Dell 2.3 manual Understanding Auto-Discovery, Auto-Discovery Prerequisites

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Understanding Auto-Discovery

Auto-Discovery is the process of adding a 11th, 12th, or 13th generation of Dell PowerEdge bare-metal server into a pool of available servers for use by the OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter. Once a server is discovered, use it for hypervisor and hardware deployment. This appendix provides sufficient information about Auto-Discovery to help you with system configuration. Auto-Discovery is a Lifecycle Controller feature for setting up a new server and registering it using a console. The advantages of using this capability include removing the need to do cumbersome manual local configuration of a new server and enabling an automated way for a console to discover a new server that was connected to the network and plugged into power.

Auto-Discovery is sometimes referred to as Discovery and Handshake after the process it performs. When a new server with the Auto-Discovery feature enabled is plugged in to AC power and connected to the network, the Dell server’s Lifecycle Controller attempts to discover a deployment console that was integrated with the Dell provisioning server. Auto-Discovery then initiates a handshake between the provisioning server and the Lifecycle Controller.

OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter is a deployment console with an integrated provisioning server. The location of the provisioning server is provided to the iDRAC using different methods. The IP address or host name for the provisioning server location is set to the IP address or host name of the OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter appliance virtual machine.

NOTE: A new server configured for Auto-Discovery attempts to resolve the location of the provisioning server every 90 seconds over a period of 24 hours, after which you can manually reinitiate Auto-Discovery.

When the Auto-Discovery request is received by the OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter for VMware vCenter, it validates the SSL certificate and then initiates any optionally configured security procedures, such as client side security certificates and validation against a white list. A second validation request from the new server returns temporary username/password credentials to be configured on the iDRAC. Subsequent calls are initiated by the OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter for VMware vCenter, which gathers information about the server, remove the temporary credentials, and configure more permanent user-defined credentials for administrative access

If Auto-Discovery was successful, the deployment credentials provided in the Settings → Deployment page at the time of discovery are created on the target iDRAC. Then the Auto-Discovery feature is turned off. The server should now appear in the pool of available bare-metal servers under Deployment in the OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter.

Auto-Discovery can be currently done through the vSphere Desktop client.

Auto-Discovery Prerequisites

Before attempting to discover 11th, 12th, or later generation Dell PowerEdge bare-metal servers, install the OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter. Only 11th generation Dell PowerEdge or later servers with iDRAC Express or iDRAC Enterprise can be discovered into the OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter’s pool of bare-metal servers. Network connectivity from the Dell bare-metal server’s iDRAC to the OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter virtual machine is required.

NOTE: Hosts with existing hypervisors should not be discovered into the OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter, instead, add the hypervisor to a connection profile, and then reconciled with the OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter using the Host Compliance Wizard

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