Firmware update failed using CIFs

"I tried to update the firmware for BIOS and iDRAC on an R910 running ESXi 4.1.0, 381591 deployed on a dual SD cards using a CIFs share and got an error. The error stated that the mount failed. I can't seem to find anything to help me understand what went wrong. The bundle was found and I selected the two items. I already had the host in maintenance mode. Has anyone been able to apply firmware updates?"

What version of iDRAC and lifecycle controller are you running?

"What version of iDRAC and lifecycle controller are you running?"

Thanks for the reply. The iDRAC is at 1.50 and lifecycle controller is at 1.4.0.481, A02. As information; in the vCenter Tasks, I see a downloading message just before the mount failed message.

I did two things that got the firmware update working for me: 1) I upgraded the appliance to 1.0.1 and 2) I changed the host name to the IP address of the windows file share. It wasn't the fastest thing I have seen, but it worked. It took an hour to update the iDRAC and BIOS.

"I did two things that got the firmware update working for me: 1) I upgraded the appliance to 1.0.1 and 2) I changed the host name to the IP address of the windows file share. It wasn't the fastest thing I have seen, but it worked. It took an hour to update the iDRAC and BIOS."

excellent - thanks for the feedback.

On the speed question - was it an hour from start to finish, or an hour once the host was put into maintenance mode?

We've had feedback about the length of time and when we investigated, it turned out that it was taking 30+ minutes for the host to get into maintenance mode and the actual update was 15-20 minutes.

"excellent - thanks for the feedback.

On the speed question - was it an hour from start to finish, or an hour once the host was put into maintenance mode?

We've had feedback about the length of time and when we investigated, it turned out that it was taking 30+ minutes for the host to get into maintenance mode and the actual update was 15-20 minutes."

Good question. The host was already in maintenance mode when I started the firmware update wizard. The Dell Hardware Update Task had a start time of 11:07:55 and a complete time of 12:00:57 in the vCenter Task list. I watched the process using Dell Remote Console Switch. Booting into UEFI takes a long time - then you have several tasks that run (iDRAC update took almost 15 minutes) with reboots in between.