Dell EMC iDRAC Service Module 4.2.0.0 User’s Guide

Frequently asked questions

This section lists some frequently asked questions about the iDRAC Service Module (iSM).

iSM communication with iDRAC switches from IPv4 protocol to IPv6 protocol

iSM communication with iDRAC switches from IPv4 to IPv6 protocol, when you run ifconfig iDRAC down, when iSM is communicating with iDRAC through IPv4.

Table 1. The change in protocol when you run the commandThe following table describes the change in protocol when you run the command:
Feature/Protocol	IPv4 on Linux	IPv4 on Windows	IPv6 on Linux	IPv6 on Windows
OS information	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
WMI	N/A	Yes	N/A	Yes
SupportAssist	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Invoke-iDRACLauncher	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Invoke-iDRACHardReset	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Invoke-VirtualPowerCycle	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Host SNMP Get	Yes	Yes	No	No
In-Band SNMP Traps	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
In-Band OMSA SNMP Traps	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
iDRAC SSO Launcher	Yes	Yes	Yes(ULA)	Yes(ULA)
Auto System Recovery	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
iDRAC In-Band Access	Yes	Yes	No	No
iSM Auto Update	Yes	Yes	No	No
NVMe Prepare to Remove	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Server Storage Correlation	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
S.M.A.R.T logs on AHCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Software RAID	N/A	Yes	N/A	Yes
Isolation of OS to iDRAC Pass-through Independent feature	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Multiple iDRAC SSO sessions are active over both IPv4 and ULA address

When user changes the IPv4 or ULA address in the iSM, multiple sessions are created. The old IP address is eventually deleted.

Workaround: Manually delete the old IP address.

Must I uninstall OpenManage Server Administrator before installing or running iSM?

No. Before you install or run the iSM, however, ensure that you have stopped the features of OpenManage Server Administrator that the iSM provides.

NOTE Uninstalling the OpenManage Server Administrator is not required.

The iDRAC GUI launcher fails and 400-Bad Request error is displayed while accessing via OS2iDRAC.

When the HostHeaderCheck property is enabled on iDRAC, the following iSM features are not functional:

iDRAC access via Host Route
WSMAN and Redfish via Host Route
Remote Racadm via Host Route

To enable the feature, use the command, racadm set iDRAC.WebServer.HostHeaderCheck Disabled

To check the status of web server property, use the command, racadm get iDRAC.WebServer.HostHeaderCheck

For more information about this property, see, DSA-2021-041: Dell iDRAC8 Security Update for a host header injection vulnerability.

How do I know that the iSM is running on my system?

To verify that the iSM is installed on your system,

On Microsoft Windows operating system, run the command service.msc. Check the list of services for the service named DSM iDRAC Service Module.
On Linux operating system, run the command /etc/init.d/dcismeng status. If iSM is installed and running, the status is displayed as running.
On VMware ESXi operating system, run the command /etc/init.d/dcism-netmon-watchdog status. If iSM is installed and running, the status is displayed as running.

NOTE Use the systemctl status dcismeng.service command instead of the init.d command to check if the iSM is installed on Red Hat Enterprise Linux or SUSE Linux operating systems.

How do I know which version of the iSM I have on my system?

To check the version of the iSM installed on the system, click Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features. The version of the installed iSM is listed in the Version tab. You can also check the version by go to My Computer > Uninstall or change a program.

On the Linux operating system, run the following command:

rpm -qa | grep dcism

On the VMware ESXi operating system, run the following command:

esxcli software vib get --vibname=dcism

What is the minimum permission level required to install iSM?

To install iSM, you must have operating system administrator level privileges.

I see the message "The iSM is unable to communicate with iDRAC using the OS to iDRAC Pass-through channel" in the operating system log files, even when the OS to iDRAC Pass-through over USBNIC is configured properly. Why do I get this message?

iSM uses the OS to iDRAC Pass-through over USBNIC to establish communication with iDRAC. Sometimes, the communication is not established though the USBNIC interface is configured with correct IP endpoints. This may happen when the host operating system routing table has multiple entries for the same destination mask and the USBNIC destination is not listed as the first one in routing order.

Table 2. Routing order detailsThe following table provides information about the routing order.
Destination	Gateway	Genmask	Flags	Metric	Use Iface
default	10.94.148.1	0.0.0.0	UG	1024	0 em1
10.94.148.0	0.0.0.0	255.255.255.0	U	0	0 em1
link-local	0.0.0.0	255.255.255.0	U	0	0 em1
link-local	0.0.0.0	255.255.255.0	U	0	0 enp0s20u12u3

In the example enp0s20u12u3 is the USBNIC interface. The link-local destination mask is repeated, and the USBNIC is not the first one listed. This results in the connectivity issue between iSM and iDRAC over the OS to iDRAC Pass-through. To troubleshoot the connectivity issue, ensure that the iDRAC USBNIC IPv4 address—by default it is 169.254.1.1—is reachable from the host operating system. If it is not reachable from the host operating system do one of the following:

Change the iDRAC USBNIC address on a unique destination mask.
Delete the unwanted entries from the routing table to ensure that USBNIC is chosen by route when the host wants to reach the iDRAC USBNIC IPv4 address.

Whenever I try to install iSM, the following error message is displayed: This operating system is not supported.

iSM can be installed only on supported operating systems. For information about operating systems that are supported, see Supported operating systems.

I used the remote iDRAC hard reset feature to reset the iDRAC. However, the IPMI is unresponsive and I am not able to troubleshoot.

If you try to use the remote iDRAC hard reset feature on VMware ESXi operating system the IPMI drivers becomes unresponsive, and because of this the iSM communication is stopped. You may have to reboot the server and load the IPMI driver again to resolve the issue.

Where do I find the Replicated LifeCycle log on my operating system?

To view the replicated Lifecycle log files:

Table 3. Operating system and locationOperating system location.
Operating System	Location
Microsoft Windows	Event viewer > Windows Logs > <Existing group or Custom folder>. All the iSM Lifecycle log files are replicated under the source name iDRAC Service Module.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Linux	/var/log/messages
VMware ESXi	/var/log/syslog.log
Ubuntu	/var/log/syslog

What is the default SNMP protocol configured in iSM to send alerts in Linux operating systems?

By default, the SNMP multiplexing protocol (SMUX) is configured in iSM to send alerts.

SMUX is not supported on my system. Which protocol should I configure to send alerts?

If SMUX is not supported on your system, Agent-x is used as a default protocol.

How do I configure iSM to use the Agent-x protocol to send alerts by default?

You can configure Agent-x as the default protocol using ./Enable-iDRACSNMPTrap.sh 1/agentx –force command. If –force is not specified, ensure that the net-SNMP is configured and restarts the snmpd service.

What are the Linux-dependent packages or executables I should install while completing the Linux installation?

To view the list of Linux-dependent packages, see Linux dependencies.

I created a custom folder in Windows Event Viewer, but the Lifecycle log files are not replicated in my custom folder. What do I have to do now to replicate the Lifecycle log files?

Ensure that you close the Windows Event Viewer after creating the custom folder. Open the Windows Event Viewer again to view the replicated Lifecycle log files.

I chose the custom install option from the Graphical User Interface during iSM installation and disabled a feature, but I am not able to enable the feature using any of the other interfaces. How do I enable the feature again?

On systems running Microsoft Windows, a feature that is enabled using the installer and disabled using any interface other than the installer can only be enabled using the same interface or the installer in Graphical User Interface mode.

For example, you may not be able to enable a feature that was disabled from the Graphical User Interface during iSM installation using the RACADM CLI commands.

I am not able to access the iDRAC page through the host operating system as an Active Directory user over LDAP. I am trying to access the iDRAC page through the host operating system, but I get an error saying that the site cannot be reached. How do I troubleshoot the issue?

When you are trying to access the iDRAC page through the host operating system, you may get an error saying that the site cannot be reached. Ensure that the iDRAC network is configured for authentication as an LDAP user. You can also log in as a local user or a guest.

I am not able to access the iDRAC page through the host operating system after performing an iDRAC factory reset operation such as racadm racresetcfg. How do I troubleshoot the issue?

Ensure that the OS to iDRAC Pass-through channel is enabled. By default, it is disabled in factory mode. To enable the OS to iDRAC Pass-through channel on iDRAC, use the following command: racadm set idrac.os-bmc.adminstate 1.

I am seeing 169.254.0.2 as the source IP address in the iDRAC SNMP trap received through iSM. How do I troubleshoot the issue?

On the Linux operating system, the iDRAC SNMP traps received through the host operating system displays the hostname or source IP address as 169.254.0.2 instead of the actual host operating system name or IP address. This is determined by the operating system to populate the entry before rendering the trap to the user.

I have configured my OS to iDRAC Pass-through to LOM and when I try to run dcism-sync, the update operation fails. What can be done?

OS to iDRAC Pass-through must be configured to use USB-NIC mode. This is a pre-requisite for iSM installation and update.

I can enable or disable the WMIInfo feature of iSM on Linux and VMware ESXi using RACADM and WS-Man commands. Does this impact my iSM configuration on the host operating system?

The WMIInfo feature of iSM is applicable only to Microsoft Windows operating systems. However, enabling or disabling this feature from any of the iDRAC interfaces on any operating system other than Microsoft Windows does not impact the iSM configuration on the host operating system.

If I delete the IP address of the USBNIC interface on the host operating system, then iSM is unable to communicate with iDRAC.

The iSM configures the host operating system USBNIC interface only once. Later, if you bring down the USBNIC interface on the host operating system by deleting the IP address, making the interface link down or disabling the IPV4 or IPV6 address on this interface, then iSM will retain the user configuration and does not override the interface settings. To restore the communication between iSM and iDRAC, restart the iSM service on the host operating system.

After installing iSM using the batch file ISM_Win.BAT from the iDRAC exposed logical partition "SMINST" on Microsoft Windows operating system, I see a console message saying "The system cannot find the file specified."

After iSM is installed successfully, the logical partition SMINST is unmounted from the host operating system. This message appears if the BAT script is invoked from the SMINST partition itself. The installation is successful. No action is required by the user.

If dependent packages for iSM are not present on Ubuntu operating system, then installation through operating system DUP installs iSM in install+unpacked state.

You can verify this using the below command:

#dpkg -s dcism

Package: dcism

Status: install ok unpacked

To fix this issue, run the command apt-get install -f. This installs dependent packages.

When I install iSM 3.4.0 or later on Linux operating systems such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, I see some messages in operating system logs such as G_IS_SIMPLE_ACTION (simple)' failed: failed to rescan: Failed to parse /usr/share/applications/iDRACGUILauncher.desktop file: cannot process file of type application/x-desktop.

The messages are related to the GNOME desktop manager. Various operating system groups have Bugzilla items to address this scenario. For example, https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1594177. No action is required by the user.

I see a blank terminal on Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system when I click iDRAC GUI Launcher shortcut from Menu > Accessories.

The visibility of text on the terminal depends on the GNOME version running on the resident operating system. An alternative is to run the launcher from a UI-capable shell. For example, bash#> sh /opt/dell/srvadmin/iSM/bin/iDRACLauncher.sh as a sudo user.

In case, the OS to iDRAC Pass-through is disabled in iDRAC, you see a blank terminal when the iDRAC UI is launched from the Linux operating system such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x and 8.x. Select y or Y, and press Enter to indicate configuration of USBNIC interface on the host operating system.

Alternatively, you can enable the OS to iDRAC Pass-through in iDRAC in USBNIC mode and rerun the iDRAC launcher from the host operating system.

When I try to launch Single Sign-on feature in a pure IPv6 environment, the iDRAC UI session does not launch and a blank screen is displayed.

By default, the USB_NIC device has IPv4 (link-local) and IPv6 (link-local) addresses along with a ULA address. Ensure that all the three IP addresses are present in the USB_NIC device. If the ULA address is not present, verify that the device IPv6 protocol setting is set to Disable or Link local state. It must be in automatic mode for the Single Sign-on feature to work.

iSM Host SNMP OMSA alert is enabled even when the parent iSM Host SNMP alert is disabled.

To disable the iSM Host SNMP OMSA alert feature, you must first enable the parent iSM Host SNMP alert and then disable the child iSM Host SNMP OMSA alert feature.

The iSM Host SNMP OMSA alert feature can be disabled using one of the following options:

RACADM interface
iSM installer for operating system, where it is supported.

iDRAC to OMSA SNMP alert mapping gets enabled when OMSA is running.

To disable iSM Host SNMP OMSA alert, restart the iDRAC Service Module.

"Signature not okay" (GPG key) error message is displayed during the installation of iSM on Linux operating system.

Install the Gnu Privacy Guard (GPG) key to verify the Linux DUP digital signature on your system. To install the GPG key, complete the following steps:

To download the GPG key, run the following command:

wget https://linux.dell.com//repo/pgp_pubkeys/0x1285491434D8786F.asc -O RPM-GPG-KEY

To import the public key to the gpg trust database, run the following command:
```
rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY
```
Retry the installation.

How does iSM communicate with iDRAC?

iSM communicates with iDRAC using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) over Transmission Connect Protocol (TCP) in a client-server model. The communication is a point-to-point connection using link-local IP address. The interface supports both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. Both the iDRAC and host USBNIC interface addresses must be within the same subnet.

For example, if iDRAC USBNIC interface is configured as 169.254.1.1 with subnet 255.255.255.0, then the USBNIC interface on the host must be configured as 169.254.1.2 with subnet 255.255.255.0. Ensure that there are no IP address conflicts between any two interfaces on the host operating system.

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