White Papers

Managing Devices via IPMI in OpenManage Essentials
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Executive summary
The objective of this white paper is to make the reader understand how IPMI protocol can be used to
monitor and manage devices. Whenever there is an environment where operating systems are not
installed on the server or the server is switched off, IPMI protocol can be used to manage the
server/RAC. IPMI protocol talks directly to the server through the RAC and it does not require an
operating system to be installed on the server.
Introduction
The only way to monitor a server which is not reachable (i.e. does not have an operating system
installed or is turned off) is through IPMI. WSMAN or IPMI protocol can be used to monitor 11G and 12G
servers. The 8G, 9G or 10G Dell servers can be monitored and managed only using IPMI protocol, when
the server is unreachable. IPMI protocol talks directly to the server instead of the RAC, so this is the
closest that we can get to a server which is not reachable.
Dell OpenManage Essentials 1.1 support IPMI 1.5 and IPMI 2.0.
To enable IPMI discovery of a server, the IPMI over LAN should be enabled in the RAC.
How to enable IPMI over LAN
To enable IPMI over LAN:
1. Login to the RAC.
2. Navigate to IDrac Settings > Network/Security. (Note: This may be different for different versions
of RAC consoles, they may have this setting in slightly different place)
3. Under Network tab, look for IPMI settings.
4. Make sure that the “Enable IPMI over LAN check box is selected”