Q01What is Remote Management?
Remote management (also known as OOB or LOM) is a device on a server’s motherboard that allows you to remotely access your server, independently from the server’s operating system, and provides functionality that helps you deploy (if you want to install your own OS), update, monitor and maintain your server.
Key features include power management, virtual media access, hardware monitoring and remote console capabilities; all available through an OOB remote management control panel, accessible through a supported web browser. It provides our customers with the ability to configure and work on a server as if they were on site, with a screen, keyboard and mouse attached to the server.
We encourage our clients to order Remote Management with their server, as it allows the device’s administrator (our client’s) to check the status of their hardware, as it can be used to identify hardware related issues and can be used to identify the necessary information to have any faulty hardware replaced. It also allows the device’s administrator to be able to start a virtual console at any time; providing the user greater control over their device, 24/7, and replaces the need for KVMoIP devices.
The version and generation of OOB remote management provisioned on a device will depend on the manufacturer, generation and model of the server that you are provided. Examples include iDRAC for Dell EMC PowerEdge servers and iLO for HPE ProLiant servers. All our OOBs come with the necessary licenses; as an example, iDRACs will have the Enterprise license installed.
We offer both dedicated and shared OOB connections. See the “What is the difference between Shared and Dedicated OOB Remote Management?” section of the FAQ, for more details on this.
When ordering a dedicated server, you are able to choose OOB (out-of-bounds) Remote Management (shared or dedicated) as a specification option with most of our server packages. We can also provide OOB remote management to most live servers, but this will involve a short amount of downtime on the server, for our technicians to configure the connection. If you want OOB remote management added to your server, please feel free to get in touch through a support ticket, and a member of our team will be happy to help.
If you have any question, please feel free to get in touch and we will be happy to help.
Q02How do I get Remote Management configured on my Server?
If you wish for Remote Management (e.g. iDRAC, iLO or IPMI) to be configured on a new server you are ordering with us, you simply need to request Remote Management through the MyServers Shop when ordering the server, or request for remote management to be installed when discussing the server specifications with a member of our team. If you wish for the Remote Management to be configured on an existing device, please feel free to raise a support ticket requesting Remote Management to be installed, and we will be happy to discuss this with you.
Configuring a server’s iDRAC/iLO/IPMI consists of powering down the server and configuring the remote management software within the system’s setup/BIOS menu. If a dedicated Remote Management connection is required, the set up process also consist of connecting a new network cable, and configuring our networking infrastructure.
Please note that the iDRAC component is unique to Dell servers, the iLO component is unique to HP servers and IPMI is unique to SuperMicro servers; so iDRAC, iLO or IPMI are only available on our Dell PowerEdge, HP Proloiant and SuperMicro servers respectively.
When ordering/requesting remote management for your server, you will be supplied with two options, dedicated remote management or shared remote management. Please see our section on what is the difference between shared and dedicated remote management, for more details.
If you have any further questions about Remote Management, please look through our FAQ section. If our FAQ page does not have the answer, please feel free to raise a support ticket, and we will be happy to help.
Q03What is the difference between Shared and Dedicated OOB Remote Management?
We offer two types of OOB remote management: ‘Shared’ and ‘Dedicated’ remote management. The main difference between the two is the network cable and connection which is used to provide this service.
A dedicated OOB will have its own network cable running from a dedicated switch port to a dedicated OOB port on the server. The benefits of the dedicated connection is that it means your OOB connection will be independent of the server’s other connections; meaning that if there is a hardware failure with the switch port, network cable or NIC port which causes your server to go offline, you would still have access to your server through the OOB connection. It also means that traffic would not be shared between this connection’s primary purpose and the OOB management connection.
A shared connection will share the network cable, switch port and a port on the server with one of your server’s other connections; usually the server’s primary external connection. The benefit of a shared connection is that it is cheaper; due to the fact that it shares the infrastructure and hardware of the server’s other connections.
If you are interesting in upgrading your package so that it includes OOB remote management, please feel free to get in touch and we will be happy to help.
If ordering a new server, you can select an OOB connection under Remote Management.
If you have any question, please feel free to get in touch and we will be happy to help.
Q04What are OOB Sessions and how do they work?
An OOB Session will give you temporary access to your server’s OOB (also know as LOM, iDRAC, or IMPI). For more information on what OOB is, please read “What is Remote Management”.
If your server has a Dedicated OOB connection configured and is connected to one of our switches (known as our Remote Management service), the connection will be left disabled as default.
We do this as OOBs left enabled and open to the internet can leave the server open to being compromised. So, as a security measure, we disable the connected switch port to remove its network access; meaning that no one can use it to access the server.
Booking an OOB session will temporarily enable the switch port and allow you to access the server’s OOB, then automatically disable itself after a set amount of time. You can also turn all your OOB connections On or Off using the MyServers control panel (see “How do I enable or disable all my OOB connections?” for instructions on how to do this).
To request a temporary OOB session on a single server, which has a Dedicated OOB connection, follow these steps:
1. Log into your MyServers control panel.
2. Click on the My Servers tab along the top (or within the burger menu on the mobile version).
3. Click on the package reference of the server you want to enable the OOB on.
Then on the right-hand side (or the bottom of the page on the mobile version), click on Support and then OOB Request.
4. You can now configure the OOB session. Start off by choosing whether the session should start immediately or at a specific date and time; then choose how long the session will last.
5. Then press Save.
Either at the selected start time or within a couple of seconds, the switch port attached to your Dedicated OOB port will enable and your OOB session will be accessible. Then, after the selected duration, the switch port will automatically disable and your OOB will no longer be accessible.
If you have any issues accessing your OOB, please raise a support ticket and our engineers will be happy to help.
Q05How do I enable or disable all my OOB connections on my servers?
If your servers have a Dedicated OOB connections configured and they are connected to our switches (either because you order Remote Management with your server, or because we supplied it free of charge), the connection will be left disabled as default.
We do this as OOBs left enabled and open to the internet can leave the server open to being compromised. So, as a security measure, we disable the connected switch port to remove its network access; meaning that no one can use it to access the server.
You can turn all your OOB connections On or Off using the MyServers control panel.
Please note that turning on the OOB ports of your servers permanently can be considered a security risk for your devices. If you plan on leaving them all on, we recommend putting some security measures in place to secure the OOB.
To either turn your OOB connections all On or Off, follow these instructions:
1. Log into your MyServers control panel.
2. Click on the My Servers tab along the top (or within the burger menu on the mobile version).
3. Now click on My OOB Devices
5. You will now see a list of servers with a Dedicated OOB connection, attached to our top of the rack switches. You will also be able to see the current status of each OOB connection. To enable all the OOB connections, click on Enable All OOB Ports. To Disable all OOB connections, click on Disable all OOB Ports.
6. All the switch ports attached to your server’s OOB ports will now either enable or disable. Please not that this process can take a while if you have a large number of servers.