Back to Contents Page

DRAC 5 Overview

Dell Remote Access Controller 5 Firmware Version 1.30 User's Guide

The Dell™ Remote Access Controller 5 (DRAC 5) is a systems management hardware and software solution designed to provide remote management capabilities, crashed system recovery, and power control functions for Dell systems.

By communicating with the system's baseboard management controller (BMC), the DRAC 5 (when installed) can be configured to send you e-mail alerts for warnings or errors related to voltages, temperatures, intrusion, and fan speeds. The DRAC 5 also logs event data and the most recent crash screen (for systems running the Microsoft® Windows® operating system only) to help you diagnose the probable cause of a system crash.

The DRAC 5 has its own microprocessor and memory, and is powered by the system in which it is installed. The DRAC 5 may be preinstalled on your system, or available separately in a kit.

To get started with the DRAC 5, see "Installing and Setting Up the DRAC 5".

What's New in DRAC 5 in this Release?

For this release, DRAC 5 firmware version 1.30:

• Provides support for Microsoft Windows Server® 2008.

NOTE: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is scheduled to be available in the first half of 2008. For the latest information, see http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2 008/default.mspx.

• Enables Smart Card logon that provides a higher level of security by implementing the two-factor authentication.
  
  
• Provides advanced security options for the local DRAC administrator
  
  
• Provides advanced security options for the remote DRAC administrator
  
  
• Supports a new macro—<RightCtrl>+<ScrlLock><ScrlLock> key code sequence to initiate a crash dump of the Microsoft Windows operating system. For more information, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986/.
  
  

NOTE: You must keep the <RightCtrl> key pressed during the additional keystrokes.

• Supports an option to allow users to specify LDAP or Global Catalog servers to handle user authentication.
  
  
• Provides the ability to specify a list of LDAP servers and Global Catalog servers.
  
  
• Removed support for SSL version 2.0.
  
  

DRAC 5 Hardware Features

Figure 1-1 shows the DRAC 5 hardware.

Figure 1-1. DRAC 5 Hardware Features

Hardware Specifications

Power Specifications

Table 1-1 lists the power requirements for the DRAC 5.

Table 1-1. DRAC 5 Power Specifications

Connectors

NOTE: The DRAC 5 hardware installation instructions can be found in the Installing a Remote Access Card document or the Installation and Troubleshooting Guide included with your system.

The DRAC 5 includes one onboard 10/100 Mbps RJ-45 NIC, a 50-pin management cable, and a 44-pin MII cable. See Figure 1-1 for the DRAC 5 cable connectors.

The 50-pin management cable is the main interface to the DRAC that provides connectivity to USB, serial, video, and an inter-integrated circuit (I2C) bus. The 44-pin MII cable connects the DRAC NIC to the system's motherboard. The RJ-45 connector connects the DRAC NIC to an out-of-band connection when the DRAC 5 is configured in Dedicated NIC mode.

Using the management and MII cables, you can configure your DRAC in three separate modes, depending on your needs. See "DRAC Modes" in "Using the RACADM Command Line Interface" for more information.

DRAC 5 Ports

Table 1-2 identifies the ports used by the DRAC 5 that listen for a server connection. Table 1-3 identifies the ports that the DRAC 5 uses as a client. This information is required when opening firewalls for remote access to a DRAC 5.

Table 1-2. DRAC 5 Server Listening Ports 

Table 1-3. DRAC 5 Client Ports 

Supported Remote Access Connections

Table 1-4 lists the connection features.

Table 1-4. Supported Remote Access Connections 

DRAC 5 Security Features

The DRAC 5 provides the following security features:

• Two-factor authentication, which is provided by the Smart Card logon. The two-factor authentication is based on what the users have (the Smart Card) and what they know (the PIN).
  
  
• Advanced Security options for the DRAC administrator:
  
  
• The Console Redirection disable option allows the local system user to disable console redirection using the DRAC 5 Console Redirection feature.
  
  
• The local configuration disable features allows the remote DRAC administrator to selectively disable the ability to configure the DRAC 5 from:

• BIOS POST option-ROM
  
  
• operating system using the local racadm
  
  
• Dell OpenManage™ Server Administrator utilities
  
  

• User authentication through Microsoft Active Directory (optional) or hardware-stored user IDs and passwords
  
  
• Role-based authority, which enables an administrator to configure specific privileges for each user
  
  
• User ID and password configuration through the Web-based interface or RACADM CLI
  
  
• RACADM CLI and Web-based interface operation, which supports 128-bit SSL encryption and 40-bit SSL encryption (for countries where 128 bit is not acceptable)
  
  

NOTE: Telnet does not support SSL encryption.

• Session time-out configuration (in seconds) through the Web-based interface or RACADM CLI
  
  
• Configurable IP ports (where applicable)
  
  
• Secure Shell (SSH), which uses an encrypted transport layer for higher security.
  
  
• Login failure limits per IP address, with login blocking from the IP address when the limit is exceeded.
  
  
• Limited IP address range for clients connecting to the DRAC 5
  
  

Supported Platforms

The DRAC 5 supports the following Dell systems:

• 1900
  
  
• 1950
  
  
• 2900
  
  
• 2950
  
  
• 2970
  
  
• 6950
  
  
• R300
  
  
• R600
  
  
• T600
  
  
• R805
  
  
• R900
  
  
• R905
  
  
• T300
  
  
• PowerVault™ 500
  
  
• PowerVault 600
  

NOTE: The PowerEdge R805 is scheduled to be available in Q4 CY07 - Q1 CY08.

See the Dell Systems Software Support Matrix located on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com for the latest supported platforms.

Supported Operating Systems

Table 1-5 lists the operating systems that support the DRAC 5.

See the Dell Systems Software Support Matrix located on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com for the latest information.

Table 1-5. Supported Operating Systems 

Supported Web Browsers

NOTICE: Console Redirection and Virtual Media only supports 32-bit Web browsers. Using 64-bit Web browsers may generate unexpected results or failure of operations.

Table 1-6 lists the Web browsers that support the DRAC 5.

See the Dell System Software Support Matrix located on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com for the latest information.

Table 1-6. Supported Web Browsers

Disabling the Whitelist Feature in Mozilla Firefox

Firefox includes a "whitelist" feature that provides additional security. When the whitelist feature is enabled, the browser requires user permission to install plug-ins for each distinct site that hosts the plug-in. This process requires that you install a plug-in for each distinct RAC IP/DNS name, even though the plug-in versions are identical.

To disable the whitelist feature and avoid repetitive, unnecessary plugin installations, perform the following steps:

1. Open a Firefox Web browser window.
   
   
2. In the address field, type the following and press <Enter>:
   
   

about:config

3. In the Preference Name column, locate and double-click xpinstall.whitelist.required.
   
   

The values for Preference Name, Status, Type, and Value change to bold text. The Status value changes to user set and the Value value changes to false.

4. In the Preferences Name column, locate xpinstall.enabled.
   
   

Ensure that Value is true. If not, double-click xpinstall.enabled to set Value to true.

Features

The DRAC 5 provides the following features:

• Dynamic Domain Name System (DNS) registration
  
  
• Remote system management and monitoring using a Web-based interface, serial connection, remote RACADM, or telnet connection.
  
  
• Support for Active Directory authentication — Centralizes all DRAC 5 user ID and passwords in Active Directory using Standard Schema and Extended Schema.
  
  
• Console Redirection — Provides remote system keyboard, video, and mouse functions.
  
  
• Virtual Media — Enables a managed system to access a media drive on the management station.
  
  
• Access to system event logs — Provides access to the system event log (SEL), DRAC 5 log, and last crash screen of the crashed or unresponsive system that is independent of the operating system state.
  
  
• Dell OpenManage software integration — Enables you to launch the DRAC5 Web-based interface from Dell OpenManage Server Administrator or IT Assistant.
  
  
• RAC alert — Alerts you to potential managed node issues through e-mail messages or an SNMP trap using the Dedicated, Shared with Failover, or Shared NIC settings.
  
  
• Local and remote configuration — Provides local and remote configuration using the RACADM command-line utility.
  
  
• Remote power management — Provides remote power management functions from a management console, such as shutdown and reset.
  
  
• IPMI support.
  
  
• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption — Provides secure remote system management through the Web-based interface.
  
  
• Password-level security management — Prevents unauthorized access to a remote system.
  
  
• Role-based authority — Provides assignable permissions for different systems management tasks.
  
  

Other Documents You May Need

In addition to this User's Guide, the following documents provide additional information about the setup and operation of the DRAC 5 in your system:

• DRAC 5 online help provides information about using the Web-based interface.
  
  
• The Dell OpenManage™ IT Assistant User's Guide and the Dell OpenManage IT Assistant Reference Guide provide information about IT Assistant.
  
  
• The Dell OpenManage Server Administrator's User's Guide provides information about installing and using Server Administrator.
  
  
• The Dell OpenManage Server Administrator SNMP Reference Guide documents the Server Administrator SNMP management information base (MIB). The MIB defines variables that extend the standard MIB to cover the capabilities of systems management agents.
  
  
• The Dell OpenManage Baseboard Management Controller Utilities User's Guide provides information about configuring the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC), configuring your managed system using the BMC Management Utility, and additional BMC information.
  
  
• The Dell Update Packages User's Guide provides information about obtaining and using Dell Update Packages as part of your system update strategy.
  
  
• The Dell Systems Software Support Matrix provides information about the various Dell systems, the operating systems supported by these systems, and the Dell OpenManage components that can be installed on these systems.
  
  

The following system documents are also available to provide more information about the system in which your DRAC 5 is installed:

• The Product Information Guide provides important safety and regulatory information. Warranty information may be included within this document or as a separate document.
  
  
• The Rack Installation Guide and Rack Installation Instructions included with your rack solution describes how to install your system into a rack.
  
  
• The Getting Started Guide provides an overview of system features, setting up your system, and technical specifications.
  
  
• The Hardware Owner's Manual provides information about system features and describes how to troubleshoot the system and install or replace system components.
  
  
• Systems management software documentation describes the features, requirements, installation, and basic operation of the software.
  
  
• Operating system documentation describes how to install (if necessary), configure, and use the operating system software.
  
  
• Documentation for any components you purchased separately provides information to configure and install these options.
  
  
• Updates are sometimes included with the system to describe changes to the system, software, and/or documentation.
  
  

NOTE: Always read the updates first because they often supersede information in other documents.

• Release notes or readme files may be included to provide last-minute updates to the system or documentation or advanced technical reference material intended for experienced users or technicians.
  
  

Back to Contents Page