Dell™ Remote Access Configuration Tool for Microsoft® Windows® Operating Systems Version 1.
Notes and Cautions NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates potential damage to hardware or loss of data if instructions are not followed. __________________ Information in this document is subject to change without notice. © 2010 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of these materials in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.
Contents 1 Introducing Dell Remote Access Configuration Tool Supported RACs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Before You Begin 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Other Documents You May Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installing and Uninstalling DRACT Prerequisites 6 . . . . . . 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Installing DRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installing DRACT Using Installer (.
3 Discovering, Importing, and Verifying RACs Discovering RACs Importing RACs Verifying RACs 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 4 Updating RAC Firmware 5 Configuring RACs Using Microsoft Active Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . Configuring RACs Using AD Standard Schema 22 . . . . . . 25 . . . . . . . . . . . 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Introducing Dell Remote Access Configuration Tool 1 Dell™ Remote Access Configuration Tool (DRACT) discovers and configures Remote Access Controllers (RACs) for systems on your network from a single console. You can use this tool to perform the following: • Discover or import RAC IP addresses on the network. • Update firmware for selected RAC IP addresses. • Configure standard or extended schema-based Active Directory® (AD) settings for selected RAC IP addresses.
Before You Begin Before using DRACT, ensure that you have performed the following to use the AD authentication feature: • Deploy AD infrastructure. See the Microsoft website for information on how to set up an AD infrastructure. • Setup the standard Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) mechanism. RACs use the PKI mechanism to authenticate securely into the AD; therefore, an integrated PKI into the AD infrastructure is required. See the Microsoft website for more information on the PKI setup.
• The Dell Remote Access Controller 5 Firmware User’s Guide provides complete information about installing and configuring a DRAC 5 controller and using DRAC 5 to remotely access an inoperable system. • The Dell Remote Access Controller 4 User’s Guide provides complete information about installing and configuring a DRAC 4 controller and using DRAC 4 to remotely access an inoperable system.
Introducing Dell Remote Access Configuration Tool
2 Installing and Uninstalling DRACT This section provides information about how to install and set up DRACT on your system. Prerequisites The prerequisites to install and run DRACT on your system are: • Install .Net Framework version 2.0 SP1 (or later). • Download the DRACT installer file (.msi) from the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. • A user account with installation and execution privileges.
5 Select one of the following user access options: • Everyone - Install the software for anyone who uses the system • Just me - Install the software for the current user account 6 Click Next. The Confirm Installation window is displayed. 7 Click Next to start the installation. After the installation is complete, the Installation Complete window is displayed. 8 Click Close to exit the application.
Uninstalling DRACT You can uninstall DRACT in one of the following ways: • Using DRACT installer (.msi) file • Using Control Panel • Using CLI Uninstalling DRACT Using Installer (.msi) File Ensure that you have the DRACT installer file on your system. If you do not have the installer file, you can download it from the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. To uninstall DRACT: 1 Double-click the DRACT installer (.msi) file. The Welcome to Dell Remote Access Configuration Tool 1.
The Welcome window is displayed. Perform the steps provided in "Uninstalling DRACT Using Installer (.msi) File." Log File A log file is created and is available to you after you close the application. The log file logs events, and contains details of firmware update and configuration for each RAC. The log file is updated each time you use DRACT. The log file is available in the C:\temp folder. NOTE: The log file is created only if the C:\temp folder is available.
Discovering, Importing, and Verifying RACs 3 Firmware updates or configuring RACs requires discovery and verification of the RACs on the network. You can use DRACT to discover the RAC IP addresses or import a .csv file containing the RAC IP addresses that are discovered, and append the imported list of RAC IP addresses to the existing list. You can specify the RAC types you need to discover for a specific IP address or a range of IP addresses.
4 Select one or more of the following options to specify the RAC types that you want to discover: • DRAC4 • DRAC5 • iDRAC6 for Racks and Towers • iDRAC6 for Blade Servers • CMC 5 Click Discover. The discovered IP addresses along with the RAC type and the status information is displayed; the status in the Status column is Discovered. 6 After all the RAC IP addresses are discovered, the message "Completed discovery of Remote Access Controllers" is displayed. Click OK to continue.
4 Select the .csv file that has the list of RAC IP addresses that are discovered and click Open. The contents of the .csv file are extracted and displayed in the Discover or Import Remote Access Controllers window. For each imported RAC IP address, the status in the Status column is Not Verified. This indicates that the imported RAC IP addresses must be verified for you to update firmware or configure the RAC. 5 Click Next. The Verify Remote Access Controllers window is displayed.
4 Click Verify. If the verification is successful, the Status column displays the following messages for each IP address: a Verifying b Verified The DNS name and firmware version is also displayed. If the verification is not successful, the Status column displays one of the following messages for the IP address: • Verification Failed • Access Denied For information on the reasons for failure and the solution, see "Troubleshooting and Frequently Asked Questions.
Updating RAC Firmware 4 After you have discovered and verified the RAC IP addresses on your network, you can perform a firmware update on the selected RACs using the firmware image file located on your local directory or on the Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server. For information to discover and verify RAC IP addresses, see "Discovering, Importing, and Verifying RACs." NOTE: iDRAC6 Enterprise for blade servers supports firmware updates using only the TFTP server.
3 Select any or all of the following options to select the RACs to update firmware: • DRAC4 • DRAC5 • iDRAC6 for Racks and Towers • iDRAC6 for Blades • CMC When you select a RAC type, the corresponding RAC IP addresses are selected from the list. You can also select individual RAC IP addresses from the list. In the firmware image file folder, if there is no firmware image file for a specific RAC type, then the corresponding option is disabled and is not available for selection.
5 After the firmware is updated for the selected RACs, the "Firmware Update Completed" message is displayed. Click OK to complete the firmware update for the selected RACs.
Updating RAC Firmware
5 Configuring RACs Using Microsoft Active Directory The Active Directory® (AD) service maintains a common database of all information needed for controlling users on a network. If you are using the AD software, you can configure it to provide access to the RACs, allowing you to add and control user privileges for the existing users in your directory service. AD centralizes all RAC user IDs and passwords using standard or extended schema.
NOTE: Uploading a CA certificate is optional for iDRAC6, but mandatory for DRAC 4, DRAC 5, and CMC. Using DRACT, you can perform the following configurations for RACs that are configured to a standard schema, extended schema, or for RACs that have AD schema disabled: • Configure RACs using AD standard schema. For more information, see "Configuring RACs Using AD Standard Schema." • Configure RACs using AD extended schema.
a Under Filter on Schema, select one of the following filter options to select the RACs that you must configure: • Standard Schema • Extended Schema • Active Directory disable When you select a filter type, the corresponding RAC IP addresses are selected from the list. You can also select individual RAC IP addresses from the list. b Under New Schema, select Standard Schema and click Next. The Common Settings window is displayed.
7 Click Apply. The Summary window displays the following information for the selected RACs: – RAC IP address – DNS name – RAC Type – Firmware version – Status information – Status bar If the configuration is successful, the Status column displays the following messages for each IP address: a Configuring - RAC configuration is in-progress. b Uploading CA certificate - This message is displayed only if you have enabled CA certificate validation.
Creating RAC objects and Configuring RACs Using AD Extended Schema Dell™ has extended the AD schema to include an association, device, and privilege property. The association property is used to link together the users or groups with a specific set of privileges to one or more RAC devices. For each physical RAC on the network that you need to integrate with the AD server for authentication and authorization, it must have at least one association object and one RAC device object.
3 Filter the RACs that are configured to a standard schema, extended schema, or RACs that have AD schema disabled and configure the filtered RACs to a new extended schema. To do this: a Under Filter on Schema, select one of the following options to filter the RACs that you want to configure: • Standard Schema • Extended Schema • Active Directory disable When you select a filter type, the corresponding RAC IP addresses are selected from the list.
6 Create RAC device object names that must be configured on the AD server; the AD RAC objects uniquely identifies the RACs in the AD server. You can do this in one of the following ways: • Select the RAC IP addresses, enter the information in the fields, and click Create Names to create the AD RAC device object names in the Name column. For information about the settings, see Dell Remote Access Configuration Tool Online Help. • Enter the RAC device object name in the Name column. 7 Click Next.
• Firmware version • Status information • Status bar If the configuration is successful, the Status column displays the following messages for each IP address: a Configuring - RAC configuration is in-progress. b Uploading CA certificate - This message is displayed only if you have enabled CA certificate validation. c Configuration Success - RAC configuration is successful.
Table 5-1. Association, Privilege, and Device Objects Icon Description Association object for iDRAC6. Association object for DRAC 4, DRAC 5, and CMC. Privilege object for all schema. Device object for DRAC 4, DRAC 5, and CMC. Device object for iDRAC6. Setting a Privilege Object A privilege object defines the user’s or group’s privileges when authenticating to a RAC device. A privilege object must be in the same domain as the association object.
Disabling AD Standard or Extended Schema for RACs You can disable the AD standard or extended schema configuration for a selection of the discovered and verified RACs on your network. To disable AD standard or extended schema for RACs: 1 Discover and verify the RAC IP addresses on your network. For information on the steps, see "Discovering, Importing, and Verifying RACs." 2 In the Firmware Update Configuration window, click Next. The Active Directory Configuration window is displayed.
• Configuration Failed - RAC configuration is not successful. • Insufficient Privileges - The required privileges are not provided to configure the RAC. For more information on the Status column messages, see "Troubleshooting and Frequently Asked Questions." 5 After all the configurations are completed, the message "Done" is displayed. Click OK. The AD standard or extended schema configuration is disabled for the selected RACs.
Configuring RACs Using Microsoft Active Directory
Troubleshooting and Frequently Asked Questions 6 DRACT does not discover a RAC. Ensure you have performed the following: • Ping the RAC IP address to ensure you can connect to the RAC from your host. • The HTTP protocol is not blocked on the host system. Check your network proxy settings and ensure that the proxy is configured correctly to allow connectivity to the Internet. • The RAC has the remote RACADM feature enabled. DRACT only discovers DRAC4 controllers.
Firmware update failed with the message Insufficient Privileges. The user name and password provided during RAC verification do not have RAC configuration privileges. Firmware update failed with the message Failed to initiate. The RAC firmware is in an undefined state or is not accessible remotely. Remove and plug the power cord back on your system and ensure that the RAC is accessible before performing the firmware update using DRACT. Firmware update fails with the message Firmware update failed.
