Configuring servers with out-of-band management

For pre-configured iDRACs, provision/idrac.yml can be used to provision the servers.

Before running idrac.yml

  • The idrac_inventory file is updated with the iDRAC IP addresses.

  • To customize iDRAC provisioning, input parameters can be updated in the provision/idrac_input.yml file.

  • The Lifecycle Controller Remote Services of PowerEdge Servers is in the ‘ready’ state.

  • The Redfish services are enabled in the iDRAC settings under Services.

  • The provision tool has discovered the servers using SNMP/mapping.

  • iDRAC 9 based Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers with firmware versions 5.00.10.20 and above. (With the latest BIOS available)

Configurations performed by idrac.yml

  • If bare metal servers have BOSS controllers installed, virtual disks (Data will be stored in a RAID 1 configuration by default) will be created on the BOSS controller (ie, RAID controllers will be ignored/unmanaged). Ensure that exactly 2 SSD disks are available on the server.

  • If bare metal servers have a RAID controller installed, Virtual disks are created for RAID configuration (Data will be saved in a RAID 0 configuration by default).

  • Omnia validates and configures the active host NICs in PXE device settings when provision_method is set to PXE. (If no active NIC is found, idrac.yml will fail on the target node.)

  • Once all configurations are in place, the idrac.yml initiates a PXE boot for configuration to take effect.

Note

  • Servers that have not been discovered by the Provision tool will not be provisioned with the OS image.

  • Since the BMC discovery method PXE boots target iDRACs while running the provision tool, this script is not recommended for such servers.

Running idrac.yml

ansible-playbook idrac.yml -i idrac_inventory -e idrac_username='' -e idrac_password=''

Where the idrac_inventory points to the file mentioned above and the idrac_username and idrac_password are the credentials used to authenticate into iDRAC.

If you have any feedback about Omnia documentation, please reach out at omnia.readme@dell.com.