Posted on by Aaron Guilmette

Dell DRAC Virtual Media Plugin Problems

       
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Symptoms

  • Trying to access the “Virtual Media” section of a DRAC console
  • Client is Windows 2008
  • When accessing “Virtual Media,” get prompted to accept ActiveX control; accept, and get redirected to login page

Solution

  1. Open Internet Explorer, Tools > Internet Options; select Intranet, and select “Automatically detect Intranet network”
  2. Open %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts.
  3. Add hosts entry for DRAC (such as 10.1.1.1 server-drac server-drac.domain.com)
  4. Save and close.

Browse to https://server-drac, accept the warning that IE is trying to access a page on your intranet and login. Good to go.

So, what causes this problem?

Internet Explorer’s security settings are preventing ActiveX controls from being installed. Once you add the DRAC interface you’re trying to work with to what IE considers your local intranet (site able to be browsed by hostname plus local domain suffix), the restrictions are loosened.

Happy DRAC’ing!