Remote boot

['Harold van Oostrom']

On Fri, Jan 17, 2003 at 03:16:39AM -0800, James wrote:
> Supported Web Browser:
> 
> Netscape 6.01 or later available here:
> ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/netscape6/english/6.01/unix/linux22/

Have you actually tried this ? Obviously not. It does not work.
See Matt's announce on Nov. 4th 2002. 
http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2002-November/010239.html

You can even find this buried deep down on the Dell website:

http://support.ap.dell.com/docs/software/smdrac3/RAC/en/readme/111read.txt
 * The RAC Web-based interface is not accessible on systems running
   Linux with Netscape Navigator. 
 
For a partial fix see:
http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2003-January/011190.html

> I do know Mozilla will not work. 

True.
http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2002-November/010623.html
But Mozilla + j2sdk-1.4.1_01-fcs is still lightyears ahead of Netscape.
Forget about Netscape it's been dead for ages.
 
> Here is some good documentation as well:
> http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/software/svradmin/1.2.3/ug/remote.htm#using_rac

Now that you mention it, where is this mysterious version 1.2.3 of serveradmin ?
http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2002-December/010804.html
Also the OMSA docs fail to mention that it has a tendency to not work on tuesdays. 
It's reliable Jim, but not as we know it.

Please read this list before contributing ! 
There's already a wealth of information there, not just about RAC issues ! ;-)
You can conveniently access the archives from here:
http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/
You can even download the full raw archive in mbox format.

Cheers,
Harold.

> 
> 
> --Jim
> 
> "So here I go, it's my shot
> Feet fail me not
> This may be the only opportunity I got"
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: linux-poweredge-admin at dell.com
> [mailto:linux-poweredge-admin at dell.com] On Behalf Of Harold van Oostrom
> Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2003 6:23 PM
> To: Philip Rowlands
> Cc: Linux-Poweredge at dell.com
> Subject: Re: Remote boot
> 
> On Fri, Jan 17, 2003 at 12:07:03AM +0000, Philip Rowlands wrote:
> > On Thu, 16 Jan 2003, Michael Redinger wrote:
> > 
> > >PE 1650 has an ERA, but it is deactivated per default. You have to
> buy the
> > >activation key for it (if you didn't include this when buying the
> server,
> > >this costs about 150 euro (=dollar)).
> > 
> > Please elaborate; is this equivalent as Sun's LOM (lights-out
> > management)? Is it different to the DRAC card ($300)? I can't see this
> > option on Dell's website when configuring a PE1650.
> 
> Phil,
> 
> The options appears to be missing on www.dell.com but it is on the Euro
> site:
> 
> http://commerce.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config/frameset.asp?s=ukbsd&l=en
> &m=gbp&c=607&n=3119&cu=ukbsd&pch=1&pn=3119&sbc=ukbsd&b=31868
> 
> Sun's LOM gives you complete control over the machine and requires only
> a serial connection. It is more expensive though ;-)
> 
> Connecting to ERA requires a M$ computer with IE with java plugin, and
> if 
> you want console redirection (say if you want to go into the BIOS) then 
> that must be in the same LAN as the ERA. (Note 1)
> 
> Taken together these requirements make the ERA pretty useless for
> remote management.  That's why people buy remote boot switches and
> use Linux serial console instead.  But see my earlier post(s).
> 
> Cheers,
> Harold.
> 
> (Note 1)
> Well strictly speaking it needn't be, if you manage to setup the right
> NAT 
> rules in a firewall you can probably make it work.
> 
> Has anybody done this ?
> 
> You'ld still better tunnel your connections though since
> 
> ERA has VIRTUALLY NO SECURITY. 
> 
> Essentialy this VNC Q+A applies:
> http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/faq.html#q55
> 
> The ERA password is hashed with a challenge, but that doesn't help much 
> as the sessionid which is sent in the clear as a cookie header in every
> request, is sufficient to authorise subsequent requests.
> 
> This means that when connecting to your server over public internet
> someone in between your browser and the ERA card could:
> 
> o sniff your normal password(s) while you login using console
> redirection
> 
> o execute arbitrary commands while you are logged in using console
> redirection
> 
> o power-on, power-off your server while you are using the ERA
> 
> But if that is any relief to you, your ERA password cannot be sniffed
> ;-)
>  
> 
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