Dell EMC iDRAC Infrared Plugin

NOTE: If you execute the playbook directly FLAG variables should be converted to bool (True).

Ansible playbook for controlling Dell EMC iDRAC via Redfish API.

While we can manage a lot of configuration using Dell OpenManage collection, we preferred using a generic REST API approach.
For the time being all planned feature can be done via Redfish and do not require OpenManage API.

The playbook will attempt as much as possible to prevent scenarios where corruption may occur, for example, rebooting during running job on iDRAC.
Not everything will be possible to prevent.
Please make sure that you're executing this playbook when you are aware of the state of the iDRAC, otherwise you may cause corruption and will have to manually resolve it.

The playbook does not wait for tasks scheduled through it to be completed!
Please ensure the state of the iDRAC after the execution and do not attempt to
perform any actions after execution until everything is done.
This playbook is best used at an early stage of your workflow to prepare the iDRACs for later stages.

The playbook is able to perform the following tasks:

• Query iDRAC information.
• Set Bios Attributes.
• Set boot mode.
• Set device boot order.
• Execute a power action.

Requirements

NOTE: This list below was tested, previous releases might be supported.

• Ansible 2.9 or higher.
• Infrared (optional).
• iDRAC 7/8 with Firmware version 2.82.82.82 or above.
• iDRAC 9 with Firmware version 3.00.00.00 or above.
• community.general Ansible collection >= 4.2.0.
• Pre-populated Ansible inventory file.

Installation

If using as Ansible playbooks:
Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/rhos-infra/dellemc-idrac

Install required Ansible galaxy collections:

ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yaml

If using infrared:

infrared plugin add https://github.com/rhos-infra/dellemc-idrac

Inventory

The play requires an inventory file that contains all iDRAC hosts.
As a result the inventory could be static and not generated dynamically.
The inventory for this playbook should be created by the user.

Example:

# Creating a group of hosts
[dell_idrac]
dell-idrac1.example.com ansible_host=1.1.1.1
# This iDRAC will override default group variables
dell-idrac2.example.com ansible_host=1.1.1.2 'LogicalProc:Disabled'

# Group variables assigned in inventory
[dell_idrac:vars]
ansible_user=root
ansible_password=calvin
idrac_bios_attributes: 'LogicalProc:Enabled'

If it is required, different credentials and extra variables can be passed via the inventory file. This will allow to run the playbook once and unique configuration for each host. For more info refer to Ansible documentation.

Infrared

If used by infrared inventory could be provided as part of a workspace.

If preferred using a static/dynamic inventory instead of a workspace, this can be done as well:

infrared dellemc-idrac --ansible-args="inventory=/path/to/inventory"

Parmaeters

Parameters in this playbook by default applied on all iDRACs in a play.
This playbook doesn't ship with group_vars or host_vars, this can be manually provided by a user.
It is possible to override a parameter on a host basis using the following dictionary convention:

dell-idrac1.example.com:  # hostname that we wish to override.
    boot_mode: 'Uefi' # parameter that we wish to override
dell-idrac2.example.com:  # hostname that we wish to override.
    boot_order: # parameter that we wish to override
      - 'HardDisk.List.1-1'

Ansible Variable	Infrared CLI Argument	Description	Default	Ansible Example	Infrared Example
hosts_pattern	--hosts-pattern	Ansible hosts string. Required	null	dell-idrac1.example.com,dell-idrac2.example.com	--hosts-pattern 'dell-idrac1.example.com,dell-idrac2.example.com'
validate_ssl_certs	--validate-ssl-certs	Validate SSL certificates.	False	True	--validate-ssl-certs
task_retries	--task-retries	Amount of retries attempted in supported tasks.	30	20	--task-retries 20
idrac_timeout	--timeout	Timeout in secdonds for URL requests to OOB(out of band) controller.	30	20	--timeout 20
idrac_query	--query	Whether to query iDRAC for info.	False	True	--query
boot_mode	--boot-mode	iDRAC BIOS boot mode.	Bios	Uefi	--boot-mode 'Uefi'
bios_attributes	--bios-attributes	iDRAC BIOS attributes.	False	LogicalProc: Enabled SriovGlobalEnable: Enabled'	--bios-attributes LogicalProc:Enabled,Test:Enabled
boot_order	--boot-order	iDRAC BIOS boot order.	False	- NIC.Integrated.1-3-1 - NIC.Integrated.1-1-1 - HardDisk.List.1-1	--boot-order 'NIC.Integrated.1-3-1,NIC.Integrated.1-1-1,HardDisk.List.1-1'
power_action	--power-action	Execute power action on iDRAC.	False	PowerOn	--power-action 'PowerOn'
delete_previous_idrac_jobs	--delete_previous_idrac_jobs	Remove previously completed jobs from iDRAC job inventory.	False	True	--delete-previous-jobs
racreset	--racreset	Performs 'GracefulRestart' on iDRAC controller.	False	True	--racreset
skip_clear_pending	--skip-clear-pending	Skips clearing pending BIOS attributes.	false	true

Usage

If using infrared, user supplied arguments (-e) override infrared provided values.

Working with variables files (-e @/path/to/file.yaml) is more convenient.

Ansible Examples

Query iDRAC host for information:

ansible-playbook main.yaml --inventory=/path/to/inventory_file -e hosts_pattern='dell-idrac1.example.com' -e idrac_query=True

Set iDRAC host BIOS boot mode to Bios:

ansible-playbook main.yaml --inventory=/path/to/inventory_file -e hosts_pattern='dell-idrac1.example.com' -e boot_mode='Bios'

Set iDRAC host BIOS attributes with timeout and task retries:

ansible-playbook main.yaml --inventory=/path/to/inventory_file -e hosts_pattern='dell-idrac1.example.com' -e bios_attributes='{"LogicalProc":Enabled,"Test":Enabled}' -e task_retries=20 -e idrac_timeout=20

Infrared Examples

Query iDRAC host for information using workspace inventory:

infrared dellemc-idrac --hosts-pattern='dell-idrac1.example.com' --query

Query iDRAC host for information using inventory file:

infrared dellemc-idrac --ansible-args='inventory=/path/to/inventory_file' --hosts-pattern='dell-idrac1.example.com' --query

Set iDRAC host BIOS boot mode to Bios:

infrared dellemc-idrac --ansible-args='inventory=/path/to/inventory_file' --hosts-pattern='dell-idrac1.example.com' --boot-mode=Bios

Set iDRAC host BIOS attributes with timeout and task retries:

infrared dellemc-idrac --hosts-pattern='dell-idrac1.example.com' --bios-attributes='LogicalProc:Enabled,Test:Enabled' --task-retries=20 --timeout=20