Monday 11 May 2009

Allowing a Dell DRAC (Remote Management) Session through ISA

The Dell Remote Access Card (DRAC) requires a couple of ports to be opened up outbound through our ISA servers in order for the Console redirection function to work correctly on a remotely managed server:

  • TCP Outbound: 5900 (Keyboard and Mouse)
  • TCP Outbound: 5901 (Video)

Create a custom protocol with the above settings, we call it Dell DRAC, and then create an Access Rule that allows the custom protocol from Internal/Local Host to External for All Users.

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Once the rule has been created we are able to remote into any Dell server that has a DRAC 5 installed.

For any client that we support remotely, we make sure to have a remote management capability in the box ahead of time. This gives us console access via an Internet connection for those times where an OS may have stopped responding and we need to power cycle the box. Or, for SBS updates that like to kill Exchange, IIS, and/or RRAS thus taking us out of our remote session via the Remote Web Workplace or PPTP VPN.

As a result, we no longer need to have a timed script in place to force the box into a reboot during updates which may not bring the box back up in some cases where an update chokes the NICs, RRAS, or even IIS.

An additional benefit to having a remote management capability is being able to watch the boot cycle from start to finish. We can see all of the BIOS, RAID controller, and other firmware messages on our screen prior to the OS loading. It is one more way for us to assess the health of the server.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

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