This blog post was written by Matt Paul and Manoj Gujarathi
Last week at VMWorld 2013 in San Francisco, Dell announced the launch of OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter version 2.0. It is not a new product, but a new branding for our award winning product Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter. To align the product portfolio, we are bringing it into the OpenManage Systems Management products family.
OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter version 2.0 ushers in the 3rd year of shipping our integration with vCenter. This product is well matured and continues to excel in simplifying the experience of Enterprise Server Management. The key enhancement in version 2.0 brings in the integration with VMware vSphere web client. Its integration into web client provides customers seamless and embedded capabilities with vSphere web client. In addition, OpenManage Integration version 2.0 also continues to offer integration with VMware’s full vSphere client. For customers establishing plans to migrate to web client environment, it provides dual capabilities for Enterprise Server Management using both traditional and web clients.
(Please visit the site to view this video)
Along with vCenter web client integration and support for vSphere 5.5, OpenManage Integration version 2.0 brings out a slew of new capabilities and critical enablement for customers. It provides holistic cluster level data reporting including resource consumption, Dell PowerEdge server warranty retrieval and reporting through Dell cloud services. In addition, it supports cluster level Firmware update for the critical components like BIOS, RAID iDRAC, Lifecycle Controller and network cards. More important is, it offers scheduling capabilities, so that the customers can execute firmware updates at a pre-determined time. This product bridges the physical virtual gap by working with vCenter to ensure no downtime by putting hosts into and out of maintenance mode in an automated fashion.
Another key feature includes support for Fault Resilient Memory (FRM). It’s a Dell/VMware jointly developed feature available with vSphere 5.5 and ships Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers. FRM provides a protected memory zone for a hypervisor without consuming half of the total RAM like traditional memory mirroring techniques. OpenManage integration provides status of FRM-enabled systems in addition to a wide array of host, cluster, and data center details delivering a consolidated view of PowerEdge Server hardware resources.
Finally, with OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter 2.0, Dell will be offering simplified licensing, support for 10 vCenter servers and compatibility with VMware’s single sign-on environments. Licensing can now be attached to every server or purchased in groups of five. Licenses can also now be stacked to allow for easy upgrades and granular purchasing. SSO and ten vCenter server support enables a dynamic scale up environment.