How to use a former catalog ?

Hello @VA-IT,

Good to see you back in the Dell Community!

So, what you want to do is possible. It is called firmware baseline

How To Create a Firmware Baseline and Update Firmware in Dell EMC OpenManage Enterprise (OME) - https://dell.to/3x6GshV

There is also a video explaning shortly this functionality: https://dell.to/3h1PqXV

And more detailed in the user manual: https://dell.to/3dsd2CV

Hope this information, please let me know if this helps.

Regards.

Hello,

I already know that, and we are already using custom baselines... The problem is that we started to update last week and the Dell-online catalog was delivering former firmware release (for example, it was BIOS v2.10.2 and iDRAC 4.40.40), and now it is delivering a newest release (with BIOS 2.11.2 and iDRAC 5.00.00). We don't want to use this new release. We want to use the previous one.

We tried to create our own firmware catalog with downloaded firmware, BIOS and drivers, but first we can't export it to our dedicated share and second, the updated hosts are shown in an unknown status in their baselines. 

So, how to use previous firmware catalog ?

Hello again @VA-IT,

You cannot point to a former Dell catalog. The Dell catalog is the one that is uplodaded and updated as per Dell catalogue official baseline. If you want to have a custom baseline, you need to create it.

In order to make your firmware catalog, you would need to download Dell Repository Manager (DRM). DRM will allow you to create a catalog and you can add whatever updates you want to it. To use DRM, you would need to download each individual update you want to add to your catalog and add them to the repository.

Regarding sharing, a Windows share can be used as a CIFS share, if that's something you'd want to do.

Regards.

Hello,

Thank for these information.

We tried to use Dell DRM, but we have issues when we try to export the catalog on the dedicated CIFS share (it's a CIFS share on a NetApp NAS). We also tried to export it on a dedicated hard drive on the virtual server which the tool is installed on and share this folder, but the compliance is failing. We are facing an issue telling that the update file is not in the catalog. We exported the full bundle.

Any idea about these issues ?

Thank you.

Hello @VA-IT,

Please, could you show me those compliance errors and also the error telling that the update file is not in the catalog? Can you get some screenshoots?

Regards.

Hello,

Sure, here is a screen capture. I also added the end of the log of DRM, showing that the export fails because of a download problem but we don't know why.

Thank you !

Hello again!

I cannot see the picture, maybe there was some error during upload or it was removed automatically by the spam filters. 

Either way, there is a whitepaper I would like you to check, it is a guide regarding Dell EMC Repository Manager Integration with Dell EMC OpenManage Enterprise: https://dell.to/3yiSTaF

Please, kindly let me know if this was the document you used for the initial configuration. If it was not, check it and make sure to follow the steps.

Which version OME and DRM versions are you using? Did you used the local administrator credentials during the DRM configuration? Could you please confirm whether port 22 is open between Repository to OME Appliance.

Regards.

Hello,

It was removed after I posted my reply.. Considered as spam.

We used this document. But we are unable to import specific DUP files, to ensure that we will install a specific BIOS release (2.10.2)  and not the most recent one. We have the same issue with iDRAC (4.40.40 expected instead of 5.00). The import is failing and we don't know why. As a reminder, we are not allowed to install latest firmware, drivers and BIOS releases if they are younger than 30 days because of internal security policies.

We are using OME 3.5 build 60 and DRM 3.3.1. Local administrator usage is forbidden on our infrastructure, so we used a domain service account which has local admin rights and read-write access to the share. Port 22 is opened.

Hello, Thanks for detailed informations and sorry to hear for the mishap you experienced  Can you create a new catalog and try, frankly, I've looked at the thread, it seems like a lot of things have already been done. And I would expect it could be done with custom created catalog over DRM.

I've done some digging but haven't encountered a problem directly like this.

Creating a Custom Catalog and downloading update with DRM v3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0ZATOlYLuo&ab_channel=DellEMCSupport

creating fw catalog using local network https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqlvt5eioQI&ab_channel=DellEMCSupport

Add a catalog to the local network

1. On the Catalog Management page, click Add.
2. In the Add Update Catalog dialog box:
   1. In the Name box, enter a catalog name.
   2. For the Catalog Source, select the option Network Path.
      The Share Type drop-down menu is displayed.
   3. Select one of the following:
      NOTE Ensure to enable SMBv1 in the SMB Settings before you begin any firmware tasks which need communication with any chassis or the PowerEdge YX2X and YX3X servers that have iDRAC version 2.50.50.50 and earlier. See  Manage Console preferences and  Generic naming convention for Dell EMC PowerEdge servers for more information.

      • NFS

        1. In the Share Address box, enter the IP address of the system where the firmware catalog is stored on the network.

        2. In the Catalog File Path box, enter the full file path of the catalog file location. Example path: nfsshare\catalog.xml

      • CIFS
        1. In the Share Address box, enter the IP address of the system where the firmware catalog is stored on the network.
        2. In the Catalog File Path box, enter the full file path of the catalog file location. Example path: Firmware\m630sa\catalog.xml
        3. In the Domain box, enter the domain name of the device.
        4. In the User Name box, enter the user name of the device where the catalog is stored.
        5. In the Password box, enter the password of the device to access the share. Type the username and password of the shared folder where the catalog.xml file is stored.

      • HTTP
        1. In the Share Address box, enter the IP address of the system where the firmware catalog is stored on the network.
        2. In the Catalog File Path box, enter the full file path of the catalog file location. Example path: compute/catalog.xml.

      • HTTPS
        1. In the Share Address box, enter the IP address of the system where the firmware catalog is stored on the network.
        2. In the Catalog File Path box, enter the full file path of the catalog file location. Example path: compute/catalog.xml.
        3. In the User Name box, enter the user name of the device where the catalog is stored.
        4. In the Password box, enter the password of the device where the catalog is stored.
        5. Select the Certificate Check check box.

           The authenticity of the device where the catalog file is stored is validated and a Security Certificate is generated and displayed in the Certificate Information dialog box.

   4. After you have entered the Share Address and the Catalog File Path, the Test now link is displayed. To validate a connection to the catalog click Test now. If the connection to the catalog is established, a Connection Successful message is displayed. If connection to the share address or the catalog file path is not established, Connection to path failed error message is displayed. This is an optional step.
   5. In the Update Catalog box, select either Manually or Automatically.
      If the Update Catalog is selected as Automatically, select either Daily or Weekly as the update frequency and enter time in the 12-hour format.
3. Click Finish. The Finish button appears only after you have entered all the fields in the dialog box.
   A new firmware catalog is created and listed in the Catalog table on the Catalog Management page.
4. To go back to the Firmware/Driver Compliance page, click Return to Firmware/Driver Compliance.

We can successfully create custom baseline using DRM (already tested it).

I am just curious, if DELL released additional update manager as a plugin for OME, why not enable such feature inside OME, as almost everything is in place?  You just need to link chosen catalog version in plugin with this catalog number in link for xml file for baseline.

Otherwise, for what reason we need to see different catalog versions with different sets of FWs in plugin?

Maybe this feature can be added in next release?

Thanks for the feedback almarchuk.

I don't have a real answer to your question, I cannot confirm that this feature will be added in the next release.

Thanks

Marco