Dell Poweredge R710

Dell support page

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/poweredge-r710/drivers?lwp=rt

idrac console won't connect

Go to Java installation folder.

Open {JRE_HOME}\lib\security\java.security -file in text editor.

Delete or comment out the following line "jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms=SSLv3".

I found simply removing RC4 from the list was adequate, this is on an R610 with iDRAC 2.91 and Java 8 Update 181.

https://www.dell.com/community/Systems-Management-General/iDRAC6-Virtual-Console-Connection-Failed/td-p/5144021/page/3

updating BIOS in ESXI

"Enough contiguous physical memory is not available to perform the BIOS update running under this Operating System"

If you run into the above memory limitation on VMWare ESX, the problem is because the console OS available memory is only 272M by default. Please increase the console OS memory to 800M temporarily and perform the FW update. During ESX server boot up please perform the below steps to increase the memory available.
1. While booting, press 'e' or 'Shift-0' on the VMware ESX line (Grub option display screen).
2. Press 'e' again on the 'uppermem=' line and edit uppermem=819200. Press Enter.
3. Press 'e' on the kernel line (Just below the uppermem line). Edit the kernel line with mem=800M and press Enter.
4. Press 'b' to boot with these options.
5. Perform the FW update.

You can enter the shell by enabling it in the web client under hosts or under f2 then troubleshooting options. In the direct console press 'alt-f1' (to return to direct console press alt-f2). Or you can use ssh.

Copy the update file to the storage and don't forget to chmod it 777 before running and then deleting after.

updating idrac in web gui

download the windows version

open the .exe with 7zip

go to the payload directory and extract the firmimg.d6

on the homepage on the right, choose update or in idrac settings, tab update. Browse for and upload the .d6 file. This can take a while. Once it's uploaded you will see the image with version number. Select next. You will then see an updating screen.

Booting through DOS

Using free tool Rufus was easiest to create bootable ms-dos usb (use freedos). Copy the BIOS / unpackaged bios file to this.

Start up the server and select F-11 (UEFI boot manager) whilst booting. Then go to the System Utilities menu and select BIOS Update File Explorer. You should be able to select the usb device and boot into it now. Start the file.

Wait.

Buying new hardware

www.serverhome.nl

Installing OMSA Openmanage Server on esxi

instructions here from dell NB when running the esxcli line, include the full path in the command, not just ./OS....zip!

If you then install in windows, use the hostname = the esxi host, user = root and password. Make sure you check Ignore certificate warnings.