How to Perform a Remote Power Drain

If you have ever had to do a power drain on a server, you know the pain: pulling power cords, reseating drives, waiting around in a cold datacenter… all for a simple reset.

But what if I told you there is an easier way? You don’t actually need to set foot in the datacenter. With HPE’s RESTful Interface Tool (iLOREST), you can do the entire process remotely. No unplugging, no wasted time.

Here is how:

Step 1 – Power off the server

Shut down your OS gracefully if possible, then make sure the server is fully powered off.

Step 2 – Download the tools you’ll need

• iLOREST Tool (HPE’s RESTful Interface Tool for Windows)
• Notepad++ (handy for editing configuration files)

Step 3 – Install and navigate

Once both tools are installed, open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges (right-click → Run as administrator) then navigate to the iLOREST folder. For example:

cd "C:\Program Files\Hewlett Packard Enterprise\RESTful Interface Tool"

Step 4 – Login to iLO
Replace <iLO-IP>, <username>, and <password> with your details:

ilorest.exe login <iLO-IP> -u <username> -p <password>

Step 5 – Auxiliary Power Cycle (AuxCycle)
Open Notepad++, and Paste the following code. Save the file as auxcycle.json in the same folder where restful.exe (iLOREST tool) is installed. Be sure to choose Encoding → UTF-8 in Notepad++ before saving.

{
    "path": "/redfish/v1/Systems/1/Actions/Oem/Hpe/HpeComputerSystemExt.SystemReset/",
    "body": {
        "Action": "SystemReset",
        "ResetType": "AuxCycle"
    }
}

Step 6 – Run the AuxCycle remotely

ilorest.exe -d rawpost "auxcycle.json"

This tells iLO to do the AuxCycle reset — the equivalent of physically disconnecting and reconnecting power. And that’s it. You’ve just replaced a trip to the datacenter with a single JSON file and command.

Refs:
https://hewlettpackard.github.io/ilo-rest-api-docs/ilo5/#authentication-and-sessions
https://hewlettpackard.github.io/python-redfish-utility/#overview
https://servermanagementportal.ext.hpe.com/docs/redfishclients/ilorest-userguide/globalcommands/#global-commands-and-optional-arguments

Wishing you a successful day!

Best regards,
Hasan