Master Dell Server Management: IPMI, RACADM, WSMAN & Redfish CLI Commands

Introduction

This document describes how to manage Dell PowerEdge servers at the hardware level using four command‑line interfaces (CLI): IPMI , RACADM , WSMAN and Redfish . All tools communicate with the iDRAC management controller over the network and can be scripted for automated power control, log collection, BIOS/firmware configuration and inventory.

IPMI – Intelligent Platform Management Interface

IPMI is an open, vendor‑neutral standard defined in 1998. It runs on a dedicated Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) and works independently of the host operating system.

Typical power‑control commands (Impish‑ip client)

Impish‑ip 192.168.10.29 -u root -p calvin power reset   # reboot the server
Impish‑ip 192.168.10.29 -u root -p calvin power status   # query power state
Impish‑ip 192.168.10.29 -u root -p calvin power off      # power off
Impish‑ip 192.168.10.29 -u root -p calvin power on       # power on

Collecting hardware logs with ipmish

Download ipmish.exe (IPMI tool) from Dell.

Open a command prompt and change to the directory containing ipmish.exe.

Run the tool with LAN+ authentication and specify an output file, for example:

ipmish.exe -I lanplus -H 192.168.10.29 -U root -P calvin -L hwlog.txt

The command creates hwlog.txt containing sensor readings and SEL (System Event Log) entries.

RACADM – Remote Access Controller Admin

RACADM is Dell’s native CLI for iDRAC, available from firmware version 1.30.30 onward. It can be invoked over SSH, Telnet or a serial console after installing the Dell DRAC Tools package.

Common RACADM commands

racadm.exe -r 192.168.10.19 -u root -p calvin serveraction powercycle

– reboot the server

racadm.exe -r 192.168.10.19 -u root -p calvin serveraction powerstatus

– display current power state

racadm.exe -r 192.168.10.19 -u root -p calvin config -g cfgUserAdmin -o cfgUserAdminPassword -i 2 calvi

– change the iDRAC root password to

calvi

racadm.exe -r 192.168.10.19 -u root -p calvin getsel > C:\hardwareLog.txt

– export the SEL to a local text file

WSMAN – Web Services Management

WSMAN is a SOAP‑based protocol supported on Dell servers from the 11th generation. It enables batch operations such as BIOS updates, firmware upgrades and RAID configuration.

Preparing the client on Windows

Ensure the winrm service is present (built‑in on Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 and later).

Initialize the service with:

winrm quickconfig

Example: exporting the SEL via RACADM over WSMAN

racadm.exe -r 192.168.10.19 -u root -p calvin getsel > C:\hardwareLog.txt

This command can be placed in a PowerShell or batch script and executed against multiple iDRACs.

Redfish – Modern RESTful Management Standard

Redfish, introduced in 2014, is a secure, REST‑based API that supersedes IPMI. It provides discovery, configuration, monitoring and event‑log capabilities for servers, firmware and components.

Tooling

Redfishtool – a cross‑platform command‑line client.

Official Dell Redfish SDKs (Python and PowerShell) hosted on GitHub: https://github.com/dell/redfish‑python‑client and https://github.com/dell/redfish‑powershell. curl – for raw HTTP/HTTPS calls.

REST client browser extensions for interactive testing.

Example usage with Redfishtool

redfishtool -r 192.168.10.29 -u root -p calvin get /redfish/v1/Systems/System.Embedded.1

The command returns a JSON document describing the system’s health, power state, firmware versions and inventory.

Summary

By mastering these four interfaces, administrators can script common data‑center tasks—power cycling, SEL extraction, BIOS/firmware updates and hardware inventory—without relying on vendor‑specific graphical tools. IPMI offers the broadest compatibility, RACADM provides Dell‑specific extensions, WSMAN enables SOAP‑based batch automation, and Redfish delivers a modern, secure, RESTful API for comprehensive server management.