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Discovering and managing devices

You can discover and manage devices using Lenovo XClarity Orchestrator and assign management of those devices to a specific resource manager.

Before you begin

To perform this task, you must be a member of a user group to which the predefined Supervisor or Security Administrator role is assigned.

About this task

XClarity Orchestrator monitors and manages devices through resource managers. When you connect a resource manager, XClarity Orchestrator manages all devices that are managed by that resource manager.

You can also bring devices into management using XClarity Orchestrator. XClarity Orchestrator lists devices that were already discovered (but not managed) by the resource managers. When you manage discovered devices from XClarity Orchestrator, the devices are managed by resource manager that discovered it. When you manually discover and manage devices using IP addresses, hostnames, or subnets, you choose which resource manager you want to use to manage the devices. XClarity Management Hub can be used be used to manage ThinkEdge Client devices. XClarity Management Hub 2.0 can be used be used to manage ThinkServer devices. Lenovo XClarity Administrator can be used to manage servers, storage, switches, and chassis.

Note

  • If you attempt to manage a device through XClarity Management Hub 2.0 and that device is already managed through another XClarity Management Hub 2.0, XClarity Orchestrator removes the management user account and subscriptions from the device without the old management acknowledgement and then manages the device again through the new management hub. After this process, the device is still managed but offline from the old management hub, but the device no longer sends data to it. Be aware that you must manually unmanage the devices from the first management hub through the connected portal.

  • If you attempt to manage a device through XClarity Management Hub 2.0 and that device is already managed through another XClarity Administrator, XClarity Orchestrator removes the management user account, subscriptions, and LDAP and SSO information that is registered the XCC by XClarity Administrator from the device without the XClarity Administrator acknowledgement and then manages the device again through the new XClarity Management Hub 2.0. After this process, the device is still managed but offline from the XClarity Administrator hub, but the device no longer sends data to it. Be aware that you must manually unmanage the devices from the XClarity Administrator through the connected portal.

The following devices can be discovered automatically by resource managers using a service discovery protocol.
  • ThinkSystem and ThinkAgile servers and appliances
  • ThinkEdge SE servers
  • Flex System chassis, and ThinkSystem and Flex System devices in a Flex System chassis
  • ThinkServer rack and tower servers
  • System x, Converged HX, and NeXtScale servers and appliances
  • Storage devices
The following devices cannot be discovered automatically by resource managers using a service discovery protocol. You must install the UDC agent on these devices before they can be securely discovered and managed.
  • ThinkCentre Client
  • ThinkEdge Clients

Currently, you cannot bring switches into management from XClarity Orchestrator. You also cannot unmanage Flex System switches from XClarity Orchestrator.

  • Device management considerations
    Before you attempt to discover and manage devices using XClarity Orchestrator, review the following considerations.
  • Configuring global discovery settings
    Choose the preferred settings to use when discovering devices.
  • Managing servers
    You can use Lenovo XClarity Orchestrator manage several types of servers.
  • Managing ThinkEdge Client devices
    ThinkEdge Client devices, do not have baseboard management controllers and, therefore, are not discoverable using service discovery protocols. You must install a Universal Device Client (UDC)agent on ThinkEdge Client devices before the devices can be securely discovered and managed by the assigned Lenovo XClarity Management Hub resource manager. Only Lenovo XClarity Management Hub resource managers can discover and manage these devices.
  • Managing storage devices
    Lenovo XClarity Orchestrator can manage several types of Lenovo storage appliances, devices, and tape libraries.
  • Managing chassis
    Lenovo XClarity Orchestrator can manage several types of chassis and chassis components.
  • Unmanaging devices
    You can use Lenovo XClarity Orchestrator to remove devices from management by their respective resource manager. This process is called unmanaging.