Access Server Management Tools from anywhere with Microsoft Windows Admin Center

[Willa]

With countries around the world practicing social distancing to reduce the spread of COVID-19, many businesses have closed their offices and are having to adapt to employees working from home. Good news: organizations running Windows Server can simplify remote server management and take advantage of Windows Admin Center to gain quick server insights when it matters most, from anywhere, all in a secure manner.

Windows Admin Center

You may know Windows Admin Center (WAC) as a locally deployed, browser-based app for managing Windows servers, clusters, hyper-converged infrastructure, as well as Windows 10 PCs, and, did I mention, it is free to download from Microsoft?

Windows Admin Center can help users with many tasks:

• Simplify server management: Manage servers and clusters with modernized versions of familiar tools such as server manager. Install in under five minutes and manage servers in the environment immediately, no additional configuration required.
• Work with hybrid solutions: Integration with Azure helps users optionally connect on-premises servers with relevant cloud services.
• Streamline hyperconverged management: Streamline management of Azure Stack HCI or Windows Server hyperconverged clusters and use simplified workloads to create and manage VMs, Storage Spaces Direct volumes, Software-Defined Networking and more.

And, HPE has gone a step further to simplify monitoring and management of HPE ProLiant Servers and Hyper-Converged system infrastructure.

HPE Extensions for Windows Admin Center

HPE has introduced two unique WAC extensions to help users gain quick insights when it matters most. Utilizing HPE’s iLO technology, HPE Extensions for Windows Admin Center give direct visibility to server level inventory and diagnostic information to help monitor, manage, and troubleshoot server infrastructure right in WAC:

Server Health and Management Extension
The server health and management extension displays server health along with remediation options, server components (processor, memory, etc.), and current BIOS settings all from one simplified management tool set. This provides a “single pane of class” view combining operating system and hardware information.

Azure Stack HCI Extension
The Azure Stack HCI extension can surface and highlight cluster node inconsistencies to prevent and help mitigate problems that are related to variations of firmware and driver versions between nodes. Inconsistencies between HCI nodes can be a leading factor in issues with Hyper-Converged clusters. This extension gives visibility to firmware and driver revisions across cluster nodes that are not in the standard Storage Spaces Direct interface in Windows Admin Center

More information on HPE Extensions for Windows Admin Center

Extension Pre-requisites:
- Both extensions require Agentless Management Service (AMS) and HPE SysInfo Cmdlets to be installed on all nodes. HPE SysInfo cmdlets can be updates from https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/HPESysInfoCmdlets/

-  Server extension also needs HPE NVDIMM Cmdlets installed on servers with Persistent Memory. HPE NVDIMM cmdlets can be updated from https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/HPENVDIMMCmdlets/.       

Supported HPE Servers:
- Server extension release 1.0 (GA) supports all Gen10 and Gen10 Plus servers (ProLiant BL, DL, ML, XL, Synergy).

- Azure Stack extension release 1.0 (GA) supports Gen10 clusters: ProLiant DL360 Gen10, DL380 Gen10, DL325 Gen10, DL 385 Gen10, ML350 Gen10, Apollo 4200 (XL420) Gen10.

HPE WAC Extensions 1.0- Installation
The HPE Server extension and HPE Azure Stack HCI extension are both included in HPE WAC Extension Release 1.0. A banner notification about Release 1.0 should be seen on the WAC console when accessing a Gen10/Gen10 Plus. Simply follow the “update now” link to select “HPE WAC Extensions” and click “Install” to start the installation.

To learn more about HPE WAC Extensions, visit https://www.hpe.com/us/en/alliance/microsoft/ws-admin-center.html 

Willa Anderson
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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