How to use the HPE iLO remote console from anywhere, safely

• Plug in the iLO port. Most ProLiant servers have a dedicated port marked iLO. Put it on a management network that's separate from your other devices if you can.
• Set its address. While the server starts, press the key shown for System Utilities (F9 on recent generations) and find the iLO configuration utility, or use the iLO setup key older servers show during startup. Give iLO a fixed address or a DHCP reservation.
• Know the sign-in. The user is Administrator, and the factory password is printed on the label on the server's pull-out tag. Create your own admin user and keep the factory one as a fallback.
• Update iLO from HPE's support site. Newer firmware brings the HTML5 console and security fixes.

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   Step 1: Add a web panel

   On the Connections page of the RemoteAccessApp app for Windows, add a web panel with iLO's address, such as https://10.0.0.30, or just the IP.

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   Step 2: Trust its certificate once

   iLO uses a self-signed certificate until you install your own. The tab shows its fingerprint and asks before opening the page. Check it against the certificate in iLO's security settings, then trust it for this panel only. A changed certificate is stopped with a clear warning, never opened silently.

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   Step 3: Save the sign-in

   Save the user name and password with the panel; the password is kept encrypted for your Windows user. Fill sign-in types them into iLO's sign-in page (only on iLO's own address, and it doesn't submit), and Copy password clears the clipboard after 30 seconds.

Sign in to iLO in the tab and launch the HTML5 console from the overview page or the remote console page. It opens as a new tab in the app with the server's screen in it.

• Use the console's power button to turn the server on, press and hold, or reset it.
• Mount an ISO from your PC as a virtual drive to install or repair the operating system.
• Send Ctrl+Alt+Del and other key combinations from the console's keyboard menu.
• Watch the server start and catch the System Utilities or boot menu key.

To get a password or a long command into the console, where paste doesn't work, use Type text in the tab's toolbar. It types key by key, with a Careful speed for consoles that drop keys.

• Through a PC at the site. Install RemoteAccessApp on any PC on the same network, open it from the app or a browser wherever you are, and use iLO in that PC's browser. Nothing is forwarded: the PC connects out to our relay. See remote desktop without port forwarding.
• SSH from the website, through one of your PCs. Save iLO as an SSH host, open it on the website and choose Through my PC. A PC of yours on that network connects for you, so the power commands below work from a phone or any browser.
• Through the RemoteAccessApp server Pro, for an iLO on a public address at a hosting provider: tick Connect through RemoteAccessApp server on the panel. Connections then come from our server's fixed address, which every RemoteAccessApp user shares, so keep a strong password. Private addresses can't be reached this way.

iLO answers SSH with its own command line. Add iLO's address as an SSH host, check the key fingerprint the first time, and sign in with an iLO user. Commands worth saving in Scripts & History:

power            # is the server on or off?
power on         # turn it on
power off        # turn it off
power reset      # reset it
show /map1/firmware1   # iLO firmware version
vsp              # the server's serial console

vsp (virtual serial port) gives you the server's text console with no picture at all, once the server's BIOS has the virtual serial port turned on and the operating system sends its console there. Press Esc then ( to leave it. Commands and paths vary a little between iLO generations; help lists what yours has.

In the RemoteAccessApp app for Linux, a web panel opens in your default browser and its tab keeps the address, user name and saved password at hand. The certificate prompt, Fill sign-in, consoles opening as tabs, Type text in the page and the server option are in the Windows app. SSH to iLO works the same on both.

With several servers, put their consoles and SSH terminals side by side in split view, up to eight panes, and save the layout as a workspace (split view and workspaces). Dell and Supermicro servers work the same way: see Dell iDRAC remote access and Supermicro IPMI and iKVM.