Drac

DRAC stands for Dell Remote Access Card, a Dell out-of-band management solution for PowerEdge servers. It provides administrators with remote access to a server's console, BIOS setup, and power controls even when the operating system is down or the network is unresponsive. The DRAC is implemented as a dedicated management interface, typically a PCI or PCIe card with its own network connection and processor, allowing independent operation from the primary server.

Key features include remote console access (often via a web interface or Java/HTML5 console), virtual media for remote installation or recovery, power management (on/off/restart), hardware inventory, and alerting through SNMP or email. DRAC supports secure remote access with user accounts, roles, and encrypted communications; newer firmware emphasizes TLS encryption and improved authentication.

In practice, DRAC is used in data centers and remote sites to perform maintenance, firmware updates, diagnostics, and recovery tasks without on-site visits. It is also valuable for disaster recovery and during initial server deployment. Modern Dell servers increasingly integrate similar functionality into iDRAC (Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller), with iDRAC offering a broader feature set and tighter integration with Dell's systems management tools. DRAC may still be present on older or specialized models, where it serves as the primary out-of-band management path.

See also: iDRAC, Dell PowerEdge server management, out-of-band management.