I do not work at a datacenter but been reading about out of band management and how it related to OOB servers like Dell PowerEdge and it’s iDRAC features.

So, OOB network is a different network used for management in case the production network goes down. It needs to be accessed from the internet, as well as the production network of course.

Does that mean that two different edge devices need to be placed in the network, with two public IP addresses? (Firewall + Router) ?

Let’s say I have 5 servers running Linux or Windows Server, no virtual machines, will I be able to remotely access the server from the iDRAC interface? is it only through SSH or like RDP?

Does the Dell server have to be like a hypervisor with VMs within, from me to manage them?

To access the management interface from the internet from a web browser I need port forwarding from public IP to the local management network correct?

Apart from the edge devices, do I need a routing device between the production and management network to access the production servers?

As you can see these are very basic questions as I am not familiarized with these technologies so please be patient.

Also, any good guides out there that would help me understand more with practical/configuration examples?

  • DankNanky@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    8 months ago

    In my personal use, my OOB simply sit on a segmented VLAN that does not share any routing overlay or address space with my DC. It’s on a seperate VLAN to mitigate STP, DHCP overlap etc.

    The use of OOB and iDRAC is to remotely administer your server/hypervisor should there be a problem (and sometimes also serves to help patch and firmware update kit). It doesn’t need to necessarily be internet facing, and I would discourage publicly exposing SSH to your hypervisor wherever possible.

    In corporate environments, there are other methods to connect to the iDRAC (assuming all network isn’t down). You could use a VPN to connect to the corporate network, a jump box (via Azure Virtual Desktop or AWS Workspace) to name a few I’ve used.

    https://docs.extrahop.com/9.4/configure-i-drac/

    https://1gbits.com/blog/understanding-idrac-port/

    • erudes91@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      8 months ago

      Ok, thanks for the info. Yes so I was trying to imagine the scenario where you are at home and trying to access idrac. But I guess even if you use VPN part of the network needs to work. If all network is down you won’t be able to troubleshoot anything unless you are on site. @DankNanky