Due to increased security in browsers and Java this isn’t trivial. Java only provide version 8. Java 7 is no longer available to the public (old installers can be found). I find it’s useful to keep a machine / VM available with an old version of Firefox and Java. Before you waste any time working through these points downgrade Java 8 to Java 7, especially if you see the error “connection failed” after launching the virtual console from the iDRAC web application.
Check the following if you’re struggling:
1) Make sure you have the Dell DRAC/iDRAC logins. The default username / password combination is normally root / calvin.
2) Install Java on your PC. The Java 8 browser plug-in didn’t work with Firefox. Starting with Firefox version 52 (March 2017), Firefox removed support for the standard way in which browsers support plug-ins (Chrome was fine). You need Java to use the virtual console. Download and install Java 8 from www.java.com/en/
3) Add the server iDRAC address to Java’s exception list. Run the “Configure Java” desktop application. Click on the Security tab, then edit site list and add http://aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd and https://aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd addresses for your server. You might need to turn down some of the advanced security settings too (it depends on the Java version).
4) Open the browser and navigate to the server URL https://aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd. Login with the iDRAC credentials. Click on the Console/Media tab and then click on the Launch Virtual Console button. This might start Java. Chrome downloaded a .jnlp file. Rename the file and remove everything after the .jnlp file extension. You will end up with a file called viewer.jnlp. Double click on this file to run. I found trying to start the console from old files didn’t work, download and run a fresh file each time.
5) When working on step (4) if you see a “Login failed, possibly due to slow network connection” dialog box, download the SSL from the browser and add to your trusted root certification and restart the browser (run certmgr from the Windows command prompt).
6) If you see the error below in the Java console
WARNING: Could not open/create prefs root node Software\JavaSoft\Prefs at root 0x80000002. Windows RegCreateKeyEx(...) returned error code 5.
do the following:
a) Start regedit
b) Navigate to the path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\JavaSoft . Note, in Windows 10 path the is KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\JavaSoft .
c) Right click on the JavaSoft folder and click on New then select Key
d) Name the Key “Prefs”
7) Generate a CSR and uploade to the iDRAC. You can do this in iDRAC Settings –> Network / Security –> SSL. Use www.getacert.com to get a SHA256 certificate valid for a month or two. Reset the iDRAC after this step.
