iDRAC Inventory and User Management via RACADM

Dell iDRAC (Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller) is the out-of-band management interface built into every PowerEdge server. While the web UI covers most tasks, RACADM (Remote Access Controller Admin) gives you scriptable, automatable access to everything iDRAC exposes — NIC configuration, full storage inventory, user management, firmware versions, and more. This guide covers the most useful RACADM queries and user management operations you will run in a production environment.

Prerequisites

NIC and Network Configuration

The first thing to check on any iDRAC is the management NIC configuration — confirm DHCP state, the assigned IP, and whether IPv6 is enabled. getniccfg returns both IPv4 and IPv6 in a single call:

1# Run as Administrator
2racadm getniccfg

Key fields to note:

To set a static IPv4 address:

1racadm set iDRAC.IPv4.DHCPEnable 0
2racadm set iDRAC.IPv4.Address 10.0.0.50
3racadm set iDRAC.IPv4.Netmask 255.255.255.0
4racadm set iDRAC.IPv4.Gateway 10.0.0.1

Storage Inventory

A complete storage audit requires four commands — controllers, virtual disks, physical disks, and the cache/battery (BBU) status. Run them together for a full picture before any maintenance window:

1# 1. RAID controller details: model, firmware, driver, slot
2racadm storage get controllers -o
3
4# 2. Virtual disks: RAID level, state, stripe size, members
5racadm storage get vdisks -o
6
7# 3. Physical disks: every drive with model, PN, SN, state, failure prediction
8racadm storage get pdisks -o
9
10# 4. Cache and BBU status — critical for write performance under load
11racadm raid get controllers

Physical Disks — Full Detail

The pdisks -o output is the most useful for hardware audits — it surfaces failure prediction, remaining write endurance on SSDs, and exact serial numbers for RMA:

User Management

iDRAC supports up to 16 local users (slots 1–16). Slot 1 is reserved for the anonymous user (disabled by default). Slot 2 is typically the built-in root account. Always audit existing users before adding new ones:

1# List all configured user slots
2racadm get iDRAC.Users
3
4# Check a specific slot in detail (e.g., slot 2 = root)
5racadm get iDRAC.Users.2

Change an Existing User Password

The default root password must be changed immediately on any newly deployed server. Use slot 2 for the built-in root account:

1# Change the root (slot 2) password
2racadm set iDRAC.Users.2.Password "YourNewStrongPassword!"

The response [Key=iDRAC.Embedded.1#Users.2] confirms the change was applied to the embedded iDRAC and took effect immediately — no reboot or service restart required.

Create a New Admin User

Best practice is to create a named admin account rather than sharing the root credential. Use an empty slot (3–16):

1# Create a new admin user in slot 3
2racadm set iDRAC.Users.3.UserName "newadmin"
3racadm set iDRAC.Users.3.Password "StrongPassword123!"
4racadm set iDRAC.Users.3.Privilege 0x1ff    # Full administrator
5racadm set iDRAC.Users.3.Enable 1
6
7# Verify the user was created
8racadm get iDRAC.Users.3

Privilege levels are set as a bitmask. Common values:

Disable or Delete a User

1# Disable a user (keeps the slot, removes access)
2racadm set iDRAC.Users.3.Enable 0
3
4# Fully clear a user slot (username, password, privilege)
5racadm set iDRAC.Users.3.UserName ""
6racadm set iDRAC.Users.3.Privilege 0x000
7racadm set iDRAC.Users.3.Enable 0

Useful One-Liners

1# iDRAC firmware version
2racadm get iDRAC.Info.Version
3
4# Server model and service tag (for support cases)
5racadm get System.ServerInfo
6
7# iDRAC event log (last 10 entries)
8racadm getsel -o | Select-Object -Last 10
9
10# BIOS version
11racadm get BIOS.SysInformation.BiosVersion
12
13# Thermal/fan summary
14racadm get System.ThermalSettings
15
16# Power usage
17racadm get System.Power.Status
18
19# Reset iDRAC (does not affect the server OS)
20racadm racreset

Troubleshooting