This blog post is written by Shine KA and Lakshminarayanan R from Dell iDRAC team.
You can now use Racadm command line interface to configure BIOS, iDRAC, RAID and NIC on the server using XML file. You can make use of various racadm interfaces (Local, Remote and Firmware) to export system config to XML file and import the XML config file to the server from XML file. You can use this feature to take a backup of system configuration, configuring multiple server BIOS, iDRAC, RAID and NIC and to script configuration of BIOS, iDRAC, RAID and NIC of the server. You need to use Open Manage 7.2 and iDRAC Firmware 1.30.30 onwards to use this feature.
Exporting System Config to XML file:
Using Racadm you can export system configuration to a XML file. This can be done using any racadm interface (Local, Remote and FW Racadm – SSH, Telnet and Serial). Export of the XML file can be done to a Local File (Using Local and Remote Racadm) or to a remote CIFS / NFS share (Using Local, Remote and FW Racadm). Once XML Export command is initiated a job will be created for export operation (Using “racadm jobqueue view –i <JOB ID>” command you can get the status of export job.). Once job is completed the XML file which contains configuration of BIOS, iDRAC, RAID and NIC will be created on the mentioned location. You need to have iDRAC/OS Administrator privilege to do XML export. The read only objects will be enclosed with exclamatory tag in that XML file. iDRAC should have minimum of “express” license to export the xml file.
The command syntax to export system config
“racadm get –t xml –f <filename.xml> [–l <share IP/path>] [–u <username>] [–p <password>]”.
E.g.
CIFS Share:
“racadm get –t xml –f <filename.xml> –l <//share IP/path> –u <username> –p <password>”.
NFS Share:
“racadm get –t xml –f <filename.xml> –l <share IP:/path>”.
Local Share:
“racadm get –t xml –f <path/filename.xml>”
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Importing System Config from XML file:
Once System config is exported to XML file, you can import the configuration back to the system any time. You can also modify various setting on XML file before importing the XML file to iDRAC. Similar to Export, Import of the XML file can be done from a Local File (Using Local and Remote Racadm) or from a remote CIFS / NFS share (Using Local, Remote and FW Racadm). After import operation, server goes for reboot if there are any changes on BIOS, RAID and NIC attributes. Server does not require a reboot if there are changes only to iDRAC attributes or if there is no change in that exported XML file. The command itself we can specify the Shutdown type which needs to be done before import starts and end state of the server after import. The shutdown type refers the shutdown method of the server once the Import is begun, supported values “Graceful & Forced”. End state used to specify the Server state once the import operation completes, supported values are “On & Off”. Once XML Import command is executed a job will be created for an import operation (Using “racadm jobqueue view –i <JOB ID>” command you can get the status of export job.). You need to have iDRAC/OS Administrator privilege to do XML import. iDRAC should have minimum of “express” license to import the xml file.
The command syntax to import system config
“racadm set -t xml –f <filename.xml> [–l <share IP/path>] [–u <username>] [–p <password>] [–b <Shut Down Type>] [–w <Wait Time>] [–s <End Power State>]”.
E.g.
CIFS Share:
“racadm set –t xml –f <filename.xml> –l <//share IP/path> –u <username> –p <password> [–b <Shutdown type>] [-w <wait time>] [-s <End state>]”.
NFS Share:
“racadm set –t xml –f <filename.xml> –l <share IP:/path> [–b <Shutdown type>] [-w <wait time>] [-s <End state>]”.
Local Share:
“racadm set –t xml –f <path/filename.xml> [–b <Shutdown type>] [-w <wait time>] [-s <End state>]”
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Sample XML file:
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Additional Information
iDRAC7 1.30.30 Firmware can be downloaded from here
iDRAC7 1.30.30 User Guide
More information on iDRAC
More information on Racadm
