iDRAC9 at the Edge with Dell PowerEdge XR4000
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Summary
The Dell XR4000 is a compact multi-node server designed for the edge and integrated with remote management system iDRAC9. This DfD discusses enhancements made for XR4000 and how iDRAC9 is essential for the edge.
Dell integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC9)
The concept of edge computing has been constantly growing over the last few years. Edge computing is exactly as the name suggests: bringing the processing and computing of a data center to the edge and reducing latency to a minimum. Dell Technologies offers a variety of options from the hardware side for the edge, including the XR portfolio built with a unique sled-chassis small form factor, reliable for the rugged environment, with high performance and low latency requirements. Dell also offers software to help make the process of edge computing the smoothest experience for a user.
With the development of edge use cases, interoperability is one of the main requirements. Different software programs should be able to work with different hardware to optimize performance. Remote management is a must, keeping in mind the challenging environment for Rugged servers so that the administrators can remediate problems without physically visiting the server.
iDRAC9 is designed specifically to enable this portability, allowing server administrators to be more productive while optimizing the performance of Dell PowerEdge servers in the network. iDRAC9 is embedded management, built into Dell PowerEdge servers for monitoring, updating, and troubleshooting. It simplifies and automates the server’s lifecycle. PowerEdge XR4000 edge server is integrated with the latest version iDRAC9.
In the following sections, we describe some special features supported in XR4000, using iDRAC for customer ease at the edge, along with deployment, updates, service, and troubleshooting.
Deployment
According to a study conducted by Principled Technologies in 2020, “iDRAC9 reduce hands-on deployment times to near zero with iDRAC9 automation”, because iDRAC9 is part of every PowerEdge server, there is no additional software to install. In a few simple steps, iDRAC9 can be configured and ready to use. Even before installing an Operating System, IT admins have complete set of server management features like configuration, Firmware updates, OS deployment and more. Operating Systems can be deployed remotely via Remote File Share or Virtual Media console.
Automation
iDRAC9 offers agent-free operation to put IT admins in full control. When a PowerEdge server is connected to power and networking, it can be monitored and fully managed, whether standing in front of the server or remotely over a network. In fact, with no need for software agents, an IT administrator can monitor, manage, update, troubleshoot, and remediate Dell servers.
With features like Zero-Touch deployment and provisioning, Connection View, and System Lockdown, iDRAC9 is purpose-built to make server administration quick and easy by enabling the seamless automation of the entire server management lifecycle.
Powerful APIs
iDRAC9 offers support for DMTF Redfish. Redfish is a next-generation systems management interface standard that enables scalable, secure, and open server management. Redfish is an interface that uses RESTful interface semantics to access data that is defined in model format to perform out-of-band systems management. With iDRAC9, server administrators can easily monitor, customize, and optimize PCIe airflow and temperature, exhaust control, Delta T control, and overall airflow consumption remotely. In addition, iDRAC9 allows server administrators to pre-define power and cooling settings easily, as part of the server configuration profile. For more information, see iDRAC9 Redfish API Guide Firmware.
Security
iDRAC9 offers industry-leading security features that adhere to and are certified against well-known NIST standards, Common Criteria, and FIPS-140-2. For more information about iDRAC's certifications and standards, see the white paper Managing Web Server Certificates on iDRAC.
iDRAC9 uses a modern, secure, HMTL5-based GUI as a virtual console. The iDRAC9 web server uses a TLS/SSL certificate to establish and maintain secure communications with remote clients. Web browsers and command-line utilities, such as RACADM and WS-Man, use this TLS/SSL certificate for server authentication and establishing an encrypted connection. iDRAC9 now supports TLS 1.3.
XR4000 iDRAC9 features:
iDRAC9 on XR4000 enables dust monitoring of the bezel. If the bezel is in a dusty environment, iDRAC9 helps the administrator know when to clear or change the bezel to ensure the smooth functioning of the server. iDRAC9 is also able to gather information from a witness sled and PSUs, and then send it to each existing node in the chassis at deployment time and when any runtime changes occur. Ultimately, iDRAC can gather the overall health status for Chassis Manager, and display it using the bezel LED.
Conclusion
iDRAC9 is crucial to PowerEdge servers and will continue to be an integrated part of the entire XR series. It will also continue to address issues faced by administrators in the edge environment. We offer various licensing methods to provide what is best suited to your requirements.
To learn about iDRAC9, see the article Support for Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 9 (iDRAC9).