###################################################################### DELL(TM) REMOTE ACCESS CONTROLLERS (RACs) ###################################################################### This document contains updated information about the Dell RACs (Dell Remote Access Card III [DRAC III], Dell Embedded Remote Access [ERA], and Dell Embedded Remote Access Option [ERA/O]). For more information about Dell RACs, see the "Dell Remote Access Card III (DRAC III) User's Guide," the "Dell Remote Access Controller (RAC) Installation and Setup Guide," and the "Dell OpenManage Server Administrator User's Guide." These documents are located on your documentation CD and at the Dell Support website at "support.dell.com." ====================================================================== SUPPORTED SYSTEMS ====================================================================== DRAC III is supported on the following Dell PowerEdge(TM) systems: * PowerEdge 1650 * PowerEdge 4600 * PowerEdge 6600 * PowerEdge 6650 * PowerEdge 7150 ERA is supported on the PowerEdge 2650. ERA/O is supported on the PowerEdge 1650 and PowerEdge 2600. ====================================================================== SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS ====================================================================== The remote access controllers (DRAC III, ERA, ERA/O) are supported by the following operating systems: * Microsoft(R) Windows NT(R) 4.0 Server family (Service Pack 6 or later) The Windows NT 4.0 Server Family includes: Windows NT 4.0 Server, Windows NT 4.0 Server Enterprise, and Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server. * Microsoft Windows(R) 2000 Server family The Windows 2000 Server family includes: Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and for PowerEdge 7150 systems, Windows Advanced Server Limited Edition. * Red Hat Linux, version 7.2 * Red Hat Linux, version 7.3 (with the 2.4.18-4errata kernel) * Red Hat Linux Advanced Server, version 2.1 * Novell(R) NetWare(R), version 5.1 (Service Pack 3 or later), or version 6.0 (Service Pack 1 or later) or later NOTE: MS-DOS(R) version 6.22 supports the RAC remote floppy boot feature (32-bit systems only). ====================================================================== SUPPORTED WEB BROWSERS ====================================================================== * Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later * Netscape Navigator 6.1 or later NOTE: (Windows operating systems only) To view localized versions of the RAC's Web-based remote access interface, open the Windows Control Panel, double-click the "Regional Options" icon, and select the desired locale from the "Your locale (location)" drop-down menu. ====================================================================== FIXED IN THIS RELEASE ====================================================================== * The installation instructions for upgrading the RAC firmware, located in the "Install Instructions" section of the release under the heading "To Install Using Server Administrator" have been clarified for users upgrading from Dell OpenManage(TM) Server Administrator 1.0.1 or 1.1. ###################################################################### KNOWN ISSUES FOR RACs ###################################################################### The following subsections list the known issues regarding the implementation and operation of the remote access service and RACs. * All RAC console redirection sessions loose their connection to the RAC if a user performs an update of the firmware. To reconnect, log out, allow the RAC update to finish, and then log in again. * Entering an invalid RAC user name may prevent the Server Administrator command log from being displayed. To resolve this condition, use the following command: omconfig system cmdlog action=clear * Attempting to remove a user whose name is invalid (that is, the name either uses invalid characters or does not exist) returns the following error message: "Error! Hardware subsystem reports command failed." This error message is a generic Server Administrator message that indicates an error. * Adding a RAC user using the Server Administrator GUI may overwrite an existing user if the new user has same user name or index with the existing user. * The RAC Web console does not accept a user name without a password. When you create a RAC user, you must assign a valid user name and a valid password. * RAC Console Redirection Text Mode does not support the key combination. Instead, use . * The hardware log, accessible from the RAC Web-based interface, displays text-only log entries (date, time, description). The log does not display color-coded icons to indicate severity levels. If you prefer to view the log with color-coded icons, use Server Administrator to access it. * The reading precision for server sensors is 0.25%. * If you use Netscape Navigator 6.2.1 (or later), you need to select "Full Install" when you install Netscape Navigator on your system. This selection allows you to get the Java Virtual Machine needed to execute the RAC Java applets. Otherwise, you cannot browse the RAC Web console using Netscape Navigator 6.2.1 (or later). If you already have Netscape Navigator 6.2.1 (or later) installed, you need to uninstall and reinstall it, making sure that the "Full Install" option is selected. * The watchdog timer on the "Properties" page of the RAC Web console is displayed in deciseconds (tenths of a second). * If you want to configure the PPP server's IP address on the managed system to use another network, use the racadm utility according to the following example: racadm config -g cfgRacTuning -o cfgRacTuneMnNwIpAddrBase where is the IP address of the new network. To view the changes, reset the RAC using the following command: racadm racreset * On the PowerEdge 2650, you cannot change the following settings of the RAC network interface: Autonegotiation ("Enabled" or "Disabled"; Speed (10 or 100 MB); and Communication Mode ("Full"- or "Half-Duplex"). You can change the settings for the IP address, the netmask, the gateway, and you can either enable or disable the entire interface. * The RAC on the PowerEdge 2650 might not capture some of the POST codes when you turn on the system. To avoid this situation, wait at least 30 seconds after you have plugged in the power cable and then turn on your system using the front panel. * If you go to the Debug Command page of the RAC Web-based console, and click "OK" without entering text into the "Command" field, the Web console appears as though it is trying to execute a command. To stop this event, go to a different RAC Web console page. * Instructions for the RAC SNMP traps test button is not available in the Help. Click "Remote Access Controller"--> "Configuration"--> "SNMP", add a valid traps destination, and save the configuration. An icon (a gray circle containing a "?") appears and "Test" is the heading description displayed over the button. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DRAC III-SPECIFIC ISSUES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Cannot connect to or ping a DRAC III from the management station after the dial-out properties have been set. To access the management station through two distinct paths from the DRAC III, the DRAC III must have a host-based demand dial route that does not conflict with the network-based local area network (LAN) route. Perform the following steps: 1. Configure dial-up networking on the management station to assign static IP addresses for dial-in purposes. This configuration requires two addresses: one for the management station and one for the DRAC III. NOTE: It is important that the static IP addresses used by the management station be on a different subnet from the DRAC III network interface controller (NIC). Otherwise, a routing loop is created. Typically, the numerically lower address is assigned to the management station and the numerically larger address is assigned to the DRAC III when the dial-in connection is completed. 2. Configure the static IP address assigned to the management station as the demand-dial destination IP address on the DRAC III; configure this identical address as an SNMP trap destination (for SNMP trap alerts) or as the SMTP server address (for e-mail alerts) on the DRAC III. NOTE: You can use DHCP, but you must still ensure that both IP addresses used by the management station for dial-in are on a different subnet from the DRAC III NIC. The management station is now able to receive alerts from the DRAC III through both the LAN and the dial-in connection. * DRAC III does not autonegotiate with Cisco Catalyst 4000 and 5500 if the card is connected directly to the switch. If the card is connected to a hub that is connected to a switch (even a Cisco switch) the autonegotiation works. It also works with Cisco Catalyst 3500 and Dell PowerConnect(TM). * If the DRAC III dial-in authentication is set to "Any" and the dial-in user has selected callback, the connection is not successful. You must set the authentication to "Encrypted" for this feature to function properly. * With DRAC III, no positive confirmation of a successful numeric page is available that is detectable through a modem. However, DRAC III detects failures such as BUSY or NO ANSWER. The issue with BUSY is that it cannot be determined if BUSY was detected before or after the page was sent. Some paging services give a BUSY signal after a successful page. Therefore, if BUSY is detected, DRAC III must assume that the page failed (even though this may have been a successful page). DRAC III pages three times when this happens. * The DRAC III VT-100 Interface has been tested extensively with various versions of HyperTerminal. If you experience problems accessing the VT-100 interface, it is very likely that your version of HyperTerminal does not have full VT-100 support. Always update to the latest version of HyperTerminal. * Configure the DRAC III VT-100 interface screen using HyperTerminal to a window size of 80 x 24 when displaying text console redirection. * Configuring e-mail alerts using Dell OpenManage IT Assistant. When using IT Assistant to configure e-mail alerts, you must select the DRAC III temperature sensors to receive system-fan sensor alerts. Selecting this option causes e-mail alerts to be sent for the DRAC III temperature-sensor alerts and system-fan sensor alerts. This issue does not affect system voltage or system temperature alerts. * Attempting to remove a nonexistent dial-in user returns "successful." For example: omconfig- rac-rmdialinuser= * When using the RAC Remote Floppy Boot feature to start DOS network interfaces, use the following statements: NET INITIALIZE /dynamic NET START basic ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ERA-SPECIFIC ISSUES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * The ERA Web-based remote access interface does not display "POST log" or "Boot Path Analysis" if the interface is reset. * The ERA remote access interface supports 16 concurrent users. The 17th connection attempt to the RAC does not appear in the "Session Information" page. * If you click "Submit" on the "Command Debug" page while the input field is empty, ERA still tries to process the command. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ERA/O-SPECIFIC ISSUES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * (PowerEdge 1650 only) The ERA/O NIC interface runs only at 10 Mbps. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM ISSUES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Internet Explorer and Java plug-in issue: If you had installed Sun's Java SDK or JRE on your system running Windows 2000 or Windows NT, you must disable Sun's Java plug-in in Internet Explorer before you can use the RAC Web console. To disable the plug-in, open Internet Explorer, click "Tools", and select "Internet Options". Click the "Advanced" tab and scroll down until you see an option called "Sun Java Plug-In". Deselect that option, click "Apply", and then click "OK". If you have not installed Sun's Java SDK or JRE and if you do not intend to use Sun's Java plug-in in Internet Explorer, you will be asked if you want to use the plug-in in the browser if you install Sun's Java SDK. Just click "No" or deselect the box for Internet Explorer and follow the instructions. * On systems running windows, the RAC installation process requires a virtual modem connection named RACPORT to communicate between the operating system and the RAC controller. When any modem is added to the system, the OS automatically creates a virtual fax device icon in the printers folder. The fax icon is not used by the RAC and can be deleted or ignored. * To take full advantage of the RAC interface on servers running Windows NT or Windows 2000 it is highly recommended that you use the "Dell OpenManage Server Assistant" CD that came with your server to install the RAC drivers. If you do not use the CD, you may need to manually install the RAC drivers. * The mouse moves erratically on the screen during console redirection. The mouse movement on a local system may appear jerky and erratic during console redirection. This behavior is evident especially when using menus or opening windows. * Console redirection fails to show the operating system boot menu in the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean versions of Windows 2000. To change the default boot operating system on systems running Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 that can boot to multiple operating systems, perform the following steps: For systems running Windows NT: 1. Right-click the "My Computer" icon and select "Properties". 2. Under "System Startup" on the "Startup/Shutdown" tab, click the new default operating system in the "Startup" list. 3. In the "Show list for" box, type the number of seconds the list of choices should be displayed before the default operating system boots automatically. For systems running Windows 2000: 1. Right-click the "My Computer" icon and select "Properties". 2. Click the "Advanced" tab. 3. Click the "Startup and Recovery..." button. 4. Click the new default operating system in the "Startup" list. 5. In the "Show list for" box, type the number of seconds the list of choices should be displayed before the default operating system boots automatically. * Resizing the Windows desktop to a resolution of 640 x 480 causes some information not to be visible in the browser when using the DRAC III Web-based interface. This behavior is the same in both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. To view a screen in its entirety when using 640 x 480, you must enlarge the browser window. * The Internet Explorer application embedded in the Windows Advanced Server Limited Edition operating system does not support Java applets; therefore, it is not possible to use the Advanced Server Limited Edition's Internet Explorer browser to connect to DRAC III over a local area network (LAN) or the Internet. * For the DRAC III to capture the last crash screen, you must enable the watchdog timer on the DRAC III managed system and set the watchdog recovery action to "Reset," "Power Off," or "Power Cycle." Configure the watchdog timer using Server Administrator or IT Assistant. For more information, see the "Dell OpenManage Server Administrator User's Guide," or the "Dell OpenManage IT Assistant User's Guide." * CONNECTING TO THE INTERNET IF THE RAC PPP SERVICE IS RUNNING After installing Internet Explorer 5.0 or later, you may notice that the automatic configuration and proxy setting information for each connection is separate from the same information used for the LAN connection. If you have both a dial-up and a LAN connection at the same time, Internet Explorer may block your access to the Internet. This blocking occurs because each connection in Internet Explorer 5.0 uses its own automatic configuration and proxy settings. When this has occurred and a user tries to establish any kind of PPP connection, Internet Explorer attempts to use the dial-up connection settings to access the Internet. You can find additional information about this issue in the Microsoft Knowledge Base located at "support.microsoft.com", article Q236920 entitled, "Connections No Longer Use LAN Automatic Configuration and Proxy (Q236920)." To correct this problem, perform one of the following steps: * If you are using Internet Explorer 5.0, 5.01 or 5.5 (SP1), you must update your browser to Internet Explorer 5.5 (SP2). To run the update, you need to stop the RAC service. The update is available at "windowsupdate.com". * If you are using Internet Explorer version 5.5 (SP2) or later, apply the "lanpatch.reg" registry patch by double-clicking the "lanpatch.reg" file. The patch is copied to the managed system during the installation of the DRAC III managed system software in the default director \RAC\MN. Apply the patch for each user account on the system running Internet Explorer. * If you uninstall the RAC managed node software from a system running the Microsoft Windows NT operating system, remove the "RAC PPP Connection Using RACPORT" modem connection that was added during setup. Otherwise, the system displays an error message each time it reboots. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM ISSUES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * The RAC Web-based interface is not accessible on systems running Linux with Netscape Navigator. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NETWARE OPERATING SYSTEM ISSUES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Graphic console redirection under NetWare is not supported. NetWare has several text desktops and one graphical desktop. If you select console redirection and the console is in graphic mode, a RAC does not display the console. The message "Not Available! ..." is displayed at the bottom of the page. To return to the main text console, select the "Ctrl" and "Alt" check boxes at the bottom of the page and then press . This action switches the console back to text mode. Press <1> to go to the main text console. * When issuing a remote "Reset," "Power Off," or "Power Cycle" through the RAC on NetWare, some NetWare applications may require user interaction to close application windows. If this is necessary, you should use the RAC console redirection to manually close the application windows to allow NetWare to shutdown. * During normal operation of the DRAC III managed system under NetWare 5.1 and NetWare 6.0, the operating system periodically displays the following messages: "LCP is down: **PPP did not receive a response from peer for several Echo-Requests sent**" "Call disconnection for protocol IP to destination RAC3. The event occurred due to a link failure." These messages do not indicate errors. They are generated when the RAC PPP connection is temporarily unavailable (the connection may be unavailable when the card is reconfigured or new users are added). The PPP connection is automatically reestablished, and no user action is required. Therefore, the user should not attempt to manually reestablish the connection. * To take full advantage of the RAC interface on servers running NetWare 6.0 or later, it is highly recommended that you install the latest service pack available from Novell. * On systems running NetWare, you cannot switch to debug mode using RAC console redirection. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- USING THE "RACRAS.INI" FILE TO CONFIGURE DIAL-UP NETWORKING USED BY IT ASSISTANT ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The "racras.ini" file is used by DRAC III remote access DLL functions and the proxy server to provide user-specified configuration. Generally, the contents of the "racras.ini" file do not have to be modified. NOTE: You must reboot the system for modifications to the "racras.ini" file to take effect. The following entries are included in the "racras.ini" file: * "Enable Proxy Routing" This entry allows a user to disable proxy routing. If disabled, only users with browsers running on the IT Assistant services host system are able to connect to the DRAC III. The connections do not require the DRAC III remote access service proxy server, so the proxy server is disabled. The proxy server should be enabled when users' browsers are running on managed systems other than the IT Assistant services host system. True = Enabled = Browser running on a system other than the IT Assistant services host. False = Disabled = Browser running on the IT Assistant services host. * "DRAC III Web Server Port (specified port number)" This entry is the port number that the DRAC III Web server monitors for new Web connections. When the proxy server connects to a DRAC III, it uses this port. NOTE: The default port is 80. Change the default only if it is modified on the DRAC III. * "Max Number of Routes to Proxy" This variable identifies the maximum number of users that can be routed by the remote access service proxy server at one time. * "DRAC III Console Redirect Port (specified port number)" This entry is the port number that the DRAC III console redirect system monitors for new console redirect connections. When the proxy server connects to a DRAC III, it uses this port. NOTE: The default port is 5900. Change the default only if it is modified on the DRAC III. * "Base Port Number for UI-side Ports" This entry is the starting port number that the remote access service proxy server uses for incoming port connections from the DRAC III Web-based interface. Two ports are used per route. Therefore, the remote access service proxy may use the ports ranging from this base number up to: * "Max Number of Routes to Proxy" + Base Port Number NOTE: The default port is 0. This default means available ports are identified by the operating system. Change the default only if specific ports are already in use. * "Proxy IP Address" If you need to use a different IP address on the incoming IT Assistant Services host system than the one currently used by the standard services host, then enter that address. NOTE: Set this entry to 0 if it is not being used. Use the entry only if the managed system has multiple IP addresses. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- POWEREDGE 7150 SYSTEM ISSUES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- After installing the DRAC III managed system software on a PowerEdge 7150 system, you must install the DRAC III drivers. To install the drivers, perform the following steps: 1. Right-click "My Computer" and select "Properties." 2. Click the "Hardware" tab and select "Device Manager." 3. From the "Device Manager" window, right-click one of the three "Unknown PCI" device entries and click "Update driver." The operating system displays a dialog box prompting you to select the type of driver. a. Select the option for the operating system to locate the correct driver. b. Repeat the previous step for all three devices. When all three drivers are installed, the following devices should be configured under the "Dell Remote Service Card" device: - DRAC III Port - PCI Function 0 - PCI Function 2 4. Restart the "Dell Remote Service" from the services menu or reboot the system to implement these changes. * On PowerEdge 7150 systems, the DRAC III may display text-only console redirection instead of graphical redirection. For graphical console redirection support, you must update the ATI video driver from the Dell | Support website at "support.dell.com," or from your "Server Management" CD. The installation instructions for updating the driver are included in a "readme.txt" file included with the driver. The driver required to support DRAC III graphical console redirection is: ATI Rage XL, version 5.0.2462.6000. * The "racadm" command-line utility is supported on PowerEdge 7150 managed systems. However, when using the utility on these systems, the primary command is "drscadm" instead of "racadm." For more information on using the "drscadm" utility on PowerEdge 7150 systems, see the "Dell OpenManage Remote Service Card User's Guide" on your documentation CD. * The DRAC III does not display the correct sensor values if the PowerEdge 7150 loses power while the DRAC III sensor window is open. If the PowerEdge 7150 loses power while the DRAC III sensors are being displayed, you must log out and log back in to the DRAC III to refresh the DRAC III sensor values. ###################################################################### Information in this document is subject to change without notice. (C) 2002 Dell Computer Corporation. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Computer Corporation is strictly forbidden. Trademarks used in this text: "Dell", "PowerEdge", "Dell OpenManage", and "PowerConnect" are trademarks of Dell Computer Corporation; "Microsoft","Windows", "Windows NT", and "MS-DOS" are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; "Novell" and "NetWare" are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Computer Corporation disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own. August 2002