iDRACs and local time

Question

Hi,

I've always believed that when NTP or local time is set on an iDRAC the time set is for the iDRAC itself. ie used for iDRAC local logs etc, and that the iDRAC is a self contained unit within a DELL server..

is that a correct assumption?

I was discussing this with a colleague today and we wondered if the iDRAC set time could 'leak-out' to the local BIOS and continue to 'leak-out' and up the stack to the server OS? (centos in this case)

could anyone clarify how time or local settings work on the iDRACs please..

Apologies in advanced if this sounds rather noddy!

karthikv912 · Answer

Hello,

The system BIOS time does not synchronize with the Operating System Time.

It NTP is not configured or unreachable it will use the system BIOS time.

So idrac either gets its time from an NTP server or from BIOS.

In idrac when we click on the question mark ( ? ) help page where we set the NTP server details it will explain the settings.

Hope this helps you .

Thanks,

Karthik

Sridhar_P · Answer

Hi, Try to change the Time on your Host OS(eg: Windows), then change the Time from BIOS miscellaneous settings.   Thanks, Sridhar

qdat nguyen · Answer

I have some questions on a PowerEdge System BIOS time and iDRAC time.

Is there a way to change System BIOS time using command line such as racadm (iDRAC)? I want to avoid reboot a server and get into its BIOS
Is there a way to sync the two up?
I need to sync a System BIOS time on a few PowerEdge servers (VxRail nodes to be exact) to deploy VxRail. So I would like to learn a quick way to do this.

Thanks,

Dat

Dell-DylanJ · Answer

Hello,

Not having worked on VxRail appliances in the past, I'd encourage you to run any suggestions passed a VxRail support person. That being said, I believe the iDRAC in these should function largely the same. I think you'd have an easier time updating the clock using ESXi commands. Let me know what you think.

To set the system hardware clock:

To copy current system time to the hardware clock:
# hwclock --systohc --localtime

To manually set the hardware clock (follow the format below):
# hwclock --set --date "MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS"

DELL-Shine K · Answer

@qdat nguyen, Time on iDRAC can be managed using below methods

iDRAC will sync time with BIOS by default (Until unless NTP is configured on iDRAC). To change BIOS time you need to reboot the server. Once BIOS time is set properly, iDRAC will sync time with BIOS on next system reboot . Please make sure you are setting time zone on iDRAC properly.
Using NTP. You can configure iDRAC to sync time with NTP server. For this you need to configure NTP server setting in iDRAC and set appropriate time zone

Which server and iDRAC FW you have?

qdat nguyen · Answer

Hello Shine,

Thanks for replying.

I have VxRail P570F node with iDRAC FW version 4.22.00.201

I have configured NTP server in iDRAC settings. Does the NTP time overwrite the time in the System BIOS time? Or the two are independent from each other?

Dat

DELL-Shine K · Answer

Configuring NTP on iDRAC will not change BIOS time. Once NTP is enabled iDRAC start syncing time with NTP than BIOS. You still need to change BIOS time separately.

Systems Management General

iDRACs and local time

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