22/03/2021
Dell iDrac java patch
Every now and then people ask me which is my favorite server producer, and every time I honestly don’t know how to reply because they all work pretty well.
What really changes between competitors are technical support and some of the small bits that many people consider irrelevant, but Imho they are very important, one of them, maybe the most important, it the lights-out management interface (LOM).
Every server producer has it’s own LOM interface, but my favorite (and one of the reasons why I prefer Dell servers) is the Dell Drac.
One of the most common problems with Dell Drac is the virtual console which requires Java JRE and obviously this makes people angry because… well basically because people are lazy, most of the time leave the brain turned off and don’t read errors and exceptions…
If you search online “dell drac java error” you’ll find a whole bunch of forums, thread, reddit posts, also useless Chrome extentions for make the damn virtual console work, sometimes those sources are crap, sometimes they contain small bits of the solution, which is changing because there are several versions of Drac devices and obviously they evolved during the years.
These errors always came from the java.security settings, Drac encrypt data transmissions, and old Drac cards use old encryption protocols and cypher suites, so I decided to make a simple patchfile for the java.security file for a quick change and rollback (it’s not a good idea to turn on old unsecure protocols for you JRE).
First of all you have to identify your java.security file, which is inside you JAVA_HOME/lib/security, after that apply this java.security patchfile.
After that open you java settings and add the url of your Drac web interface to the “Security > site exception” list.
That’s all, now you’ll be able to open the vitual console even on an old Drac 5 with the latest JRE (tested right now with JRE 1.8.0_261).