Dell PowerEdge C6105 User Manual Page 1

Best Practices for System Managementin the Hyperscale CloudMichael StumpfLead Solution EngineerDell’s PowerEdge C Server LineMODERATORCurt Schwaderer,

10Data Center SolutionsPXE Boot (boot from Network)• Uses DHCP to get IP address• MAC address is linked to a boot image• PXE pulls boot image with TFT

11Data Center SolutionsPXE Boot: Crowbar• Dell’s Crowbar implements this strategy today– http://github.com/dellcloudedge/crowbar/wiki• Bare metal to

12Data Center SolutionsConfigure the server (Provision)• PXE image (runs out of ramdisk)– Mounts NFS share, or uses ftp (ncftp is handy) to pull over

13Data Center SolutionsIPMI ToolsMany choices. Each has a different focus.• ipmitool – what I use & script. Easy to build. Good all-around.• fr

14Data Center SolutionsIPMI Cheat Sheet# Start IPMI service on a RHEL/CentOS-style server (usually installed, but not enabled)service ipmi start# Chec

15Data Center SolutionsIPMI Cheat Sheet, continued# See BMC LAN configurationipmitool lan print 1# Change the BMC LAN configuration (DHCP/static IP, n

16Data Center SolutionsIPMI Network ScanningRecipes to determine if an IP is a BMC:• ipmitool – slowest; ~20 seconds per IP• ipmiping – fast, ~2 secon

17Data Center SolutionsIPMI Network ScanningRecipes to determine if an IP is a BMC:• ipmitool – slowest; ~20 seconds per IP• ipmiping – fast, ~2 secon

18Data Center SolutionsBurn-inExplicit Stress/Validation Tools• CPU: cpuburn: http://freecode.com/projects/cpuburn• Memory: memtester: http://pyro

19Data Center SolutionsCommand Line ToolsSome people prefer GUIs…• Give me Unix-style, single purpose tools that return success/failure– Scriptable &

AgendaI. A quick tour of the viewer toolsII. IntroductionIII. PresentationIV. Questions and AnswersPartnered with OpenSystems Media

20Data Center SolutionsPowerEdge C tools: Inventory & StateDashboard & Full ViewDashboard Scripthttp://PowerEdgeC.com

21Data Center SolutionsCommand Line Tools: pdshpdsh (parallel distributed shell): http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdsh/Run a task (including fanout)

22Data Center SolutionsHealth MonitoringMonitoring need not be complicated. Two options:• Out-of-band– Very easy to setup– Completely agentless; OS a

23Data Center SolutionsBMC Health monitoringStrategy:- Issue this command- Look for non “ok” or “ns” status- Once per minute should be enoughhttp://Po

24Data Center SolutionsHealth Monitoring, ii (Bonus points)• Nagios provides a graphical console front-end• Bonus points if you – feed sensor data in

25Data Center SolutionsBest Practice: Tuning & Incremental Rollout• Build proof of concept rather than speculate– Theoretical knowledge only goes

26Data Center SolutionsBest Practices, continued• badblocks, 3 passes @ 100% clean saves a lot of trouble with drives (detect early mortality)• If it’

27Data Center SolutionsUpdating Mass Numbers of MachinesTwo Major Strategies: BMC or PXE• BMC (manage by IPMI)– Managed out-of-band, from a central p

Questions and AnswersSystem Management in the Hyperscale CloudAsk Dell’s Michael StumpfPartnered with OpenSystems Media

Thanks for joining us.More information on AMD’s cloud offerings can be found at www.AMD.com/cloudYou’ll find an archive of this event at:http://ecast.

Data Center SolutionsBest Practices for System Management in Hyperscale CloudsMichael StumpfSystem Management & Tools, PowerEdge-C

4Data Center SolutionsAgenda• Hyperscale cloud environments• Techniques• Command line tools• Health monitoring• Best practiceshttp://PowerEdgeC.com

5Data Center SolutionsCloud ComputingYes, it’s the latest industry trend…But this one isn’t all ponies and rainbows!So, what does “Cloud Computing” ac

6Data Center SolutionsCloud Computing Environments• Failures will occur– Plan for them– Minimize impact– Minimize total cost– Replace it; throw old on

7Data Center SolutionsBMC (Baseboard Management Controller)• BMC is really ideal for Cloud Computing– Cheap, bolt-on, auxiliary maintenance & moni

8Data Center SolutionsPowerEdge C6105 Server4 separate servers in 2UPower-efficient AMD Opteron 4000 processors4 separate BMCshttp://PowerEdgeC.com

9Data Center SolutionsFirst Goals: The “Get My Server Manageable” Plan• Get BMC on network – setup IP, or – collect MAC address and setup DHCP daemon