6 ms·

Useful iDRAC features like remote display and remote ISO install isn't in the base Dell iDRAC license. So I still need to hook up keyboard/monitor if it's more

by mey 7y ago

Useful iDRAC features like remote display and remote ISO install isn't in the base Dell iDRAC license. So I still need to hook up keyboard/monitor if it's more than a reboot. Edit: iDRAC is the Dell LOM, iLO is HP

snuxoll 7y ago
Sure, but the licenses to unlock them are easy to acquire. Dell ties them to the service tag, which is quite easy to set via racadm and you can buy a license off eBay. Older Dell systems required a $30 part you can find on eBay. HP just uses a key they send you on paper. Hell, many times these decoms still have the license applied to them. I have 2xR210 II’s, a R320, R520 and formerly had a HP ML10 and a Lenovo TD340. The Lenovo was the biggest pain to get VKVM because of the stupid hard to find dongle. Don’t buy Lenovo servers for a homelab; BTW. Dell lets you override the ramp in fan speed when a non-Dell branded PCIe card is installed, newer Lenovo servers ramp them up to 100% and you can’t turn it off (I had to leave my TD340 on the initial BIOS revision with security issues because of this).
- lozaning 7y ago
  Back when I was in the HP VAR game iLO licenses where some of my highest money makers. MSRP for those licenses was like $250.00. I was buying them grey market from ESISO for like $35 a pop.
  - vbezhenar 7y ago
    I bought ilo advanced license for my microserver for $5 at ebay. It worked just fine.
    - gsich 7y ago
      Probably from a keygen or duplicate use. But won't matter anyway. The ILO (or HP) will never know.
- mey 7y ago
  I have some principals with my homelab. Not doing grey market licensing is one of them. That's my personal preference, but just wanted to point out that iDRAC enterprise is additional.
- bubblethink 7y ago
  The 100% fan on non-whitelisted card is such a dick move. Is there a single legit reason for this ? Did someone's building burn down because they didn't buy the quadro gpu that Dell sells ?
  - snuxoll 7y ago
    It’s not even limited to GPU’s, a quad-port Intel NIC in my TD340 causes it to max fan speeds if I’m not running the A01 BIOS. The argument is they don’t know the thermal requirements of the card because it’s not OEM-branded so they max the fans “to be safe”, but not letting you override it is just bullshit.
    - sitkack 7y ago
      They do something similar on Chromebooks and 3rd party mini pcie WiFi cards. If you insert a non Lenovo branded card, it will fail to even enter the bios screen with a Dick Move error. Also, same stupid justification,”this configuration hasn’t passed FCC EMI tests” when the cards a qualified directly, they are the FCC certification boundary.
      - bubblethink 7y ago
        I think lenovo has stopped doing that recently. However, we now have soldered wifi cards.
- louwrentius 7y ago
  > Hell, many times these decoms still have the license applied to them I was indeed that lucky. Thank you <bank>.
herpderperator 7y ago
If you buy Supermicro motherboards, which come in regular form factors too, like for example X9SCM-F [0], or X11SSL-F [1], they come with IPMI (which is what the -F designates), which is exactly what iLO, DRAC, etc., is and in a normal form factor. You don't have to buy fancy jet-engine "server" boxes when you can get the same stuff in a mATX form factor. No license needed. I have been using the X9SCM-F for the last 9 years, and enjoy being able to modify the BIOS remotely, boot remote ISO images, or troubleshoot any boot problems without physical presence. [0] https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C202_C204/X9SCM-F.cfm https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C202_C2... [1] https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/X11SSL-F https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/X11SSL-F
- aetimmes 7y ago
  Original parent comment was talking about installing a Ryzen consumer CPU, which is generally mutually exclusive with any board manufacturer (SMC, Dell, HP, or otherwise) that provides any sort of baseboard management controller. Some of the SMC boards listed support i3 processors, but generally, if you want a BMC, you're stuck with enterprise-grade processors.
  - herpderperator 7y ago
    I listed two motherboards I personally researched in the past and knew about already. There are plenty of consumer Supermicro boards that have IPMI. Here's one I found just by browsing the first page of their workstation motherboard section. [0] [0] https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/X11SCA-F https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/X11SCA-F
    - rhizome 7y ago
      None of yours are Ryzen, though.
      - bsder 7y ago
        Um, these are AMD EPYC (the server processor): https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/H12SSW-NT https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/H12SSW-NT All Supermicros for EPYC have IPMI. This EPYC is $599: https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16819113596?Item=N82E16819113596&Description=PPSSHZKQUPOGEJ&cm_re=PPSSHZKQUPOGEJ-_-19-113-596-_-Product https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16819113596?Item=N82E1681911359...
phasor 7y ago
Actually, remote display is possible with the base Dell iDrac Express license by enabling ssh console COM2 redirection. This is not enabled by default and not very obvious that it is even possible (probably because Dell wants to sell these iDrac licenses). For me the COM2 redirection is all that I need for a server in a datacenter without physical access. For example, if the server OS is not booting, I can still ssh to the idrac and change BIOS options or select alternative boot options in grub. For OS installs I use chroot. So really no need for an idrac license in my case.

by mey 7y ago

snuxoll 7y ago

Sure, but the licenses to unlock them are easy to acquire. Dell ties them to the service tag, which is quite easy to set via racadm and you can buy a license off eBay. Older Dell systems required a $30 part you can find on eBay. HP just uses a key they send you on paper. Hell, many times these decoms still have the license applied to them. I have 2xR210 II’s, a R320, R520 and formerly had a HP ML10 and a Lenovo TD340. The Lenovo was the biggest pain to get VKVM because of the stupid hard to find dongle. Don’t buy Lenovo servers for a homelab; BTW. Dell lets you override the ramp in fan speed when a non-Dell branded PCIe card is installed, newer Lenovo servers ramp them up to 100% and you can’t turn it off (I had to leave my TD340 on the initial BIOS revision with security issues because of this).

lozaning 7y ago
Back when I was in the HP VAR game iLO licenses where some of my highest money makers. MSRP for those licenses was like $250.00. I was buying them grey market from ESISO for like $35 a pop.
- vbezhenar 7y ago
  I bought ilo advanced license for my microserver for $5 at ebay. It worked just fine.
  - gsich 7y ago
    Probably from a keygen or duplicate use. But won't matter anyway. The ILO (or HP) will never know.
mey 7y ago
I have some principals with my homelab. Not doing grey market licensing is one of them. That's my personal preference, but just wanted to point out that iDRAC enterprise is additional.
bubblethink 7y ago
The 100% fan on non-whitelisted card is such a dick move. Is there a single legit reason for this ? Did someone's building burn down because they didn't buy the quadro gpu that Dell sells ?
- snuxoll 7y ago
  It’s not even limited to GPU’s, a quad-port Intel NIC in my TD340 causes it to max fan speeds if I’m not running the A01 BIOS. The argument is they don’t know the thermal requirements of the card because it’s not OEM-branded so they max the fans “to be safe”, but not letting you override it is just bullshit.
  - sitkack 7y ago
    They do something similar on Chromebooks and 3rd party mini pcie WiFi cards. If you insert a non Lenovo branded card, it will fail to even enter the bios screen with a Dick Move error. Also, same stupid justification,”this configuration hasn’t passed FCC EMI tests” when the cards a qualified directly, they are the FCC certification boundary.
    - bubblethink 7y ago
      I think lenovo has stopped doing that recently. However, we now have soldered wifi cards.
louwrentius 7y ago
> Hell, many times these decoms still have the license applied to them I was indeed that lucky. Thank you <bank>.

herpderperator 7y ago

If you buy Supermicro motherboards, which come in regular form factors too, like for example X9SCM-F [0], or X11SSL-F [1], they come with IPMI (which is what the -F designates), which is exactly what iLO, DRAC, etc., is and in a normal form factor. You don't have to buy fancy jet-engine "server" boxes when you can get the same stuff in a mATX form factor. No license needed. I have been using the X9SCM-F for the last 9 years, and enjoy being able to modify the BIOS remotely, boot remote ISO images, or troubleshoot any boot problems without physical presence. [0] https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C202_C204/X9SCM-F.cfm https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C202_C2... [1] https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/X11SSL-F https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/X11SSL-F

aetimmes 7y ago
Original parent comment was talking about installing a Ryzen consumer CPU, which is generally mutually exclusive with any board manufacturer (SMC, Dell, HP, or otherwise) that provides any sort of baseboard management controller. Some of the SMC boards listed support i3 processors, but generally, if you want a BMC, you're stuck with enterprise-grade processors.
- herpderperator 7y ago
  I listed two motherboards I personally researched in the past and knew about already. There are plenty of consumer Supermicro boards that have IPMI. Here's one I found just by browsing the first page of their workstation motherboard section. [0] [0] https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/X11SCA-F https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/X11SCA-F
  - rhizome 7y ago
    None of yours are Ryzen, though.
    - bsder 7y ago
      Um, these are AMD EPYC (the server processor): https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/H12SSW-NT https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/H12SSW-NT All Supermicros for EPYC have IPMI. This EPYC is $599: https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16819113596?Item=N82E16819113596&Description=PPSSHZKQUPOGEJ&cm_re=PPSSHZKQUPOGEJ-_-19-113-596-_-Product https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16819113596?Item=N82E1681911359...

phasor 7y ago

Actually, remote display is possible with the base Dell iDrac Express license by enabling ssh console COM2 redirection. This is not enabled by default and not very obvious that it is even possible (probably because Dell wants to sell these iDrac licenses). For me the COM2 redirection is all that I need for a server in a datacenter without physical access. For example, if the server OS is not booting, I can still ssh to the idrac and change BIOS options or select alternative boot options in grub. For OS installs I use chroot. So really no need for an idrac license in my case.