On 19 May 2010, at 05:27, Matthew Lenz wrote: >> ... >> IMO the significantly cool thing about the DRAC4 is the remote access >> screen viewer / console. You can see whatever is on the screen and >> operate the mouse from across the network, independently of the >> operating >> system. So you can do so even whilst the system is booting, you >> can enter >> the BIOS and you can even install the operating system across the >> network, using the virtual media facility. So if your server needs >> booting from a live CD, you can just put that in your laptop and >> use the >> laptop to control the server's screen. > > The virtual CD and console support are very interesting. Primary > reason I'm > looking into them. Our servers are in a data center that is 25 > miles one > way. I like to avoid it at costs.
Rest assured, it works really very well indeed. I've used a couple of external network KVM units, or "KVM-IPs", whatever you prefer to call them, and the DRAC4 is really top-notch. >> As far as operating system support is concerned, it doesn't matter >> what >> o/s is installed on the server for using the remote access. But the >> machine you use to do the controlling / viewing will *probably* >> have to >> be using Windows. Macs certainly don't work. When the DRAC4 > > Windows desktop isn't a problem. It's the only downside of the DRAC, IMO. The 3rd-party KVM-IPs I've used have at least supported Macs; my current one allows viewing with a standard VNC client, which the DRACs do not, but does not offer any remote media. My last one (actually I still have it here, I need to sell it) offered remote media (including booting) by pasting the URL to a Samba share into its web-interface. You might have success with the Firefox under Linux, but only a specific version, on Redhat, was officially supported. > Does anyone know what the last DRAC 4's version's part number was? > Looks > like there was at least 4 versions of them released over the years. > Does > dell have a place on there site that lists all part numbers > available for > replacement? The one I have is the DRAC 4/I, don't know the part number, on a PowerEdge 2800. I would *assume* that different models of the 4, i.e. the 4/S or the 4/X or whatever, would be basically the same, offering the same facilities but for different models of PowerEdge. Not addressed to you, specifically, but for the benefit of others: watch out for the 2650s, which offered a DRAC option, but came with a "RAC" as standard. The RAC is rubbish, a poor relation to the DRAC, although not too bad as a freebie - the viewer is really inadequate, and IME may not work when you need it to; the remote power functions are all I've found it good for. Stroller. _______________________________________________ Linux-PowerEdge mailing list [email protected] https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge Please read the FAQ at http://lists.us.dell.com/faq
