PowerEdge: How to get the iDRAC IP Address from VMware ESXi on PowerEdge Servers

Acquiring the iDRAC IP address of PowerEdge servers with VMware ESXi hosts
 

Using localcli and esxcli Shell Commands:

1. Start the SSH service of the VMware ESXI host if not already enabled.
2. Log in remotely using SSH with the root account and password.
3. Run the commands shown below to get the iDRAC IP address:

# localcli hardware ipmi bmc get
IpmiBmcConfig:
   BMC Firmware Version: 2.86
   Hostname Reported: dellbox
   IPMI Version: 2.0
   IPv4 Address: 192.168.0.121
   IPv4 Gateway: 192.168.2.1
   IPv4 Subnet: 255.255.255.0
   IPv6 Addresses:
   LAN ifAdminStatus: true
   MAC Address: 64:00:6a:bf:34:b0
   Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
   OS Name Reported: VMware ESXi 7.0.3 Update 3 Patch 125 (build-23794027) Kernel 7.0.3 (x86_64)

# esxcli hardware ipmi bmc get
   BMCFirmware Version: 2.86
   Hostname Reported: dellbox
   IPMIVersion: 2.0
   IPv4Address: 192.168.0.121
   IPv4Gateway: 192.168.2.1
   IPv4Subnet: 255.255.255.0
   IPv6Addresses:
   LANif Admin Status: true
   MACAddress: 64:00:6a:bf:34:b0
   Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
   OSName Reported: VMware ESXi 7.0.3 Update 3 Patch 125 (build-23794027) Kernel 7.0.3 (x86_64)

Using the Web-Based Enterprise Management - WBEM

The Common Information Model (CIM) interface on an ESXi host provides a way to remotely monitor the health of your server using the WBEM protocol. It builds on a standard HTTP(S) API, allowing secure SSL/TLS protected authentication and communication between the host and the management stations.

Starting from ESXi 6.5 and later versions, VMware introduced a new namespace named 'wbem' as an extension for esxcli which controls the services such as sfcbd and wsman.  The sfcdb and wsman services are disabled by default as wbem is set to false by default. The wbem services are enabled automatically when an OEM provider VIB is installed. For example, when Dell OpenManage software is installed on ESXi, you may see that the services such as sfcbd and wsman are started automatically.
 

To enable wbem on VMware ESXi, use the following commands and then retry. You should now be able to successfully see the IP address assigned to your iDRAC servers.

# esxcli system wbem set -e 1   (This enables wbem on the host)
# enum_instances OMC_IPMIIPProtocolEndpoint root/cimv2 | grep IPv4Address  (The grep command filters the output for only the line that matches IPv4Address)
   IPv4Address = 192.168.0.121