Data Domain: the value of iDRAC and configuring it

Most current DD models run on PowerEdge servers which have an iDRAC (Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller) module. It is separate from the rest of appliance and is accessible even when the appliance is powered off.

This iDRAC module is very useful for remote administration of the box. You can power cycle and watch the boot sequence using the iDRAC which is valuable if the DDOS crashes and prevents the need to send someone onsite to manually power cycle the box.

The iDRAC also monitors the hardware health and is useful for diagnosing any hardware issues on the Data Domain Appliance. There are quite a few scenarios where support requires iDRAC access to resolve an issue.

Customers should strive to connect iDRAC to their network and get it configured for remote support. There is a dedicated ethernet port for the iDRAC module on the back of the system.

Once the iDRAC has been physically connected to the customer's network, you can configure the IP settings in the DDOS with the ipmi command
(exception is the DD3300 model which requires support to use this internal KB: Data Domain : DD3300 configuring iDRAC with ipmitool  or you can access the BIOS physically and set idrac ip settings there: DataDomain: How to configure iDRAC on DD3300)

On all other DD models in DDOS:

ipmi config <port> {dhcp | ipaddress <ipaddr> netmask <mask> gateway <ipaddr>}
                                     Configure IPMI LAN interface using DHCP
                                     or static

For Example:
ipmi config bmc0a ipaddress 192.168.0.15 netmask 255.255.255.0 gateway 192.168.0.1

Once iDRAC ip settings have been configured, you can verify the configuration. For example:

sysadmin@DD6900-2# ipmi show config
Console: serial
Port    Enabled   DHCP   IP Address     Netmask         Gateway
-----   -------   ----   ------------   -------------   ----------
bmc0a   yes       no     10.60.36.126   255.255.255.0   10.60.36.1
-----   -------   ----   ------------   -------------   ----------
* Value from DHCP

You should be able to access the iDRAC GUI in a browser using that ip address.

The default login is root and password is the serial number of the DD which you can get with # system show serial in the DDOS

Other default logins:

root/abc123

root/calvin

Having iDRAC configured is very useful for support and can save lots of time and effort if it is configured ahead of time before an incident.