======================================================================= DELL SYSTEM E-SUPPORT TOOL 2.1.0 for Linux ======================================================================= This document contains the latest update information for Dell System E-Support Tool (DSET). ======================================================================= WHAT IS NEW IN THIS RELEASE ======================================================================= * Added support for PowerEdge R415, R515, M610x Servers * Added support for CloudEdge C1100, C6100, C6105, C6100(MLK), C1100(MLK) * Added support for Broadcom NICs : Dual Port 57711 10GbE, Quad Port 5709, Dual Port 5709 * Added support for Intel NICs : 10GbE/DCE mezzanine, Quad Port 1GbE, Dual Port 10 GbE * Collection of USC firmware, Diags and OS Driver Pack versions * Addition of Express Service Code attribute in Summary page * Addition of OS install date attribute in Linux OS page * Truncated logs to maintain manageable report file size (unless --advanced option used) * Added various items to Power Monitoring page * Reports will always be in ZIP compressed format and no longer TGZ (VMware) ======================================================================= RECOMMENDED HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS ======================================================================= DSET System Information Reporting --------------------------------- The following minimum requirements are needed for DSET to collect a System Information Report using its command-line interface (CLI) utilities: * The following Dell PowerEdge(TM) systems are supported from the existing list: 800, 830, 840, 850, 860, 1800, 1850, 1855, 2800, 2850, 6800, 6850, 1900, 1950, 1955, 2900, 2950, 2970, 6950, NX1950, SC1420, SC1425, SC1430, SC1435, SC420, SC430, SC440, R805, R905, R900, T100, T105, T300, T605, R200, R300, M600, M605, M805, M905, R610, T610, R710, M610, M710, R410, T410, T310, R310, R210, T110, R510, R910, R810, R715, R815, R415, R515, M610x, M710HD and M910 (PowerEdge 7150, 7250 and 3250 Intel Itanium 64-bit systems are not supported) * Additionally in this release new platforms supported are: PowerEdge R415, R515, and M610x * The following Dell PowerVault(TM) systems are supported: 100T, 110T, 122T, 124T, 132T, 136T, ML6000, 200/210, 220S/221S, MD1000, RD1000 Internal SATA Drive, TL2000, TL4000, MD1120, and NF110 * For CloudEdge servers only System and Software information will be collected completely. Storage information will be partial. * Red Hat Enterprise Linux (AS, ES, WS) 4 for i386 and x86_64 * Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 for i386 and x86_64 * VMware ESX Server 4.0 Update 1 and ESX Server 4.1 (Service Console only) * SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10 x86_64 and SLES 11 x86_64 * FireFox 3.0 or newer, Internet Explorer 6.0 or newer (to view reports). * A minimum of 64 megabytes (MB) of random-access memory (RAM) * A minimum of 50 MB of free hard-disk space (includes temporary files). More disk space may be needed when using advanced features (see below). NOTE: DSET is not compatible with Dell OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) 5.5.1, 6.0.2 or 6.0.3 or any version older than 5.3.0 NOTE: DSET cannot run on VMWare ESXi (embedded) Note: DSET will not gather Dell-specific hardware and storage information if run within a virtual machine NOTE: DSET cannot collect storage information or logs if OMSA is installed yet optional Storage Services are not installed with OMSA NOTE: DSET cannot collect DRAC information or logs if OMSA is installed yet optional Remote Access Services are not installed with OMSA DSET web-based graphical user interface --------------------------------------- The following requirements are necessary for DSET to display System Information Reports in a web browser user interface contained within the compressed report file: * A system with an Intel(R) Pentium(R) processor running at a minimum of 800 megahertz (MHz) * Microsoft Windows Vista * Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or newer * Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or newer * A minimum of 128 megabytes (MB) of random-access memory (RAM) * A monitor with a minimum resolution of 800 x 600 * A minimum of 15 MB of free hard-disk space ======================================================================= OVERVIEW ======================================================================= Dell System E-Support Tool (DSET) provides the ability to collect hardware, storage and operating system information of a Dell PowerEdge or PowerVault server. This information is consolidated into a single "System Configuration Report" that can be useful for troubleshooting or inventory collection of a system. The browser user interface provides a convenient means to view specific data through hierarchical menu trees. DSET is intended to be a small, non-intrusive tool that does not require a reboot of the system to provide full functionality. DSET can collect information about Linux modules, services, network settings, etc. as well as system logs. DSET will also collect extended hardware information such as processors, memory, PCI cards, ESM log, BIOS/firmware versions and system health (fan/voltage levels) as well as storage configuration information(RAID controllers, hard drives). Usage Instructions ======================================================================= Run the DSET binary wizard to create a report, clear the ESM Hardware Log of a PowerEdge server, or to permanently install the DSET RPM package. ./delldset_v2.1.*.bin Note: Add the optional parameter "--install" to silently install the DSET application for repeat use. The default installation path is /opt/dell/dset. Once the Dell license is accepted, follow the binary wizard instructions to do any of the following: 1. Read DSET Release Notes First - Displays the contents you are reading now 2. Create a DSET Report Only - Loads DSET to create a standard system configuration report which is typically written to the current user's home directory 3. Clear ESM Hardware Log - Clears the log of any past hardware events. This also typically resets the PowerEdge amber warning light to blue 4. Install/Upgrade DSET Application - Permanently installs DSET for repeat use You must have "super-user" (su) privileges to create a report from a Linux shell using the command "dellsysteminfo" (Note: This command may not work if you have recently installed DSET but have not created a new shell inheriting a new Linux environment) DSET will provide status as it collects various hardware, storage and software information. DSET may prompt the user for optional customer information during the first report run. This information assists Dell Technical Support in handling technical issues. Once complete a single report file called "DSET Report of ' Tag- -'" will be copied to the current logged-in user's home directory. The report file is archived and compressed using Linux ZIP and is lightly encrypted with the password "dell" (all lowercase letters). The report contents can be viewed by uncompressing the DSET report file with any standard ZIP utility including WinZIP. The following are standard for Linux: unzip -d The various configuration data files that were collected are organized into a structure of folders. However, launch the web interface file "dsetreport.hta" with any current web browser (such as Mozilla, Internet Explorer 6.0 or newer). The DSET web interface categorizes data into a hierarchical tree for convenience. Note: The DSET web interface does not display all data collected from a system. Browse the report's folder structure under "/data" to view specific specialized data and log files. The PowerEdge ESM hardware log can also be cleared with the command "clearesm". Note: DSET must be run by a user logged in as root or a superuser (su). Note: Do not run DSET and Dell PowerEdge Diagnostics (Online Diagnostics) concurrently. To uninstall DSET: To uninstall DSET (if permanently installed) enter the following command rpm -e delldset NOTE: Due to any reason DSET report command time-out, change the "Timeout" value to a higher value in \bin\dset.cfg file and re-run DSET. Make sure this activity is done in the supervision of Dell Technical Support person. Advanced Features ======================================================================= DSET also contains advanced features only available from the DSET CLI (command-line interface) if the DSET application is permanently installed on the system. The DSET CLI has the following syntax: dellsysteminfo [options] Options: -f Specify an alternative path for the report file to be saved. Either add a "/" at the end of the absolute path or make sure the directory already exists to have DSET use the default detailed report filename. Otherwise optionally specify a filename --nohardware Skip gathering data for all components under the "System" main category --nostorage Skip gathering data for all components under the "Storage" main category --nosoftware Skip gathering data for all components under the "Software" main category --nologs Skip gathering various Linux and Dell product log files that are collected in the report but are not typically displayed in the report browser GUI --time Adds date and time to create a unique DSET archive filename if using Windows Scheduling features with the DSET CLI. This allows multiple report "snapshots" to be saved to a specified directory --silent Accepts default answer for any interactive prompts during report creation --advanced Collects advanced logs NOTE: Advanced Information is not collected by default and these log files may be quite large in size thus causing the DSET report file to be excessively large in size. You usually do not need to collect this information unless instructed by Dell Technical Support. ======================================================================= KNOWN ISSUES ======================================================================= * On VMware ESX DSET must be run in the VMware Service Console to see Dell hardware and storage and collect the proper configuration data. * Main Chassis information (BIOS, PCI, etc.) may be missing from a report. DSET must compile a kernel version-specific module to communicate with the Baseboard Management Controller during the creation of each report. Due to the vast variations in custom kernel configurations, this compile may fail and the data cannot be retrieved. * Dsetreport.hta should not be opened using KDE's built-in Konqueror browser. Use Mozilla or Firefox instead. * Entries concerning dcdbas "module tainting kernel" will appear in the system log. DSET must load modules to talk to hardware to collect info. The modules are not open-source so Linux displays this alert which can be safely ignored. * If an older version of OMSA is already installed on the system, DSET may not be able to collect certain hardware configuration features since it must utilize the older OMSA modules already loaded. * Emulex FC HBA information will not be gathered if Emulex HBAnyware tool is not installed prior to running DSET report collection. * Qlogic FC HBA information are not gathered on SLES10 distribution. * If kernel source is not installed on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 or 5 distribution, chassis data collection may fail due to failure in building the OpenIPMI driver for that kernel. * OMSA services that were started by DSET are not stopped at the end of report creation. * In some of the systems where /var/log/messages log files become very bulky, DSET times out with a traceback fault. * If some of the RPMs like gcc, curl, etc were not installed, DSET may not give report correctly. User is expected to install all the related rpms on the server for getting valid reports using OMSA. * DSET may not collect System and Storage information correctly if Dell PowerEdge Diagnostics (Online Diagnostics) is already installed on the system. * DSET may not show FC HBA information for 64 bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4/5, SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10/11 x64 distributions. * DSET may not create correct report file name if special characters are provided in the company name (297230). * Sometimes "dmesg" log page is broken with an XML error due to special characters logged in dmesg output (381774). * When OMSA(OpenManage Server Administrator) and DSET were already installed on the system, user tries to uninstall any of these applications, user can see a dependency error on libsysfs.so. This is an expected behavior. For clean uninstallation, user can use --nodeps option while uninstalling the DSET or OMSA rpms. * USC firmware, Diags and OS Driver pack versions will not be availble if OMSA 6.3 64-bit is already installed on the Linux system (420658) * Slots page may show some blade server mezannine slots as "unoccupied" when populated (284137) * Hardware Log does not sort contents correctly by Severity (292199) * DSET may not create ZIP report correctly if company name at install time does not contain basic ASCII characters (297230) * DSET may not show OS Install date attribute on the SUSE Linux (427074) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Information in this document is subject to change without notice. (C) 2010 Dell Incorporated. All rights reserved. Trademarks used in this text: "Dell" and "Dell OpenManage" are trademarks of Dell Incorporated; "Microsoft," "Windows," "Windows NT," and "MS-DOS" are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; "Intel" and "Pentium" are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. "Red Hat" is a registered trademark of Red Hat Inc. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Incorporated disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own. November 2010 Rev. 2.1.0