This happens every now and then. In one of the data centers I manage, I have a lot of servers that haven’t been rebooted since those were mounted. And as you know, all devices need to be rebooted regularly, maybe once or twice a year. Well, I learned that the hard way. I do a health check-up on each server every week. For Dell EMC servers, iDRAC (The Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller) on some of the servers was not loading on the web browser. At first, I thought it was some browser cache issue. Later, wherever I tried on whichever browser, the same problem occurred. To fix the issue, I had to reset the iDRAC.

There are three options to reset the iDRAC.

One. Reset the iDRAC from the Web Browser. C’mon!!! Really!! I mean, that is the problem. I cannot access it via a Web Browser.

Two. Reset the iDRAC from the BIOS. That will need to reboot the server. But I can’t reboot the production server whenever I want. Can I? I must notify everyone about the possible downtime. And they have to notify all the clients who might be affected by the downtime in advance then, and only then can I reboot the servers.

Three. I was looking for a way to reset the iDRAC without rebooting the servers. Well, I found one, and it was so easy that I could not believe it would work.

Prerequisites

• First, make sure that it is not a browser cache issue. so that you don’t risk resetting the iDRAC because there is one in a million chance that the server might reboot in this process.
• You need to have physical access to the Dell server.

Procedure

Until now, I have faced this problem of the iDRAC web interface not loading for three types of servers.

1. Dell EMC PowerEdge R740 (2U Rack Servers)
2. Dell EMC PowerEdge R230 (1U Rack Servers)
3. Dell EMC PowerEdge T550 (Tower Server)

Pretty much all are the same.

A little button marked “i ” (called the System Health and System ID indicator button) is often seen on the front or rear of the servers with iDRAC. All you have to do to reset the iDRAC is “Press and hold the System Identification button for 16 seconds” to reset the iDRAC without restarting the operating system. When the cooling fans reach maximum speed, and the front LCD (if present) turns off, release the button. The iDRAC now restarts without affecting any previously saved settings. It might take a minute or more for the remote controller to restart.

Let’s start one by one.

PowerEdge R740 (2U Rack Servers)

There is a blue LED light button with the label “i ” on top of that. That button is called the System health and system ID indicator Button. You have to press and hold that button for 16 seconds.

PowerEdge R230 (1U Rack Servers)

There is a button just beside the Power button with the label “i ” on the top-right of that. That button is called the System health and system ID indicator Button. You have to press and hold that button for 16 seconds.

PowerEdge T550 (Tower Server)

Almost all the Dell PowerEdge Tower Servers have the System health and system ID indicator Button just beside the Power button with the label “i “. Like the others, you have to press and hold that button for 16 seconds.

It should reset the iDRAC. If that doesn’t work and you don’t see the iDRAC loading on the web browser, I don’t think you have any other way but to reboot and reset iDRAC from the BIOS. If you have Active Support Services, which you can check with the Service Tag of the server at https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us, you can raise a Support Ticket at https://www.dell.com/support/incidents-online/en-us/ and let Dell suggest what to do. You can also contact me.