Dell/PowerEdge C2100

Model(s)

Dell PowerEdge C2100

• 2U rackserver
• 12 3.5" disks (or 24 2.5" but we do not use that model as of yet)

Lights Out Management

The BMC card has a dedicated RJ45 socket on the motherboard which can be used independently from the main NICs.

Common actions (easy way)

RobH has written us a wrapper around the common ipmitool commands. It exists on sockpuppet.

root@sockpuppet:~# ipmi_mgmt
Syntax is ipmi_mgmt <host> <commands>
Command Listing
Power commands: powercycle, powerdown, powerup, powerstatus, powermonitor
Setting one time boot option: bootbios, bootcdrom, bootdisk, bootfloppy, bootpxe
Serial Console: console & ~~. to disconnect when done; consoleclose (for unintentional DC that doesn't free the com port)
BMC/LOM specific: bmcinfo, bmcreset.
Info gathering: fru, id (flash lights on system for local tech ID), log (BMC event log), sdr, sensor, sysinfo

Most Common Triple (when building a server)

 ipmi_mgmt <hostname> bootbios
 ipmi_mgmt <hostname> powercycle
 ipmi_mgmt <hostname> console

and

 ipmi_mgmt <hostname> bootpxe
 ipmi_mgmt <hostname> powercycle
 ipmi_mgmt <hostname> console

Common actions (raw way)

IPMI must be used to connect and manage the system. This tool can be run from a command line on any bastion host.

Powercycle the Server

 ipmitool -U root -H <hostname> chassis power cycle/up/down

Opening IPMI Shell

 ipmitool -U root -H <hostname> shell

Connecting to serial console

 ipmitool -U root -H <hostname> sol activate

Serial console control commands'

 [SOL Session operational.  Use ~? for help]
 ~?
 Supported escape sequences:
 ~.  - terminate connection (and any multiplexed sessions)
 ~B  - send a BREAK to the remote system
 ~C  - open a command line
 ~R  - Request rekey (SSH protocol 2 only)
 ~^Z - suspend ssh
 ~#  - list forwarded connections
 ~&  - background ssh (when waiting for connections to terminate)
 ~?  - this message
 ~~  - send the escape character by typing it twice
 Note that escapes are only recognized immediately after newline.)

Getting the service event log

 ipmitool -U root -H <hostname> sel

Setting up the IP for mgmt

Load up the BIOS with a crash cart (F2 on POST) and apply the mgmt network settings via the BIOS screen.

Initial Setup

(Note: this setup assumes 12 drives + 2 SSDs) connect to the web interface

• change the management password

in the BIOS:

• under Advanced, under IDE Configuration, change "Configure SATA#1 as" from IDE to AHCI
• under Advanced, under PCI Configuration, note the MAC address of NIC1 (eth0) for DHCP
• under Boot, under Hard Disk Drives, change the drive order so the two AHCI Intel SSDs come first
• under Boot, under Boot Device Order, select ACHI Intel SSDs first (rather than PXE boot)