PowerEdge/RAC version 0.15
==========================

PowerEdge::RAC supplies some functions that you may find useful to remotely 
manage your PowerEdge servers.  When you don't have the right hardware 
this module probably isn't of much use to you.

PowerEdge servers can be remotely managed with the aid of special hardware
known as RAC cards (Remote Access Controller, DRAC II and III, ERA, ERA/O).
The RAC can be accessed through utilities that run atop the OS, but
also directly, through its own NIC. Giving you the ability to (re)start a 
server even from a hung or powered-down state.  For this last vital function 
Dell provides only a slowish and somewhat flaky interface tying you down 
to running Java applets in an unfree browser on an unfree OS. This module 
tries to remedy that.

PowerEdge::RAC needs several modules to be installed.  They are:
LWP::UserAgent (which in turn needs Digest::MD5 and MIME::Base64)
and XML::Simple (which in turn needs XML::Parser and expat).
If they don't come with your distribution you can get them from your
nearest CPAN mirror. These modules are worth having installed anyway!
Firmware versions > 2.00 by default accept only SSL connections.
As of version 0.14 this module also requires Crypt::SSLeay to provide 
https support for LWP. You may also use Net::SSLeay but Makefile.PL 
does not yet handle this.

INSTALLATION

To install this module type the following:

   perl Makefile.PL
   make
   make test
   make install

To create the data collection scripts and webpages run the setup_monitor.pl 
script after installation.

DEPENDENCIES

This module requires Perl 5.005 or greater, and the following CPAN modules:

* LWP::UserAgent

* XML::Simple

* Digest::MD5

* MIME::Base64

* Crypt::SSLeay or Net::SSLeay

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

PowerEdge::RAC is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself.  For more information see the 
"README" or "Artistic" files provided with the Perl distribution.

Copyright (C) 2003 Harold van Oostrom rac at lanceerplaats dot nl

DISCLAIMER

This package is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
If anything breaks you get to keep the pieces.