another coffee, please

Turns out the shrink-wrapped CDs you get with new Dell servers are actually useful! Fancy that. Typically we throw them in storage for the possibility that we may need to check a BIOS revision or run some hardware diagnostics.

The useful disk out of the lot is the Dell Systems Management Tools and Documentation DVD.  The version I installed for a PowerEdge 2950 is Version 5.5 (Rev A00, October 2008), but I’m not sure whether earlier versions will work on newer hardware, or if this will work on PE2850s and earlier.

The DVD by default includes (I am reading off the label):

• Dell Systems Build and Update Utility
• Dell OpenManage Server Administrator
• Dell OpenManage IT Assistant
• Dell Remote Access Controller
• BMC Management Utility
• Dell-optimized Drivers
• Dell Online Diagnostics
• Documentation

The one I’d like to draw your attention to today is the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator, which is quite possibly the only way to check and modify your Dell Remote Access Card (DRAC) without rebooting the server.  In the environment that I work in where it’s often difficult to get approval to reboot servers, and where a lack of process often causes such things as remote access and remote management to get thrown out the window during the build phase, this is some kind of godsend.

Basically you installl the OpenManage software on your operating system of choice (from what I can tell, Microsoft Windows and RPM-based Linux is supported) and then you have a set of utilities from which you can, well, remotely manage your remote management tools.  Very nifty.

Install Process (Linux)

The install is pretty easy.  Stick the DVD in, mount, and execute the installer script.  I had a look at downloading just the packages you need (The DellLinuxWiki has a repository of OpenManage software, for example) but it’s a lot easier to just run the script.  Steps are:

rpm –import /mnt/cdrom/SYSMGMT/srvadmin/linux/RPM-GPG-KEY

cd /mnt/cdrom (or whereever you mounted the disc)

cd SYSMGMT/srvadmin/linux/supportscripts

sh srvadmin-install.sh –express (or -x)

It will run a prerequisite checker and warn you if you are missing packages.  You’ll need to install these from install media, although the DVD contains a set of these in SYSMGMT/srvadmin/linux/RPMS.

Note: If you are running a 64-bit version of Red Hat, you’ll also need the 32-bit drivers, as OpenManage is a 32-bit application.  So install the packages with “i386″ in their filename.

Output will look like:

Installing the selected packages.

Preparing…                ########################################### [100%]
1:srvadmin-omilcore      ########################################### [  6%]
To start all installed services without a reboot,
enter the following command:  srvadmin-services.sh  start
2:srvadmin-syscheck      ########################################### [ 13%]
3:srvadmin-deng          ########################################### [ 19%]
4:srvadmin-omauth        ########################################### [ 25%]
5:srvadmin-omacore       ########################################### [ 31%]
6:srvadmin-jre           ########################################### [ 38%]
7:srvadmin-ipmi          ########################################### [ 44%]
8:srvadmin-hapi          ########################################### [ 50%]
9:srvadmin-isvc          ########################################### [ 56%]
10:srvadmin-rac5-component########################################### [ 63%]
11:srvadmin-cm            ########################################### [ 69%]
12:srvadmin-iws           ########################################### [ 75%]
13:srvadmin-omhip         ########################################### [ 81%]
14:srvadmin-racadm5       ########################################### [ 88%]
15:srvadmin-racdrsc5      ########################################### [ 94%]
16:srvadmin-storage       ########################################### [100%]

You will then need to start the Server Administrator services by running

sh srvadmin-services.sh start

Using Dell OpenManage Server Administrator To Manage Your DRAC

There is an easy way to find out the current IP, or to set the IP, subnet or gateway of the DRAC card.  The tool to use is called “racadm”.

racadm getniccfg will identify the current state of the NIC, its IP address, subnet mask, and gateway.

racadm setniccfg -s 192.168.1.1 192.168.255.254 255.255.255.0 will set the NIC’s IP to 192.168.1.1, with a gateway of .254.

racadm racreset will reset this config.