Dell PowerEdge Associate cheat sheet
Dell PowerEdge Associate · Keep the key ideas within reach.
PowerEdge hardware, workload and service boundaries
Use the actual model, service tag and installed configuration.
CPU generation and memory population rules matter.
Boot storage, data controllers and backups have different roles.
Power, cooling and replacement procedures need actual failure-domain evidence.
PowerEdge iDRAC, lifecycle and fleet operations
iDRAC availability is distinct from application health.
Embedded lifecycle and fleet orchestration have different scopes.
Firmware success needs compatibility and service verification.
Management credentials, diagnostics and signed inventory need bounded trust.
Storage access, protection and capacity reasoning
Choose the actual block, file or object interface.
Raw, usable, logical and consumed capacity differ.
Multipathing, zoning, mapping and file permissions address different stages.
Redundancy, snapshots, replicas and backups cover different failure scopes.
Identity, access and cryptographic protection
Identification, authentication, authorisation and accounting are four distinct steps.
MFA needs two different factor categories, not two instances of one.
RBAC suits stable job roles; ABAC suits context-dependent, fine-grained rules.
Kerberos uses a KDC with TGT and service tickets for SSO.
Symmetric ciphers handle bulk data; asymmetric ciphers solve key distribution and signatures.
Signing uses a specified signature scheme with the signer’s private key; verification and custody are essential to origin evidence.
ECB leaks patterns; use authenticated modes such as GCM or encrypt-then-MAC.
Network boundaries and protected communication
Internet-facing services belong in a DMZ; data stores sit in a filtered internal zone.
VLANs alone are not a trust boundary - add DAI, private VLANs and 802.1 X.
IPsec AH gives integrity only; ESP adds confidentiality.
IDS is passive and alerts; IPS is inline and blocks.
NAT is not a security control and temporary rules must be removed.
Security operations, monitoring and response
Asset inventory and configuration baselines underpin every operational control.
Changes need an appropriate authorization path, recovery planning and relevant evidence.
Emergency changes still require retrospective documentation within a defined window.
Monitor log sources for silence, not just for events.
Distinguish historical Revision 2 phases from current NIST incident-response guidance integrated with broader risk management.
Containment precedes eradication in almost every scenario.
Capture volatile evidence (memory, connections) before disk and before power-off.
Continuity, backup and technical recovery
Distinguish tolerated data loss from tolerated interruption.
A recovery point and restore time must both meet the stated targets.
A same-failure-domain snapshot alone does not cover loss of that domain.
Verify complete restore procedures and actual dependency behavior.