Dell 1855 Server User Manual
Contents
1. Dell OpenManage Server Update Utility SUU Dell OpenManage IT Assistant ITA 7 Dell Update Packages Dell Update Packages are self contained easy to use programs each package updates a single system software component on the server on which it is executed Each Dell Update SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT Package contains the logic to verify that the update will work on a given system Dell Update Packages support both a graphical user interface GUI and a command line interface CLI BIOS and BMC firmware Dell Update Packages are available for PowerEdge 1855 server blades Dell Update Packages are supported on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems In addition Dell Update Packages can be integrated into third party or custom software distribution application frameworks such as Microsoft Systems Management Server SMS 2003 Altiris Deployment Solution and others Dell OpenManage Server Update Utility SUU is a comprehen sive system update utility that provides a mechanism to update several system software components at once It is a CD based application that can identify systems and apply the appropriate updates For example on a PowerEdge 1855 blade server administrators can use the SUU CD to update all system software on a server blade The SUU update pro cess requires administrators to update one server blade at a time Dell OpenManage IT Assistant ITA 7 provides centralized soft w2. or an FTP server The updated firmware image should be made available in a designated directory on the TFTP or FTP server Note The Dell Remote Access Controller Modular Chassis User s Guide provides specific instructions on how to set up the TFTP or FTP server for a firmware update at support dell com support edocs software smdrac3 dracmc Management module firmware updates The DRAC MC is the management module that allows administra tors to monitor and manage chassis components in a Dell PowerEdge 1855 blade server The PowerEdge 1855 blade server offers two dif ferent configurations for management module firmware Single DRAC MC e Redundant DRAC MC Single DRAC MC firmware DRAC MC firmware can be upgraded using the GUI CLI or DRAC MC firmware recovery console 2 The DRAC MC firmware update is a TFTP based update process For all three DRAC MC firmware update methods adminis trators must complete the following setup procedures before starting the firmware update process 1 Set up a TFTP server and copy the firmware image to the root of the TFTP server 2 Record the IP address of the TFTP server and the file name of the updated firmware image 3 Log in to the DRAC MC using either the GUI or CLI To update the firmware using the GUI administrators should navigate to the Update tab and select Firmware Update Next they should enter the TFTP IP address of the firmware image file name and start the DRAC MC firmwar
3. ships with the Brocade switch 5For more information about the operation modes of the PowerConnect 5316M switch and how to configure the system identity refer to the Del PowerConnect 5316M Ethernet Switch Module User s Guide and the Dell PowerConnect CLI 5316M Reference Guide at support dell com support edocs network PC5316M en 60 DELL POWER SOLUTIONS Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions August 2005 Copyright 2005 Dell Inc All rights reserved August 2005 console copy tftp hostname path to the bootimage boot Note Best practices recommend saving extra copies of the switch configurations on a TFTP server especially before a firm ware upgrade The PowerConnect 5316M Ethernet switch module used in the PowerEdge 1855 blade server chassis does not come equipped with its own serial console port Instead the serial console can be accessed as a module to which the DRAC MC is connected Therefore to use xmodem as the source for the management station where the firmware image is stored administrators must perform the following steps from the DRAC MC 1 Ensure that the current shell interface is already at the DRAC MC command prompt If not switch back to the con text of the DRAC MC command prompt by pressing the Enter key the tilde key and the period key Note Press the Shift key if the tilde character is located in the upper register of the keyboard and then press the period key 2 At the DRAC MC command prompt iss
4. SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT Updating the Dell PowerEdge 1855 Blade Server Related Categories Blade servers Dell PowerEdge blade servers New generation server technology Visit www dell com powersolutions for the complete category index 56 DELL POWER SOLUTIONS Chassis and Server Blades Many hardware components in the Del gt PowerEdge 1855 blade server have been designed with a firmware upgrade option including the Dell Remote Access Controller Modular Chassis DRAC MC management module server baseboard management controllers 1 0 modules and keyboard video mouse modules This article discusses standards based frameworks for updating individual server blades and available software utilities as well as recommended methods and best practices for updating chassis component firmware BY NARAYAN DEVIREDDY AND RUOTING HUANG quipped with 10 server blades and several I O mod ules and management modules the Dell PowerEdge 1855 blade server contains numerous system software components to update during the change management process Although best practices dictate careful planning and methodical implementation when deploying system software updates for the PowerEdge 1855 blade server such change management need not be difficult As is the case with other PowerEdge servers administrators can manage software updates for the PowerEdge 1855 blade server using standards based Dell OpenManage tools third party
5. YSTEMS MANAGEMENT For the firmware update process the McDATA management interface requires administrators to log in to the switch using the admin account and access the advanced configuration console mode using the admin start command 4 Brocade Silkworm 3014 Fibre Channel switch firmware Brocade Fibre Channel switch firmware can be upgraded using either a Web based GUI or a CLI To update the fabric OS in command line mode administrators should execute the fi rmwaredownload command from an FTP server or from a local Network File System NFS directory while in admin mode firmwaredownload options host_or_IP user path to the pfile passwd The updated firmware is in the form of Red Hat Package Manager RPM packages with names defined in pfile a binary file that contains specific firmware information and the names of firmware packages to be downloaded In dual domain systems the firmwaredownload command downloads the firmware image by default to both control proces sors CPs in rollover mode which helps prevent disruption to application services This operation depends on support for the High Availability HA fea ture which can be enabled To provide consistent through the haenable com mand in the switch CLI If HA support is not avail performance throughout the able administrators can still fabric administrators should upgrade the CPs one at a time using the s option ensure that all switch modules System
6. are update capability for Dell servers IT Assistant allows admin istrators to load Dell Update Packages and Dell System Update Sets into a central repository and then compare the packages to the software versions currently running on PowerEdge systems Admin istrators can then decide whether to update systems that are not in compliance either immediately or according to an administrator defined schedule BMC flash updates The BMC does not disable the power button on the front of an individual PowerEdge 1855 server blade during a flash update If an administrator presses the power button during a flash update the server blade will power off and leave the BMC in an unknown state To recover the server blade an administrator should remove the server blade from the PowerEdge blade server chassis wait five seconds reinsert the server blade and allow the server blade to boot Then the flash update can be performed again Note Keyboard video mouse KVM hot key keyboard sequences are not supported during a BMC flash update If an administrator attempts a hot key sequence from a server blade that is performing a BMC flash update the flash update may fail To recover the administrator must execute the flash update again Updating chassis components Because individual server blades in the PowerEdge 1855 blade server share common chassis infrastructure components keeping the system software of the chassis components up to date can play a cr
7. e Narayan Devireddy is a development manager in the Dell Enterprise Systems Management Software organization He has 14 years of systems management product development experience Before joining Dell Narayan worked for Novell Compag and Computer Associates in different capaci ties He has an M S in Computer Science from Alabama A amp M University Ruoting Huang is a development engineer in the Dell Enterprise Systems Management Software organization He focuses on parallel processing and internetworking Ruoting has an M S in Computer Science from the Asian Institute of Technology FOR MORE INFORMATION Dell PowerEdge 1855 Systems User s Guide support dell com support edocs systems pe1855 Dell OpenManage www dell com openmanage Dell servers www dell com servers 7 For more information about configuring and using the DRAC MC refer to the Dell Remote Access Controller Modular Chassis User s Guide at support dell com support edocs software smdrac3 dracme www dell com powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions August 2005 Copyright 2005 Dell Inc All rights reserved DELL POWER SOLUTIONS 61
8. e update process by clicking Update Firmware To update the firmware using the CLI administrators should enter the following Racadm command at the DRAC MC console prompt DRAC MC racadm fwupdate a TFIP_IP_ADDRESS d mgmt bin where 7FTP_IP_ADDRESS is the IP address of the TFTP server and mgmt bin is the name of the firmware image file Note This Racadm command can be entered at the DRAC MC serial console or at a Telnet session Best practices recommend using the serial console because if a TFTP download fails administra tors will lose Web access and network connections such as Telnet DRAC MC will boot to the DRAC MC firmware recovery console which can be accessed only at the serial console The firmware recovery console provides the following options e Upgrade firmware from the serial port Upgrade firmware from the network Configure network parameters Using the DRAC MC firmware recovery console administra tors can restart the firmware update process either via serial port or the network Note While in recovery mode the DRAC MC does not moni tor chassis components of the PowerEdge 1855 blade server For that reason administrators should take extra care to minimize the amount of time that the DRAC MC spends in recovery mode Redundant DRAC MC firmware In a redundant configuration two separate DRAC MC modules are installed in a chassis A primary DRAC MC module which actively monitors the chassis A
9. enterprise change management tools or both Updating server blades The process for updating system software components on PowerEdge 1855 server blades is designed to be the same as on other PowerEdge servers This similarity allows administrators to leverage existing change management Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions August 2005 Copyright 2005 Dell Inc All rights reserved processes in their IT organization to manage updates to PowerEdge 1855 server blades On PowerEdge 1855 server blades administrators can typically update firmware on the following system software components e Server system BIOS e Baseboard management controller BMC PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller 4 Integrated Mirroring PERC 4 IM e Adaptec SCSI Card 39160 e SCSI hard disk drives e OS level drivers As part of the change management planning process administrators must decide which update method best fits their environment System software components on a PowerEdge 1855 server blade can be updated using one of two methods offline updates or online updates August 2005 Offline updates To perform an offline update administrators must schedule server downtime Most offline update utilities boot into a pre OS environ ment such as DOS to perform the update These update utilities may also require multiple system reboots to complete the update process Although the offline update process is time consuming Although the offline update and
10. itical role in 1 For more information about how Dell Update Packages are designed to work in third party software distribution applications see Scripting Dell Update Packages on Windows and Linux by Manoj Gujarathi Pritesh Prabhu and Subbu Ganesan in Dell Power Solutions October 2004 www dell com downloads global power ps4q04 20040125 Gujarathi pdf and Deploying Dell Update Packages Using Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 by Sand eep Karandikar and Manoj Gujarathi in Dell Power Solutions February 2005 www dell com downloads global power ps1q05 20040111 Gujarathi pdf www dell com powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions August 2005 Copyright 2005 Dell Inc All rights reserved DELL POWER SOLUTIONS 57 SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT the overall PowerEdge 1855 blade server change management process However the frameworks that are used to update individual server blades do not scale to manage the updates of chassis components This section describes how to update components in the PowerEdge 1855 blade server chassis that have administrator upgradeable system software These firmware components include e Management modules e KVM modules I O modules Administrators can update the PowerEdge 1855 blade server chassis module firmware using either the GUI or the CLI of the Dell Remote Access Controller Modular Chassis DRAC MC Both inter faces require administrators to download the firmware image from a TFTP
11. nd firmware update process may take up to six minutes After the update com pletes the KVM will reset To update the firmware using the CLI administrators should enter the following Racadm command at the DRAC MC console prompt DRAC MC racadm fwupdate a TFIP_IP_ADDRESS d kvm_firmware_name mkvm SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT 1 0 module firmware updates The PowerEdge 1855 blade server chassis provides extensible I O functionality such as networking Fibre Channel or InfiniBand connectivity The McDATA 4314 Fibre Channel switch and Brocade Silkworm 3014 Fibre Channel switch provide Fibre Channel connectivity The Dell PowerConnect 5316M Ethernet switch a managed Layer 2 network switch provides network functionality To update the firmware of the preceding I O modules admin istrators need to procure the IP addresses of the switches As part of the installation of the McDATA Brocade and PowerConnect switches administrators must configure the IP address using the corresponding switch configuration application However admin istrators can obtain the IP address of the Brocade switch using the DRAC MC CLI as follows 1 Log in to the DRAC MC and connect to the switch using the DRAC MC connect switch N command 2 Log in to the switch with the username admin and pass word password 3 Enter the ipaddrshow command to obtain the IP address Unlike the TFTP based DRAC MC firmware update process the McDATA and Brocade Fib
12. or the chassis while the standby module is updating the firmware At this time neither DRAC MC is accessible either through Telnet or the GUI 4 When the standby DRAC MC module completes the firmware update process the primary DRAC MC module is available for network access Telnet and the GUI become available KVM module firmware updates The KVM module enables administrators to access server blades in the PowerEdge 1855 blade server by providing keyboard monitor and mouse functions as if the administrator were directly connected to the module The PowerEdge 1855 blade server provides a built in analog KVM module and an optional digital KVM module Both KVM modules are flash upgradeable Analog or digital KVM module firmware can also be updated using the DRAC MC GUI or CLI For both firmware update methods administrators must complete the following setup procedures before starting the firmware update process 1 Set up a TFTP server and copy the firmware image to the root of the TFTP server 2 Record the IP address of the TFTP server and the file name of the new firmware image 3 Log in to the DRAC MC using either the GUI or CLI To update the firmware using the GUI administrators should navigate to the Update tab and select KVM Firmware Update They should then enter the TFTP server IP address of the firmware image file name and start the KVM firmware update process by clicking Update Firmware The TFTP download a
13. re Channel switch module firmware update process is FTP based Administrators must complete the following setup procedures before starting the firmware update process 1 Set up an FTP server on the management station and unzip the firmware in a local directory 2 Record the IP address of the switch and the FTP server 3 Ensure that the switch is in normal operation mode by inspecting the status LEDs McDATA 4314 Fibre Channel switch firmware To provide consistent performance throughout the fabric administrators should ensure that all switch modules are running the same version of firmware Installing updated firmware requires a switch reset A stable fabric is required to successfully activate the firmware on a switch without disrupting traffic Therefore administrators must ensure that no administrative changes are in progress anywhere in the fabric before installing the Fibre Channel switch firmware McDATA provides management station software called Enterprise Fabric Connectivity Manager EFCM which provides a GUI to update the switch firmware Detailed instructions on how to use EFCM can be found in the McDATA 4314 switch documentation 3For more information about EFCM refer to the EFCM Management Guide on the CD that ships with the McDATA 4314 Fibre Channel switch www dell com powersolutions Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions August 2005 Copyright 2005 Dell Inc All rights reserved DELL POWER SOLUTIONS 59 S
14. requires several manual steps this is a safe method process is time consuming to update system software on virtually any server because and requires several manual the network is not involved In contrast network traffic Steps this is a safe method Trivial FTP TFTP server response time packet loss to update system software on and link loss can affect firm ware updates that are per Virtually any server because formed over a network On a PowerEdge 1855 server blade administrators can update BIOS BMC firmware RAID firmware SCSI hard disk drive firmware SCSI controller firmware and OS level drivers the network is not involved using DOS based update utilities found on the Dell support Web site support dell com Note The PERC 4 IM is integrated into the PowerEdge 1855 server blade motherboard so PERC 4 IM firmware is included as part of the system BIOS update package Online updates Unlike an offline update the online update process minimizes server downtime by allowing the process to run in a normal OS environ ment The greatest advantage of the online approach is its capability to automate the update process Online updates enable organiza tions to update multiple server blades from a central console using Dell OpenManage change management tools or third party change management frameworks Dell OpenManage change management tools for the PowerEdge 1855 blade server comprise the following Dell Update Packages
15. s supported by the Brocade firmware have two are running the same version partitions of nonvolatile stor age areas a primary and a of firmware secondary partition to store two firmware images The f irmwaredownload command loads the updated image into the secondary partition and swaps the second ary partition to be the primary partition The command then reboots the CP and activates the updated image Finally it performs the firmwarecommit procedure automatically to copy the updated image to the other partition unless the n option is used To update the firmware using the GUI administrators should launch the Brocade Web console by entering the IP address of the switch in the browser address line They should then log in as admin and navigate to the Firmware tab On the Firmware page administrators should enter the FTP server s IP address and the path to the firmware image file then begin the firmware update process At the switch console administrators can use the firmwaredownloadstatus command to monitor the download process After the download is finished administrators can enter the firmwareshow command to verify that the firmware update completed successfully Dell PowerConnect 5316M Ethernet switch firmware Two firmware images can be stored in the flash memory of the PowerConnect 5316M switch module The images are called active and nonactive depending on which image the switch is currently running The switch al
16. so supports two protocols to download the images network based TFTP and serial port based xmodem To use the TFTP method administrators must complete the following setup procedures before starting the firmware update process 1 Set up a TFTP server 2 Install the updated firmware image on the TFTP server 3 Log in to the switch and enter the privileged EXEC mode After logging in administrators can execute the following com mand in privileged EXEC mode to copy the file named image to the nonactive image file consolef copy tftp hostname path to the systemimage flash After the flash update is complete the switch can be instructed to boot from either of the two images by executing the following command in privileged EXEC mode consolef boot system imagel image2 Administrators should enter the following command to verify whether the switch successfully booted into the updated system image console f show version Although administrators may never need to upgrade the switch boot image they can do so by executing the following command 4 For more information about the CLI based firmware update process for the McDATA 4314 switch refer to the McDATA 4314 Command Line Interface Guide on the CD that ships with the McDATA switch 5 For more information about command options for Brocade Silkworm 3014 Fibre Channel switch firmware refer to the Brocade Fabric Operating System FOS Reference Manual on the CD that
17. standby DRAC MC module which monitors the active signal from the primary DRAC MC module If a failure in the primary DRAC MC module occurs for more than five sec onds the standby DRAC MC module is designed to become the active primary DRAC MC module The PowerEdge 1855 blade server supports redundant DRAC MC mode if the DRAC MC is running firmware version 1 1 or higher Although redundant DRAC MC modules can be updated with a single firmware package the DRAC MC goes through the following steps to complete the firmware update process once the administrator 2 For more information about how to access the DRAC MC GUI and the CLI also known as the Racadm command line utility refer to the Dell Remote Access Controller Modular Chassis Users Guide at support dell com support edocs software smdrac3 dracme 58 DELL POWER SOLUTIONS Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions August 2005 Copyright 2005 Dell Inc All rights reserved August 2005 initiates a firmware update task using either the GUI or the racadm fwupdate command from the CLI 1 The primary DRAC MC module starts the TFTP firmware update 2 The standby DRAC MC module monitors the chassis while the primary DRAC MC module is updated At this time neither DRAC MC is accessible either through Telnet or the GUI 3 When the primary DRAC MC module completes the TFTP update the TFTP update on the standby DRAC MC module begins The primary DRAC MC module continues to moni t
18. ue the following command DRAC MC racadm config g cfgSerial o cfgSerialConsoleIdleTimeout 0x3000 3 Redirect the DRAC MC serial console to the internal serial console interface of the PowerConnect 5316M Ethernet switch module in binary mode by entering the following command DRAC MC connect b switch N where NV is the chassis I O module bay number in which the PowerConnect 5316M Ethernet switch module is inserted Press the Enter key several times to ensure that the terminal connection is successfully established and that the Ethernet switch module prompt appears SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT Note To terminate the binary mode connection to the PowerConnect 5316M Ethernet switch module s serial console disconnect the current session of the terminal Keeping blade server system software components up to date The modular design of blade servers such as the Dell PowerEdge 1855 blade server brings an added dimension to the traditional change management process Today s industry leading change management and software distribution frameworks such as Altiris Patch Management Solution and Microsoft SMS are designed to provide robust auto mated tools to manage updates on modules that reside on server blades Because these frameworks do not scale to manage the updates of chassis management modules and I O modules updating blade server chassis modules requires careful planning and deployment such as the approach described in this articl
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