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Dell Management ConsoleConfigurat ion and Optimization

Guide 1.1

By Nilesh Bagad, Gabe Stern, Rob Cox, Ross BurnsDell Product Group - Enterprise

Del l Tec hnic al Whi t e Paper

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Revision History

Version Date Description Author(s)

1.0 19 March 2009 First Version Nilesh Bagad

Ross Burns

Rob CoxGabe Stern

1.1 16 March 2010 Updated the document

for changes in DMC1.1

Nilesh Bagad

Rajaneesh Shre

THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS ANDTECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANYKIND.

Dell, the DELL logo, PowerEdge, PowerVault, and Dell EqualLogicare trademarks of Dell, Inc.; Microsoftis a registered trademarkof Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. EMC, CLARiiON, and UltraFlex are trademarks or registeredtrademarks of EMC Corporation.

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Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names ortheir products. Dell disclaims proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.

2009 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Dell, Inc. isstrictly forbidden. For more information, contact Dell.

ContentsOverview ................................................................................................................................................... 4

System Requirement Guide ...................................................................................................................... 4

Small (

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OverviewThis document is intended to give general hardware recommendations for deploying Dell Management

Console (DMC). The information is derived from actual testing performed at Dell and Symantec.

There are several factors to consider when deploying DMC, which in turn affects decisions for Hardware

and SQL Server configuration:

The number of managed devices

The choice of the SQL Server version and whether or not the SQL Server will be on the same system

as the Notification Server.

The suites and solutions included in the deployment as well as the tasks, policies, inventory, history,

and so on, that are enabled.

This document does not account for all combinations of these criteria.

Testing has been performed using Dell Management Console with out-of- box policies. The information

and recommendations in this document are given as-is with no warranty implied or given. However, as

similar tests are performed with future DMC releases, an update to this document may made available.

System Requirement Guide

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CPU Speed 2.4 GHz

Memory 8 GB, DDR2

Cache 8 MB L2

Network Gigabit

Disk 10 GB free. 10,000 RPM

SQL SQL Server 2005 off the system.Operating System Windows 2003 32 bit

SQL Hardware Recommendation

CPU 4 Cores

CPU Speed 2.4 GHz

Memory 8 GB, DDR2

Cache 8 MB L2

Network Gigabit

Disk 10,000 RPM

SQL SQL Server 2005/2008 on box.

Basic SQL performance guidance is included on a separate page.

See Microsoft KB for optimal SQL configuration.

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DMC Solution Settings

Discovery-Inventory Settings

The following discovery and inventory settings can be changed to tune the performance of discovery

and inventory task.

Setting Default Definition Impact on performance

Threads 40 The number ofthreads used todiscover devicessimultaneously.

Increasing number of threadsmay improve throughput for anenvironment with more than 500managed nodes.

You can change the setting by clicking SettingsAll SettingsDiscovery and InventoryNetwork

Discovery Settings as shown in Fig 1.0

Fig 1.0 Network Discovery Settings

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Monitor Settings

You can change the following Monitor solution settings to tune the performance of Monitor solution.

Setting Default Definition Impact on performance

1. Threads 20 The number ofthreads used toretrieve health datasimultaneously.

Increasing number of statusthreads is useful in anenvironment with 1000managed devices. For higherconfigurations, this may notchange the performance.

2. Initialization interval 10 ms The delay for themonitoring serviceto initialize itsmetrics.

Reducing the value of thissetting will improve throughputfor configurations with morethan 100 managed devices.For smaller configurations, thismay not change thethroughput. Note that the

monitoring service will be re-initialized after a discoverytask completes (in addition tostartup of the service).

3. Session Refresh 60 min The intervalbetween therefreshing of remotedevice connections.

Increasing this value above360 min improvesperformance for environmentswith more than 1000 manageddevices.Note: If you increase thisvalue, you may not see achange in health status of adevice for that much timewhen you use non-SNMPprotocols for monitoring thedevice health.

4. Failed Connectionretry

10 min Monitor delay timewhen a connectionfails

Do not change the default.

5. Busy ConnectionRetry

1 sec Monitor delay timewhen a connectionis busy

Do not change the default.

6. Metric Poll Interval 60 min Monitor interval timebetween metricqueries

Reducing this value along withincreasing the session refreshtime (#3 above) may improvethe performance.This will result in higher

resource utilization andnetwork traffic.See fig 2.0 to find where youcan set this value in the UI.

You can change the settings in the table above by clicking SettingsAll SettingsMonitoring and

AlertingMonitorRemote Monitoring Server Settings as shown in Fig 2.0.

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Fig 2.0 Monitor Performance Tuning

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You can set the Metric Poll Interval by clicking Monitoring and AlertingMonitor Policies

Monitor PoliciesMetric Library

Fig 3.0 Metric Poll Interval Setting

Table of recommendations for SNMPIf you're planning on monitoring the health, power consumption or performance of your devices at aregular user configurable interval, it is recommended that you change the settings as specified below forbetter performance

Parameter

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Table of recommendations for Other Protocols

Parameter

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These memory settings allow Dell Management Console sufficient memory to function without getting

into heavy memory usage situations with excessive swap file utilization.

For more information, see MicrosoftKB 321363,KB 319942,altiris KB 34345andaltiris KB 38917

LargeSQL is off the system and ensure that AWE is enabled.

TCP Port SettingThe default maximum number of ephemeral TCP ports in windows 2003 is 5000. In order to monitor

devices using DMC, it is necessary that this number is increased as recommend by Micorosft KB196271 (

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/196271).

During the DMC install, user is given an option to change these settings as shown in Fig 5. Please select

Yes in order to change these settings. The new settings will take place after the next reboot.

Fig 4.0 TCP Port Settings

Fig 5.0 Reboot required

Disable the Publisher Evidence GenerationWhen the Microsoft .NET Framework loads signed managed assemblies, a CryptoAPI function is called to

verify the Authenticode signature and generate publisher evidence. The CryptoAPI function checks a

Certificate revocation List (CRL) available at http://crl.microsoft.com. Delays and timeouts occur if the

internet connection is blocked or crl.microsoft.com cannot be resolved.

During the DMC Install, on Install readiness check screen as shown on fig 6.0, please click the "Disable

publisher evidence generation" link which will open the dialogbox for changing these settings. Select

Yes to disable the publisher evidence generation as shown in Fig 7.0.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321363http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321363http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321363http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319942http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319942http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319942https://kb.altiris.com/display/1/kb/articleContent.asp?aid=34345&n=2&s=&link=https://kb.altiris.com/display/1/kb/articleContent.asp?aid=34345&n=2&s=&link=https://kb.altiris.com/display/1/kb/articleContent.asp?aid=34345&n=2&s=&link=https://kb.altiris.com/display/1/kb/articleContent.asp?aid=38917&n=2&s=&link=https://kb.altiris.com/display/1/kb/articleContent.asp?aid=38917&n=2&s=&link=https://kb.altiris.com/display/1/kb/articleContent.asp?aid=38917&n=2&s=&link=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/196271http://support.microsoft.com/kb/196271http://support.microsoft.com/kb/196271https://kb.altiris.com/display/1/kb/articleContent.asp?aid=38917&n=2&s=&link=https://kb.altiris.com/display/1/kb/articleContent.asp?aid=34345&n=2&s=&link=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319942http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321363

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Fig 6.0 Install Readiness Check

Fig 7.0 Disable Publisher Evidence Generation