R420 iDRAC7 not working when server off

Question

I have Dell R420 with iDRAC enterprise in my home lab however I don't have a dedicated management interface, it is using one of the onboard NICs for that.

However when I shutdown the system both onboard NICs go dark (i.e the LAN leds don't work anymore) and I can't connect to iDRAC or use WAL. The iDrac IP is not responsive at that stage and etherping can't reach that system.

As I keep those in a garage and not on all the time, any help to resolve that would be greatly appreciated. At the moment I reverted back to using smart-plug to control on/off but this is far from optimal.

Thanks in advance for any pointers

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Paul,

Sorry I missed that you didn't have the ports card, the issue is that it is required for powering and accessing the server when powered down. The reason being is that the deidcated port is what is kept alive when powered down, not the Loms. I

DELL-Charles R · Answer

Hello BelgarathS,   Yes I can confirm what Chris said about the port card. Also note you need an iDRAC Enterprise for the Dedicated port card to be active.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

BelgarathS,   Would you confirm what you are seeing in the iDrac settings under Network, specifically if the NIC is enabled and is the one you are trying?   Let me know what you see.

BelgarathS · Answer

ok, so basically without a dedicated port there is no way to make it working?

This is interesting as the USB ports have power when the system is off, the front chassis do to (i can navigate through the idrac setup from front panel and set IP and check errors) and the only thing that is fully powered down are network cards (which to me doesn't make any sense)

I also tried to use Wake-On-Lan for that but also to no effect as there is no network connection whatsoever.

Thank you for your answers

BelgarathS · Answer

I have iDRAC enterprise however I have no physical dedicated drac port on my R420.

Looks like I have to stay with a smart plug (I enabled that system to power on after the power is restored so quickly shutting down and turning up power actually powers the server on)

It is just insane that I need $5 plug to do the work idrac was meant to do because it doesn't work.

BelgarathS · Answer

Hi,

The NIC is enabled and I can connect to iDRAC remotely when the server is ON

image below is taken from the idrac web interface

I also tried LOM2 without effect.

The Network LEDs (tiny ones around network RJ45 connections) are dead when my server is powered off which I find awkward.

Best regards

Paul

DELL-Shine K · Answer

Can you update iDRAC, BIOS and NIC FW to latest and check the behavior? You can also reset the BIOS setting to default and see whether that make any difference.

PowerEdge Hardware General

R420 iDRAC7 not working when server off

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