Why
does the Virtual Media client connection sometimes drop?
When a network time-out occurs, iDRAC firmware drops the connection,
disconnecting the link between the server and the virtual drive.
If you change the CD in the client system, the new CD may have
an autostart feature. In this case, the firmware can time out and
the connection is lost if the client system takes too long to read
the CD. If a connection is lost, reconnect from the GUI and continue
the previous operation.
If the Virtual Media configuration
settings are changed in the iDRAC web interface or through local RACADM
commands, any connected media is disconnected when the configuration
change is applied.
To reconnect to the Virtual Drive, use the
Virtual Media Client View window.
Why
does a Windows operating system installation through Virtual Media
take an extended amount of time?
If you are installing the
Windows operating system using the Dell Systems Management Tools
and Documentation DVD and the network connection is slow, the
installation procedure may require an extended amount of time to access
iDRAC web interface due to network latency. The installation window
does not indicate the installation progress.
How
to configure the virtual device as a bootable device?
On
the managed system, access BIOS Setup and go to the boot menu. Locate
the virtual CD, virtual floppy, or vFlash and change the device boot
order as required. Also, press the "spacebar" key in the boot sequence
in the CMOS setup to make the virtual device bootable. For example,
to boot from a CD drive, configure the CD drive as the first device
in the boot order.
What
are the types of media that can be set as a bootable device?
iDRAC allows you to boot from the following bootable media:
CDROM/DVD Data media
ISO 9660 image
1.44 Floppy disk or floppy image
A USB key that is recognized by the operating system as a removable
disk
A USB key image
How
to make the USB key a bootable device?
You can also boot
with a Windows 98 startup disk and copy system files from the startup
disk to the USB key. For example, from the DOS prompt, type the following
command:
sys a: x: /s
where, x: is the USB
key that is required to be set as a bootable device.
The
Virtual Media is attached and connected to the remote floppy. But,
cannot locate the Virtual Floppy/Virtual CD device on a system running
Red Hat Enterprise Linux or the SUSE Linux operating system. How to
resolve this?
Some Linux versions do not auto-mount the
virtual floppy drive and the virtual CD drive in the same method.
To mount the virtual floppy drive, locate the device node that Linux
assigns to the virtual floppy drive. To mount the virtual floppy drive:
Open a Linux command prompt and run the following command:
grep "Virtual Floppy" /var/log/messages
Locate the last entry to that message and note the time.
At the Linux prompt, run the following command:
grep "hh:mm:ss" /var/log/messages
where, hh:mm:ss is the time stamp of the message returned by grep
in step 1.
In step 3, read the result of the grep command and locate the
device name that is given to the Virtual Floppy.
Make sure that you are attached and connected to the virtual floppy
drive.
At the Linux prompt, run the following command:
mount /dev/sdx /mnt/floppy
where, /dev/sdx is the device name found in step
4 and /mnt/floppy is the mount point.
To mount the virtual CD drive, locate the device node
that Linux assigns to the virtual CD drive. To mount the virtual CD
drive:
Open a Linux command prompt and run the following command:
grep "Virtual CD" /var/log/messages
Locate the last entry to that message and note the time.
At the Linux prompt, run the following command:
grep "hh:mm:ss" /var/log/messages
where, hh:mm:ss is the timestamp of the message returned by grep
in step 1.
In step 3, read the result of the grep command and locate the
device name that is given to the Dell Virtual CD.
Make sure that the Virtual CD Drive is attached and connected.
At the Linux prompt, run the following command:
mount /dev/sdx /mnt/CD
where: /dev/sdx is the device name found in step
4 and /mnt/floppy is the mount point.
Why
are the virtual drives attached to the server removed after performing
a remote firmware update using the iDRAC web interface?
Firmware updates cause the iDRAC to reset, drop the remote connection,
and unmount the virtual drives. The drives reappear when iDRAC reset
is complete.
Why
are all the USB devices detached after connecting a USB device?
Virtual media devices and vFlash devices are connected as
a composite USB device to the Host USB BUS, and they share a common
USB port. Whenever any virtual media or vFlash USB device is connected
to or disconnected from the host USB bus, all the Virtual Media and
vFlash devices are disconnected momentarily from the host USB bus,
and then they are reconnected. If the host operating system uses a
virtual media device, do not attach or detach one or more virtual
media or vFlash devices. It is recommended that you connect all the
required USB devices first before using them.
What
does the USB Reset do?
It resets the remote and local USB
devices connected to the server.
How
to maximize Virtual Media performance?
To maximize Virtual
Media performance, launch the Virtual Media with the Virtual Console
disabled or do one of the following:
Change the performance slider to Maximum Speed.
Disable encryption for both Virtual Media and Virtual Console.
NOTE:In this case,
the data transfer between managed server and iDRAC for Virtual Media
and Virtual Console will not be secured.
If you are using any Windows server operating systems, stop the
Windows service named Windows Event Collector. To do this, go to Start > Administrative Tools > Services. Right-click Windows Event Collector and click Stop.
While
viewing the contents of a floppy drive or USB key, a connection failure
message is displayed if the same drive is attached through the virtual media?
Simultaneous access to virtual floppy drives is not allowed.
Close the application used to view the drive contents before attempting
to virtualize the drive.
What
file system types are supported on the Virtual Floppy Drive?
The virtual floppy drive supports FAT16 or FAT32 file systems.
Why
is an error message displayed when trying to connect a DVD/USB through
virtual media even though the virtual media is currently not in use?
The error message is displayed if Remote
File Share (RFS) feature is also in use. At a time, you can use RFS
or Virtual Media and not both.
Launching virtual media with HTML5 fails when browser is set to use only TLS 1.0.
Ensure that the browser is set to use TLS 1.1 or higher.
Virtual Media inaccessible even though iDRAC shows Virtual Media Connection Status as Connected.
If you try to access Virtual Media using ActiveX or Java plug-in while Attach Mode is set to Detach in iDRAC, then the connection status may show as Connected. Change the Attach Mode to either Auto-attach or Attach to access the Virtual Media.