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16064
March 4th, 2014 14:00
PE and iDRAC Question
Hi all.
Currently using a whole number of Avocent IP KVM's together with Dell 1U pull out monitors for local and remote console access for 150+ PowerEdge servers, but it's becoming an expensive pain, not to mention a messy headache cable wise as they use bulky dongles and are prone to failure.
Want to now move to iDRAC which is in pretty much all our servers, we have 850's, 1950, 1850's, 2850's, 2950, 2900, 510, 515, R300, R200, R620, R710 etc - a real mixed bag.
I know very little about iDRAC, can you share a single NIC between iDRAC and the OS? or do you always have to use the CONSOLE NIC? Ideally I want to keep it simple as possible, reducing the amount of cabling.
Also if your running iDRAC what do you generally use for local console access? I was thinking about using a couple of old 750's connected to the 1U Dell KVM pull-out units with a basic OS / Browser.
Appreciate any tips you may have.
Thanks
Daniel My
12 Elder
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6.2K Posts
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March 4th, 2014 17:00
Hello
The DRAC 5 and older had their own network interface. The iDRAC 6 and later can either share an interface with the integrated LOM or use a dedicated interface if you have the enterprise version.
The iDRAC can be used for local console access if it is enterprise or later. All versions of the DRAC 5 and earlier are considered enterprise. On my lab servers I also have an iKVM connected to the server in case I encounter DRAC issues.
Thanks
mrpugster
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March 5th, 2014 02:00
Thanks Dan for the reply.
One thing I want to avoid is going the dual DRAC and iKVM route as the amount of traffic on our servers is minimal and most are Linux based.
On the whole do many people experience DRAC issues?
Cheers
Daniel My
12 Elder
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6.2K Posts
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March 5th, 2014 10:00
They do not fail often. The decision on whether or not to run redundant systems will be based on what your needs are. You will need to decide which matters more. Would the DRAC not being accessible during a server outage cause more issues than running a redundant KVM system to backup the DRAC?
Thanks