Installing Dell OMSA on a ESXi server allows you to see more detailed information regarding the Dell hardware. It also allows you to perform operations such as specifying hot spares and rebuilding RAID arrays. After you install OMSA on the ESXi server you can install the OMSA web-based GUI on another Windows PC or Server in order to access OMSA.

The steps below will get OMSA up and running on VMWare ESXi 5.5. Be sure to download the version of the OMSA Offline Installation Bundle that corresponds to your version of ESXi.

Download the OMSA Offline Bundle from the Dell Website.

• Dell OpenManageServer Administrator vSphere Installation Bundle for ESXi 5.5

Enable SSH on the ESXi Server

• Open and log-in to VMWare vShpere Client.
• Select the server node in the tree view on the left.
• Click the Configuration tab along the top.
• Click the Properties link to the right of Services.

• Select SSH in the list and click Options.
• Select “Start and stop with host”
• Under Service Commands click Start.
• Click OK.

Transfer the OMSA Offline Bundle to the Server

Since SSH is enabled the easiest way to transfer the file “OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-7.3.0-588_A00.VIB-ESX55i.zip” to the server is with a SFTP client. I typically use WinSCP on Windows, Transmit on a Mac, or the command line SCP client on Linux systems. I’ll show you how to use WinSCP below:

• Open WinSCP.
• Click New to create a new connection.
• Enter the host name of the ESXi server, user name and password. (User name is root by default).

• Click Login.
• If this is your first time connecting to this host you’ll see a warning screen about the server’s host key. You can click Yes to continue.
• Once connected you’ll see an explorer type view with your local files on the left and the server’s file system on the right.
• You want to navigate to the /tmp/ folder.

• Double click tmp to enter the directory.
• In the left pane browse to where you downloaded “OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-7.3.0-588_A00.VIB-ESX55i.zip”
• Once located, drag the file to the right pane. When the Copy dialog comes up click Copy.

Install the Offline Bundle

Its now time to install the bundle. To do this  you’ll need a SSH client. I use Putty on Windows and the command line SSH client on Mac and Linux. I’ll show you how to use Putty below.

• Open Putty.
• Enter the ESXi server host name and click Open.

• Again if this is your first time connecting to this host you’ll see a Putty Security Alert dialog box. Click Yes to continue.
• Enter the user name (root).
• Enter the password.
• At the command line type “esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-7.3.0-588_A00.VIB-ESX55i.zip“
• Make sure to match the file name of the file you actually downloaded since version numbers will change frequently. You can use tab-auto-complete to type in the first few letters such as OM- and then press tab to complete the file name.
• Press enter.

• Reboot the server to complete the installation. If you don’t have any running hosts you’ll be able to restart without being in maintenance mode. If you do have running hosts you’ll need to shut them down and then put the ESXi server into maintenance mode.

Installing OpenManage Server Administrator Managed Node

• Download the installer for Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Managed Node (Windows),v7.3 to a Windows PC.
• Run and install the application.
• The installer will complain about it not being installed on Dell software but you can proceed with the server installation only.
• Dell OMSA is web-based, relying on a Java back-end so when you double click the icon on your desktop it will open your default browser.
• Enter the ESXi host, user name and password. Check the box to Ingore certificate warnings.

• This should allow you to use OpenManage similarly to how you would on a bare-metal install of Windows Server on a Dell system.