If you are running Linux and your Management Station has a read-only file system, a browser can be installed on a client system without requiring a connection to a DRAC 5. By using the native plugin installation package, the browser can be manually installed during the client setup phase.
NOTICE: In a read-only client environment, if the DRAC 5 firmware is updated to a newer version of the plugin, then the installed VM plugin will become inoperative. This is because earlier plugin features are not allowed to function when the firmware contains a newer plugin version. In this case, the client will be prompted for plugin installation. Since the file system is read-only, the installation will fail and the plugin features will not be available.
Obtain Plugin Installation Package
To obtain the plugin installation package, do the following:
Login to an existing DRAC5
Change the URL in the browser's address bar, from:
https://<RAC_IP>/cgi-bin/webcgi/main
to:
https://<RAC_IP>/plugins/ # Be sure to include the trailing slash.
Notice the two subdirectories vm and vkvm. Navigate to the appropriate subdirectory, right click
the rac5XXX.xpi file, and select Save Link Target As....
Choose a location to save the plugin installation package file.
Plugin Installation
To install the plugin installation package, do the following:
Copy the installation package to the client's native file system share that is accessible by the client.
Open an instance of the browser on the client system.
Enter the file-path to the plugin installation package in the browser's address bar. For example:
file:///tmp/rac5vm.xpi
The browser guides the user through plugin installation.
Once installed, the browser will not prompt for that plugin installation again, as long as the target DRAC5 firmware does not contain a newer version of the plugin.
