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Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 9 Version 3.21.21.21 User's Guide

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Managing remote file shares

Using Remote File Share (RFS) feature, you can set an ISO or IMG image file on a network share and make it available to the managed server’s operating system as a virtual drive by mounting it as a CD or DVD using NFS, CIFS, HTTP, or HTTPs. RFS is a licensed feature.

NOTE: RFS through HTTP or HTTPs is not supported

Remote file share supports only .img and .iso image file formats. A .img file is redirected as a virtual floppy and a .iso file is redirected as a virtual CDROM.

You must have Virtual Media privileges to perform an RFS mounting.

RFS and Virtual Media features are mutually exclusive.

  • If the Virtual Media client is not active, and you attempt to establish an RFS connection, the connection is established and the remote image is available to the host operating system.

  • If the Virtual Media client is active, and you attempt to establish an RFS connection, the following error message is displayed:

    Virtual Media is detached or redirected for the selected virtual drive.

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 CMC and iDRAC to close the RFS connection. The RFS connection from CMC always overrides an existing RFS mount in iDRAC.

NOTE:
  • CIFS supports both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and NFS supports only IPv4 address.
  • 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.

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