Users Guide

Recovering iDRAC

iDRAC supports two operating system images to make sure a bootable iDRAC. In the event of an

unforeseen catastrophic error and you lose both boot paths:

• iDRAC bootloader detects that there is no bootable image.

• System Health and Identify LED is flashed at ~1/2 second rate. (LED is located on the back of a rack

and tower servers and on the front of a blade server.)

• Bootloader is now polling the SD card slot.

• Format an SD card with FAT using a Windows operating system, or EXT3 using a Linux operating

system.

• Copy firmimg.d7 to the SD card.

• Insert the SD card into the server.

• Bootloader detects the SD card, turns the flashing LED to solid amber, reads the firmimg.d7,

reprograms iDRAC, and then reboots iDRAC.

Using TFTP server

You can use Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server to upgrade or downgrade iDRAC firmware or

install certificates. It is used in SM-CLP and RACADM command-line interfaces to transfer files to and

from iDRAC. The TFTP server must be accessible using an iDRAC IP address or DNS name.

NOTE: If you use iDRAC web interface to transfer certificates and update firmware, TFTP server is

not required.

You can use the netstat -a command on Windows or Linux operating systems to see if a TFTP server

is running. The default port for TFTP is 69. If TFTP server is not running, do one of the following:

• Find another computer on the network running a TFTP service.

• Install a TFTP server on the operating system.

Backing up server profile

You can back up the system configuration, including the installed firmware images on various

components such as BIOS, RAID, NIC, iDRAC, Lifecycle Controller, and Network Daughter Cards (NDCs)

and the configuration settings of those components. The backup operation also includes the hard disk

configuration data, motherboard, and replaced parts. The backup creates a single file that you can save to

a vFlash SD card or network share (CIFS or NFS).

You can also enable and schedule periodic backups of the firmware and server configuration based on a

certain day, week, or month.

Backup feature is licensed and is available with iDRAC Enterprise license.

NOTE: In 13th generation servers, this feature is automatically enabled.

Before performing a backup operation, make sure that:

• Collect System Inventory On Reboot (CSIOR) option is enabled. If you initiate a back operation while

CSIOR is disabled, the following message is displayed:

System Inventory with iDRAC may be stale,start CSIOR for updated inventory