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2 Posts
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220123
Updating firmware on PowerEdge R410
Hello,
We have several servers and majority run Scientific Linux 6.3 (It's based off of RedHat).
Normally, Dell supplies us with a update_firmware utility, but it seems to lag behind when it comes to firmware updates by a few versions. Does anyone know why? Or how to fix it? yum update returns nothing (with dell repos added), and update_firmware says i'm up to date when I can see on dell's website that I am not.
Another method that I've resorted to, for the time being, is to use the "Unified Server Configurator" to update firmware and bios. But it is very slow, tedious, and cumbersome (I have to update in a certain order or else it errors out and crashes). However, on my R410 server, it has version 1.0 and doesn't have any "platform update" option. How do I update it so I can gain the ability to update bios/firmware? I can't seem to find out how online
Thank you,
Jonathan
jvaldez1990
2 Posts
0
August 21st, 2012 12:00
Thanks for the help. I run the executable, then get this output.
Continue? Y/N:Y
Executing update...
WARNING: DO NOT STOP THIS PROCESS OR INSTALL OTHER DELL PRODUCTS WHILE UPDATE
IS IN PROGRESS.
THESE ACTIONS MAY CAUSE YOUR SYSTEM TO BECOME UNSTABLE!
....
Device: BIOS
Application: BIOS
Unable to get the System Generation.
and it errors out.
DELL-Jonathan S
153 Posts
1
August 21st, 2012 12:00
You can also use the biosdisk method which has some information on this page: en.community.dell.com/.../linux-projects.aspx and a really good write-up of the method on this page: www.math.ias.edu/.../cannot-update-dell-bios-with-.bin-file-99.php. The EXE you need with that is downloads.dell.com/.../PER410-011100.exe Does that work better?
DELL-Jonathan S
153 Posts
0
August 21st, 2012 12:00
I haven't tried it with SL6.3 yet but on many RHEL-based distros you can just use the normal BIN file for RHEL from support.dell.com, possibly after modifying /etc/issue or /etc/redhat-release. For R410 BIOS 1.11.0 that is downloads.dell.com/.../BIOS_VHP27_LN32_1.11.0.BIN. You can also use libsmbios to do the update at least as late as 11G systems linux.dell.com/.../dellBiosUpdate.html. I am not sure what the update schedule is for the yum firmware update repository. Let us know how it goes. Thanks!
FindSolutions
3 Posts
0
January 29th, 2013 15:00
I was able to apply the .Bin file on Cent5.5 however have never been able to get it working on SL6, any reason why Dell is unable to release a binary which would work on any flavor of Linux? Same error.
Executing update...
WARNING: DO NOT STOP THIS PROCESS OR INSTALL OTHER DELL PRODUCTS WHILE UPDATE IS IN PROGRESS.
THESE ACTIONS MAY CAUSE YOUR SYSTEM TO BECOME UNSTABLE!
....
Device: BIOS
Application: BIOS
Unable to get the System Generation.
DELL-Rey G
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
•
943 Posts
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January 31st, 2013 11:00
the main reason is that the resources required to test every flavor of Linux would be huge. the main focus is to support the top tier versions of OS's.
FindSolutions
3 Posts
0
January 31st, 2013 12:00
So most of this can be automated, if I recall correctly, why not open up the binary to the opensource community. In this day and age, every thing can be automated, maybe the resources need to go towards how to automate every flavor of Linux so we (customers) are not stuck with the top tier versions of OS's.
DELL-Rey G
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
•
943 Posts
0
January 31st, 2013 13:00
All good in theory, but companies dont want to trust open source to perform updates on their systems, especially when running large clusters or if the systems handle sensitive data, they are afraid someone might alter the payload as well, and thats never a good thing. Sooo many security risks to deal with, and if we make a mistake that costs someone data, we can get sued quick!
FindSolutions
3 Posts
0
January 31st, 2013 16:00
So, the point is Automation, more than opensource, with the talented people Dell has, and the fantastic product Dell produces, things would be 100% (rather than 85% today), where the support for every flavor of OS is shared with your customers.