Dell OpenManage

This page will focus on Dell OpenManage on Linux only.

Installation

Install Dell's OpenManage programs from their repository available at http://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/. You can either manually install the packages or run their bootstraper script to install their repository.

## From http://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/DSU_16.12.00/
# wget -q -O - http://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/latest/bootstrap.cgi | bash 

## Install everything
# yum install srvadmin-\*

## Or -- just the CLI tools:
# yum install srvadmin-\*-cli

Once installed, the binaries can be found in /opt/dell/srvadmin/bin. You may want to append this path to your PATH variable.

# PATH=$PATH:/opt/dell/srvadmin/bin

You may also need to manually start some services such as the data engine service in order to query hardware information about storage systems by running /opt/dell/srvadmin/sbin/dsm_sa_datamgrd.

Usage

Open Manage Report Utility (omreport)

Run omreport -? for a list of available options on your system.

Storage System

To monitor your server's RAID array, run:

# omreport storage pdisk controller=0

Open Mange Configuration Utility (omconfig)

Creating a new vdisk

Suppose you need to create a new vdisk after inserting a new disk into an empty slot on your server. Use omconfig to set up the disk.

Find the disk using

# omreport storage pdisk controller=0 | grep -E '^(ID|Status|Capacity|Sector Size|Bus|Power|Media)'

If you're not sure what controller ID to use, you can find it by running omreport storage controller.

# omreport storage controller
 Controller  PERC 5/i Integrated(Embedded)

Controller
ID                                            : 0
Status                                        : Ok
Name                                          : PERC 5/i Integrated
Slot ID                                       : Embedded
State                                         : Ready
Firmware Version                              : 5.2.2-0072
Minimum Required Firmware Version             : Not Applicable
Driver Version                                : 06.810.09.00-rh1
Minimum Required Driver Version               : Not Applicable
Storport Driver Version                       : Not Applicable
Minimum Required Storport Driver Version      : Not Applicable
Number of Connectors                          : 2
Rebuild Rate                                  : 30%
BGI Rate                                      : 30%
Check Consistency Rate                        : 30%
Reconstruct Rate                              : 30%
Alarm State                                   : Not Applicable
Cluster Mode                                  : Not Applicable
SCSI Initiator ID                             : Not Applicable
Cache Memory Size                             : 256 MB
Patrol Read Mode                              : Auto
Patrol Read State                             : Stopped
Patrol Read Rate                              : 30%
Patrol Read Iterations                        : 48
Abort Check Consistency on Error              : Not Applicable
Allow Revertible Hot Spare and Replace Member : Not Applicable
Load Balance                                  : Not Applicable
Auto Replace Member on Predictive Failure     : Not Applicable
Redundant Path view                           : Not Applicable
CacheCade Capable                             : Not Applicable
Persistent Hot Spare                          : Not Applicable
Encryption Capable                            : Not Applicable
Encryption Key Present                        : Not Applicable
Encryption Mode                               : Not Applicable
Preserved Cache                               : Not Applicable
T10 Protection Information Capable            : No
Non-RAID HDD Disk Cache Policy                : Not Applicable

# omreport storage pdisk controller=0 | grep -E '^(ID|Status|Capacity|Sector Size|Bus|Power|Media)'
ID                              : 0:1:6
Status                          : Ready
Power Status                    : Not Applicable
Bus Protocol                    : SATA
Media                           : HDD
Capacity                        : 1,396.75 GB (1499748892672 bytes)
Sector Size                     : 512B

To create the vdisk using the disk above:

# omconfig storage controller controller=0 action=createvdisk raid=r0 size=max pdisk=0:1:6 writepolicy=fwb name=disk06
Command successful!

The different write policies are talked about in a section below.

Deleting a vdisk

To delete a vdisk, determine the vdisk ID using omreport

# omreport storage vdisk controller=0 | grep -E '^(ID|Name)'
ID                                : 0
Name                              : one
ID                                : 1
Name                              : two
ID                                : 2
Name                              : three
ID                                : 3
Name                              : four
ID                                : 4
Name                              : five
ID                                : 5
Name                              : six

To delete six:

# omconfig storage vdisk action=deletevdisk controller=0 vdisk=six

Wiping Foreign Configs

To wipe foreign configs on all drives attached to a controller:

# omreport storage pdisk controller=0
ID                              : 1:0:5
Status                          : Non-Critical
Name                            : Physical Disk 1:0:5
State                           : Foreign
...

# omconfig storage controller action=clearforeignconfig controller=0
Command successful!

If this still doesn't work, try wiping the drive manually by plugging it to a toaster or computer and then running:

## Wipe first 1MB
# dd bs=512 if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb count=2048
## Wipe last 1MB
# dd bs=512 if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb count=2048 seek=$((`blockdev --getsz /dev/sdb` - 2048))

If this *still* doesn't work, you might need to reboot the server. I had this exact issue and a reboot into the RAID BIOS screen shows the drive as 'OK' even though it was 'Foreign' according to OpenManage prior to the reboot.

Write Policy

You can change the disk's write policy using omconfig.

# omconfig storage vdisk action=changepolicy writepolicy=fwb controller=0 vdisk=0

Available options for writepolicy= are:

Policy	Description
wb	Write Back
wt	Write Through
wc	Write Cache
nwc	No Write Cache
fwb	Force Write Back (even with no battery)

See Also

• https://stuff.mit.edu/afs/athena/dept/cron/documentation/Manuals/dell-server-admin/en/Dosa/CLI/storage.htm
• http://cavepopo.hd.free.fr/wordpress/linux/how-to-create-a-raid-array-using-omconfig-omreport-cli/
• https://support.pivotal.io/hc/en-us/articles/201831218-Useful-omreport-commands-for-DCA-V1
• https://support.pivotal.io/hc/en-us/articles/202645493-Output-of-omreport-shows-Virtual-Disk-Bad-Blocks-Yes-