The DRAC (Dell Remote Access Controller) is an interface card by Dell which provides out-of-band management.The controller has its own processor, memory, battery, network connection, and access to the system bus. Key features include power management, virtual media access and remote console, all available through a supported web browser.
This article may rely excessively on sources, potentially preventing the article from being. Please help by replacing them with more appropriate to. ( January 2016) The Dell Remote Access Controller or DRAC is an platform on certain servers. The platform may be provided on a separate, or integrated into the; when integrated, the platform is referred to as iDRAC.It uses mostly separate resources to the main server resources, and provides a browser-based or command-line interface (or both) for managing and monitoring the server hardware. Contents.Features The controller has its own processor, memory, network connection, and access to the system bus.
Key features include power management, virtual media access and remote console capabilities, all available through a supported. This gives the ability to configure a machine as if they were sitting at the local console.The DRAC interfaces with baseboard management controller (BMC) chips, and is based on the (IPMI) 2.0 standard, which allows use of IPMI out-of-band interfaces such as IPMI Over LAN. Versions The Dell Remote Access Controllers (DRAC) and the Integrated Dell Remote Access Controllers (iDRAC) come in different versions, where a new (i)DRAC version is often linked to a new generation of Poweredge servers.The hardware part is now often integrated on the motherboard of the server, and the combined product is termed iDRAC, where the 'i' is for integrated. When iDRAC Express is used, the software and hardware systems management functions are shared with one of the server's on-board network interfaces using a unique IP address.
By contrast, iDRAC Enterprise version features a dedicated physical network interface.iDRAC version 7 was introduced in conjunction with the release of servers in March 2012, and is only available on 12th generation models. Dell Power Solutions, August 2006. P. 27. ^ Dell manuals for 2012-03-14 at the, version 1.0, 6 March 2012, visited 7 March 2012. Dell support website, visited 7 March 2012. Manual for the 2012-01-07 at the, 14 December 1999. Visited 7 March 2012.
Dell support website 2012-06-03 at the, visited 7 March 2012. Dell manuals for 2011-12-19 at the, 9 August 2004, Visited 7 March 2012. Dell manuals for 2012-02-28 at the, 7 June 2006, Visited 7 March 2012. ^ Dell manuals for 2012-01-06 at the, visited 7 March 2012. ^ Manual for 2012-02-26 at the, visited 7 March 2012. Manual for 2012-04-16 at the, visited 7 March 2012.
Dell manual for, version 1.0, September 2014, visited 22 April 2015. Archived from on 2008-12-26. Archived from on 2008-12-26. Archived from on 2009-02-07. Archived from on 2008-06-20. Archived from on 2010-09-25. Archived from on 2009-08-17.External links.
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Recently ran into an issue with a Poweredge r620 and iDrac. The server was up but giving a memory error and I couldn’t get into iDrac. This is the error I saw when trying to login.RAC0218: The maximum number of user sessions is reachedVery frustrating when I knew there was no one else logged in. A brief search online revealed that we can reset iDrac through SSH, but that didn’t help since even SSH gave the same error when trying to login. The server is in a data center and I avoid the data center like the plague. I know there are some sys admins that just love the DC, the rows and rows of servers, the unbearable noise, the too hot and too cold isles. Maybe I’m old, or I’ve been doing this too long If the OS is working you can use a tool in Dell OpenManage to reset iDrac remotely.1.
Make sure you have Dell OpenManage installed on the server.2. Next open a command prompt as Administrator and CD to “C:Program FilesDellSysMgtidrac”.3. Now run the command “racadm racreset soft” (without the “” of course). Racadm is the iDrac CLI admin, racreset is the subcommand, and soft is the parameter. This particular subcommand has 3 different methods to restart Hard, Soft, Graceful, and you can also delay the restart. I recommend that you start with a soft reset so you don’t lose your settings.
I imagine a hard reset would remove your login info, TCP/IP settings, etc. To be honest I haven’t tested it to find out since the servers I have are in production. You can find more info. A hard reset resets the entire RAC and is as close to a power-on reset as can be achieved using software. The RAC log, database, and selected daemons are shutdown gracefully prior to the reset.
A hard reset should be considered as a final effort. PCI configuration is lost. A soft reset is a microprocessor and microprocessor subsystem reset that resets the processor core to restart the software.
PCI configurations are preserved. The RAC log, database, and selected daemons are shutdown gracefully prior to the reset. A graceful reset is the same as a soft reset. The user is allowed to select how many seconds of delay occur before the reset sequence is started. A valid delay entry is between 1-60 seconds.
The default is 3 seconds.4. After running the command you should see the message below.RAC reset operation initiated successfully. It may take a fewminutes for the RAC to come online again.5.
Give it a few minutes and then try and login to iDrac through the web interface or SSH. I was able to after running this reset.6. If you still cannot login you can try a hard reset. Run the command “racadm racreset hard”.7. If that doesn’t work, there is one last option but you’ll need to physically access the server. Shut the server down then pull the power from it.
Make sure there is no AC power to the server. Then hold the power button on the server for 30 seconds. This should completely reset the iDrac.
You may need to reconfigure your login information and TCP/IP settings. All, this apparently is FINALLY resolved across all iDRAC versions and DELL acknowledged it as a “critical” bug in the embedded OS. The fix is now released in the latest version of iDRAC firmware, version 2.21.21.21 found here for both version 7 and 8 of iDRAC:iDRAC8 –iDRAC7 –Both of these are similar but the packages seem to be specific to the DRAC versions. I have verified this resolves the mysterious iDRAC going offline issue.Great post and thanks for the info about the use of the “i” button for a manual reset!!!