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Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 9 User's Guide

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Remote File Share

This feature is available only with the iDRAC Enterprise or Datacenter license.

Remote File Share 1 (RFS1)

The Remote File Share 1 (RFS1) feature uses the Virtual Media Implementation in iDRAC.

When an image file is mounted using the RFS1 feature, both the Virtual Media virtual disk drives are visible to the host operating system. If an .img file is mapped, and then the floppy/hard disk Virtual drive is used to present the image file to the operating system. If an .iso file is mapped, and then the CD/DVD Virtual drive is used to present the image file to the operating system. The unused Virtual drive appears as an empty drive to the operating system. The Virtual Media client can map images or hard drives to both Virtual drives, but RFS can use only one at a time. RFS and Virtual Media features are mutually exclusive.

NOTE:
  • RFS1 appears as Virtual Optical or Floppy Drive when there is no active Virtual Media Session, based on image attached.

  • RFS1 appears as Virtual Network File 1 when there is active Virtual Media Session, as Virtual Optical Drive and Virtual Floppy Drives are consumed with Virtual Media.

Enter all the required information and click Connect to connect to the RFS1. To disconnect from RFS1, click Disconnect. To know more about the required field information, please see Online Help in iDRAC GUI.

NOTE:
  • Basic auth and Digest auth for HTTP/HTTPS shares are supported.
  • Connect is disabled if the RFS feature is not licensed. Disconnect option is always available regardless of the license status. Click Disconnect to disconnect an existing RFS connection.

Scenarios

  • If the Virtual Media client has not been launched and if you attempt to establish an RFS connection, the connection is established, and the Remote image is available to the host operating system.
  • If the RFS connection is not active and if you attempt to launch the Virtual Media client, the client launches successfully. You can then use the Virtual Media client to map devices and files to the Virtual Media virtual drives.
  • If the RFS1 Session is active, and you attempt to establish an vMedia connection, then vMedia Connection is denied.
  • If the Virtual Media client is active, and you attempt to establish an RFS connection, it is possible that the Virtual Optical Drive/Virtual Floppy assigned to Virtual media and Virtual Network File1 gets assigned to RFS.

Remote File Share 2 (RFS2)

RFS2 is only supported from release version 6.00.02.00 onwards.

NOTE:RFS2 is not supported for PowerEdge R6415, PowerEdge R7415, and PowerEdge R7425 servers.

The Remote File Share 2 (RFS2) is independent of RFS1 and Virtual media. RFS2 has its own copy of attributes independent of RFS1. The RFS2 image option has the same behavior as the existing RFS1 on all the iDRAC interfaces. Both are allowed to connect/disconnect independently. RFS2 is controlled using Enabled/Disabled and Attach Mode RFS2 attributes.

To boot with RFS2 Virtual Network File 2, select Virtual Network File 2 from boot options. Virtual Media Boot Once has no impact on RFS2 when enabled.

Enter the required information and click Connect to connect to RFS2, and click Disconnect to disconnect from RFS2.

NOTE:When you upload/delete HTTPS certificate in RFS1, the certificate is uploaded/deleted in RFS2 as well. Because this certificate is for iDRAC's identity, and it remains same for multiple RFS or any shared connections.

The connection status for RFS is available in iDRAC log. Once connected, an RFS-mounted virtual drive does not disconnect even if you log out from iDRAC. The RFS connection is closed if iDRAC is reset or the network connection is dropped. The Web interface and command-line options are also available in CMCOME Modular and iDRAC to close the RFS connection. The RFS connection from CMC always overrides an existing RFS mount in iDRAC.

If you update the iDRAC firmware while there is an active RFS connection and the Virtual Media Attach Mode is set to Attach or Auto Attach, the iDRAC attempts to reestablish the RFS connection after the firmware upgrade is completed, and the iDRAC reboots.

If you update the iDRAC firmware while there is an active RFS connection and the Virtual Media Attach Mode is set to Detach, the iDRAC does not attempt to reestablish the RFS connection after the firmware upgrade is completed, and the iDRAC reboots.

NOTE:
  • CIFS and NFS support both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.
  • While connecting to a remote file share using IPv6 by providing an FQDN, IPv4 must be disabled on the HTTPS server.
  • When the iDRAC is configured with both IPv4 and IPv6, the DNS server can contain records associating the iDRAC hostname to both addresses. If IPv4 option is disabled in iDRAC, then iDRAC may not be able to access the external IPv6 share. This is because the DNS server may still contain IPv4 records, and DNS name resolution can return the IPv4 address. In such cases, it is recommended to delete the IPv4 DNS records from the DNS server, when disabling IPv4 option in iDRAC.
  • If you are using CIFS and are part of an Active Directory domain, enter the domain name with the IP address in the image file path.
  • If you want to access a file from an NFS share, configure the following share permissions. These permissions are required because iDRAC interfaces run in non-root mode.
    • Linux: Ensure that the share permissions are set to at least Read for the Others account.
    • Windows: Go to the Security tab of the share properties and add Everyone to Groups or user names field with Read & execute privilege.
  • If ESXi is running on the managed system and if you mount a floppy image (.img) using RFS, the connected floppy image is not available to the ESXi operating system.
  • iDRAC vFlash feature and RFS are not related.
  • Only English ASCII characters are supported in network share file paths.
  • The OS drive eject feature is not supported when virtual media is connected using RFS.
  • RFS through HTTP or HTTPS feature is not available on CMC web interface.
  • RFS may get disconnected when iDRAC IP is not reachable for more than 1 minute. Try to remount once the network is up.
  • While specifying the network share settings, it is recommended to avoid special characters for username, and password or percent encode the special characters.
  • The following characters are supported for User Name, Password, and the Image File Path fields:
    • A-Z
    • a-z
    • 0-9
    • Special characters: . _ - ? < > / \ :* | @
    • Whitespace
  • For HTTP, do not use the following characters: ! @ # % ^. These characters are supported on other share types. However, to maintain compatibility, use the recommended characters

Folder Mount though RFS

Starting from iDRAC release 6.10.00.00, iDRAC supports folder mount directly through RFS. This feature allows you to attach folder directly without converting to ISO/IMG File.

NOTE:
  • This feature is available with the iDRAC Enterprise or Datacenter license.
  • This feature is only supported in iDRAC with memory 1GB or more.
  • Folder attach is possible only through NFS and CIFS share. HTTP/HTTPS share is not supported.
  • The size of the NFS/CIFS Folder to be attached is limited to 1GB and maximum number of sub-folders is limited to 1000.
  • It is not possible to map an empty folder.

Following scenarios explains how RFS1 and RFS2 are listed in BIOS Boot order:

Scenario 1:

If Virtual media is already attached using virtual console, BIOS boot order reports devices as Virtual Optical or Virtual Floppy Drive depending on the image type. When RFS 1 device is attached, BIOS boot order reports it as Virtual Network File 1. For RFS 2 device, BIOS boot order reports it as Virtual Network File 2.

Scenario 2:

When no virtual media is attached, and you attach RFS 1 device, BIOS boot order reports it as Virtual Optical or Virtual Floppy Drive depending on image type. When you attach RFS 2 device, BIOS boot order reports it as Virtual Network File 2.

Scenario 3

When Virtual Media is not connected, and RFS1 is attached:
  • Virtual Optical Drive for ISO image
  • Virtual Floppy Drive For IMG image

virtual Media session is going to be blocked as RFS1 session is active.

When Virtual Media is connected and RFS1 is attached, RFS1 is listed as Virtual Network File 1 for both ISO/IMG Image. This is to maintain compatibility with existing vMedia and RFS, which allows only one at a time. RFS2 is listed as Virtual Network File 2 irrespective of Virtual Media and RFS1.

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