DRAC5 virtual console - firefox / IE7 - multiple problems

[Kaj Niemi]

Hi,

On Sep 9, 2007, at 20:11, u1_fd at dslr.net wrote:

> 1) It would be nice if the DRAC5 card had a certificate from a  
> recognized root authority so we didn't have all these certificate  
> warnings.

This one is easy, you should be able to generate a CSR and later  
import your own server certificate and root cert either through the  
web interface or using racadm sslcsrgen and racadm sslcertupload from  
the command line.

> 2) Under firefox, despite the DRAC5 warning to restart mozilla  
> after install, there is no plugin support for the virtual console.  
> The .xpi file solution posted by Dell for DRAC4 cards is not there  
> either.

I found out the hard way (we somehow bought a bunch of 1950/2950s  
with DRAC5 and gold support through a 2-for-1 summer special) that  
the DRAC5 virtual console is very picky regarding what it supports  
and what really works. After banging my head against the wall for a  
while I figured out that the easiest way was to create a RHEL4 WS (32  
bit, selinux disabled) - a CentOS 4 image will work just as well -  
guest image for people to use within VMware and/or Parallels. Both  
virtual console and virtual media seem to work using it. At least the  
DRAC5 .xpi for Linux actually includes a binary file that is executed  
which kind of limits where you can run it.

Additional observations:

- Forget using OS X (any browser) and DRAC5 Virtual Console, it just  
won't work
- Forget using FC7 or FC8 and Firefox 2.0, most of the time FF will  
just segfault

I've asked our account team to ask Dell PM if they would consider  
making DRAC5 virtual console work a bit better for other operating  
systems and more recent versions of Firefox. So far I have not heard  
back from them :)

> If anyone on the list finds they can use DRAC5 under IE7, or under
> firefox (or opera, or safari.. or..) then please post the how-to?

Using a RHEL4 WS 32 bit image and Firefox 1.5.x the first time you go  
to the virtual console page it will make you download the .xpi. At  
this point you should chmod -R /usr/lib/firefox/plugins (the install  
will otherwise fail and you'll find a install.log under ~/.mozilla/ 
firefox/something/, tail it and you'll see what the xpi installer  
failed on) and hit install. Assuming the install finished OK, just  
exit Firefox and restart it. Virtual console should now just  
magically work... Repeat the steps for virtual media.

If your locally installed virtual console plugin is older than what  
is on the DRAC5 it'll attempt to upgrade it and you'll have to go  
through the installation as detailed above again.

I was kind of sceptic at first but once it works it's very pleasant  
to use when you actually need it.

:)




HTH

Kaj
-- 
Kaj J. Niemi
<kajtzu at basen.net>
+358 45 63 12000


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