Task 01: Create DHCP Reservations for iDRAC Interfaces

DOCUMENT CATEGORY: Runbook SCOPE: Azure Local hardware provisioning PURPOSE: Pre-stage DHCP reservations so iDRAC interfaces receive consistent IP addresses from the moment hardware is powered on MASTER REFERENCE: Phase 01: Hardware Provisioning

Status: Active

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Overview

Create DHCP reservations for iDRAC out-of-band management interfaces using MAC addresses and planned IPs from variables.yml. This task is performed before hardware arrives on site — MAC addresses come from the Dell order documentation (packing slip or TechDirect), not from a discovery scan.

iDRAC Interfaces Only

This task configures DHCP reservations for iDRAC (out-of-band) interfaces only. Management NIC (in-band) reservations are an optional separate task (Task 03). Management NIC static IPs are configured during OS installation.

This task may be skipped if iDRACs have already been assigned static IP addresses prior to deployment.

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Prerequisites

Requirement	Description	Source
DHCP Server Access	FortiGate admin rights, Windows DHCP admin, or customer DHCP contact	Network team
OOB Network Subnet	Out-of-band VLAN and DHCP scope configured	variables.yml: network.vlans.oob.cidr
Node MAC Addresses	iDRAC MAC addresses from Dell order documentation	variables.yml: nodes.<name>.macs.idrac
Planned iDRAC IPs	Assigned iDRAC IP per node	variables.yml: nodes.<name>.idrac_ip

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Variables from variables.yml

Path	Type	Description
network.vlans.oob.cidr	string	OOB management network CIDR (e.g., 10.100.64.0/24)
network.vlans.oob.dhcp.provider	string	DHCP provider type (e.g., fortigate, windows)
network.vlans.oob.dhcp.server	string	DHCP server hostname or IP
nodes.<name>.idrac_ip	string	Planned iDRAC IP address per node
nodes.<name>.hostname	string	Node hostname
nodes.<name>.service_tag	string	Dell service tag
nodes.<name>.macs.idrac	string	iDRAC MAC address from order documentation

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Execution Options

Select the tab matching your DHCP infrastructure:

FortiGate DHCP

When to use: Azure Local Cloud-managed environments using FortiGate firewalls for DHCP

FortiGate Web UI

1. Open browser to https://<fortigate-ip> and log in with admin credentials
2. Navigate to Policy & Objects → DHCP Server
3. Select the DHCP server for the OOB management network and click Edit
4. In the Reserved Addresses section, click Create New for each node:

• IP Address: nodes.<name>.idrac_ip from variables.yml
• MAC Address: nodes.<name>.macs.idrac from variables.yml
• Description: <hostname>-iDRAC (Service Tag: <service-tag>)

5. Click OK to save

FortiOS CLI (from Management Server)

Connect via SSH from the management server and run the following for each node. Replace values with actual entries from variables.yml.

# ============================================================================
# FortiGate DHCP Reservation — FortiOS CLI
# Execution: SSH FROM management server TO FortiGate
# Prerequisites: SSH access to FortiGate, admin rights
# ============================================================================

ssh admin@<fortigate-ip>

config system dhcp server
 edit "<OOB-DHCP-Server-Name>"
 config reserved-address
 edit "<hostname>-iDRAC"
 set ip <nodes.<name>.idrac_ip>
 set mac <nodes.<name>.macs.idrac>
 set description "iDRAC for <hostname> (ST: <service_tag>)"
 next
 end
 next
end

save config
exit

Repeat the edit block for each node.

Validation

# Verify reservations on FortiGate
show system dhcp server | grep -A5 "iDRAC"

Windows DHCP Server

When to use: Azure Local Cloud-managed environments using Windows Server DHCP

Windows DHCP Console

1. Run dhcpmgmt.msc on the DHCP server or an admin workstation with RSAT installed
2. Connect to the DHCP server
3. Expand server → IPv4 → Scope [OOB Network] → Reservations
4. Right-click Reservations → New Reservation for each node:

• Reservation name: <hostname>-iDRAC
• IP address: nodes.<name>.idrac_ip from variables.yml
• MAC address: nodes.<name>.macs.idrac from variables.yml
• Description: iDRAC for <hostname> (Service Tag: <service-tag>)
• Click Add

Orchestrated Script (Mgmt Server)

scripts/deploy/04-cluster-deployment/phase-01-hardware-provisioning/task-01-create-dhcp-reservations-for-idrac-interfaces/powershell/Invoke-iDRACDHCPReservations.ps1

#Requires -Version 7.0
# ============================================================================
# Script: Invoke-iDRACDHCPReservations.ps1
# Execution: Run FROM management server — PSRemoting to Windows DHCP server
# Prerequisites: powershell-yaml, PSRemoting to DHCP server, DHCP admin rights
# ============================================================================

param(
 [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
 [string]$ConfigPath = ".\config\variables.yml",

 [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
 [string]$DHCPServerOverride
)

Import-Module powershell-yaml -ErrorAction Stop
$config = Get-Content $ConfigPath -Raw | ConvertFrom-Yaml

$iDRACScopeId = ($config.network.vlans.oob.cidr -split '/')[0]
$DHCPServer = if ($DHCPServerOverride) { $DHCPServerOverride } else { $config.network.vlans.oob.dhcp.server }

Write-Host "Creating iDRAC DHCP reservations on $DHCPServer (Scope: $iDRACScopeId)..." -ForegroundColor Cyan

foreach ($nodeKey in $config.nodes.Keys) {
 $node = $config.nodes[$nodeKey]
 $macFmt = $node.macs.idrac -replace ':', '-'
 $resName = "$($node.hostname)-iDRAC"
 $resDesc = "iDRAC for $($node.hostname) (ST: $($node.service_tag))"

 Write-Host " $resName -> $($node.idrac_ip)" -ForegroundColor Yellow

 Invoke-Command -ComputerName $DHCPServer -ScriptBlock {
 param($ScopeId, $IP, $MAC, $Name, $Desc)
 Add-DhcpServerv4Reservation `
 -ScopeId $ScopeId `
 -IPAddress $IP `
 -ClientId $MAC `
 -Name $Name `
 -Description $Desc
 } -ArgumentList $iDRACScopeId, $node.idrac_ip, $macFmt, $resName, $resDesc

 Write-Host " Created" -ForegroundColor Green
}

Write-Host "Done." -ForegroundColor Green

Standalone Script

#Requires -Version 5.1
# ============================================================================
# Script: Invoke-iDRACDHCPReservations-Standalone.ps1
# Execution: Run FROM any workstation with DHCP admin rights
# Prerequisites: RSAT-DHCP or run directly on DHCP server
# ============================================================================

#region CONFIGURATION
$DHCPServer = "dhcp01.corp.example.com" # Windows DHCP server hostname
$iDRACScopeId = "10.100.64.0" # OOB scope network address

$nodes = @(
 @{ Hostname = "azlocal-node01"; iDRACIP = "10.100.64.11"; iDRACMAC = "AA-BB-CC-DD-EE-01"; ServiceTag = "ABCDE01" },
 @{ Hostname = "azlocal-node02"; iDRACIP = "10.100.64.12"; iDRACMAC = "AA-BB-CC-DD-EE-02"; ServiceTag = "ABCDE02" },
 @{ Hostname = "azlocal-node03"; iDRACIP = "10.100.64.13"; iDRACMAC = "AA-BB-CC-DD-EE-03"; ServiceTag = "ABCDE03" },
 @{ Hostname = "azlocal-node04"; iDRACIP = "10.100.64.14"; iDRACMAC = "AA-BB-CC-DD-EE-04"; ServiceTag = "ABCDE04" }
)
#endregion

foreach ($node in $nodes) {
 $resName = "$($node.Hostname)-iDRAC"
 $resDesc = "iDRAC for $($node.Hostname) (ST: $($node.ServiceTag))"
 Write-Host "Creating: $resName -> $($node.iDRACIP)" -ForegroundColor Yellow
 Add-DhcpServerv4Reservation `
 -ComputerName $DHCPServer `
 -ScopeId $iDRACScopeId `
 -IPAddress $node.iDRACIP `
 -ClientId $node.iDRACMAC `
 -Name $resName `
 -Description $resDesc
 Write-Host " Created" -ForegroundColor Green
}

Write-Host "Done." -ForegroundColor Green

Customer-Managed DHCP

When to use: DHCP infrastructure is managed by the customer network team

Information to Provide to Customer

Extract and provide the following from variables.yml:

Field	variables.yml Path	Example
iDRAC MAC address	nodes.<name>.macs.idrac	AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:01
Planned iDRAC IP	nodes.<name>.idrac_ip	10.100.64.11
Reservation name	Derived: <hostname>-iDRAC	azlocal-node01-iDRAC
Description	Derived	iDRAC for azlocal-node01 (ST: ABCDE01)
DHCP scope	network.vlans.oob.cidr	10.100.64.0/24

Coordination Steps

1. Extract node data from variables.yml
2. Submit request to customer network team with the table above
3. Confirm scope and VLAN with network team
4. Obtain confirmation that reservations have been created
5. Validate (see below)

Validation

• Customer confirms all reservations created
• IP addresses match variables.yml: nodes.<name>.idrac_ip
• MAC addresses match variables.yml: nodes.<name>.macs.idrac
• Reservation names follow convention: <hostname>-iDRAC

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Validation Checklist

• DHCP reservation created for every node (one per node)
• IP addresses match nodes.<name>.idrac_ip in variables.yml
• MAC addresses match nodes.<name>.macs.idrac in variables.yml
• Reservation names follow convention: <hostname>-iDRAC
• Reservation descriptions include hostname and service tag
• All reservations in the correct OOB DHCP scope

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Resolution
DhcpServer module not found	RSAT not installed	Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-DHCP or run directly on DHCP server
Duplicate reservation	Reservation already exists	Remove existing: Remove-DhcpServerv4Reservation then re-add
Scope not found	Wrong scope ID	Verify: Get-DhcpServerv4Scope -ComputerName $DHCPServer
Access denied	Insufficient rights	Run as DHCP Administrator role member
FortiGate SSH access denied	SSH not enabled or wrong credentials	Enable SSH on FortiGate admin interface
DHCP server unreachable	Network connectivity	Verify management server can reach DHCP server

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Navigation

← Phase 01 Overview	↑ Phase 01: Hardware Provisioning	Task 02: Hardware Discovery →

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Version Control

Version	Date	Author	Changes
1.0	2026-01-01	Azure Local Cloud Azure Local Cloudnology	Initial document
1.1	2026-03-04	Azure Local Cloud Azure Local Cloudnology	Fix tab labels, script paths, standards alignment