Installing Dell OpenManage on ESXi

May 24, 2014 · 2 min read ·

Dell OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) provides detailed information about the hardware. Handy to find out details of the physical drives, memory sticks and if there’s any failed components.

If you log a support call with Dell, chances are they will ask for more details, and possibly a DSET report, and having OMSA already installed, makes life easier.

Dell also leaverage the features of OMSA with other management packages such as OpenManage Essentials and the vSphere plugin.

Make it part of any new installation, not just for ESXi, but any OS. Here I will focus on installing it with ESXi.

Dell have a 15 page white paper &#8220;<a href="http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20402167.aspx">Deploying Dell OpenManage Server Administrator on VMware ESXi Using Dell Online Depot and VMware Update Manager</a>&#8221; dated July 2013.</p> 

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  Installing OMSA Using VMware Update Manager
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  This is the easiest method if you have VUM available.

  From within Update Manager, add <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">http://vmwaredepot.dell.com/index.xml</span> as a download source. This will check for new versions of OMSA, and update them when required, just like the regular ESXi updates.



  You can also download a single OpenManage .vib file and import that to VUM.


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  <b>Final thoughts</b>
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This is one piece of software you think you can do without, but trust me, it’ll make you life easier when you need hardware information. If you have Dell servers, make sure OMSA is installed.