I recommend to apply BIOS update and LC update separately from all other updates and do them first with whatever route you choose. They go together is what DELL documentation says. BIOS first, then LC, then reboot and hope for the best.
Here are the pitfalls I encountered: * updating the LC controller will result that all other updates chained behind the LC update cannot be applied when using for example an ISO that has been created with DELL Repo Manager. * You might loose KVM capability when updating LC * There is a high chance that a LC update will render your iDRAC/LC into a brick * replacing a bricked iDRAC used to be swapping out the iDRAC card (available used for $60), starting with iDRAC7 DELL decided to solder it on the mainboard. * Check the warranty of all 3000 servers first as you will be opening tickets with DELL to get your mainboard replaced due to bricked iDRAC/LC if they are still under warranty. * a lot of PSU updates are not listed in the catalog and you will need to apply them in a different way. I do them last as they need up to 30 minutes to apply to both PSU. Don't make the mistake and get impatient and power the server on during the firmware update. The FW update will fail and you will need to start over * NIC updates sometimes fail to apply. Sometimes they need stepped updates, for example to fix the underlying issue of not beeing able to update to a more recent FW * a lot of HDD/SSD updates are not listed in the catalog either and need to be installed in a different way. * iDSDM update is not listed in catalog. All of the above depends on a lot of factors. You could have two servers with the same FW level and one fails and the other applies all FW fine. Even heavily outdated servers might apply the latest FW updates just fine, but then again a server just one month behind might fail updating to the latest. On Wed, Apr 18, 2018 at 2:10 PM, Prashant Sun <mailinglists...@gmail.com> wrote: > Greetings! > > I am taking up a project to consolidate the bios/LC/idrac/hw firmware > updates for powerEdge 12G+ servers and would appreciate if you can answer > few questions noted below. > > > Environment: 3000+ Linux servers(RHEL6, 7) all running in multiple sites. > Primarily PE R600 & 700 series with idrac enterprise 7,8,9. > > Update Plan: Create a local mirror of the upstream repo and use it in some > fashion. > > I narrowed down my update strategy to following options. > > A. Install using yum repo (os-independent & os-dependent) > > B. Install using DSU by passing catalog.xml(update definitions) & > location of .BIN files(using config.xml) > > C. Create an iso using DSU by passing Catalog.xml & > config.xml(pointing to local .BIN repo). Then PXE boot to this iso to patch. > > D. Setup iDrac scheduled updates using local copy of repo and use > multiple Catalog.xml to roll-out in phased manner. > > __Questions__: > > Q1. I like option:D as it is OS agnostic and uses iDRAC/LC to apply > patches in a scheduled way. Has anyone encountered issues where certain > category of updates fail for some reason? Will probably make windows server > team happy too with this. :) > > Q2. I can also deal with option:C which involves creating iso and pxe > booting servers into it. This has historically worked well for me using > Dell Repo Mnager but the nv is too large and I'd like to avoid manual work > having to do this. So curious to know if folks here prefer this over > option:C. > > Q3. In order to go with option C or D ), is there a .BIN repo that I can > mirror locally? Sorry I may not have google'd hard enough. If you have the > link handy, please share. Thx. I found the Catalog.xml file from ' > https://downloads.dell.com/catalog/' but don't see fw files there. > > Q4. I have never used RPM based updates(option A), but curious to know > your experiences? Are all updates available via DRM typically also packaged > into rpms or only a subset? > > Q5. Option B sounds like a custom tailored updates for each server but I > have heard from fellow admins that it is a hit or miss. Do you agree with > this? Do you recommend even looking at this? > > Any other ideas to fully automate bios/lc/idrac/hw firmware updates is > welcome. > > > Cheers > P > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Linux-PowerEdge mailing list > Linux-PowerEdge@dell.com > https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge > > -- Tech III * AppControl * Endpoint Protection * Server Maintenance Buncombe County Schools Technology Department Network Group ComicSans Awareness Campaign <http://comicsanscriminal.com>
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