PowerEdge: Use racadm in iDRAC Tools from GuestOS-CentOS, RHEL, ESXi-to Interact with iDRAC

Symptoms:
iDRAC is not pinging, or the iDRAC web page is not loading.

Cause:
Resetting iDRAC to default or Upgrading iDRAC Firmware may cause this issue.

Resolution:

1. Download the iDRAC tool using the below links for the respective Operating System.

   • ESXi 6.5.x: Dell iDRAC Tools for VMware ESXi (R), v9.3.1 | Driver Details | Dell US
   • ESXi 6.7.x: Dell iDRAC Tools for VMware ESXi 6.7 U3 (R), v10.1.0.0 | Driver Details | Dell US
   • ESXi 7.0.x, ESXi 8.0.x: Dell iDRAC Tools for ESXi, v11.0.0.0 | Driver Details | Dell US
   • CentOS, RHEL: Dell iDRAC Tools for Linux, v9.4.0 | Driver Details | Dell US
2. For the ESXi operating system, a .zip file is downloaded. Follow the below steps to copy and install the iDRAC tools that are downloaded.
   1. Extract the .zip file and go to <extracted folder name >\vib20.
   2. Copy racadm folder to ESXi Host using WinSCP tool or any other similar tool in /tmp folder.
   3. Run the below command to verify if iDRAC tools (racadm) are already installed. If no output is displayed, it means it is not installed.

esxcli software vib list | grep -i racadm

4. Run the below command to install iDRAC tools (racadm). The output lists out if a reboot is required or not.

esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/racadm/<file_name.vib>

5. Once it is installed, use racadm commands for further troubleshooting.

3. For the CentOS, RHEL operating system, a .tar.gz file is downloaded. Follow the below steps to copy and install the iDRAC tools that are downloaded.
   1. Copy .tar.gz file to CentOS/RHEL Node using WinSCP tool or any other similar tool in /tmp folder
   2. Run below command on Node to extract iDRAC tools package to get.rpm files

cd /tmp/

tar -zxvf <filename>.tar.gz

3. All these files are extracted in a folder named iDRACTools. Use ls -l command to verify that.

4. To verify if iDRAC Tools (racadm) are already installed on the node or not, run rpm -qa | grep -i racadm. If no output is displayed, it means it is not installed.
5. Now go to iDRACTools/racadm folder and run install_racadm.sh file using below commands.

cd /tmp/iDRACTools/racadm

./Install_racadm.sh

6. Once the tool is installed open up a new SSH session or logout of SSH session and relogin to racadm commands for further troubleshooting. To check if the server requires reboot or not, run command needs-restarting -r; echo $?

7. To verify if the racadm package is installed successfully, run rpm -qa | grep -i racadm. If it lists out the package, then it means it is installed successfully.

4. To verify current network settings of iDRAC using racadm tool run command racadm getniccfg. Here, validate if IP address details are correct and if DHCP is set to disabled. See the below screenshot as an example.

5. If you notice that IP details are not correctly assigned or if DHCP is enabled, use the below command to assign IP address and disable DHCP:

• To set the IPv4 Address: racadm set iDRAC.IPv4Address <ip_address>
• To set IPv4 Netmask: racadm set iDRAC.IPv4Netmask <subnet_mask>
• To set an IPv4 Gateway: racadm set iDRAC.IPv4Gateway <gateway_ip>
• To disable DHCP: racadm set iDRAC.IPv4DHCPEnable 0

6. If you have to reset iDRAC from GuestOS, then use the below commands:

• Perform a soft reset of iDRAC: racadm racreset soft
• Perform a hard reset of the iDRAC: racadm racreset hard
• Force a soft reset of the iDRAC: racadm racreset soft -f
• Force a hard reset of the iDRAC: racadm racreset hard -f

7. For more racadm commands, run racadm help or to check for a specific command, run racadm <command> help
8. Remember to remove iDRACTools (racadm) from GuestOS (ESXi, RHEL, CentOS) especially if there is an HCI solution like PowerFlex, VxRail, so on it is recommended to remove iDRACTools (racadm) tools, or else it may cause Node upgrade to fail with automated process.
9. For ESXi operating system:

• To see if iDRACTools (racadm) is installed or not, run:

esxcli software vib list | grep -i racadm

• To remove iDRACTools (racadm), run:

esxcli software vib remove -n racadm

10. For RHEL, CentOS operating system:

• To verify if iDRACTools (racadm) is already installed on the node or not, run rpm -qa | grep -i racadm.. If no output is displayed, it means it is not installed.
• To remove iDRACTools (racadm) from the node, run uninstall_racadm.sh script which comes up with the iDRACTools tar.gz bundle.
• To run uninstall_racadm.sh script, go to iDRACTools folder and then run ./uninstall_racadm.sh

11. If the issue still persists, reach out to Dell Support for further assistance.