Skip to main content
Sign Out

Welcome to Dell

My Account
  • Place orders quickly and easily
  • View orders and track your shipping status
  • Create and access a list of your products
  • Manage your Dell EMC sites, products, and product-level contacts using Company Administration.
Sign In Create an Account Premier Sign In Partner Program Sign In
Contact Us

Dell Chassis Management Controller Version 2.0 for PowerEdge FX2 and FX2s User's Guide

PDF

Checklist to set up chassis

The following tasks enable you to accurately setup the chassis:
  1. The CMC and the management station, where you use your browser, must be on the same network, which is called the management network. Connect an Ethernet network cable from the port labelled GB1 to the management network.

    Management Network: CMC and the iDRAC (on each server) and the network management ports for the switch I/O module are connected to a common internal network in the PowerEdge FX2/FX2s chassis. This allows the management network to be isolated from the server data network.

    Application Network: Access to the managed servers is accomplished through network connections to the I/O module (IOM). This allows the application network to be isolated from the management network. It is important to separate this traffic for uninterrupted access to chassis management.

    NOTE It is recommended to isolate chassis management from the data network. Due to the potential of traffic on the data network, the management interfaces on the internal management network can be saturated by traffic intended for servers. This results in CMC and iDRAC communication delays. These delays may cause unpredictable chassis behavior, such as CMC displaying iDRAC as offline even when it is up and running, which in turn causes other unwanted behavior. If physically isolating the management network is impractical, the other option is to separate CMC and iDRAC traffic to a separate VLAN. CMC and individual iDRAC network interfaces can be configured to use a VLAN.
  2. The STK/Gb2 port can also be used for CMC NIC failover. Ensure that the CMC setting is changed from default Stacking to Redundant to implement NIC failover. For more information, see Configuring Management Port 2
    CAUTION Connecting the STK/Gb2 port to the management network will have unpredictable results if the CMC setting is not changed from default Stacking to Redundant, to implement NIC failover. In the default Stacking mode, cabling the Gb1 and STK/Gb2 ports to the same network (broadcast domain) can cause a broadcast storm. A broadcast storm can also occur if the CMC setting is changed to Redundant mode, but the cabling is daisy chained between chassis in the Stacking mode. Ensure that the cabling model matches the CMC setting for the intended usage.
  3. Install the I/O module in the chassis and connect the network cable to the I/O module.
  4. Insert the servers in the chassis.
  5. Connect the chassis to the power source.
  6. To power on the chassis, press the power button or use the following interfaces after completing the task 6. Using the Web interface, go to Chassis Overview > Power > Control > Power Control Options > Power On System. Click Apply.

    You can also power on the chassis using the command line interface, use racadm chassisaction powerup command to accomplish it.

    NOTE Do not turn on the servers.

  7. The default CMC network configuration is Static with the CMC IP address 192.168.0.120. If you want to change the network configuration to DHCP, connect a serial cable to serial port on the CMC. For more information on serial connection, refer to Serial interface/protocol setup in Using Remote Access Software From a Management Station section.

    After the serial connection is established, login and use the command racadm setniccfg —d to change the network configuration to DHCP. CMC takes 30 to 60 seconds approximately to obtain the IP address from the DHCP server.

    To view the DHCP assigned CMC IP address, use one of the following methods:

    • To view CMC IP address using serial connection with CMC, perform the following steps:
      1. Connect one end of the serial null modem cable to the serial connector on the back of the chassis.
      2. Connect the other end of the cable to the management system serial port.
      3. After the connection is established, login to CMC using default root account credentials.
      4. Run the racadm getniccfg command.

        In the output displayed, search for Current IP Address.

    • To view CMC IP address by connecting the server using KVM, perform the following steps:
      1. Connect to a server in the chassis using KVM.
        NOTE For more details on how to connect a server through KVM, see Accessing Server Using KVM.
      2. Turn on the server.
      3. Make sure the server is set to boot in Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) mode.
      4. Press F2 to access the System Setup page.

      5. In the System Setup page, click iDRAC Settings > System Summary.

        The CMC IP address is displayed in the Chassis Management Controller section.

        For more information about iDRAC Settings page in the iDRAC GUI, see the Dell Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) User’s Guide .

  8. Connect to the CMC IP address by using a web browser by typing the default root account credential.
  9. Configure iDRAC network settings as required. by default, iDRAC LAN is enabled with static IP configured. To determine the default static IP address with an Enterprise license, go to Server Overview > Setup > iDRAC. You can also determine the static IP address with an Express license. Go to Server Overview > Server-Slot > Setup > iDRAC.
  10. Provide the IO module with an external management IP address(if applicable) in the CMC web interface. You can get the IP address by clicking I/O Module Overview, and then clicking Setup.
  11. Connect to each iDRAC through the web interface using default root account credential to complete any necessary configuration.
  12. Turn on the servers and install the operating system.
NOTE The default local account credential is root (user name) and calvin (user password).

Rate this content

Accurate
Useful
Easy to understand
Was this article helpful?
0/3000 characters
  Please provide ratings (1-5 stars).
  Please provide ratings (1-5 stars).
  Please provide ratings (1-5 stars).
  Please select whether the article was helpful or not.
  Comments cannot contain these special characters: <>()\