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August 25th, 2022 07:00
Send Keystrokes or strings to iDRAC9 Virtual Console from CLI
I have a Power edge DellR440 server with IDRAC-9. I am mounting and installing an ISO image and after that I want to run certain commands which will configure the OAM network for the server. Till now, I used to run these commands from the IDRAC Virtual Console. Now, I want to automate this task and want to know if there is anything through which I can send these commands to the virtual console from a remote server's CLI?
This particular feature is available in Super Micro servers. They have a utility called SMCIPMI Tool which lets you do remote keyboard operations (RKO) from your CLI. The commands you want to run on the managed server can be saved in a file in a remote server and the SMCIPMI Tool executes those commands in the IPMI console of the managed server. So basically whatever is there in the file is getting typed on the IPMI console of the Super Micro server. It even allows for individual key presses like enter, up arrow, down arrow, etc.
So please let me know if anything can be done similarly on Dell servers.
DELL-Chris H
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August 25th, 2022 12:00
Chandan_VL,
For things regarding the iDrac you could use RACADM, you can find the RACADM CLI guide here. Yet it won't configure anything on the host, so the option you can use is to create a script and mount it as an image to present to the OS to run, via Virtual Console. The issue is there isn't an all encompassing tool that does everything you requested.
Let me know if this helps.
Chandan_VL
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August 25th, 2022 18:00
Hi Chris,
I too explored RACADM and could not find anything suitable for me.
You are also suggesting to create a script and mount it as an image. This means I should create a shell script and mount it as a virtual media on CD/DVD and then boot the server through virtual media.
Is my understanding correct or you meant something else?
Chandan_VL
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August 26th, 2022 02:00
How to present the image to the OS to run it? Can you please share the documentation containing the procedure to present the image to the OS to run.
And also apart from IDRAC we have several ways to make the server boot from the ISO image. For ex. RACADM, redfish, etc. So please let me know if I can present the image to the OS to run, through any of these methods.
DELL-Joey C
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August 26th, 2022 02:00
Hi @Chandan_VL,
Well partially yes, create the script and mount it as an image using virtual media in Virtual Console, but Chris mentioned it is used to present it to the OS to run, not to boot from it.
DELL-Chris H
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August 26th, 2022 09:00
You would do so through the Virtual Console/Virtual Media, by mounting it as an IMG.
Chandan_VL
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August 29th, 2022 01:00
When I try to mount IMG file in Virtual Media, I cannot mount it on CD/DVD, instead I can mount it on Removable Disk, because CD/DVD takes only ISO files and Removable disk takes only IMG files
And as per your suggestion, I have to present the IMG to the OS to run it and not boot from it. So after mounting IMG onto removable disk, what should I do? Should I go for a normal reboot to make the OS run the image ?
Dell-Martin S
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August 29th, 2022 06:00
Hi,
it should work from the OS so your idea makes sense.
Regards Martin