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Methods to reset iDRAC and restart PTAgent for Dell VxRail

Summary: Instructions to reset Dell VxRail iDRAC and restart PTAgent including remotely, at the box, and other methods.

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Instructions

The following commands are run from the ESXi BASH shell.

Reset the iDRAC from the ESXi node

"/opt/dell/DellPTAgent/bin/ipmitool_static mc reset cold"

If you cannot find the ipmitool_static tool in the above path, check the below paths:

  • /opt/vxrail/tools/
  • /opt/vxrail/tools/ipmitool
  • /opt/dell/DellPTAgent/tools/
  • /scratch/dell/DellPTAgent/bin/ipmitool_static (for old PTAgent versions)

Restart the PTAgent process

# /etc/init.d/DellPTAgent stop
# /etc/init.d/DellPTAgent start

Manually kill all PTAgent watchdog processes

# kill -9 [PID of the PTAgent watchdog process]

Reset using the iDRAC UI (13G)

The user interface of the iDRAC provides an option to perform a soft reset.

13G Reset iDRAC option

Figure 1: 13G reset iDRAC option.

  1. Connect to the iDRAC.
  2. Log in to the interface by entering the username and password.
  3. In the lower-right corner of the overview screen, the Quick Launch Tasks are shown.
  4. Click Reset iDRAC.
  5. Confirm the action. The iDRAC is unable to be reached for a few minutes while it resets. The system performance is unaffected.

Reset using the iDRAC UI (14G)

The user interface of the iDRAC provides an option to perform a soft reset.

14G Reset iDRAC option

Figure 2: 14G reset iDRAC option.

  1. Connect to the iDRAC.
  2. Log in to the interface by entering the username and password.
  3. Click the Maintenance tab on top.
  4. Click the Diagnostics subtab.
  5. Click Reset iDRAC.
  6. Confirm the action. The iDRAC is unable to be reached for a few minutes while it resets. The system performance is unaffected.

Reset using the front panel (VxRail E460)

The appliance identification button of the iDRAC allows administrators to perform a hard reset.

E460 iDRAC reset button

Figure 3: VxRail E460 iDRAC reset button.

To reset the iDRAC (if not disabled in F2 iDRAC setup), press and hold the appliance identification button (marked 5 in Figure 3) for more than fifteen seconds. If you have a model other than the VxRail E460, refer to an appropriate hardware owner's manual to locate an identification button.
 

    Additional Information

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    Affected Products

    VxRail, VxRail Appliance Family
    Article Properties
    Article Number: 000023663
    Article Type: How To
    Last Modified: 10 Nov 2023
    Version:  12
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