This blog post has been written by Dave Collier and Ananthanarayanan AK

       With the release of the iDRAC7 1.50.50 firmware, significant enhancements have been made to the Virtual Media feature. First and foremost, Virtual Media operation is more intuitive than it was in previous releases, as it’s based on the server’s “view” of the virtual devices, rather than the client’s. In addition, Virtual Media is now integrated with the Virtual Console feature, though a stand-alone Virtual Media mode is available, as well.

Connecting and Mapping Virtual Media

 To enable Virtual Media, open a Virtual Console session, select the Virtual Media menu and choose “Connect Virtual Media”.

Wait a few seconds while Virtual Media connects. Again select the Virtual Media menu and choose “Map CD/DVD” or “Map Removable Disk” (or “Map Floppy Disk”, if floppy emulation is enabled on the iDRAC Attached Media page).

Selecting “Map CD/DVD” will bring up the following dialog, where the CD/DVD media or image can be selected.

Note that the Drive/Image File drop-down list will include all unmapped devices of the selected type (i.e. CD/DVD), as well as image files of the appropriate type (.iso for CD/DVD, .img for removable and floppy disks) that are located in the default image file directory, which is typically the user’s desktop. If the desired drive or image file is not seen in the pull-down list, the “Browse” button can be clicked to navigate to the required location.

 Once the desired drive or image has been selected, click “Map Device” to complete the activity.

 At this point, selecting the Virtual Media menu option again will display the mapped device status:

The procedure is the same for mapping a Removable Disk or a Floppy.

 Note that Virtual Media supports mapping a single DVD/CD and a single Removable Disk or Floppy at one time.

Virtual Media Status

At any time, details of the mapped devices can be displayed by selecting the Tools menu, and choosing “Stats”:

This will display the Virtual Console (KVM) and Virtual Media statistics, where the mapping information, read/write status, session duration and traffic metrics are presented:

Un mapping and Disconnecting Virtual Media

Note, it is always recommended to eject the Virtual Media drive from the host operating system prior to unmapping the device or disconnecting Virtual Media, in order to allow any pending file operations to complete.

 To unmap a Virtual Media device, select the Virtual Media menu and choose the device you wish to unmap.

A popup warning will be displayed:

If you wish to continue to unmap the device, click “Yes”. Clicking “No” will exit the dialog without unmapping the device.

To disconnect Virtual Media (terminating the session and unmapping all Virtual Media drives), open the Virtual Media menu and select “Disconnect Virtual Media”.

Standalone Mode

As mentioned above, Virtual Media can be launched in standalone mode. This might be needed if Virtual Console is disabled or if your account has Virtual Media but not Virtual Console privileges. To launch Virtual Media in standalone mode, in the iDRAC tree view, select Virtual Console. On the Virtual Console page, click on Launch Virtual Console.

 You might see this message:

If so, click OK. You might receive various certificate notices, if so, click through them.

The standalone Virtual Media window will be displayed.

You’ll note that this is the Virtual Media section of the Virtual Console and Virtual Media Stats page discussed above. From here, Virtual Media operations can be controlled as described above.

Creating an Image

To create a Virtual Media image, select the Virtual Media menu and click on “Create Image…”. The “Create Image from Folder” dialog will be displayed:                    

Browse to the desired Source Folder and the Image File location and click “Create Image”. The specified image file will be created.

We at Dell hope you find this enhanced and refined Virtual Media feature to streamline your server management processes. Please give us feedback on how we’re doing and what new features you’d like to see.

Additional Information:

More information on iDRAC

This blog post has been written by Shine KA and Hrushi Keshava HS

        Latest iDRAC7 firmware (1.50.50 onwards) now has a provision to store iDRAC SSL certificates while launching iDRAC Virtual Console and Virtual Media. Instead of saving iDRAC SSL certificates to IE / JAVA trust store, You have an option to save certificates you trust in a folder of your choice. This allows you to save several iDRAC certificates to the certificate store. Once you trust and save the certificate, you will no longer get a certificate warning message while launching iDRAC Virtual Console / Virtual Media. This behavior is available on Active-X and Java Plugins. Also, there is no need to save the iDRAC SSL certificate on the certificate store.

        While launching Virtual Console / Virtual Media, iDRAC must first validate iDRAC SSL certificate. If the certificate is not trusted, then iDRAC will check if there is any certificate store configured for iDRAC. If the certificate store is not configured, iDRAC will launch Virtual Console / Virtual Media with a certificate warning window. If certificate store is configured, iDRAC will compare current iDRAC SSL certificate with any of the stored certificates in certificate store. If a match is found, iDRAC Virtual Console will be launched without any certificate warning. If there is no matched certificate, iDRAC Virtual Console / Virtual Media will show a certificate warning, with an option to always trust the certificate. When you always trust the certificate, the current iDRAC SSL certificate will be stored in configured certificate store, and you will not see the certificate warning the next time you launch the iDRAC Virtual Console / Virtual Media.

There are three easy steps to configure certificate store.

STEP 1: Launching Virtual Console for first time

        When you launch Virtual Console for first time and iDRAC SSL certificate is not trusted, a certificate warning window will be shown. This window describes about the certificate information and steps to configure certificate store.

Note: Details will give you more information about certificate like version, serial number, validity and more.

STEP 2: Configuring Certificate Store on iDRAC

       After launching Virtual Console, navigates to Tools -> Session Options -> Certificate. Here you can choose the path where trusted certificate need to be stored.

Note: Details will give you more information about Current session’s certificate like version, serial number, validity, and more.

STEP 3: Launching Virtual Console with certificate store configured

       After specifying the certificate store location, the next time you launch Virtual Console a “warning security” window will pop up with option to “Always Trust this certificate”. You have an option to save this certificate to store by enabling this checkbox. Once certificate is trusted, you will no longer see the Certificate warning message.

SUMMARY:

            By following these simple steps, you can quickly remove the certificate warning page and have peace of mind that you are accessing your iDRAC securely.

Additional Information:

More information on iDRAC

Hi All,

Is there any firmware updates available for  Dell Remote access Controller 5. Currently the installed firmware version is 1.65 (12.08.16).

I'm trying  to update the firmware version from 1.65 (12.08.16). After googling, received 1.65 A00 updated package; looks like the both packages are same. 

Can you tell me , Is there any updated firmware package available for Dell Remote access Controller 5 ? 

Thanks in Advance 

Vijith P A

I am trying to update IDRAC6 from 1.95 to 19.97 on an R710. The operating system is Windows Server 2012 R2. The I run the update from the dell website bmcfwuw.exe cancels with this error:

Problem Event Name: BEX

Application Name: bmcfwuw.exe

Application Version: 0.0.0.0

Application Timestamp: 4e1e7924

Fault Module Name: bmcfwuw.exe

Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0

Fault Module Timestamp: 4e1e7924

Exception Offset: 00018335

Exception Code: c0000417

Exception Data: 00000000

OS Version: 6.3.9600.2.0.0.400.8

Locale ID: 1033

Additional Information 1: 6aa5

Additional Information 2: 6aa50bcf868c773eb42b7204b02ca9fe

Additional Information 3: 3b61

Additional Information 4: 3b616f2f20085a308f866cd98d2b6540

Hi all,

I have a PowerEdge M610 working and powered on and when in iDRAC Web GUI under System>Properties>System Inventory, I see the message "Hardware Inventory is unavailable. Try again at a later time."

I have tried going into the iDRAC6 Configuration Utility (Ctrl E during BIOS Post) and enabling "Collect System  Inventory on reboot", saving then rebooting the server, but still nothing in the Hardware Inventory.

Anyone seen this before and know how to get the Inventory populated with information?

Cheers.

   We are trying to monitoring the Dell PowerEdge server via iDrac 5. The OS currently running is Red Hat Linux. From my research and study. if I want to monitoring  the server H/W health using SNMP through iDrac. The server has to install the OMSA software and the OMSA services have to be started. I believe the document mention that iDrac 7 has full snmp package, therefore the OMSA won't need to be installed.

      Here is my questions, I hope anyone could help me to clear out the question.

1. Do I need to install the OMSA on the RedHat in order to monitoring H/W if i am using the SNMP protocol through iDrac port ?  Someone told me  it won't need to be installed which I don't think it is correct. 

2.Do I must enable SNMP pass through on OMSA configuration in order to get the data through iDrac port?

3. Do you have to use different OID if  you query SNMP through Ethernet port  or iDrac ?

4. One of my server has only two services running 

dsm_sa_datamgr32d   is running 

dsm_sa_eventmgr32d is running

 and  without  dsm_sa_snmp32d (not sure why it is not showing up when starting dataeng serveice), will that be the reason that I can't get any snmp data response ?

Hello,

I recently brought a new m1000e chassis online with two cmc's running 4.5 firmware.  When I initially connected to the CMC it prompted me to change the default password, which I successfully did.  Now I am seeing some very strange behavior.  I am able to login with BOTH root / calvin and root / new_password.  I tried changing the password from racadm cli as well as the web gui.  No luck.  I have confirmed that there is no external authentication enabled, so local login is all that should be working. 

To be honest, I do not even know where to start troubleshooting for such an odd issue.  I have never seen a single username work with two password combinations.  Perhaps someone can shed some light on this for me?  Please feel free to ask or comment anything that may be of use.  This is preventing me from moving forward with a build since I can't very well put a chassis in production with a default root password... 

If I am not clear, or if anyone would like any more information whatsoever please do not hesitate to ask.  I would really like to get this resolved ASAP.

Thank you in advance for any help provided.

Jeff

All docs that I have read say that I should be able to access the BMC via web interface. I have tried both http and https but no luck. I verified that I can PING the BMC just fine, and I can access it through the impish utility fine too. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance.

Hi,

I inherited through my business of a T310  that has no IDRAC6 Express or Enterprise card.

The LCD panel remains blank/dark at all times (tried with a spare one, same result), and upon boot, it reports an IDRAC6 communication failure, which is normal since there is no card, then it reboots one more time before getting into Windows just fine. It never offers me to get into a BMC configuration utility. I tried to reset the BIOS settings to default to no avail. OMSA reports no issues. Also updated BIOS to latest version 1.8.2 with no changes. Fan is super noisy and I understand that by updating the BMC firmware I have a chance to fix that, but I just can't get into any BMC configuration.

I believe there was an IDRAC6 card before, but it's not in anymore, so not sure how to clear that error. I have read that an IDRAC6 express card is OPTIONAL, so it shouldn't bother me about that.

==> I want to clear these errors from POST, be able to upgrade BMC (or iDRAC) firmware so that I can get the fan to run at acceptable noise levels.

1) How do I get the server to understand that there is NO IDRAC whatsoever, and to give me access to BMC configuration utility during POST ?

2) Is it normal that the LCD panel remains blank at all times? Power button works fine, just none of the buttons works, never get any color/light. Is it possible that it is controlled by the IDRAC/BMC, which in its current mess, can't drive it ? I understand that the LCD panel comes with the hot-plug option (not sure why btw), so in my opinion, it should work independently of the IDRAC being there or not.

I am ready to purchase an IDRAC6 Express card if there is a good chance that it will address this issue by eliminating the communication error and maybe give me access to the IDRAC config.But I would really like to understand what's happening before spending any more money on this.

Thanks!

  Max

Hi everybody,

I have a PowerEdge T320 with iDRAC Basic Management. The installed OS is Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit (kernel 3.13.0-32-generic).

My problem is that I want to monitor Power consumption.

All guides says that iDRAC is IPMI2.0 compliant. So I installed ipmitool and freeipmi-tools, but when I run

# ipmitool sdr list full

the output is:

...

Pwr Consumption  | 0 Watts           | ok

...

When i run

# ipmi-oem dell get-power-consumption-statistics average

The output is:

Last Minute Average Power : 0 W
Last Hour Average Power : 0 W
Last Day Average Power : 0 W
Last Week Average Power : 0 W

When I run

# ipmi-oem dell get-power-consumption-data

The output is:

dell:get-power-consumption-data failed: Requested Sensor, data, or record not present.

What is the problem?

Is it really that Basic Management doesn't support power monitoring?

Do I have to upgrade the license?

Thank you in advance

I tried to update one of our R810 servers today using the UEFI with Lifecycle Controller and a local DVD SUU. I was following the instructions in a White Paper "Lifecycle Controller Platform
Update/Firmware Update in Dell PowerEdge 12th Generation Servers" from Dell. I wondered if you could identify what I was doing wrong.

 Here are the steps I took:

1. From Dell Repository Manager, I exported the latest system bundle for the R810 to SUU ISO and burned it to DVD. I started with Linux SUUs, but discovered this morning that the UEFI only accepts Windows DUPs so I exported and burned the Windows x64 system bundle.
2. I booted into the UEFI and selected Platform Update.
3. I chose the “local repository” option and clicked Next. The Custom SUU in the DVD drive was automatically selected. After clicking through the “catalog could not be verified – do you want to continue” message it presented me with the error: "No Update is available. Ensure Windows catalog, and Dell Update Packages for Windows are used."
4. I tried creating a USB repository instead, by copying all the files in the SUU/repository folder to a folder called catalog in the root of the USB drive, per the instructions in the white paper. That gave me the same message. I moved all the files to the root of the drive but that didn’t help either.

What did I do wrong? I even tried pointing it to \repository (for the DVD) and \catalog (for the USB) but it didn’t help. Was I using the wrong type of SUU? How do I point the UEFI to the right location on the DVD? Do I need to specify a file? What syntax do I use?

Thanks.

Regards, Dominic

This blog post has been written by Dave Collier and Ananthanarayanan AK

       With the release of the iDRAC7 1.50.50 firmware, significant enhancements have been made to the Virtual Media feature. First and foremost, Virtual Media operation is more intuitive than it was in previous releases, as it’s based on the server’s “view” of the virtual devices, rather than the client’s. In addition, Virtual Media is now integrated with the Virtual Console feature, though a stand-alone Virtual Media mode is available, as well.

Connecting and Mapping Virtual Media

 To enable Virtual Media, open a Virtual Console session, select the Virtual Media menu and choose “Connect Virtual Media”.

Wait a few seconds while Virtual Media connects. Again select the Virtual Media menu and choose “Map CD/DVD” or “Map Removable Disk” (or “Map Floppy Disk”, if floppy emulation is enabled on the iDRAC Attached Media page).

Selecting “Map CD/DVD” will bring up the following dialog, where the CD/DVD media or image can be selected.

Note that the Drive/Image File drop-down list will include all unmapped devices of the selected type (i.e. CD/DVD), as well as image files of the appropriate type (.iso for CD/DVD, .img for removable and floppy disks) that are located in the default image file directory, which is typically the user’s desktop. If the desired drive or image file is not seen in the pull-down list, the “Browse” button can be clicked to navigate to the required location.

 Once the desired drive or image has been selected, click “Map Device” to complete the activity.

 At this point, selecting the Virtual Media menu option again will display the mapped device status:

The procedure is the same for mapping a Removable Disk or a Floppy.

 Note that Virtual Media supports mapping a single DVD/CD and a single Removable Disk or Floppy at one time.

Virtual Media Status

At any time, details of the mapped devices can be displayed by selecting the Tools menu, and choosing “Stats”:

This will display the Virtual Console (KVM) and Virtual Media statistics, where the mapping information, read/write status, session duration and traffic metrics are presented:

Un mapping and Disconnecting Virtual Media

Note, it is always recommended to eject the Virtual Media drive from the host operating system prior to unmapping the device or disconnecting Virtual Media, in order to allow any pending file operations to complete.

 To unmap a Virtual Media device, select the Virtual Media menu and choose the device you wish to unmap.

A popup warning will be displayed:

If you wish to continue to unmap the device, click “Yes”. Clicking “No” will exit the dialog without unmapping the device.

To disconnect Virtual Media (terminating the session and unmapping all Virtual Media drives), open the Virtual Media menu and select “Disconnect Virtual Media”.

Standalone Mode

As mentioned above, Virtual Media can be launched in standalone mode. This might be needed if Virtual Console is disabled or if your account has Virtual Media but not Virtual Console privileges. To launch Virtual Media in standalone mode, in the iDRAC tree view, select Virtual Console. On the Virtual Console page, click on Launch Virtual Console.

 You might see this message:

If so, click OK. You might receive various certificate notices, if so, click through them.

The standalone Virtual Media window will be displayed.

You’ll note that this is the Virtual Media section of the Virtual Console and Virtual Media Stats page discussed above. From here, Virtual Media operations can be controlled as described above.

Creating an Image

To create a Virtual Media image, select the Virtual Media menu and click on “Create Image…”. The “Create Image from Folder” dialog will be displayed:                    

Browse to the desired Source Folder and the Image File location and click “Create Image”. The specified image file will be created.

We at Dell hope you find this enhanced and refined Virtual Media feature to streamline your server management processes. Please give us feedback on how we’re doing and what new features you’d like to see.

Additional Information:

More information on iDRAC

This blog post has been written by Shine KA and Hrushi Keshava HS

        Latest iDRAC7 firmware (1.50.50 onwards) now has a provision to store iDRAC SSL certificates while launching iDRAC Virtual Console and Virtual Media. Instead of saving iDRAC SSL certificates to IE / JAVA trust store, You have an option to save certificates you trust in a folder of your choice. This allows you to save several iDRAC certificates to the certificate store. Once you trust and save the certificate, you will no longer get a certificate warning message while launching iDRAC Virtual Console / Virtual Media. This behavior is available on Active-X and Java Plugins. Also, there is no need to save the iDRAC SSL certificate on the certificate store.

        While launching Virtual Console / Virtual Media, iDRAC must first validate iDRAC SSL certificate. If the certificate is not trusted, then iDRAC will check if there is any certificate store configured for iDRAC. If the certificate store is not configured, iDRAC will launch Virtual Console / Virtual Media with a certificate warning window. If certificate store is configured, iDRAC will compare current iDRAC SSL certificate with any of the stored certificates in certificate store. If a match is found, iDRAC Virtual Console will be launched without any certificate warning. If there is no matched certificate, iDRAC Virtual Console / Virtual Media will show a certificate warning, with an option to always trust the certificate. When you always trust the certificate, the current iDRAC SSL certificate will be stored in configured certificate store, and you will not see the certificate warning the next time you launch the iDRAC Virtual Console / Virtual Media.

There are three easy steps to configure certificate store.

STEP 1: Launching Virtual Console for first time

        When you launch Virtual Console for first time and iDRAC SSL certificate is not trusted, a certificate warning window will be shown. This window describes about the certificate information and steps to configure certificate store.

Note: Details will give you more information about certificate like version, serial number, validity and more.

STEP 2: Configuring Certificate Store on iDRAC

       After launching Virtual Console, navigates to Tools -> Session Options -> Certificate. Here you can choose the path where trusted certificate need to be stored.

Note: Details will give you more information about Current session’s certificate like version, serial number, validity, and more.

STEP 3: Launching Virtual Console with certificate store configured

       After specifying the certificate store location, the next time you launch Virtual Console a “warning security” window will pop up with option to “Always Trust this certificate”. You have an option to save this certificate to store by enabling this checkbox. Once certificate is trusted, you will no longer see the Certificate warning message.

SUMMARY:

            By following these simple steps, you can quickly remove the certificate warning page and have peace of mind that you are accessing your iDRAC securely.

Additional Information:

More information on iDRAC

Hi All,

Is there any firmware updates available for  Dell Remote access Controller 5. Currently the installed firmware version is 1.65 (12.08.16).

I'm trying  to update the firmware version from 1.65 (12.08.16). After googling, received 1.65 A00 updated package; looks like the both packages are same. 

Can you tell me , Is there any updated firmware package available for Dell Remote access Controller 5 ? 

Thanks in Advance 

Vijith P A

I am trying to update IDRAC6 from 1.95 to 19.97 on an R710. The operating system is Windows Server 2012 R2. The I run the update from the dell website bmcfwuw.exe cancels with this error:

Problem Event Name: BEX

Application Name: bmcfwuw.exe

Application Version: 0.0.0.0

Application Timestamp: 4e1e7924

Fault Module Name: bmcfwuw.exe

Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0

Fault Module Timestamp: 4e1e7924

Exception Offset: 00018335

Exception Code: c0000417

Exception Data: 00000000

OS Version: 6.3.9600.2.0.0.400.8

Locale ID: 1033

Additional Information 1: 6aa5

Additional Information 2: 6aa50bcf868c773eb42b7204b02ca9fe

Additional Information 3: 3b61

Additional Information 4: 3b616f2f20085a308f866cd98d2b6540

Hi all,

I have a PowerEdge M610 working and powered on and when in iDRAC Web GUI under System>Properties>System Inventory, I see the message "Hardware Inventory is unavailable. Try again at a later time."

I have tried going into the iDRAC6 Configuration Utility (Ctrl E during BIOS Post) and enabling "Collect System  Inventory on reboot", saving then rebooting the server, but still nothing in the Hardware Inventory.

Anyone seen this before and know how to get the Inventory populated with information?

Cheers.

   We are trying to monitoring the Dell PowerEdge server via iDrac 5. The OS currently running is Red Hat Linux. From my research and study. if I want to monitoring  the server H/W health using SNMP through iDrac. The server has to install the OMSA software and the OMSA services have to be started. I believe the document mention that iDrac 7 has full snmp package, therefore the OMSA won't need to be installed.

      Here is my questions, I hope anyone could help me to clear out the question.

1. Do I need to install the OMSA on the RedHat in order to monitoring H/W if i am using the SNMP protocol through iDrac port ?  Someone told me  it won't need to be installed which I don't think it is correct. 

2.Do I must enable SNMP pass through on OMSA configuration in order to get the data through iDrac port?

3. Do you have to use different OID if  you query SNMP through Ethernet port  or iDrac ?

4. One of my server has only two services running 

dsm_sa_datamgr32d   is running 

dsm_sa_eventmgr32d is running

 and  without  dsm_sa_snmp32d (not sure why it is not showing up when starting dataeng serveice), will that be the reason that I can't get any snmp data response ?