On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 6:26 PM, Jeff Palmer <[email protected]> wrote: > With all due respect, this response isn't overly helpful. Standing up a > windows server specifically to manage a 100℅ Linux shop isn't a solution, > it's a hack. > > The tools provided should work as advertised without having to resort to > supporting/maintaining an entirely new OS and product/environment to get the > same functionality.
Absolutely. Especially when Dell decided to shelve a perfectly working solution to replace it by something wonky that started from scratch with: - almost zero functionality: the first versions were entirely interactive, completely non scriptable, - horrendous packaging: it took ages to properly package the tool and stop installing files in /usr/local - poor code quality: several execution errors were dependent on the setting of LC_ALL. And up to recently, dsu removed and reinstalled a RPM at each execution, - no QA: so many problems in each and very release obviously means nobody tests anything before shipping, - fanciful reliability: I had versions that randomly produced different outputs and results when executed several times in a row (nothing to update, error, update this), - bad usability, no documentation and obscure options: what on earth does "--source-type=<TYPE> TYPE=PDK" mean? And who decided on the Categories naming? Two-letter codes are fine, until you mix them up with random long strings including spaces, or sometimes an underscore: Category Value : Category Name -------------- ------------- AS : SAS Drive BI : FlashBIOS Updates CE : Chassis System Management DD : Drivers for OS Deployment DI : Diagnostics ES : Embedded Server Management Express Flash PCIe SSD : Express Flash PCIe SSD FC : Fibre Channel FW : Firmware Lifecycle Controller_Legacy : Lifecycle Controller (Legacy) NI : Network PC : PCIe SSS SA : Serial ATA SE : SAS Non-RAID SF : SAS RAID SM : OpenManage Systems Management SV : Lifecycle Controller TH : Tape Devices iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller : iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller I probably forgot many other examples, but point is, that piece of software is really bad. Sure, it has improved (it started from very low) but it still not on par with what DLR used to be, and even not with what other vendors provide today. I gave it time, but it's been almost 2 years, and DSU is still riddled with problems and errors. It's still not production-ready software. Linux firmware management tools used to be a differentiating factor for Dell and a real incentive for sysadmins to buy Dell machines. But these days seem long far gone, and it sure looks like the original Linux team (which provided many tools everybody still uses today, like DKMS or biosdevname) as been dissolved. And this is a shame. So unless there's a radical change of direction and a return to the drawing board, I'm done with DSU. You make fine hardware, Dell, but that piece of software sucks. And that's particularly frustrating since it used to be great. Cheers, -- Kilian _______________________________________________ Linux-PowerEdge mailing list [email protected] https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge
