Hardware monitoring with iDRAC6

[Martin Turgeon]

Hi again everyone,

I just realized after posting my question on optimal RAID config that 
the best solution for hardware monitoring would be to use the integrated 
iDRAC6. I have the Express version (no dedicated port). I have never 
worked with DRAC cards and I would like to know your opinions about the 
best way to use it for hardware monitoring. I'm not really planning on 
using the remote control features, but it would be nice too.

As I understand it, I have to configure an additional IP for iDRAC. In 
my case, the servers are going to be installed in a colocation 
datacenter so I guess I have to reserve an additional public IP for each 
servers so I can access the iDRAC remotely? What are the securiy 
implications?

I'm also configuring a Nagios installation for monitoring. Is there a 
way to plug iDRAC with Nagios to handle the notifications (snmp maybe)? 
Or should I configure an email alert in the iDRAC config (I assume there 
is a way to do that)?

Thanks for your answer on how to use iDRAC6 Express with FreeBSD 8.0,

Martin