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Dell™ Remote Access Controller
Installation and Setup Guide
This section provides RAC configuration procedures for all RACs. For a high-level overview of these procedures, including the order in which the procedures are used and which procedures apply specifically to your RAC, see your individual RAC section.
If you are adding a RAC to an existing managed system, it is recommended that you update the system's BIOS before installing the RAC to ensure full support for the card.
To update the managed system's BIOS, perform the following
steps.
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NOTE: The managed system's BIOS can also be flashed from the management station
using the remote access interface Remote Floppy Boot feature. For more information,
see the remote access interface online help.
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- Obtain a copy of the most current version of your system's BIOS.
Updates are available on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com.
- From the managed system, launch the executable file and follow the prompts to create
a BIOS flash diskette.
- Insert the BIOS flash diskette into the managed system's diskette drive and reboot the
system.
The system boots to the BIOS update menu.
- Follow the instructions on the BIOS update menu.
When installing a DRAC III on a 64-bit system, after installing the managed system software, you must install DRAC III drivers.
To install the drivers, perform the following steps:
- Right-click My Computer and select Properties.
- Click the Hardware tab and select Device Manager.
- From the Device Manager window, right-click one of the three Unknown PCI Device
entries and click Update Driver.
The operating system displays a dialog box prompting you to select the type of driver:
- Select the option for the operating system to locate the correct driver.
- Repeat the previous step for all three devices.
When all three drivers are installed, the following devices should be configured under the Dell Remote Service Card device:
- DRSC Port
- PCI Function 0
- PCI Function 2
- Restart the Dell Remote Service from the services menu or reboot the system to
implement these changes.
You install the racadm CLI utility on a management station running Red Hat Linux so that the remote racadm functions can be used.
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NOTE: The racadm CLI utility is installed automatically for all other supported
operating systems when you install the Systems Management CD.
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To install the racadm CLI utility, insert the Systems Management CD in the management station's CD drive and enter the following commands from a command prompt:
mount /mnt/cdrom
cd /mnt/cdrom/rac20/linux
rpm -ivh racadm-2.0-1.i386.rpm
For help with the racadm command, enter the man racadm or racadm help command after issuing the previous commands. For more information about racadm features, see the Racadm User's Guide.
You can uninstall the racadm CLI utility by issuing the following command from a command prompt:
- rpm -e racadm
This section contains procedures for configuring RAS on the following systems:
- Management stations running Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003
- Management stations running Windows 2000
- Click the Start button and right-click My Computer.
- Click Manage.
- Double-click Services and Applications.
- Double-click Services.
- If the Startup Type column for Routing and Remote Access is not set to Automatic,
right-click Routing and Remote Access.
- Click Properties.
- In the Routing and Remote Access (Local Computer) dialog box, click the down
arrow on the Startup Type drop-down menu.
- Click Automatic.
- Click Apply.
- Click OK.
- If the Status column for Routing and Remote Access does not show Started, right-
click Routing and Remote Access and click Start.
The Routing and Remote Access service should start automatically on subsequent restarts of the management station.
- Right-click My Computer.
- Click Manage.
- Double-click Services and Applications.
- Double-click Services.
- If the Startup Type column for Routing and Remote Access is not set to Automatic,
right click Routing and Remote Access.
- Click Properties.
- In the Routing and Remote Access (Local Computer) dialog box, click the down
arrow on the Startup Type drop-down menu.
- Click Automatic.
- Click Apply.
- Click OK.
- If the Status column for Routing and Remote Access does not show Started, right-
click Routing and Remote Access and click Start.
The Routing and Remote Access service should start automatically on subsequent restarts of the management station.
You can configure the DRAC III to dial out to a management station when an event occurs. In this situation, RAS on the management station assigns the IP addresses. You can configure RAS on the management station to use DHCP or to use a static address pool.
PPP authentication occurs at the time of negotiation with RAS. To allow the DRAC III to dial out to a management station for alert notification, you must create an account on the management station with the demand dial-out entry remote user name and password configured in the DRAC III for this connection.
To change the managed system's PPP server IP address to use another network, use the Racadm CLI utility according to the following sample entry:
racadm config -g cfgRacTuning -o cfgRacTuneMnNwIpAddrBase
<new_ip>
where <new_ip> is the IP address of the new network.
For more information about using the Racadm CLI utility, see the Racadm User's Guide.
RACs contain an integrated 10BASE-T/100BASE-T Ethernet NIC (10BASE-T only for ERA/O on the PowerEdge 1650). The NIC has a default address of 192.168.20.1 and a default gateway of 192.168.20.1.
It is possible to configure a limited number of RAC network settings using the RAC Option ROM utility.
To access the Option ROM utility, during the managed system's boot press <Ctrl><D> within 5 seconds of the time the RAC banner, firmware version, and current NIC IP address are displayed. The Setup screen appears. Below the screen title is the Network Interface Properties menu.
This menu enables you to use a set of one-key-stroke menu options to select and change various parameters in the RAC NIC properties. The menu selections are not case sensitive.
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NOTE: Autonegotiation is enabled by default on the DRAC III/XT, ERA, and ERA/O
controllers, and cannot be changed; therefore, the NICs for these RACs operate at a
maximum of 100 Mb/s at half duplex only. If the DRAC III/XT, ERA, or ERA/O
controllers are connected directly to a network switch (without hubs in between), the
corresponding port on the switch should be set to autonegotiate to eliminate conflicts
and improve performance.
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The following is a list of the available option categories available through the Option ROM utility, including submenu options within each category.
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NOTE: When modifying any of the following options, you can use the <Esc> key
while entering the value to avoid modifying the current value. If you press <Option
Edit> and it toggles a setting (changes the setting between only two possible values),
press that key again to change the value back to the original. The <Esc> key cannot
undo a modification after a new value has been entered. The <Esc> key does not have
an effect on toggle options.
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- NIC TCP/IP Settings – Displays the current IP address, netmask, and gateway assigned to the RAC.
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NOTE: If DHCP is enabled on the card and something is wrong with the DHCP system, the
category displays Unavailable for each option, and the following message blinks below the
option labels:
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Waiting for response from DHCP Server
- NIC TCP/IP Configuration Options
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NOTE: If the RAC is configured to the same IP address as another NIC on the same
network, an IP address conflict occurs. The RAC stops responding to network commands
until the IP address is changed on the RAC. If the IP address conflict is resolved by
changing the address of the other NIC, the RAC must be reset.
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- Use DHCP is – Indicates whether the DHCP system has assigned the RAC IP address or whether the RAC is using a preset static IP address. The available settings are Enabled or Disabled. Press <D> to toggle the setting. When enabled, the three remaining options in this group are "dimmed-out" and do not display prominently. If disabled, the remaining options display at normal brightness.
- Static IP-Addr – Indicates the preset static IP address that the RAC uses if DHCP is disabled. The default is 192.168.20.1. Press <I> to change this address.
- Static Netmask – Indicates the preset static masked IP address of the RAC if DHCP is disabled. The default is 255.255.255.0. Press <N> to change this mask.
- Static Gateway – Indicates the preset static gateway (router or switch address) of the RAC address if DHCP is disabled. The default is 192.168.20.1. Press <G> to change the address.
- Ethernet Configuration Options (DRAC III only)
- NIC is – Indicates whether the RAC NIC setting is Enabled or Disabled. Press <E> to toggle the setting. When enabled, the RAC NIC can be used for remote access. You must enable this option to configure any of the remaining options on this screen. When disabled, all other options are "dimmed-out" and do not display prominently. If enabled, most or all of the remaining options display at normal brightness, depending upon the Use DHCP setting.
- Auto Negotiate – Indicates whether the DRAC III automatically configures LAN speed and duplex settings. The available settings are Enabled and Disabled. If not enabled, the user settings are used. Press <A> to toggle to this setting.
- LAN Speed Setting – Indicates the speed at which the DRAC III NIC is set to communicate. The available settings are 10 Base-T and 100 Base-T. 10BASE-T represents a communication speed of 10 Mb per second. 100BASE-T represents a speed of 100 Mb per second. Press <S> to toggle this setting. This option is "dimmed-out" when the Auto Negotiate setting is enabled.
- LAN Duplex Setting – Indicates the duplex setting of the RAC NIC. The available settings are Half Duplex and Full Duplex. When set to Half Duplex, the NIC communicates in one direction at a time, indicating that at any given moment it can either receive or transmit information, but not both. When set to Full Duplex, the NIC communicates in both directions simultaneously. Press <X> to toggle to this setting. This option is "dimmed-out" when the Auto Negotiate setting is enabled.
After you have made the changes you want, you can press <R> to save the changes and reboot the RAC, or you can press <Esc> to cancel all changes and exit the setup menu. If you decide to save your changes, the following message appears:
IMPORTANT: In order for your changes to take effect, they need
to be saved and the card needs to be reset. That should take
about 25 seconds. Your computer will then continue booting
normally.
Would you like to save the changes and reset the card now (<Y>
or <N>)?
Press <Y> to save the changes or <N> to return to the setup menu.
If connecting to the RAC Web-based remote access interface from a client system which connects to the Internet through a proxy server, you need to configure the Web browser to connect properly to the Web-based interface. The following sections provide configuration instructions for the following browsers supported by the RAC: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x or later, Mozilla 1.0.1 and 1.2.1, and Netscape Navigator 6.2.3 and 7.02.
- From the Internet Explorer main window, click Tools, and then click Internet
Options.
- From the Internet Options window, click the Connections tab.
- Under Local Area Network (LAN) settings, click LAN Settings.
- If the Use a proxy server box is checked, check the Bypass proxy server for local
addresses box.
- Click OK twice.
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NOTE: The Internet Explorer application embedded in the Windows Advanced Server
Limited Edition operating system does not support Java applets; therefore, it is not
possible to use the Advanced Server Limited Edition's Internet Explorer browser to
connect to a RAC over a LAN or the Internet.
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NOTICE: If you have installed Sun's Java SDK or JRE on your Windows Server 2003 or
Windows 2000 system, you must disable Sun's Java plug-in in Internet Explorer before you can
use the RAC remote access interface.
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To disable the plug-in, perform the following steps:
- Open Internet Explorer, click the Tools menu, and then select Internet Options.
- Click the Advanced tab and deselect the Sun Java Plug-In option.
- Click Apply, and then click OK.
If you have not installed Sun's Java SDK or JRE and you do not intend to use Sun's Java plug-in in Internet Explorer, you are asked if you want to use the plug-in in the browser if you install Sun's Java SDK.
- Click No or deselect the Internet Explorer box and follow the online instructions.
After installing Internet Explorer 5.x or later, you may notice that the automatic configuration and proxy setting information for each connection is separate from the same information used for the LAN connection. If you are using a dial-up and a LAN connection simultaneously, Internet Explorer may block your access to the Internet.
This blocking occurs because each connection in Internet Explorer 5.0 uses its own automatic configuration and proxy settings. When this has occurred and a user tries to establish any kind of PPP connection, Internet Explorer attempts to use the dial-up connection settings to access the Internet.
To correct this problem, perform one of the following steps:
- If you are using Internet Explorer version 5.0, 5.01 or 5.5 (SP1), you must update your browser to Internet Explorer 5.5 (SP2). You must stop the RAC service before running the update. The update is available at windowsupdate.com.
- If you are using Internet Explorer version 5.5 (SP2) or later, apply the lanpatch.reg registry patch by double-clicking the lanpatch.reg file. This patch is copied to the managed system during the installation of the RAC managed system software in the default directory <installation path>\rac\mn. Apply the patch for each user account on the system running Internet Explorer.
You must install Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to use the Mozilla Web browser. Perform the following instructions to install JRE:
- Launch the installation script by using the following commands from the directory in
which the script is located:
chmod a+x j2re-1_4_<version number>-linux-i586-rpm.bin
./j2re-1_4_<version number>-linux-i586-rpm.bin
The script displays a binary license agreement, which you are prompted to accept before continuing the installation. After you have accepted the license agreement, the installation script creates the file j2re-1_4_<version number>-linux-i586.rpm in the current directory.
- To become the root user, run the su command and enter the power-user password.
- Run the following rpm command to install the packages. This command installs the
packages comprising the Java 2 Runtime Environment (J2RE):
rpm -iv j2re-1_4<version number>-linux-i586.rpm
Only one Java plug-in can be registered at a time. If you have never registered a Java plug-in, go to the next step; otherwise, go to step 5.
Most Mozilla installations use symbolic links to where the Java plug-in is located. The name of the symbolic link is libjavaplugin_oji.so and it can be found in the /plugins subdirectory of Mozilla.
For example:
cd /usr/lib/mozilla<version number>/plugins
rm libjavaplugin_oji.so
- Register the Java plug-in.
Locate the libjavaplugin_oji.so file in the j2re1.4<version number> directory. Usually it is located in the /i386/ns600 or /i386/ns610 subdirectory. Use the create a symbolic link feature in Mozilla that points to the libjavaplugin_oji.so file in the /i386/ns610 subdirectory.
For example:
cd <Mozilla>/plugins
ln s j2re1.4<version number>/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji.so libjavaplugin_oji.so
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NOTE: Create the link using the "/plugins" subdirectory of Mozilla. You cannot create the
link from <JRE> directory.
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- Start Mozilla and go to Tools® Web Development® Java Console.
The version of JRE is displayed at the top of the Java Console window. If the version that is shown is not the same as the one you downloaded, then registering did not work. The same is true if the Java Console menu option is grayed out.
Netscape Navigator 6.2.3 or later requires Java Virtual Machine (JVM) 1.4 or later for both Windows and Red Hat Linux operating systems.
If you use Netscape Navigator 6.2.3 (or later), you need to select Full Install when you install Netscape Navigator on your system. This selection allows you to get the JVM needed to execute the RAC Java applets. Otherwise, you cannot access the RAC Web-based interface using Netscape Navigator. If you already have Netscape Navigator 6.2.3 (or later) installed, you need to uninstall and reinstall it, ensuring that the Full Install option is selected.
This section provides information on accessing a RAC after the hardware is installed (if applicable) and the software is configured.
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NOTE: The RAC default user name is root and the default password is calvin. The
default domain is Local_RAC.
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NOTE: To view localized versions of the remote access interface on Windows
operating systems, open the Windows control panel and select Regional Options. Next,
select the desired location from the Your locale (location) drop-down menu.
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You can access the RAC Web-based remote access interface through the RAC NIC using Server Administrator or a supported Web browser, or you can access the RAC locally or remotely using the racadm CLI utility.
To access the RAC remote access interface using Server Administrator, first launch Server Administrator. From the system tree on the left pane of the Server Administrator home page, click System® Main System Chassis® Remote Access Controller. For more information about using Server Administrator remote access features, see your Server Administrator User's Guide.
To access the RAC using a supported Web browser, type the IP address of the RAC. Log in with your RAC user name and password (the default user name and password is root and calvin, and the default domain is Local_RAC). For more information about using the RAC remote access interface, see the remote access interface online help.
For information about accessing the RAC using the Racadm CLI utility, see the Racadm User's Guide.
For more information about updating your controller firmware, see your Racadm User's Guide or your Web-based interface online help. After you perform a firmware upgrade, perform the following instructions to clear the Web browser cache to ensure that all new GUI pages are loaded.
- From the dropdown menu, select Tools® Internet Options.
- In the Internet Options window under Temporary Internet Files, click Delete Files....
- Click the Delete all offline content box.
- Click OK twice.
- Close and restart the browser.
- From the dropdown menu, select Edit Preferences.
- In the Preferences window, select Advance® Cache.
- Click Clear Disk Cache.
- Click Clear Memory Cache.
- Click OK.
- Close and restart the browser.
The following list describes basic software information for using a RAC with the Red Hat Linux operating system:
- To verify that the RAC driver is loaded, type the following command:
service racser status
- To verify that the RAC event server for the managed system is loaded, type the following command:
service racsrvc status
- To start, stop, get status of, load, or unload the racser service, type the following command:
service racser <action>
where <action> is start, stop, status, load, or unload.
- For additional information on one of the three RAC services, type the following command:
man <service>
where <service> is racser, racvnc, or racsrvc.
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NOTE: All three services (racser, racsrvc, and racvnc) start automatically when they
are installed and when the system is booted. These services stop automatically when
they are uninstalled or when the system is shut down.
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- To determine which version of a particular RPM package you have installed, use a package management tool such as GnoRPM, or use the RPM query command (rpm -q). For example:
rpm -q <package_name>
- To determine which files were installed and where they are located, type the following command:
rpm -ql <package_name>
- To remove a package, type the following command:
rpm -e <package_name>
RACs are supported on precompiled kernels that are a part of the Red Hat Linux distribution. RACs are not supported on recompiled kernels with other configuration options (for example, kernels configured for performance-tuning purposes).
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NOTICE: The Red Hat Linux operating system may fail to load when started on recompiled
kernels. If this situation occurs, you must either restore the kernel and modules from backup, or
you must reinstall the kernel from the Red Hat RPM packages.
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Updating the System BIOS