How do I install Dell OpenManage Server Administrator on a VMware ESXI server?

Question

Accepted Answer

Dell EMC’s OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) application is a free tool which Dell provide, enabling Dell PowerEdge users to have greater control over their server remotely. OMSA is downloadable through Dell’s support website and is compatible with most Operating Systems and with most PowerEdge chassis. OMSA compatibility is based on the Dell PowerEdge server’s generation and the version of ESXI installed onto the server. See below what generation of Dell PowerEdge servers Vs. what Operating System OMSA supports.

Compatibility with OS	Compatible with Dell PE 11th Gen (R_10)	Compatible with Dell PE 12th Gen (R_20)	Compatible with Dell PE 13th Gen (R_30)
ESXI 5.0	Yes	Not Supported	Not Supported
ESXI 5.1	Yes	Yes	Not Supported
ESXI 5.5	Yes	Yes	Yes
ESXI 6.0	Not Supported	Yes	Yes
ESXI 6.5	Not Supported	Yes	Yes

Please note that OpenManage Server Administrator is a free piece of software supplied by Dell EMC. As such iomart (and any company within the iomart group; including RapidSwitch and Redstation) are not responsible for this software, nor are they responsible for any effects downloading, installing or using this software may have on your platform. We can only advise you to use OMSA and provide you with advice on how to do so; the choice to download, install and use the software must be your own. Also, as a managed infrastructure provider, we do not officially support OMSA; as such we will not be able to install, use or configure this software.

The Dell OMSA product is downloaded through Dell’s website, on their Product Support – Drivers & Downloads page, found here:

Dell Product Support - Drivers & Downloads

First, open up this webpage on your home/work computer’s web-browser. We will be downloading the OMSA installation file onto your home/work computer and then remotely uploading it onto your server from there.

Once you are on the Drivers & Downloads page, you need to select the model of you server. To find the model of your server, while on the MyServers control panel, press the My Servers button.

Then click on the name of the server you wish to install OMSA onto.

On this page, under Service Description, you will be able to see the make and model of this server. In my example below, you can see that the server is a Dell PowerEdge R230.

Now you know the model of your device, you can enter the model into the Dell website, by typing the chassis’ model in the search bar and then pressing the green arrow. Please type in the chassis model in the same format as shown in the image below (PowerEdge R---).

You should now be presented with the chassis’ Drivers & Downloads page. If you are presented with a list of search results, however, please look through the results and click on your chassis model. Once you are on the Drives & Downloads page, you should now enter the Operating System which is installed on the server. Do this in the Operating System drop-down box.

Now in the Keyword search box enter ‘OMSA’ and select Systems Management in the Category drop-down box.

Now find the Dell EMC OpenManage Server Administrator Managed Installation Bundle (VIB) and click on its download button. The software installer file will now download onto your home/work computer.

Once the download has finished, you should rename the zip file to OMSA. This will make it easier to install.

Once the installation file has been downloaded onto your home/work computer, you can now upload the installation file onto the server’s Operating System, into the Host’s datastore. Different version of VMware ESXI have slightly different processes for uploading content remotely; but the principle is the same. The process I use below, to demonstrate how to do this, uses ESXI 6.5 as an example. If you have a different version of VMware ESXI installed on your server, the process is very similar to the one outlined below, but you can also use content available on the internet to aid you in uploading the OMSA installer file to the host’s datastore.

To upload the installer bundle onto your server’s operating system, first remotely access and log into your server, using the same computer you downloaded the installation bundle onto. Next, you need to locate the Host’s datastore. To do this in ESXI 6.5, first make sure Host is selected, then select Storage, and then click on the datastore you wish to have the file uploaded to.

Please take a note of the datastore’s name; as you will need this for a later step. In my example, it is datastore1.

Now you are on the datastore you wish to upload the installation bundle onto, select Datastore browser.

You can now click Upload.

You now need to select the OMSA installation bundle to upload it.

The installation bundle should now appear in the datastore. You can now press close, to close the datastore browser.

Now the file has been uploaded to the server, the next step is to enable SSH for this server (if you haven’t previously enabled SSH). To do this in ESXI 6.5, return to Host, select Actions, select Services and then select Enable Secure Shell (SSH).

Once you have clicked Enable, you should be returned to the host’s home screen and be presented with the message ‘SSH is enabled on this host. You should disable SSH unless it is necessary for administrative purposes’.

You now need to SSH into your server’s host root account, using Putty (or any SSH client tool). Once you are logged in, you now need to install the VIB with the following command:

Command 1
Command Description	Issue the following command to install the OMSA software.
Command	esxcli software vib install -d /vmfs/volume/[Insert datastore name]/[Insert filename].zip (You should have taken a note of the datastore name in an earlier step; and you should have set the filename to OMSA)
Image of Command being Run	(In my example, the datastore name is datastore1 and the filename is OMSA)
Image of a Successful Result of Command

To complete the installation, you now need to reboot the host. To do this in VMware ESXI, you can exit the SSH shell, return to the GUI interface, and while on the Host’s homepage click Reboot.

If you are not in Maintenance mode, you may be presented with an error. If you are happy for the server to be restarted, press Reboot.

If you normally have SSH disabled on your server, you may wish to disable SSH, as this will improve your server’s security.

The server’s operating system should now reboot and you should be presented with the OS’s login screen. Once the host has rebooted, the installation of OMSA onto your server is now complete.

If you have any more questions about OMSA, please look through our FAQ. If you FAQ page does not have the answer, please feel free to raise a ticket and we will be happy to help.