[DUG] Offtopic - Dell server Remote Access question

[Peter Hyde]

Hi folks,
(offtopic)
  A colleague of mine who works for a non-profit has the following
problem with a Dell server he just bought on Oz Ebay. If any of you
have worked with the Dell Remote Access system, you may have an
answer from deep prior knowledge

If you haven't, you may want to skip this because he seems to have
tried all the obvious things already, sigh.

==

"The Dell 1850 server I am preparing to bring online has a DRAC, and
I'm having a problem with it becuase I don't know how to "factory
default" it. It has a root password ( for which the factory default
is 'calvin' ), but I can't login to it, and can't reset it. I've read
lots of Dell doco on it, and all the documentation says that using
the 'racadm resetcfg' command is what I want to do ( performs a full
factory default reset), but the racadm command apparently requires
you to be authenticated in order to perform that command.  I can't
authenticate, cause I don't know the password set by the previous
owner.

I CAN access basic network settings in the BIOS for the RAC card, and
change things like the IP address, and after doing that I can get to
the https/ssh/telnet ports on this card, but all of them require
authentication before I can go any further, so I'm still stuck."

This is a DRAC 4  currently at version 1.50  ( as described here:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smdrac3/drac4/index.htm
)

and the user guide in PDF format is here:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smdrac3/drac4/1.50/en/u
g/DRAC4PDF.zip

... but they all just say what I've told you.

Finally, I opend the server up, and there is a little tiny red push
button on the DRAC "daughter board" called "H RST" which I assume
means "Hard Reset", but I can find no documentation for it, and I've
tried pressing it, and holding it down for 30+secs, and holding it
while rebooting, and even removing the daughter board entirely and
pressing it while it's removed, and after all that, it comes back
online exactly as I left it ( same IP address, and same unknown root
password).

Any further ideas?

==
cheers,
peter

===========================================
Peter Hyde, Development Director
* http://TurboNote.com -- top-rated onscreen sticky notes
* Web development and automation: http://webcentre.co.nz