Dell Server T710 - iDRAC

Hans Manhave · August 15, 2019, 10:51:32 AM

Server from 2010. What does one do to access the iDRAC system? An old workstation with WinXP can access it just fine. The screens display with all the options. A newer machine with Chrome can log in after certificate authenticity warning but the screens display "undefined" for a lot of the options. Is this a Java problem, a Flash problem, or what should be looked into to make this work?

Jeff Golas · August 15, 2019, 11:02:47 AM

There's a few things at play, and I think your biggest issue is likely that if that drac hasn't been updated (maybe ever), its not running on TLS 1.2 that all the secure web sites support now.

First thing I would do, is do a firmware update to that drac to bring it up to date. The Drac cards are literally their own little tiny computers, so it can even be done during production per se, without affecting the main server.

Go to Support.dell.com, pop in the service tag of the server, go to enterprise management and get the latest drac firmware, then sign in with whatever computer works, and do the update. That should help it work with modern systems.

FYI - when the idrac reboots - you -may- hear the fans on the server take off and sound like a jet engine, this is normal and will go back to normal speeds once it boots up.

Hans Manhave · August 15, 2019, 11:45:07 AM

Will look into updating the DRAC system! Thank you.

Interesting about those fans. That noise is what caused me to pull the unit out of the closet to begin with. It showed a problem with PS2. After ordering another power supply and having opened the machine to see if there was anything else needing attention inside (such as dust, or a cockroach / found neither) it sat for a while and quieted down while open. I closed the case. Then this morning the error message went away from the scrolling display which is now blue again. The log, which I cleared during this, says nothing about deprecating the alarm or whatever other description might be used. I guess during these summer days the UPS units were also having trouble feeding the power supplies. DRAC shows voltage at 120. I think yesterday afternoon it was 119. External UPS units didn't show that low. When the ordered PS units come in, I may replace one just to see what it reports.

Jeff Golas · August 15, 2019, 12:04:02 PM

Well to put it in easy peasy terms, the drac talks to a seperate piece called the lifecycle controller. That controller is sort of like the ECM in a car, but for your server. It monitors things and controls the speed of the fans, etc. If your fans were speeding up, its possible the server was just getting hot, for one reason or another. If that closet isn't climate controlled, I'd be surprised if the fans don't run faster than normal all the time. I've had my server room AC act up from time to time, and I can tell when it happens because I sit outside the door and can hear the fans rev up. Since there's 2 AC units in there now, if I hear them, something is "WRONG".

If it was reporting a bad power supply, that would definitely trigger some things to change, especially if that power supply failed in a way that it was making more heat inside the server.

The reason why the fans go nuts during the drac firmware update, is the lifecycle controller may be updated as part of that, and since the brains are temporarily going down, it puts things in a failsafe mode during that time (because if that update fails and the brains never reboot - that server is now on its own). That failsafe mode includes revving up the fans to keep things cool.

Mark · August 15, 2019, 03:26:54 PM

The DRAC is out of support and does not comply with current Java security settings. For remote console, I did find a script, download an older jre, and am able to access the console via iDRAC now. This is on an R610. Same thing as a 710, just 1U smaller.

Jeff Golas · August 23, 2019, 03:40:42 PM

Quote from: Mark on August 15, 2019, 03:26:54 PM
The DRAC is out of support and does not comply with current Java security settings. For remote console, I did find a script, download an older jre, and am able to access the console via iDRAC now. This is on an R610. Same thing as a 710, just 1U smaller.

You can still get Java...you just have to pay for it, or use Open JRE (or whatever its called).

Mark · August 23, 2019, 03:48:36 PM

Right, but iDRAC 6 doesn't work with current versions of java because of how the java security is implemented.

Jeff Golas · August 23, 2019, 04:51:19 PM

Quote from: Mark on August 23, 2019, 03:48:36 PM
Right, but iDRAC 6 doesn't work with current versions of java because of how the java security is implemented.

You can make it work - you have to set up exclusions under the java icon on control panel. Its a pain but it will work.

Mark · August 23, 2019, 05:39:38 PM

That's what I thought, but had no luck. Googled it and found a workaround that used an old java version without installing anything. Does what I need.

Also, you can't update to the latest bios on gen 13 servers from the lifecycle anymore, unless maybe you stayed relatively on top of things. Have to manually upgrade lifecycle from iDRAC (which is super easy) and then you can use lifecycle to update everything again, but only after switching to https and using download.dell.com and a file path of catalog. Then ignore the bad cert and you're off and updating again.