Introducing Dell OpenManage IT Assistant - · PDF fileDell™ OpenManage™ IT Assistant (ITA) 7 introduces features that can significantly enhance an organization’s capability to
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delete tasks, and schedule tasks for later execution.
Single sign-on capabilityTo enable a seamless login, ITA 7 also supports single
sign-on. This support means a user is not required to
log in again after already logging in to the OS. To enable
single sign-on support, administrators must navigate to
Tools>Internet Options in the menu bar of Microsoft
Internet Explorer. In the Internet Options pop-up window,
BY SUDHIR SHETTY
Introducing Dell OpenManageIT Assistant
Dell™ OpenManage™ IT Assistant (ITA) 7 introduces features that can significantly
enhance an organization’s capability to manage its systems from a centralized console.
For example, ITA 7 enables administrators to obtain detailed hardware and software
inventory information from a centralized database, run reports against that data, create
and run scheduled tasks for selected devices, and create dynamic groups of systems
based on inventoried hardware and software assets in the database.
Related Categories:
Change management
Dell OpenManage
Systems management
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The Dell OpenManage Version 4.3 Installation and Security User’s Guide is available at support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smsom/4.3/en/ug/index.htm.e
remote agents. For example, ITA 7 can report on data about stor-
age, cost of ownership, hardware inventory, and software inventory.
Reports can be executed and displayed as HTML, comma-separated
value (CSV), or XML. CSV reports can be imported into a third-party
tool such as Microsoft Excel to enable complex data charting and
graphing capabilities.
Software updates Dell OpenManage IT Assistant 7 enables administrators to view
the Dell Update Packages and System Update Sets that reside on
the Dell PowerEdge™ Updates CD, which is available as part of the
Dell OpenManage Subscription Service. A System Update Set is a
certified aggregate of Dell Update Packages that are specific to a
hardware platform. Dell Update Packages are also available on the
Dell support Web site at support.dell.com.
ITA 7 enables administrators to gather software inventory from
target devices, compare it with a Dell Update Package or System
Update Set, and report on devices that are not compliant with the
updates. In addition, ITA 7 can schedule a remote software update
for remote devices.
For example, a compliance report could be run against the
System Update Set for the Dell PowerEdge 2800 server. The report
might show two systems on the network that have an outdated
BIOS and outdated BMC firmware. The administrator could then
create a software update task that would run the System Update
Set to bring the two target systems into compliance.2
Troubleshooting Dell OpenManage IT Assistant includes a troubleshooting tool to
help diagnose common networking problems for remote devices.
Network administrators can use ITA 7 to run a set of test suites
to verify appropriate device connectivity (see Figure 5). This
enables network administrators to use SNMP or CIM to check
device communication capability, port connectivity on a specific
port, or Domain Name System (DNS) configuration. Trouble-
shooting tips are also provided to help administrators diagnose
and correct network connectivity issues within their specific
IT environments.
The ITA 7 services tier configuration tests help ensure that
administrators have set up the e-mail configuration correctly. E-mail
alerts are among the actions that can be configured for an incoming
alert from a remote device.
Enhanced systems management across the data centerDell OpenManage IT Assistant 7 introduces significant features
that are designed to enhance enterprise systems management.
ITA 7 provides a centralized console for viewing hardware and
software asset inventory, performing tasks, and running reports
on data gathered from remote target devices. Such capabilities can
help streamline systems management across the data center.
Sudhir Shetty works in the Dell Systems Management Consoles Group responsible for defining IT Assistant software functionality. He has an M.S. in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin.
2 For more information about compliance reports and the software update process, see “Software Change Management Using Dell OpenManage IT Assistant” by Sudhir Shetty, Steve Heracleous, and Rohit Sharma in Dell Power
Solutions, August 2005; www.dell.com/downloads/global/power/ps3q05-20050106-Sharma.pdf.
Figure 5. Results of the Port Connectivity and SNMP Connectivity tests run against aspecific target device
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Dell OpenManage:www.dell.com/openmanage
Figure 4. Application launch options for a single server device