Dell OpenManage is the open source, downloadable version of the enterprise level monitoring application from Dell. The tool is designed to help system administrators monitor and manage their systems more effectively, as well as provide insights into performance trends and identify potential problems before they grow into major issues.
This week we’ll explore how to get started using Dell OpenManage and examine some of the key features that make it beneficial to every system administrator, DevOps engineer, and cloud services user.
Key Features
Dell OpenManage is a hybrid monitoring tool that can integrate with all the major public cloud services, as well as on-premise software and hardware. It offers the following features:
- Real-time and historical system and application monitoring
- Intelligent analytics that surface actionable insights
- Actionable, multilayered alerts
- Unified administration and management via the web, mobile or desktop
- Self-service portal
- Open API for integrations and 3rd party tooling
- Single pane-of-glass security and compliance monitoring
- System and application health checks
- Custom dashboards
Real-Time And Historical System And Application Monitoring
One of the distinguishing features of Dell OpenManage is its real-time monitoring capabilities. As its name suggests, the tool provides a constantly updated display of the status and performance of your systems and applications, making it suitable for use as a central dashboard for managing large-scale deployments. System and application monitoring also takes place in the background without influencing normal system operation, ensuring that there are no false alarms.
Intelligent Analytics
Dell OpenManage includes several advanced features for deriving insights from large data sets. Its intelligent analytics capabilities surface the information required to make the right decisions and reduce unnecessary monitoring and maintenance tasks. For example, you can use the tool to gather system and application performance metrics, examine resource usage and patterns, and assess the health of your infrastructure.
Actionable, Multilayered Alerts
Dell OpenManage offers several ways to receive alerts when relevant system or application events occur. You can set up automated email alerts for specific conditions or use the webhooks feature to receive real-time notifications of events that take place within the software application. These alerts allow you to quickly identify problematic infrastructure or out-of-date software installations and take actions to correct them without needing to monitor performance trends over time.
Unified Administration And Management
One of the most significant advantages of Dell OpenManage is its unified, web-based management interface. This feature makes administering and managing your systems and applications much easier and more efficient. You can access all the tools and metrics that the application provides from a single place via a web browser – no matter whether you’re on-premise or in the cloud. The interface also provides a single point of contact for all activities, ensuring that everyone within your organization is always kept in the loop when it comes to system monitoring and maintenance.
Self-Service Portal
Dell OpenManage provides you with a dedicated self-service portal where you can access all the information you need to easily and efficiently monitor and manage your systems and applications. The portal is designed to make configuration easy and accessible for all users while providing advanced features for power users. You can use the portal to create and edit users, groups, and permissions, as well as set up automated tasks and schedules for system checks.
Open API For Integrations And 3rd Party Tooling
Dell OpenManage’s open API makes it easier to integrate with other applications and tools for centralized system and application monitoring. The API is designed to provide a standard interface for accessing all the data provided by the application, which can be integrated with other systems and tools for more comprehensive monitoring and automation tasks.
System And Application Health Checks
Dell OpenManage includes several built-in checks for assessing the health of your systems and applications. You can use the tool to test connectivity, disk space, processor loads, memory allocation, and more. Individual checks can be run quickly and independently, or in combination with other checks, providing you with a comprehensive view of the state of your overall computing environment. You can also use the checks feature to identify issues with specific software applications and alert you when those applications are out of date or not functioning correctly.
Custom Dashboards
Dell OpenManage has a built-in dashboard where you can view a summary of recent events, as well as dashboards for inspecting system and application metrics, including CPU utilization, network traffic, and more. These dashboards provide a snapshot of the system’s current state and allow you to examine performance trends over time. You can create different dashboards for different teams within your organization, making the information available to everyone who needs it while maintaining a clear view of all the relevant data for each team member.
Single Pane-Of-Glass Security And Compliance Monitoring
As part of its security and compliance features, Dell OpenManage provides real-time monitoring of user activity, including login attempts, log file integrity, and more. The tool can also monitor system and application activity, as well as API calls, for potential security risks and violations of acceptable use policies. Security and compliance checks can be configured to automatically scan and search log files for relevant information, alerting you when there are potential issues to address.
System And Application Performance Checks
Dell OpenManage provides several different performance checks for assessing the health of your systems and applications. You can use these checks to determine how efficiently your hardware is being utilized, how quickly applications are starting up, and more. The tool can examine the performance of individual systems and applications or groups of servers in a cluster. For example, you can create a check that verifies the responsiveness of an e-commerce website by accessing the URL frequently and measuring the time it takes for the web page to display. You can also set up performance-based thresholds for notification, such as CPU load above 75% or average page load time above three seconds – providing you with early warning of possible problems before they impact your organization’s operations.
How To Install And Use Dell OpenManage
Dell OpenManage is a fully open source project available for download from GitHub. To install the tool on-premise, you need to have root access and an HTTP server running on your network. Once the tool is downloaded, you can launch it using the following command:
sudo bash dellopenmanage.local.sh
This will launch the application and register the daemon for starting at boot. After the app has started, you can use the web-based management interface or CLI to monitor and manage your systems and applications.
If you’re using Docker, you can also use the app’s bundled Docker registry to quickly and easily set up a local test environment or development system. Simply run the following command to install Docker and its internal Docker registry:
sudo bash dellopenmanage.local.sh -install-docker
After the installation completes, launch Docker by running the following command:
sudo docker -v
You can then use the Docker registry to browse images stored in the cloud or on-premise.