My plan Perc i6 to H700 on R610

DennisW,

Your steps look fine, expecially with updating to current prior to performing the upgrade. One thing I should note though, is if your existing versions are several updates away from the versions you are upgrading to, you will need to walk them up to current. The reason being is that if you jump too many updates, or get the BIOS and iDrac too far apart, that can cause real issues with the server.

Now to answer your questions;

A - I would recommend doing once installed

B - These issues arose from people installing an H700 controller in a server that was previously using the software controller, and when they did they failed to upgrade the backplane cable required with the hardware controllers.

C -  The reason there isn't a driver present on the support page is that the native driver in the OS supports both controllers.

D - Likely wont need, especially if you are using OpenManage

E. Sounds good.

Lastly, don't be intimidated, the only thing you are doing that can cause issues with the server is with the updates. So if you aren't sure if it is too big of a leap in updates from your current version, you can feel free to let me know the existing versions and I can let you know a good update path. 

Let me know if this helps.

Having a read around, I will need to:-

F10, HardwareConfiguration > Part Replacement Config > collect on restart = Enabled & Part Firmware update = Match Firmware of repalced part > exit & reboot.

So before I start anything, I have done this ( upto exit..  ) but when I try to finish, it prompts that Dell vFlash is not present.

info:

on the iDAC I have a standard 256mb flash inserted. It has status of "Attached" ticked.

If I try to create empty partition, most settings are grey, and apply is grey. I assume = it has a partition.

This is now my block.

Appart from being able to boot from this ( if setup so ), would reformatting, replacing, (general fiddling around !) be advisable, as I don't know if it is used for system inventory ?

Hello,

I would like to share this whitepaper with you. I think this document will be helpful as it is quite detailed and informative.

"vFlash is a function of Dell Life-Cycle controller of Dell PowerEdge 11th- and 12th-generation servers
that provides a shared storage space between the server system and its iDRAC. The storage resides
on an external vFlash SD card inserted into the system. The SD card can be up to 16GB. This shared
space adds much flexibility to the systems management functions.
On one hand, vFlash provides a convenient in-band storage space for the system. Systems
management processes, like operating system deployment or application installation, may use
storage spaces to hold deployment images that may not be readily available on an unconfigured baremetal system.
On the other hand, vFlash can also serve as an out-of-band storage space for the systems
management functions running on the iDRAC. It is frequently used by systems management as the
storage space to back up and restore system configurations.
Because the same vFlash space can be shared by both the in-band and out-of-band applications, the
out-of-band systems management can place contents on the vFlash to be shared with the system
applications."

https://dell.to/3uJ3XND

(unable to edit above)

my iDrac:=

 I noticed in another post:-

 The difference is "Available space".

I hesitate to press the Initialise button, as the warning All data will be wiped is a concern.

The difference in usable space should be the use of a different capacity SD card. And if you initiation it, the information on the SD card will be erased. I will suggest you to review the link I gave above.

Thanks for link.

I replaced SD with a fresh 8Gb.

In iDrac I initiated, created partition, formatted. The only choices were format as: harddrive of Floppy - chose harddrive.

reboot iDrac ( racreset )

result:

iDrac/System/vFlash/SD crad properties shows: Size 256Mb, write protedt=No, vFlash enabled= Tick

OK

iDrac/System/vFlash/Manage shows: Attached=Tick OK

iDrac/Removable Flash Media shows: vFlash Active

-- still no "Active Size" attribute.

after reboot server, F10/Replacement Part configuration: I set firmware match, get \on reboot. BUT when I try to "Finish", pop-up appears that the vFlash is not present.

USC vFlash config will not Initialise it as it is "in use..." and should be disconnected first.

Is there something Ive missed here.

As my goal is to swap out Perc 6 for H700, can I just disable inventory features of USC and ignore iDrac. As this is a home environment server. ?

Hi,

you could disable inventory features of USC and ignore iDrac if you want.

Regards Martin

Thanks for that advice. At east I can progress with the swap.

As for the vFlash not being "usefull" -

As I mention, i have put a new card in, initialised, created empty partition, format ( as harddrive), all went OK, made sure it was attached and active. But it still does not show Available size, and USC says its not installed. It does show after server boot to Windows server Hyper-v core as a drive, but am unable to 'cd' into it.

Im missing something, ? is there a place in USC to choose/set where the vFlash is ? - stupid question it is the external SD slot at the rear just above the RJ45 ?

Regards Martin

After some days of "dry run" issues with USC - Part Replacement, and also vFlash not available

I decided to disable USC - Inventory collection and swap out the Perc.

All went according to plan. Imported Raids and reboot.

Windows Server Hyper-V logo appeared, with the rotating dots., then BSD - inaccessible Boot drive

Reboot

Windows Server Hyper-V logo appeared, with the rotating dots., then Blue screen "Your computer has problems" options Troubleshoot, .....

So decided: power down, replace Perc 6i, Reboot, import Raids, Reboot Change Bios to boot from Perc, Reboot -- back to Square one.

Its been an educational trip, and thanks for help. But I think i will stick with "6" - if its not broken...

And I think the vFlash not recognised by USC for inventory may be because its a generic SD not the Dell card ? - I have read the manual on iDrac and it does state that shuch things as available size is not displated, etc. so standard SD has limitations, perhaps this is one.

Thanks for patience and advice.

DennisW