idrac_ctl

idrac_ctl is my command-line tool for talking to Dell iDRAC and other Redfish BMCs. I use it for JSON-first inventory, BIOS, boot, storage, virtual media, sensors, logs, firmware, and job workflows without opening the BMC web UI.

Author: Mus spyroot@gmail.com

Install

Use Python 3.10 or newer.

python -m pip install idrac_ctl
idrac_ctl --version

For local development, use the checked-in conda environment:

git clone https://github.com/spyroot/idrac_ctl.git
cd idrac_ctl
conda env create -f environment.yml
conda activate idrac_ctl

Connect

The CLI reads these environment variables in idrac_main.py, so I set them once per shell:

export IDRAC_IP=10.0.0.42
export IDRAC_USERNAME=root
export IDRAC_PASSWORD='your-password'
export IDRAC_PORT=443

BMCs usually ship self-signed certificates. TLS verification is off by default; use --verify-ssl only when the BMC has a certificate chain you trust.

First Safe Read

Start with the host ComputerSystem:

idrac_ctl system

A healthy response includes data.Id, data.Name, and usually data.PowerState. If you have jq installed, this is a compact smoke check:

idrac_ctl --nocolor system | jq '.data | {Id, Name, PowerState}'

Common Reads

idrac_ctl manager
idrac_ctl chassis
idrac_ctl sensors
idrac_ctl firmware_inventory
idrac_ctl bios --filter ProcCStates,SysMemSize
idrac_ctl storage-list
idrac_ctl get_vm
idrac_ctl logs

sensors, defined in idrac_ctl/sensors/cmd_sensors.py, follows Chassis sensor links and returns temperature, power, fan, and voltage readings with units. discovery, defined in idrac_ctl/discovery/cmd_discovery.py, is the heavier crawl that records what a BMC exposes.

Vendor Reach

Dell iDRAC is the main control target. Supermicro GB300, HPE iLO, and generic DMTF Redfish trees are covered by offline fixture corpora, with HPE also covered by the opt-in emulator canary in examples/hpe_ilo_canary.sh. The current support matrix is in Vendors.

Mutating Commands

Some commands change real hardware: power, BIOS, boot order, storage conversion, virtual media, firmware update, and manager reset. I always read current state first, preview when the command has --show or --dry_run, then verify after the job or task completes.

idrac_ctl system-reset --reset_type GracefulRestart --dry_run
idrac_ctl bios-change --from_spec specs/realtime.opt.spec.json on-reset --show
idrac_ctl firmware-update --image_uri https://example.invalid/firmware.exe --dry_run

Use --confirm only when you mean to perform a guarded action such as system-reset or firmware-update.

More Docs

• Command reference - registered subcommands and safe workflow patterns.
• Examples - one-line index of every script under examples/.
• BIOS profiles - low-latency, Dell System Profile, custom, Intel, and AMD profile examples.
• Vendors - Dell, Supermicro, HPE, and generic Redfish support.
• Testing - offline mock tests, vendor corpora, emulator tests, and live-test safety.
• Architecture - Redfish core, iDRAC layer, command registration, and known debt.
• Telemetry exporter - BMC metrics for Prometheus and SignalFx.
• Releasing - local verification, package build, PyPI upload, and tagging.
• Fleet proxy design - planned service/controller shape for fleet management.
• Scaling and benchmarks - planned concurrency engine and benchmark goals.