Dell DRAC - shawfdong/hyades GitHub Wiki

DRAC (Dell Remote Access Controller) is an interface card on Dell PowerEdge servers which provides out-of-band management facilities. The DRAC interface is based on the IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) 2.0 standard. DRAC has its own processor, memory, network connection, and access to the system bus. DRAC provides more integration with the hardware and offers more features than a generic IPMI implementation.

Table of Contents

DRAC 5

DRAC 5 is an optional hardware controller for Dell PowerEdge Generation 9 servers[1]. However, Pleiades doesn't have a DRAC 5 integrated:

# ipmitool fru
...
FRU Device Description : DRAC 5 (ID 0)
 Device not present (Timeout)
Pleiades appears to have only the basic BMC (baseboard management controller):
# omreport chassis fru

Device           : System Planar (BMC)
Serial No.       : CN1374074S010H
Part No.         : 0DT021
Revision         : A02
Manufacturer     : DELL
Manufacture Date : Sat Apr 28 05:00:00 2007
...

iDRAC 6

On Dell PowerEdge Generation 11 servers, the DRAC version is iDRAC 6 (the i stands for integrated). The iDRAC6 operates independently from the server’s CPU and operating system. iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller technology, enables administrators to manage the iDRAC via command line and perform system firmware backups to embedded storage on the iDRAC[2].

To install the iDRAC6 Command Interface (RACADM utility)[3]:

# yum install srvadmin-idracadm

iDRAC 7

iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller 2 is an embedded device, running Linux and Busybox, on Dell PowerEdge Generation 12 servers[4]. iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller technology allows administrators to monitor, manage, update, troubleshoot and remediate Dell servers from any location — without the use of agents. We have no license, and no need, for iDRAC Enterprise; we use exclusively the standard iDRAC express on all the Dell PowerEdge Generation 12 R servers in the Hyades cluster. In November 2015, we upgraded the firmware of iDRAC 7 to version 2.10.10.10 on all Dell PowerEdge Generation 12 R servers in the Hyades cluster.

Here are the iDRAC7 defaults[5]:

  • Username = root
  • Password = calvin
  • IP Address = 192.168.0.120
RACADM is a configuration utility that reports and sets RAC configuration options for Dell Remote Access Controller. It can be installed from the DTK Linux ISO image (see Rocks - RPMs); or it can be installed from the Dell Linux Repository (see Dell OpenManage). To install the RACADM utility for iDRAC7:
# yum install srvadmin-idracadm7

The RACADM utility supports the following interfaces[6]:

  • Local — Supports running RACADM commands from the managed server’s operating system. NOTE local racadm runs with root privilege. For example,
# racadm get BIOS.BiosBootSettings
[Key=BIOS.Setup.1-1#BiosBootSettings]
BootMode=Bios
BootSeq=Optical.SATAEmbedded.E-1,HardDisk.List.1-1
BootSeqRetry=Enabled
HddSeq=RAID.Slot.7-1
UefiBootSeq=Optical.SATAEmbedded.E-1,Unknown.Unknown.2-1,Unknown.Unknown.3-1,NIC.Integrated.1-1-1,NIC.Integrated.1-2-1,NIC.Integrated.1-3-1,NIC.Integrated.1-4-1

# racadm get system.ServerOS
[Key=system.Embedded.1#ServerOS.1]
HostName=hyades.ucsc.edu
OSName=CentOS
#OSVersion=release 6.6 (Final) Kernel 2.6.32-504.16.2.el6.x86_64 (x86_64)
#ServerPoweredOnTime=1040813
  • SSH (also known as Firmware RACADM) — Firmware RACADM is accessible by logging in to iDRAC using SSH (Telnet is disabled by default). For example, to log into the iDRAC7 on Compute Node astro-1-1 (whose iDRAC7 IP address is 10.9.1.1), using SSH:
# ssh -l root 10.9.1.1
[email protected]'s password: 
/admin1-> racadm
racadm>>get system.ServerOS 

racadm get system.ServerOS 
[Key=system.Embedded.1#ServerOS.1]
HostName=astro-1-1.local
OSName=CentOS
#OSVersion=release 6.6 (Final) Kernel 2.6.32-504.16.2.el6.x86_64 (x86_64)
#ServerPoweredOnTime=1009749

racadm>>get BIOS.BiosBootSettings 

racadm get BIOS.BiosBootSettings 
[Key=BIOS.Setup.1-1#BiosBootSettings]
BootMode=Bios
BootSeq=HardDisk.List.1-1,NIC.Integrated.1-1-1 
	(Pending Value=NIC.Integrated.1-1-1,HardDisk.List.1-1)
BootSeqRetry=Enabled
HddSeq=Disk.SATAEmbedded.A-1
UefiBootSeq=Unknown.Unknown.1-1,NIC.Integrated.1-1-1,NIC.Integrated.1-2-1,NIC.Integrated.1-3-1,NIC.Integrated.1-4-1

racadm>>quit 

/admin1-> exit
CLP Session terminated
Connection to 10.9.1.1 closed.
  • Remote — Supports running RACADM commands from a remote management station. For example, to run remote RACADM commands on on Compute Node astro-1-1 (whose iDRAC7 IP address is 10.9.1.1):
# racadm -r 10.9.1.1 -i get system.ServerOS
Security Alert: Certificate is invalid - self signed certificate
Continuing execution. Use -S option for racadm to stop execution on certificate-related errors.
UserName: root                                                               
Password: 
[Key=system.Embedded.1#ServerOS.1]                                           
HostName=astro-1-1.local
OSName=CentOS
#OSVersion=release 6.6 (Final) Kernel 2.6.32-504.16.2.el6.x86_64 (x86_64)
#ServerPoweredOnTime=1010334

For more information about racadm options, see Chapter 2 RACADM Subcommand Details of the RACADM Command Line Reference Guide for iDRAC8 and iDRAC7 Version 2.20.20.20 .

Besides RACADM interfaces, there is also a Web GUI for iDRAC7. For example, to access the Web GUI for the iDRAC7 on Compute Node astro-1-1 (whose iDRAC7 IP address is 10.9.1.1), load the following URL in a web browser:

http://10.9.1.1

References

  1. ^ Exploring the DRAC 5
  2. ^ iDRAC6
  3. ^ RACADM Command Line Reference Guide for iDRAC6 1.95, iDRAC6 3.5, and CMC 3.2
  4. ^ iDRAC7
  5. ^ How to setup and manage your iDRAC7 and Lifecycle Controller for Dell PowerEdge 12G servers
  6. ^ RACADM Command Line Reference Guide for iDRAC8 and iDRAC7 Version 2.20.20.20
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