With the later DRACs, like the DRAC III or DRAC 4, configuration can be a nightmare. I’ve even written a couple blog posts on the later dracs because of their complexity. You have to install software, manage dependencies, edit repository information, etc. It’s not easy, but it’s managable. But I always prefer easy, so here’s how I manage a DRAC II:

With a DOS boot disk.

Yes, I know it’s old skool, but hey – so is the DRAC II. Chances are you’re running it in something like a Dell PowerEdge 2450 or 2550, and those are from back in the day when 3.5″ floppy drives were still standard on servers, CD-ROM drives were an option, and DVD drives weren’t even available. So take the easy route and make a DOS boot disk. Any Windows box with a floppy drive will let you create one easily. Then, download the DRAC II firmware from support.dell.com and copy the RACCONF.EXE file to the floppy. That’s it! You now have all the tools you need.

Boot the server with the boot floppy in the drive. Presumably, the DRAC II already has some sort of configuration settings. To see them, just type:

racconf

The current settings will appear on your screen. To change the configuration, you’ll need a configuration file. Create one based on the current settings with:

racconf /w filename.ini

Now you can use any text editor to edit the .ini file you just created (if you forgot to put EDIT.COM on your boot disk, just pop the disk out and take it to your desktop system). Check Dell’s DRAC II documentation for more details on all the settings. One important tip from the docs:

All equal signs (=) must be preceded by exactly one blank space and should be followed immediately by the values, if any, without any space in between. There should also be no trailing spaces in any line. Configuration files that do not follow the above guidelines may cause the utility to function incorrectly.

Once you’ve updated the settings in the .ini file (including the DRAC II’s IP address info and the admin user’s name and password), you’re ready to program them into the DRAC. Type:

racconf /c filename.ini

This will configure the DRAC II with the settings from the file. Once it’s done, you’ll need to hard reset the DRAC with:

racconf /d

It will take a few seconds to reset, then your DRAC II will be ready to use with the new settings.

Keep in mind that for security reasons, the racconf /c command will erase the username and password information stored in the .ini file. So you’ll need to type those in the .ini file every time before using racconf /c.

Now go have some fun with your old skool DRAC II.