6.0 on Dell 1850 with DRAC4 management card?

[Scott Mitchell]

On Fri, Jan 06, 2006 at 09:12:06AM -0500, Ralph Hempel wrote:
> Scott Mitchell wrote:
> >Hi all,
> >
> >On to my next question about running 6.0 on a Dell PE1850, since it seems
> >that the RAID card will work just fine...
> >
> >I'm thinking about getting the machine with a DRAC4 remote management card.
> >This looks to be OS-independent (you can configure through the BIOS) so I
> >expect it will just work.  I've seen various posts talking about how it
> >tends to take over the keyboard and render the real console inaccessible,
> >but there are workarounds for that.
> 
> I'm not sure about that, but I have 15 of these machines in locations
> all over Ontario, running Windows2003 Server.

I should have said that this was really a FreeBSD issue rather than a
problem with the DRAC - apparently it attaches as a second keyboard and
mouse, but FreeBSD has historically only allowed a single 'console'
keyboard to exist.  6.0 has the kbdmux(4) driver that might solve this
without and messing about with keyboard attachments.
 
> To make the thing as secure as possible, there is no keyboard or
> monitor on the server, I attach through the client's LAN.
> 
> The DRAC gets a static IP on the local subnet, so using a laptop with
> a connection (hard or wireless), I can access and control the server
> from inside the server room, from an office or desk in the building,
> or from anywhere in the world there is an Internet connection.
> 
> The last option means having VPN access to the local building network.

That sounds cool.  The server room is right behind my desk so it's not a
big deal go in there, but being able to reboot a stuck machine from home is
nice!
 
> >Does anyone have the console redirection working?  I'd like to leave the
> >'real' console (actually a USB keyboard attached to a KVM) active so the
> >machine is accessible to someone actually in the server room, but still be
> >able to get to the console remotely when necessary.  The Dell docs imply
> >that you can just point a browser at the DRAC and fire up a new console,
> >but I'd like to hear from someone who's done this with FreeBSD!
> 
> Works for me! It's really cool! You can access multiple servers through
> additional browser windows. As long as there is another computer in the
> server room with access to your server, they can control it through
> the browser interface. No KBD or monitor are necessary.
> 
> I'd like to assume FreeBSD will "just work".

Me too.  Sounds like it will mostly behave itself.

	Scott
 
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Scott Mitchell           | PGP Key ID | "Eagles may soar, but weasels
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