Disable iDRAC6 on PowerEdge T110

If there is an option in the BIOS or BMC then yes, otherwise no. I seriously doubt there is since that is going to be an embedded device that handles hardware error reporting for the system.

I haven't seen an option, but I may not know what to look for. Does anyone know for sure?

If it isn't possible to completely disable iDRAC6 maybe it's possible to speed it up? Currently, it takes about 1.5 minutes to get through "initializing".  This seems like a really long time.

I'll throw in a second, this is annoying how do I turn this feature off, post.

I'm guessing you already called Dell technical support?

We just received our 4th T110 and have run into the same issue where it spends nearly 2 minutes at the Initializing Remote Access Controller. During startup there is the Ctrl-E menu option for the BMC. I believe this is for the settings that affect the iDRAC however changing any of the settings in an effort to disable the feature does not seem to work. I have even changed it so there is no access which you would think would cause it to not even start.

Maybe next week I'll make a call to Dell but I'll be watching this in hopes of a resolution.

Here is the iDRAC6 manual.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smdrac3/idrac/idrac10mono/en/ug/html/index.htm

What I think is funny is that I do not see it mentioned anywhere that the T110 series even should have this feature on it.

Supported Platforms

The iDRAC6 supports the following PowerEdge systems:

• PowerEdge R710
  
• PowerEdge R610
  
• PowerEdge T610
  

For the latest supported platforms, check the iDRAC6 Readme file and the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Compatibility Guide at support.dell.com\manuals and on the Dell Systems Management Tools and Documentation DVD that was included with your system.

Thanks

I'll third this one.  It's not impeding the server from booting, so I'm not too upset.  I called support and  they were like "huh?" at first and  then ran off to do some testing.  Ten minutes of being on hold and I hung up.

Yeah, still haven't found a solution. Boot time is ridiculous though. 

Just wanted to bump this thread. Still haven't found a solution.  Any help out there?

The T110 uses only the BMC utility for Server Management. There happens to be no upgrade to an iDRAC6 Express or iDRAC6 Enterprise.  So the latency experienced is related to the initialization of the Lifecycle Controller (F10-system services in POST).

I advise making sure that you have the most up to date BIOS and BMC updates;

BIOS:

BMC:

Ummm, thanks.  Is this a generic "update to the latest release just because" or have there been changes made that directly address this issue?

My T110 arrived from the El Paso/Juarez factory yesterday [2/17/11] and exhibits the same problem.  Every time I reboot, I lose two minutes of my life...

My server arrived 2/18/11 (manufactured 2/10/11) and I had the same annoyance - little use for BMC and two minutes of wait on each reboot. I can confirm that updating the two firmwares, BIOS and BMC, solves the problem, but it's a tough update if you don't have one of Dell's preferred OSes installed. I had to install Windows 7 just to install the updates.

The BMC update actually mentions that initialization timing is the only issue that it resolves.

Dell can't you:

1. Ship hardware with the latest firmware
2. Provide a bootable .ISO and a method for putting it on a USB stick for firmware updates?

The ESXi instructions say to update BIOS before installing, but it's nearly impossible to do.

Thanks for the heads-up.  It looks like I'll be going through this when my T110 server comes in.  I appreciate it. 

When it comes to updates there are a few ways to help expedite the process when a new system comes in.  The SMTD and SUU DVD routes, on newer systems you can run the Lifecycle Controller update (F10-System Services).  Another route since you installed Windows 7 would be to use the OpenManage Live disk.  It boots to a custom CentOS environment, from there you can run the latest RHEL bin files. 

http://linux.dell.com/files/openmanage-contributions/omsa-64-live/OMSA64-CentOS55-x86_64-LiveCD.iso

I was unaware that OMSA works on Windows 7.  And besides, why install 7 on a powerEdge Server?  I got Windows 2008 R2 foundation with mine.  I can't wait for that.  But that's odd that iDRAC 6 would come on there if it's not advertized to.  Does that mean I'll have this issue too when my server comes in?

Oh boy.  looks like there's going to be a delay when I do the demo of my server next weekend.   I'll have to tell the rest of the crew.  But I don't get it.  if the T110 is not supposed to have any remote management support, then what's the DRAC doing on it anyway?

Thanks, but can you possibly make it a live link?  I can't click on it the way it is by copying it into the browser.  I can, but when I do, it gives me a file or directory not found error.