RACADM vs WSMAN

What is RACADM? The RACADM command-line utility provides a scriptable interface that allows you to locally or remotely configure your Remote Access Controller (iDRAC). The utility runs on the management station and the managed system. There are 3 flavors of this tool: Firmware RACADM (via SSH or Telnet sessions) Local RACADM (Inband on Host OS via IPMI) Remote RACADM (Out-of-band over HTTPS) Available for Dell PowerEdge servers only RACADM User Guide provides details on installation and functionalities provided by RACADM Enterprise Product Group

When do you use RACADM? RACADM provides a scriptable interface; It can be easily scripted using scripting languages like Python, Bash, Perl etc Local RACADM supported by DTK (Dell Tool Kit) can be used in a pre-OS environment for in-band configuration of iDRAC. This does not a require network connectivity. Local RACADM can be used on the managed system to configure the iDRAC in OS environment as well; This does not require network connectivity RACADM queries and responses are plain text based and can be parsed easily; No need for XML parsers, SOAP-based parsers which may be required for WSMAN. RACADM is simpler to learn and use because of the rich online help Enterprise Product Group

RACADM architecture Enterprise Product Group

RACADM use case example BIOS & NIC Configuration using RACADM Enterprise Product Group

What is WSMAN Web Services for Management (WSMAN) is a DMTF standard for out-of-band systems management A Web service is a software application identified by a URI, whose interfaces and binding are capable of being defined, described and discovered by XML artifacts and supports direct interactions with other software applications using XML based messages via internet-based protocols. Enterprise Product Group

WSMAN Architecture Enterprise Product Group

When do you need WSMAN? WSMAN provides a rich programmatic interface for configuration, update, monitoring etc When you want to build a .NET application or a Java application or a mobile application for remote server management When you want to use Open source tools and 3rd party tools for remote server management – WinRM (Windows), OpenWSMAN CLI (Linux), WBEMCLI When you want to use the event notification feature provided by WS-MAN (WS-Eventing) instead of SNMP When you are already using WSMAN to manage devices other than Dell PowerEdge servers and you want to leverage the WSMAN support on Dell Servers When you want to use the security provided by WSMAN (HTTPS) WSMAN data is defined by a standardized CIM Schema; The CIM information is available in machine-readable format (MOF) and can be loaded to a console which understands this format WSMAN requests and responses are SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). A console that already understands this format can easily leverage WSMAN Enterprise Product Group

WSMAN use case example Web services Interface guide for Windows / Linux Enterprise Product Group

RACADM vs WSMAN use cases Comments Scripting Supported Parsing easier with RACADM responses because of plain-text data; WSMAN responses are in SOAP-XML format Programmatic interface Not supported Application development possible with rich programmatic interface 3rd party support Many 3rd party tools are available for WSMAN usage Ex: WINRM Event notification WS-Eventing can be used for event subscription and notification Security HTTPS authentication is used for both Standardization WSMAN is a DMTF standard whereas RACADM is a Dell proprietary tool Online Help Online help for RACADM commands is available online by typing racadm help. In-band usage RACADM can be used inband. Firmware racadm can be used by connecting via SSH/Telnet Enterprise Product Group

Questions Enterprise Product Group

References WSMAN Reference RACADM Reference www.delltechcenter.com/LC www.delltechcenter.com/idrac

Backup Slide RACADM commands currently that do not have a WSMAN equivalent – arp, clearasrscreen, closessn, clrraclog, clrsel, coredump, coredumpdelete, getled, getssninfo, gettracelog, help, ifconfig, krbkeytabupload, localconredirenable, netstat, ping, ping6, racdump, racresetcfg, remoteimage, setassettag, setchassisname, setflexaddress, setled, sshpkauth, sslcertdownload, sslcertupload, sslcertview, sslcsrgen, sslresetcfg, testfeature, traceroute, traceroute6, vmdisconnect