopez 
   
   
6. Oracle on Oracle VM: Expert Panel
   Speakers: Kai Yu, Mike Ault (TMS), Charles Kim (Viscosity), Honglin Su (Oracle)
   
   
7. High-Availability Infrastructure of the Database Cloud: Architecture and Best Practices  
   Speakers: Kai Yu
   
   
8. Simplify App Deployment in the Cloud with Virtual Assemblies and Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c  
   Speakers: Kai Yu, Madhup Gulati (Oracle), Akanksha Sheoran (Oracle)

Since Dell’s acquisition of Force10 Networks, the Chassis Management Controller (CMC) has been adding features to make data center networking and switch deployment more integral to the PowerEdge M1000e chassis and its management interfaces. CMC firmware version 4.2 introduces the first wave of these features, enabling switch deployment and VLAN configuration through the CMC user interface.

Two CMC GUI pages are used to configure switches. These pages are found in the I/O Module Overview branch of the tree list under the Setup tab. The screenshot below illustrates the Deploy I/O Modules page, which is used to set multiple switch properties, many of which are new for the I/O Aggregator. You can configure the following properties:

• Management IP Settings
• Credentials [new]
• SNMP Community String [new]
• Syslog Server IP Settings [new]
• Reset to Factory Defaults [new]

The Deploy I/O Modules page streamlines switch configuration by allowing you to modify multiple fields across different switches and apply these settings all at once. Additionally, the Operation Status field displays the status of each I/O Aggregator individually while applying the changes.

The VLAN Manager page, which can also be found in the I/O Module Overview branch of the tree list under the Setup tab, is a brand new CMC GUI page specifically added for the I/O Aggregator. The purpose of the page is to create a simple, graphical way to perform VLAN operations. The screenshot below shows the guided process to modify VLANs, which flows as follows:

Select I/O Module(s) -> Specify Port Range -> Edit VLANs

It is important to note that in the Specify Port Range step you can associate IOM ports with VLANs even when the corresponding blade slot is empty. In the final step, Edit VLANs, different actions can be selected from the drop down menu, including:

• Add Tagged VLANs
• Remove VLANs
• Update the Untagged VLAN
• Reset to All VLANs
• Show VLANs

Below the VLAN Assignment section, two tables are provided to indicate the current VLAN configuration. The ‘Summary VLANs of All Ports’ table provides a higher level, switch focused view of the configured VLANs, and the ‘CMC Managed VLANs’ table provides a lower level, switch port focused view of the configured VLANs.

The Deploy I/O Modules and VLAN Manager pages offer a more integrated experience for deployment and configuration of the PowerEdge M I/O Aggregator switch. Dell will be adding more features to improve switch management in the future. Ideas such as firmware update, displaying stack information, and configuring switch stacks are being considered (but are not commited). Leave comments below to let us know what you would like to see in future releases!

On behalf of the entire DMPVV team, let me share the highlights of the our latest release.

• First, we are providing support for vSphere 5.1
• Second, we are adding support or VMware vCenter in linked mode.
• Third, we’ve made host compliance much easier by not requiring SSH to be enabled for automatic OMSA installation on 10th and 11^th generation hosts.

The Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter continues to provide product leadership by delivering key features and integration into the best in class 12^th generation servers from Dell, making it easier for our customers to bridge the gap between virtual management and Dell server management.  

To access this free update, use the appliance update mechanism in the Administration Console. For more information see the release 1.6 documentation. For additional information including a trial download, whitepapers and how to videos please visit the Dell Management plug-in for VMware vCenter community website.

This blog post was originally written by Abhijit Sune.

Comments are welcome! To suggest a blog topic or make other comments, contact WinServerBlogs@dell.com.

Dell provides various options for the customer to order Desktop, Servers, peripherals, operating system and combinations of them. Prior to Windows Server 2012, Dell shipped Servers with single language Operating System media kit. With Windows Server 2012 release, server will be shipped with a multilingual OS interface which will provide a list of language from which you can choose any language on need basis. This will allow you to install the OS in your choice of language. This blog is all about the advantages and usage of the Multilingual OS solution Dell offers through pre-installed OSes and media kits.

With the Windows Server 2012 release, Dell customers can now have all Dell shipping OS languages in single media kit. This means without any additional cost, you have a DVD of all Dell Supported Windows OS languages which reduces the maintenance overhead and shipping cost.

Dell offers Multilingual OS solution through pre-install OS on servers and through retailer channel as Reseller Option Kit (ROK). Pre-install OS will provide you an interface to select your desired language at the first boot and it is one time task after which you will be logged in to server with selected language. Later if you want to switch to a different language, you can re-install the OS using the multilingual media kit shipped along with server.

In addition to this, windows recovery environment which use in case of system crash and Pre-Windows environment are also multilingual. These enable you to have same end to end user experience as like single language OS media.

Deployment Scenarios:  At Dell, we built our eco-system to support multi-lingual OS deployment. Dell’s Open Manage Component SBUU (Systems Build and Update Utility) and USC (Unified Server Configurator) which basically used to build the pre-OS environment like RAID configuration, Network configuration, etc. are prepared and tested to support Multilingual OS deployment. iDRAC which is used for out-of-box management is also tested to support multilingual OS deployment through virtual media. Multilingual OS media also used to upgrade Windows Server 2008 R2 with Windows Server 2012 as well. It is also used to deploy OS using WDS Deployment. To get multilingual behavior through WDS, you can provide AutoUnattend.xml file with <WillShowUI>Always</WillShowUI> properties in WinPE settings.

Steps to Experience Multi-lingual solution: To experience multi-lingual behavior, you need to start deploying OS with Multi-lingual media. Once OS boots, Language Selection screen appears as shown in figure 1. Select the language of your choice and proceed. Afterward, the installation experience and final installation of OS is in selected language.

                                                                        Figure 1

For example, let’s consider you have selected “French” as installation language from language selection screen, the rest of installation screens is in French as shown in below figures.

                                                                        Figure 2

                                                                        Figure 3

Also refer multilingual V-log <v-log link>.

Note:

1. Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese are not part of multilingual due to legal restrictions.
2. For Windows Server 2012 release, Dell support English, German, French, Korean, Japanese & Spanish languages for Datacenter and Standard Windows OS SKU and in addition to these languages Portuguese –Brazil and Turkish for Foundation SKU.

Are you seeing a blank or empty page when trying to access iDRAC7 or iDRAC6 Login/Start page?

If this is the first time you are accessing iDRAC web login page, your browser security setting may be preventing the login page to display. There are many reasons this is happening depending on how your browser is configured. You also need to be using one of the supported browsers as listed in the iDRAC User's Guide.

In this blog, we'll focus on the issue using Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) with default settings.

The snapshot image shows that the iDRAC login page is being opened in the "Internet" zone. The security setting in this zone is preventing the page to display. I think of access to iDRAC as trusted and part of my local intranet. If you agree, follow the steps below.

In IE8 browser:

1. Click "Tools" then "Internet Options" then "Security" tab
2. Click either "Local Intranet" or "Trusted Sites" icon, your choice
3. Click "Sites" button then "Add" button to add the iDRAC URL into the zone list.
4. Click "Close" then "Ok"
5. Press F5 or click the Refresh button
6. You should now see the Login page

iDRAC7 is shipped with 12th generation PowerEdge while iDRAC6 with 11th generation. To get more information about iDRAC7 or iDRAC6, refer to the Remote Access Controllers manual page.

Hope this help!

This article was written by Perumal Raja and Rajkumar MR of the Dell Operating Systems Engineering team

Dell provides a number of different ways to order a platform, peripherals, or OS individually or in combination. Buying a Server with a preinstalled Operating System reduces your initial setup and configuration effort in a number of different ways.  With Windows Server 2008 R2, we began to offer the option of having your PowerEdge server+OS configured for a virtualization host, including a preinstalled virtual disk. With Windows Server 2012, we’ve taken it to another level. 

“Standard” Advantages of Factory Preinstall

Buying a server with no OS means that in addition to tracking down and buying the OS, you have to install, patch and configure it.  It can take a long time to make sure you have all the right updates. By opting for platform with OS installed, Dell customers can take advantage of benefits such as:

1. OS is activated without any additional effort
2. Updated drivers already installed
3. Latest critical security patches and OS patches installed
4. Additional OS configuration and management tools

New in Windows Server 2012 preinstall

We’ve incorporated more OS customizations in WS2012 to ease the initial installation effort and to improve your overall experience. Here are some examples, with explanations of the benefits:

Multilingual Windows Server 2012 image*

Prior to Windows Server 2012, factory installed servers shipped with a single language OS installed determined by the geographic region. Now, servers will be shipped with a multilingual OS interface which allows you to choose one of our supported OS languages (See Figure 1). This one-time task will set the language used from then on.  If you desire to switch to a different language, the multilingual media kit shipped along with server can be used to re-install the OS

.

Figure 1. OS Language selection

Pre-deployed Multilingual Virtual Hard Disk*

To simplify virtualization configuration, Dell provides a multilingual virtual hard disk (VHDx) file with Windows Server 2012 pre-installed. This is a free, orderable option. When you choose to receive a multilingual VHD, we enable the Hyper-V role and required BIOS settings (Intel VT or AMD-V). You can use the VHDx file (Available at c:\Dell_OEM\VHD) with Hyper-V to create virtual machines (VMs) in seconds [subject to Microsoft's normal licensing restrictions (two per Standard license and unlimited for Datacenter)]. Since this is also a multilingual VHDx, you can use it to install any Dell supported languages.

Hardware Event Log Integration in the Windows Event Viewer.

All Dell servers come with a repository (BMC) where the system hardware events are logged. To retrieve these logs from the OS, administrators traditionally have used some of the Dell management software tools. In Windows Server 2012, we have configured the factory installed servers to report these logs to the Hardware Event section of Windows Event Viewer. With this configuration, you can directly monitor the system event logs in the Event Viewer (See Figure 2).

Figure 2. Hardware Events Made Available in the Windows Event Viewer

Script to convert from Server core to full OS and vice versa

In Windows Server 2012, Server Core is the Microsoft preferred deployment configuration. A notable feature of this configuration strategy is that a server can transition between the Full-GUI installation and a Server Core installation simply by rebooting the server and selecting the appropriate feature option. This involves executing multiple commands either at command prompt using DISM tool or using PowerShell.  A PowerShell module “DellTools.psm1” (Available at c:\Dell_OEM) has been provided to assist with common tasks (See Figure 3). The module includes a function that allows you to configure your system in “Server with a GUI” mode then convert over to “Server Core” to place the system in production and can be used to switch back for configuration, troubleshooting or other needs.

Figure 3. Set-GUI Command Executed from Dell PowerShell Tool

These new options available in Windows Server 2012 on Dell PowerEdge Servers will make deploying and monitoring systems in your environment easier.  For more information about optimizing your Dell hardware for use with WS2012, visit the Dell TechCenter wiki page for Windows Server 2012.

 *Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese are not part of multilingual options due to legal restrictions.

What would you traditionally do to configure and manage the settings on a given Network interface cards (NIC) in the system? If I guessed it right, you would launch an application from the Operating system or reboot the system, run through power on system test (POST), launch the NIC configuration menu and change the settings.

The task at hand is accomplished; however it can be time consuming. Imagine performing the same operation on multiple servers. Remote NIC configuration through “iDRAC with Lifecycle controller” saves you lots of time by automating NIC configuration across hundreds or thousands of machines. You can even schedule the job for later and let the iDRAC do the work for you.

Dell has published a whitepaper related to Remote NIC configuration. The Simple NIC Profile mentioned in the whitepaper explains the capability to represent configuration of a NIC network controllers using WSMan. The NIC controllers are modeled as views and attributes where there is a view for each individual controller and multiple attributes that allow NIC configuration.

Here is the list of a few items can be accomplished using Remote NIC configuration.

1. Get the inventory of NICs present on the system
2. Get and set (modify) the configuration of NIC attributes

 Advanced users can leverage the remote NIC configuration capabilities to extend and customize to their needs.

A few items that can be accomplished are as follows:

1. Save a NIC configuration as baseline
2. Compare a configuration to a saved baseline and display their differences
3. Set a NIC configuration using a saved baseline

By now, you would be eager to try this out.

See the full article in this whitepaper: Remote NIC configuration management.

Links to all the scripts related to NIC configuration white paper are available @ Scripting with Lifecycle controller Dell Tech Center page.

More details on the product "Lifecycle controller" can be found at Dell Tech Center.

Authored by Bruce Wagner, Solutions Performance Analysis

As brought to attention by this blog, the 2U, two-socket PowerEdge R720 server delivers superior power efficiency over its direct competitor, the HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8.  Today I want to highlight the results of a comparable power efficiency study focused on the 1U two-socket form factor.

While Dell has published SPECpower_ssj2008 results across a range of systems in our 12th generation server lineup, results for any equivalent HP ProLiant Gen8 have yet to be published.  Given the lack of publicly available data, customers have been asking how Dell and HP compare in 1U rack energy efficiency.
The PowerEdge R620 and ProLiant DL360p Gen8 were configured to closely resemble each other with similar hard drives and RAID controllers, and the same Intel Xeon processors and memory DIMMs.

Our testing showed that the PowerEdge R620 has 19% better overall power efficiency than the ProLiant DL360p Gen8.  The DL360p Gen8 consumed significantly more power at idle, at full load, and at all load levels in between.  See the full whitepaper for the detailed test configuration, methodology and findings.

The 70% load level is an important utilization level to customers, as it allows datacenters to preserve sufficient capacity for absorbing spikes in demand; at that level, the DL360p Gen8 drew 50 watts more than the R620:

In even a small to medium-sized datacenter, 50 watts per server adds up over time in total cost of ownership (power and cooling costs). It’s clear that the PowerEdge R620 has significant performance/watt advantages versus the HP ProLiant DL360p Gen8, which is a direct result of Dell’s investment in R&D around energy efficiency.

Required SPEC disclosure information: PowerEdge R620 scores: (1,417,8309 ssj_ops and 301 W) @ 100% target load and 4104 overall ssj_ops/watt vs. ProLiant DL360p Gen8: (1,391,672 ssj_ops and 305W) @ 100% and 3440 overall ssj_ops/watt.  Comparison based on results by Dell Labs Sept 2012.  SPEC® and the benchmark name SPECpower_ssj® are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation.  For more information about SPECpower, see www.spec.org/power_ssj2008/.

Server crashed? Replaced your motherboard? Looking for an easy solution to restore your system configuration and settings?

Here it is, PowerEdge Servers have a solution through which user can restore the system to previous working state without much of a hassle. LC is a bare-metal solution which can backup, export and restore the system configuration with just minimal effort. This feature provides the ability to backup the systems device firmware and configurations and store it into a vFlash SD card, USB or network share (CIFS/NFS).

There are two interfaces for performing these operations:

1) Lifecycle Controller (LC)/Unified Server Configurator (USC) – A pre-OS 1x1 GUI application which can be launched by pressing F10 during system boot.

2) Remote Enablement – Command line interface which uses WS-MAN web services.  This interface allows user to schedule backup, export and import (restore).

Before using this feature, ensure the following:

1) Collect System Inventory on Restart is enabled

2) vFlash SD card with write protect disabled

3) USB or Network Share (CIFS/NFS)

The backup image contains all in-system components firmware (BIOS, iDRAC, NIC, RAID and PSU) and their complete configuration settings.

Note : As far as the storage controller is concerned, the backup image will only contain the storage controller firmware and its configuration settings. The operating system data will not be part of the backup image.

Additionally, there is also an option available to user to do a secure backup image having sensitive data using a passphrase. The user can encrypt the backup image with an encryption key. The same passphrase should be provided during restore operation otherwise user cannot proceed with restore operation.

Minimum system requirements for using this feature:

• 11^th Generation Servers - iDRAC6 Enterprise card, Lifecycle controller 1.5 or higher, Supported Dell SD card with minimum 384 MB of free space, Network Share (CIFS/NFS) or USB key
• 12^th Generation Servers - iDRAC7 Enterprise License, Lifecycle Controller2 1.0 or higher, Dell or non-Dell SD card with minimum 384 MB of free space, Network share (CIFS/NFS) or USB key

Learn more about Lifecycle Controller and iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller.

Learn more about iDRAC6 and iDRAC7 for its complete features set.

Read the following white papers which provide more technical information on Export and Import Server Profile feature:

• Server Profile Import and Export
• Lifecycle Controller Backup and Restore in Dell PowerEdge 12th Generation Servers

Today Dell announced Active Infrastructure -- a family of converged infrastructure offerings that combines servers, storage, networking and infrastructure management into an integrated and optimized system that provides general purposed virtualized resource. This system blends intuitive infrastructure management, an open architecture, flexible delivery models and a unified support model to allow IT to rapidly respond to dynamic business needs, maximize efficiency and strengthen service quality. This family encompasses our existing Dell vStart offerings, as well as Active System, a new converged infrastructure system.

Active System features Dell innovations including unified management, converged LAN/SAN fabrics and bladed form factors for the ultimate converged infrastructure system that can be easily deployed and operated in a unified manner. The first pre-integrated offering from Active System is the Active System 800. In addition to Active System Manager for intuitive infrastructure management, and PowerEdge I/O Aggregator for simplified networking and a converged fabric (DCB over iSCSI), Active System 800 incorporates EqualLogic PS-6110 storage showcasing fluid data, PowerEdge M620 blade servers for modular compute, all inside the most power efficient blade chassis on the market today, the M1000e. It provides an ideal foundation for private cloud, and comes complete with turnkey integration services and unified single-number support.

Key to Active System is Active System Manager, an intelligent and intuitive converged infrastructure manager. Through the use of templates, Dell Active System Manager drives centralized infrastructure requirements capturing, automated configuration of infrastructure elements, and infrastructure lifecycle management spanning discovery, inventory, deployment and on-going management of the underlying infrastructure. To support scale and rapid recovery from hardware failures, Active System Manager enables IT to quickly migrate workloads to new or re-purposed infrastructure.

Converged infrastructure is not new to the industry or Tech Center. We are expanding the conversation on this topic and offering our customers more intuitive, flexible and comprehensive solutions. To get more acquainted with Dell's next generation converged infrastructure, check out the following Tech Center resources and links:

• Active Infrastructure wiki - featuring whiteboarding videos on Active System, Active System Manager and the I/O Aggregator.
• Dell vStart wiki

Also, if you have questions, be sure to post in the Converged Infrastructure forum. Or if you're in Twitter, follow us on @DellConverged for continued updates.

We'll be having a TechChat on Tues., Oct. 23 on "LAN and SAN network convergence using the PowerEdge M I/0 Aggregator." Check out the video below to get a preview, and bring any questions to the chat on Tuesday with our experts.

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Today Canonical released Ubuntu Server 12.10, a.k.a. Quantal Quetzal. Some of the new features in Ubuntu 12.10 include a rebase to the 3.5.5 kernel, inclusion of the latest OpenStack release (“Folsom”) and support for UEFI Secure Boot. For details on all features, please refer to the Release Notes from Canonical.

For the official announcement, go here.

New features and fixes for Dell servers

Ubuntu Server 12.10 introduces several features and fixes for Dell PowerEdge servers:

• Biosdevname is enabled by default: Now you can take advantage of the new naming scheme for network controllers.
• UEFI booting on PowerEdge 12G servers: As reported in this blog, this blog and this blog, there was an issue when booting 12G servers in UEFI mode. This issue has been resolved with a patch to the grub2 package.
• acpi_pad, sb_edac, i7core_edac and mei modules: We reported in this blog and this blog about existing issues with these kernel modules in Ubuntu 12.04. These bugs have been fixed in Ubuntu 12.10.

OpenManage support

The Dell Linux Engineering team has released a build of OpenManage 7.1 for Ubuntu. Please note that this build is not officially supported by Dell, however it was thoroughly tested with Ubuntu 12.04 without issues.

Where to get support

Ubuntu Server 12.10 is not factory-installed or officially supported by Dell. However, OS support contracts are available from your Dell sales representative or from Canonical through the Ubuntu Advantage program.

For questions and general discussion, you can write to our mailing list Linux-PowerEdge where Dell Linux engineers, support teams and thousands of customers discuss Linux issues on PowerEdge servers. We welcome your participation and feedback.

So Say SMEs in Virtualization & Cloud

In Episode 43, Kong Yang and Todd Muirhead talk about Dell World 2012. We welcome your thoughts and feedback. 

Please click below to view the video.

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Hello EQL Family,

The proliferation of 10Gb Ethernet (10GbE) deployments have extended
the reach, of 10GbE ports,  outside of the data center and into the
entire infrastructure. 

With the increase in the number 10GbE ports continuing to grow,
it’s time we talk about the Physical Layer ( PHY ) Standards that are
governing these connections.

We will discuss the 10GbE standards in a three part series.

• Part 1 - PHYSICAL LAYER (PHY) STANDARDS FOR 10Gb ETHERNET
• Part 2 – OPTICAL FIBER AND COPPER OPTIONS
• Part 3 – BEST PRACTICES FOR EQUALLOGIC IMPLEMENTATIONS             

In the series we touch on the following topics:

1. What are the PHY Standards?
2. What are the PHY Modules and what are some considerations
   when choosing a type of PHY Module?
3. What are the interfaces used to connect the PHY Modules ?
4. What types of cabling is used with the PHY Standards?
5. What are the PHYs that we support on our PS Series Arrays
   and within our SAN infrastructure?
6. What are best practices and some things to be aware of in
   mixed vendor solutions?

See Part 1 of the series at the link below:

PHYSICAL LAYER (PHY) STANDARDS FOR 10Gb ETHERNET – PART 1

In conclusion, Ethernet links have expanded the reach and speed to cover
a variety of applications, distances, and bandwidth requirements.

As the standards continue to evolve, the price of 10GbE ports continue to
decrease, and the number of 10GbE ports continue to grow, there will be a
need to understand the underlying physical standards and how they
relate to your solution.

Start Part 1 of the series by clicking the link below:

PHYSICAL LAYER (PHY) STANDARDS FOR 10Gb ETHERNET – PART 1

Until Next Time,

Twitter:    @GuyAtDell
Email:      guy_westbrook@dell.com
Chatter:  @ EQL Tech Enablement

Guy

P.S. Our four most popular reference documents are listed below.
Click the links below for access :

         EqualLogic Compatibility Matrix ( ECM )
         EqualLogic Configuration Guide ( ECG)
         Rapid EqualLogic Configuration Portal ( RED )
        SAN Switch Reference Architectures ( SwRA )

Last week, Dublin held its third Web Summit conference on web and cloud technology. The conference has grown from 1200 to 4000+ attendees. The sessions included some substantial speakers including:

• Paul Sciarra, Pinterest
• Mitchell Baker, Mozilla
• Ryan Holmes, HootSuite
• Marten Mickos, Eucalyptus
• Dan Levin, Box
• J.P Rangaswami, Salesforce

The Cloud Summit schedule is available along with all the videos of those sessions. Plenty of great information in these sessions for those of you looking for more information on cloud with a focus on Europe.