Server

Migrating to the Dell Management Console

IT Administrators Can Simplify Systems Management With Dell’s Powerful Tool

The complexity of systems management — overseeing disparate servers, storage, software and other devices — can burden administrators with the inefficiency and risk that come with using a suite of varying management tools.

The Dell™ Management Console (DMC) is designed to simplify these management tasks with a single, centralized console. Based on the Symantec™ Management Platform architecture and coupled with easy integration of a variety of plug-ins, the DMC can help:

  • Reduce operational costs
  • Simplify training
  • Increase the business value of a company’s IT infrastructure

Administrators can implement the DMC using either a clean install or an upgrade from an existing Altiris® Notification Server™ 6. Once upgraded, migration of settings from an existing installation of Dell OpenManage™ IT assistant — version 8.0 or newer — can help smooth the transition to the console.

Upgrades can either replace existing platforms on current hardware or be made in conjunction with a migration to new hardware, such as Dell 11th-Generation (11G) PowerEdge™ servers and Dell Precision™ workstations.

Both approaches have pros and cons:

  • Leveraging current hardware keeps costs low, but makes rolling back (if necessary) to a previous infrastructure challenging.
  • New hardware costs more upfront, but offers benefits in terms of performance and flexibility.

In either case, if you are performing an upgrade, install the core Symantec Management Platform first, through its installation wizard — Symantec Installation Manager (SIM). SIM then allows you to add the DMC as a plug-in and guides you through the rest of the migration process.

Once migration of existing schedule settings, discovery ranges and other information is complete, you will notice some differences in objects and terminology between the IT Assistant and the DMC. Examples include:

  • Include and exclude ranges from IT Assistant are combined in individual discovery tasks in the DMC
  • Protocols that were part of include ranges in IT Assistant are part of connection profiles in the DMC
  • Protocol credentials for include ranges in IT Assistant are stored as Credential Manager items in the DMC
  • The discovery schedule in IT Assistant is the network discovery task schedule in the DMC