Who is this for? #
This how to guide is only for people who have decided to purchase a Dell server with iDRAC. Buying a server with iDRAC is only necessary if you want a more durable computer/server and if you want to be able to POWER ON your server remotely. This definitely gets a little more complicated. However, I’m here to help you and get you through it.
Initial iDRAC set up #
It is hard to produce a video tutorial or screenshots for this process as iDRAC set up happens in BIOS. However, I will try to give you some help setting it up with words.
When your first receive your server you will need to get iDRAC configured as well as install an operating system. I would probably go with Linux with the Ubuntu Mate ‘flavor’. You can find more about installing Ubuntu Mate in this documentation.
Default IP and login #
iDRAC should come pre-configured with a default password and local ip address. The default ip is 192.168.0.120. However, if your router is not configured to support that ip range you will not be able to access iDRAC until you set iDRAC to have an ip accepted by your router.
The default username should be ‘root’. The default password should be found on the info tag physically on the server. You can see the example on my server in the image.
Setting the local ip for iDRAC #
To set the ip you will need to connect your server to a monitor and boot it up. During the initial stages of booting press F2. This will give you options. Choose the setup menu. In the set up menu you are looking for something like, ‘network’. Or iDRAC settings.
Once you find the iDRAC section on ip addresses set the ip to an accepted ip for your router. On my router if I enter into the DHCP setting I can see all the acceptable local ip address for my router. You can even change them. When giving iDRAC an ip address choose one that is easy to remember.
In my case with the example, I am going to give iDRAC the ip of 192.168.2.201. I do this because I am going to set the static local ip for my server to 192.168.2.200. It just makes it easy to remember.
It is also important to note that the ‘static gateway’ is your router address. In my case, 192.168.2.1 on my Bell router and 192.168.50.1 for my Asus router. Make sure the static gateway is correct as well.
Connecting to iDRAC #
Once you have the ip configured you will be able to access iDRAC when you are on the same local network as the iDRAC computer. From there you are able to access all of the settings, such as the POWER ON feature.
