Simplified Remote Server Configuration through iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller

This post was co-written by Satyajit Desai and Raja Tamilarasan

Configuring and monitoring servers is a large part of a Data Center admin’s job, and is fairly straightforward when the server(s) in question have an operating system installed. But have you ever wondered how you would manage  a bare metal server that was freshly racked in the data center? Onboarding a brand new server involves configuring the BIOS, setting up the RAID and deploying an operating system, among a host of other things. These onboarding tasks can become extremely difficult when the server is in a different geographical location than the admin. Dell’s iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller overcomes this remote management challenge and provides complete end-to-end remote configuration capabilities.

Introduction to Remote Configuration

Wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to pull your server out of the box, make the physical connections and from there on, configure it to your desired settings without having to be anywhere near it? Remote Configuration allows you to view and configure all the hardware present on the server, regardless of its location. This includes configuring BIOS, NIC, RAID, Lifecycle Controller and iDRAC settings on a bare metal server.

With the remote configuration capabilities built-in to the Dell PowerEdge server’s iDRAC, it is a simple task to use the industry standard Web Services Management (WSMAN) command line interfaces (CLI) to configure your server remotely.
Not only can you use the  WSMAN CLI, Dell software teams have developed console plugins that integrate with applications like Microsoft System Center Configuration, VMWare vSphere, etc. to provide remote configuration capabilities through these consoles.
Some of the Remote Configuration features currently supported by iDRAC and Lifecycle Controller on  11th and 12th generation Dell PowerEdge servers are listed below:

1. Configuring and monitoring BIOS, including setting the Boot Order.
2. Configuring and monitoring the RAID controller(s), including creating Virtual Disks, assigning hot spares, etc.
3. Configuring and monitoring iDRAC settings.
4. Configuring and monitoring System settings.
5. Configuring and monitoring Lifecycle Controller settings.
6. Deploying the Operating System.

For detailed instructions on how to write scripts to make use of the power of the iDRAC and Lifecycle Controller Remote Configuration feature, please refer to the Dell Tech Center wiki page here. 

Dell is listening to its customers to make improvements to its iDRAC and Lifecycle Controller embedded server management portfolio. To learn more about some of the other cool features provided by Dell’s iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller, please refer here.

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