Server blog
Short, exact answers to the questions server buyers and admins ask most: remote management, licenses, fixes for common errors and how importing from China works. Written by the Fanxi team, a Dell Technologies Platinum Partner in Dalian.
Importing from China · 6 min readHow do I pay a Chinese supplier safely by T/T?Pay a Chinese supplier by T/T only after a signed contract and an invoice whose beneficiary name matches the company registered on China's national registry, gsxt.gov.cn. Send the wire to a corporate account in China, keep your bank's MT103 as proof, and phone the supplier on a number you already know if the bank details ever change. Personal accounts, accounts in a third country and new bank details sent by email are the warning signs.Importing from China
- 6 min readWhat does EXW Dalian mean when you buy servers?EXW (Ex Works) under the ICC Incoterms 2020 rules means the seller makes the goods ready at its own premises, here our warehouse in Dalian, and the buyer takes over from that point. Your freight forwarder collects the servers, clears export as your agent, flies them and clears import, delivering DAP or DDP to your door in 1 to 2 weeks. Risk passes to you when the packed servers are placed at your forwarder's disposal in Dalian.
- 6 min readWhich documents and HS codes do you need to import servers?A server shipment from China needs a commercial invoice, a packing list and an air waybill, plus a lithium battery declaration when the servers carry RAID cache batteries and a certificate of origin if your customs or buyer asks for one. Customs classifies servers under HS 8471.50, drives and storage units under 8471.70, parts such as memory and boards under 8473.30, switches under 8517.62 and loose CPUs under 8542.31. In the countries that signed the WTO Information Technology Agreement these codes carry 0% duty, but import VAT or GST still applies.
- 7 min readHow do you import servers from China to Germany?Servers (HS 8471), server parts (8473.30) and switches (8517.62) enter the EU at 0% customs duty under the WTO Information Technology Agreement, so the main cost is 19% Einfuhrumsatzsteuer, which a VAT-registered business normally reclaims as Vorsteuer. You need an EORI number from German customs, your forwarder files the import declaration in ATLAS with our commercial invoice, packing list and the air waybill, and the vendor CE declaration covers Dell and HPE servers.
Remote management
- 5 min readHow do you reset an iDRAC9 password or restore factory defaults?If the host OS runs and has Dell iDRAC Tools installed, run "racadm set iDRAC.Users.2.Password <new>" locally; no iDRAC login is needed. Without OS access, reboot, press F2 and open iDRAC Settings > User Configuration to set a new password, or choose "Reset iDRAC configurations to defaults all", which restores the root password printed on the information tag. "racadm racresetcfg -rc" resets the user to root/calvin instead.
- 6 min readHow do you upgrade an iDRAC9 license from Express to Enterprise?Check the current tier under Configuration > Licenses in the iDRAC web interface or with "racadm license view". Buy an iDRAC9 Enterprise license for that server's service tag, download the XML file from Dell Digital Locker, and import it with Configuration > Licenses > Import or "racadm license import -f License.xml -c idrac.embedded.1". Enterprise adds the virtual console, virtual media, AD/LDAP login and Group Manager, which Express does not include on rack servers.
- 6 min readiLO Standard vs iLO Advanced: what do you lose without the key?On HPE ProLiant DL servers with iLO 5 (Gen10, Gen10 Plus) or iLO 6 (Gen11), iLO Standard gives you the web interface, Redfish API, power control, health data and the Integrated Remote Console only until the operating system starts. An iLO Advanced key adds the console after OS boot, virtual media, directory and two-factor login, console recording, power capping and iLO Federation group actions. You check the license under Administration > Licensing on iLO 5 and iLO 6, or with ilorest ilolicense.
- 6 min readRACADM cheat sheet: 30+ iDRAC9 commands you will use every weekRACADM is the Dell command line for iDRAC9 on PowerEdge 14G, 15G and 16G servers. You run it locally on the host, remotely with racadm -r <ip> -u <user> -p <pass> <subcommand>, or inside an SSH session to the iDRAC. The commands below cover the daily jobs: getsysinfo, getsel, serveraction, getniccfg, set iDRAC.Users.N.*, BIOS changes with jobqueue create BIOS.Setup.1-1, storage get pdisks, update -f, racreset and techsupreport.
Troubleshooting
- 6 min readiDRAC web interface not reachable? Check these in orderWhen the iDRAC9 web page will not open, first read the IP the iDRAC really has (front LCD, F2 > iDRAC Settings > Network, or racadm getniccfg from the host OS) and check which port it uses: Dedicated or a shared LOM. Then rule out VLAN mismatch, disabled IPv4, a duplicate IP, IP range filtering and a changed HTTPS port. If iDRAC itself hangs, run racadm racreset from the host or hold the System ID button for 16 seconds; to bypass the network entirely, plug a laptop into the front iDRAC Direct micro-USB port and browse to 169.254.0.3.
- 6 min readDell PowerEdge fans loud after adding a third-party PCIe card?iDRAC detects a non-Dell PCIe card, cannot read its cooling needs and raises airflow to a safe default for that slot. On 14G and newer servers run racadm set System.ThermalSettings.ThirdPartyPCIFanResponse 0 and reboot, or set the slot's LFM Mode in Configuration > System Settings > Hardware Settings > Cooling Configuration. On 13G servers such as the R630 and R730, Dell documents an ipmitool raw command that does the same job.
- 6 min readPERC "Foreign configuration found": import or clear?A foreign configuration is RAID metadata on drives that the current PERC did not create or no longer owns. If those drives hold data you need, import it; Clear erases the metadata and the virtual disks with it. Preview first in F2 System Setup > Device Settings > your PERC > Configuration Management > Manage Foreign Configuration, check that each virtual disk shows Ready or Degraded, then click Import Foreign Configuration.
- 6 min readHPE ProLiant fans at full speed after adding non-HPE parts?iLO cannot read a temperature from many non-HPE cards and drives, so it runs the fans on a conservative curve to protect them. Open Power & Thermal > Temperatures in iLO to find the sensor driving the fans, set Thermal Configuration to Optimal Cooling, and update iLO and the System ROM. If the part never reports a temperature, the reliable fix is an HPE-qualified part or a card that exposes its sensor to iLO.