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August 17th, 2025 23:10
Idrac6 Confusion
If you’re offended by nubes stop reading now. I have 3 servers in my rack; R930, R810, and an R310. I’m on a journey to educate myself and get a marketable skill. Overall this forum is one of the best things in the modern world, thank you to everyone that offers help.
After getting the R930 set up I can now compare the difference. The R310 and the R810 do not boot to a cover screen. Meaning, every time I boot them up I’m looking at a bunch of prompts to hit control s, control c, control e, and so on. If at startup I hit f10 I go through the prompt screens until I’m forced to either choose f1 or f2. F1 boots to the cover screen, f2 sends me to system setup, which is useless.
Both machines have an Idrac6 enterprise and express card. When I try and “force” my way into life cycle controller I get a black screen with a moveable arrow. I’ve waited for hours to see if it was booting something, but got nothing. Question is, is this how it would work if the Idrac6 cards are non-functional? After all of my research I’ve come to believe there is no liscence to purchase for Idrac6. No one mentions it, nor speaks of one anywhere.
Idrac6 experts please help. I can get new Idrac6 units from China. But I’d really like confirmation there’s no liscence to buy. Certainly there isn’t one for sale I’ve checked everywhere.
I’ve come into this with everything being new to me. I’ve learned tons! Still haven’t figured out ipv6 but I’m working on it.
The greatest help would be a yes or a no, on the Idrac6 liscence. If there is one where can said unicorn be purchased.
I’ve swapped the cards back and forth to see it something might work in the other server, I’ve dug into the different part numbers and spent hours and weeks trying to figure this out and have nowhere to ask.
DELL-Young E
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August 18th, 2025 07:17
Hello, R930 is fairly dated, but you could reach out to sales and check still, also R930 is not iDRAC 6, I think it's 8.
Respectfully,
Origin3k
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August 18th, 2025 16:03
Because R9x0 are always "between" the standard PowerEdge release cycles it might be different but my guess it is a real 13.Gen Poweredge which was iDRAC8 at the time
The 11Gen. Hosts are iDRAC6.
Buying iDRAC7 licenses stops last year so for 2 old hosts i think youre out of luck.
Yes the iDRAC express doesnt support the remote console feature which is a Enterprise and up licensed feature. Today the iDRAC is a software licenced thing and yes you can swap these. But the software would be always bind to the Dell ServiceTAG (serial number).
@Sycorexx
the number of boot messages depends on
If there is a no boot Device with a OS installed the server stopps booting and ask for F1/F2 or giving messages within a loop. The later one is configure option.
So setup your boot device and enter a CD, ISO, USB thump and install the OS of your choice.
Becase the Server are 10 years and older consider to replace the BIOS batterie because otherwise your config changes will be reset to system defaults on every power change. Which means the system may forget your (raid)setup and boot device you have already configured.
Regards,
Joerg
(edited)
Sycorexx
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August 19th, 2025 01:04
Thanks for the reply’s. I was unclear and confusing. I apologize. It is the r310 and r810 that I have the trouble with. I can get both of them running and on the internet. I can’t set up the Idrac or get to a life cycle controller. The front lcd panel says the Idrac is set to the default Idrac address. There is no way to change that. I am running windows server 16, if that makes a difference.
when I press f2 during boot I do not go to the set up page like the one I see on the r930. I go to a screen with no mouse where I must use the up and down arrows, and most lines that say <enter> at the end don’t allow me any access
I have to exit key out of it and then it offers either to choose f1 or f2.
if I monkey around enough it goes to a black screen and I have to shut it off the hard way.
Im starting to realize that I don’t know what’s supposed to happen. That keeps me spinning in circles because I don’t know at what point things are abnormal. ANY idrac6 advice would be most welcome.
Origin3k
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August 19th, 2025 03:44
Between your 11Gen and 13Gen Servers are 6 years and your 11Gen Hosts are 12years old right now.
How likely is that you have a OEM Server which may is modified and is different as a normal Dell PowerEdge? If you have a Display on the bezel you can normaly change the IP address but only WHEN the previous administrator doesnt have disabled this feature.
Because you already have Windows 2016 installed you can install the Dell iDRAC Tools (racadm.exe) on it an with that you will be able to modify or do a factory reset of the idrac trough the OS.
Not all of the old severs have a dedicated iDRAC ethernet device and without the first ethernet port is a shared one.
Maybe you sould add some pictures what you have and what you see. With a 11Gen there was the LifeCycleController (the thing which can be entered when pressing F2).
Regards,
Joerg