Update – this post is slightly out of date – please see my updated Configuring Open Manage Server Administrator (OMSA) page.
As mentioned in a previous post, we have several Dell servers that have Open Manage Server Administrator (OMSA) setup and one of the features of this software is the ability to setup alerts whenever an issue is detected by the built in monitoring system. In the new version, 5.3, even more alerts have been enabled – mainly in the area of storage management. To edit this setup you typically go to the website hosting the Server Administrator, log in and then set up all the alerts. Each alert is setup individually and takes several mouse clicks. One to open up the alert, one to select the alert process’s, another to click apply and then another to click the Go Back to Alert Settings. This is really inefficient and obviously takes a very long time to set this up on multiple servers. The process described in the extended entry below describes how you can set this up, quickly and efficiently by importing the same settings to your servers each time they are set up. Little customization needs to be done on each server but full instructions are provided.
Note- this post is slightly out of date – please see my updated Configuring Open Manage Server Administrator (OMSA) page.
First, ensure that you are running the latest version of OMSA. At time of writing this is version 5.3. I recommend you download it as part of the Dell Systems Management: Dell DVD ISO as this DVD can also be used to install the latest firmware patches.
Secondly, it is highly recommended that a batch file (or exe file) is used to do the alerts. By passing parameters from the OMSA application this stub batch file can do all the alerting for you. In this document I recommend you create a batch file called dellalert.bat, stored in c:\jobs on the server that includes the following lines. Blat must be downloaded and installed as per the instructions in the file. You need to specify your smtp mail server and the email address that you wish your alerts to come from. This batch file creates a log file and sends alerts to an email address (the mail parameter) and optionally to a pager/sms/on call email address if the first parameter passed to the batch file is the letter p (in lower case).
The companyname is specified in the script file so that the email alert message contains the company name in the subject of the email – useful for distinguishing servers if you monitor several companies each with a server called server01!
@echo off
::Dell alert program
::Set variables below as appropriate
::needs blat downloaded (http://tinyurl.com/2qdxea) and setup to mail to the local server. Put blat.exe in the system path
::use “blat -install smtpservername [email protected]” to set this up
@echo on
setlocal
set log=c:\jobs\dell.txt
set [email protected]
set [email protected]
set company=Companyname
set server=%hostname%
date /t >%log%
time /t >>%log%
echo %* >>%log%
if {%1}=={p} blat %log% -to %pager% -subject “%company% %server% alert – %*”
if not {%1}=={} blat %log% -to %mail% -subject “%company% %server% alert – %*”
endlocal
The program works by creating a log file with the current date and time. The details passed in the OMSA screen are then fed into the log file. The log file is then sent via blat to the pager if the first parameter of the batch file is a lower case p. The log file is then also sent via email as long as there is a parameter passed. This is a failsafe trick to prevent an error if the batch file is double clicked by accident.
Thirdly OMSA needs to be configured to send alerts as required. You could use the web page, but we are trying to automate this. Check that OMSA is installed on the server and functioning correctly by typing “omconfig” at a dos prompt. As long as this returns a syntax statement, the next set of lines can be entered.
Note that these lines are suitable for *my* environment. You may wish to miss some of these lines out or edit them as you wish. The segment below includes all of the alertactions that are currently available in OMSA 5.3. I also do not use the Broadcast event or the message on the console as I do not want to panic the users and there is nobody at the console 99.9% of the time. However these options could be added by extra lines added to the group. The broadcast line would be similar to “omconfig system alertaction event=powersupply broadcast=true” – see the omconfig online manual for more details.
From a dos prompt, enter the following lines, edited as you see fit. If you do customize these lines I strongly recommend you save the settings to a batch file that can be run on all server setups – this will enforce consistency across your servers.
omconfig system alertaction event=batterywarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p battery probe warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=batteryfail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p battery probe failure”
omconfig system alertaction event=fanwarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert fan probe warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=fanfail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p fan probe failure”
omconfig system alertaction event=hardwarelogwarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert hardware log warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=hardwarelogfull execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p hardware log failure”
omconfig system alertaction event=intrusion execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert chassis intrusion detected”
omconfig system alertaction event=memprefail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p memory prefailure”
omconfig system alertaction event=memfail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p memory failure”
omconfig system alertaction event=systempowerwarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p system power warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=systempowerfail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p system power warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=powersupply execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p psu critical”
omconfig system alertaction event=powersupplywarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p psu warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=processorwarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p processor warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=processorfail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p processor failure”
omconfig system alertaction event=redundegrad execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p redundancy degraded”
omconfig system alertaction event=redunlost execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p redundancy lost”
omconfig system alertaction event=tempwarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p temp probe warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=tempfail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p temp probe failure”
omconfig system alertaction event=voltwarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert voltage probe warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=voltfail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p voltage probe failure”
omconfig system alertaction event=watchdogasr execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert Watchdog ASR”
omconfig system alertaction event=storagesyswarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p storage system warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=storagesysfail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p storage system failure”
omconfig system alertaction event=storagectrlwarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p storage controller warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=storagectrlfail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p storage controller failure”
omconfig system alertaction event=pdiskwarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p physical disk warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=pdiskfail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p physical disk failure”
omconfig system alertaction event=vdiskwarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p virtual disk warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=vdiskfail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p virtual disk failure”
omconfig system alertaction event=enclosurewarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p enclosure warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=enclosurefail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p enclosure failure”
omconfig system alertaction event=storagectrlbatterywarn execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p storage ctrl battery warning”
omconfig system alertaction event=storagectrlbatteryfail execappath=”c:\jobs\dellalert p storage ctrl battery failure”
Once this is complete, double check the OMSA Console. The Alert Management interface should show all the alerts with a tick in the Execute Application column as below.
Click on one of the names, such as Watchdog ASR to check that the batch command is correct as in the screenshot below
Hopefully this tutorial has made life easier and enables you to setup your Dell server in a consistent manner and quickly. Note that I am not responsible for any loss or damage that may result from you using this tutorial. I do not have time to support the setup of OMSA, if you have issues then contact Dell support however I will try to help on this blog post if at all possible.
