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Wesche

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6 years ago

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Wesche

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September 30th, 2020 20:00

T710 iDRAC6 Upgrade Path

I recently inherited an environment of five T710s all rack mounted running a DevTest environment. Not the best hardware but it works for what we need it for. It looks like the previous admin never updated these devices. The iDRAC6 firmware is v 1.80.17. The Lifecycle Controller is version 1.5.1.57. The BIOS is version 6.1.0.

In the past I have learned the hard way that updating BIOS and Lifecycle Controllers out of order can lead to a very bad, and sometimes expensive, day. Would anyone be able to provide me an update path for these boxes.

I figured if worse comes to worse I could do

BIOS 6.2.3 & iDRAC 1.90

BIOS 6.3.0

iDRAC 1.95

BIOS 6.4.0

iDRAC 1.96

iDRAC 1.97

BIOS 6.4.0

iDRAC 1.98

iDRAC 1.99

iDRAC 2.80 (Latest I see for my Service Tag)

BIOS 6.4.0

BIOS 6.5.0

This process would likely take me 5 service windows and I will likely die a bit inside. If there is anyway I could streamline this process I would really appreciate it. Please do not make me lose any more hair than I already have.

Thanks

  • DELL-Shine K

    6 Operator

    3042 Posts

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    1

    Posted September 30th, 2020 22:00

    Yes. It is not advised to directly update from vry old FW to latest FW and also it is recommended to have BIOS and iDRAC FW in sync. The upgrade path you provided looks correct. If I were in your position I would have updated iDRAC directly from 1.95 to 1.99 or 1.95 to 1.97 to 1.99 by skipping some versions in-between

    As you have Lifecycle Controller firmware also in old FW I would recommend upgrading 1.6.5.12 after 1.97 and 1.7.5.4 after 2.80

    For T710 latest firmware levels are below

    BIOS - 6.6.0

    iDRAC - 2.90

    Lifecycle Controller - 1.7.5

    You can download these from below link

    https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/poweredge-t710/drivers 

  • Wesche

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    Posted October 1st, 2020 00:00

    Shine, Thank you so much for your incredibly fast response. You are awesome!

    I would also like to thank you for catching that I forgot to add the Lifecycle Controller and the latest BIOS update to my list. I really dropped the ball there. Can you please look over my new list and let me know your thoughts. I also noticed that I somehow added 6.4.0 multiple times. I do not know how that happened.

    BIOS 6.2.3
    iDRAC 1.90
    Lifecycle 1.6.0.73
    BIOS 6.3.0
    iDRAC 1.95
    Lifecycle 1.6.5.12
    BIOS 6.4.0
    iDRAC 1.99
    iDRAC 2.80 (Latest I see for my Service Tag)
    Lifecycle 1.7.5.4
    BIOS 6.5.0
    BIOS 6.6.0

    Thanks again.

    ***Edited due to a copy and paste error***

  • DELL-Charles R

    Moderator

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    Posted October 7th, 2020 10:00

    Hello Wesche,

     

    I don't know if Shine is still online.  For a fully incremental update your list looks good.

     

    Please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with.

    DELL-Charles R

    Social Media and Communities Professional
    Dell Technologies | Enterprise Support Services
    #IWork4Dell

    Did I answer your query? Please click on ‘Accept as Solution’. ‘Thumbs up’ the posts you like!

  • Wesche

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    Posted October 7th, 2020 10:00

    Hello,

    @DELL-Shine Kwould you be able to confirm the above list? I would love Dell's blessing before I move forward.

    Thank you so much for your help,

    Stephen

  • DELL-Charles R

    Moderator

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    Posted October 7th, 2020 11:00

    Hello Wesche,

     

    If you could install Windows, even temporarily, that may be your easiest route.

     

    You could try using the single package method in the LifeCycle controller:

    SingleDellPackageUpdate

    On boot up press F10 to get to LifeCycle Controller

    Look at video starting at 52 Seconds for steps

    https://dell.to/2GCJmG7

    Don't worry about references to virtual console and virtual media as you will be doing this with local keyboard/mouse.

    DELL-Charles R

    Social Media and Communities Professional
    Dell Technologies | Enterprise Support Services
    #IWork4Dell

    Did I answer your query? Please click on ‘Accept as Solution’. ‘Thumbs up’ the posts you like!

  • Wesche

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    Posted October 7th, 2020 11:00

    Thank you @Dell -Charles R . Dell support has been wonderful with this process.

    I noticed that the LifeCycle Controller Updates are all Windows executables. Is there any other way to install these updates? Currently Windows is not installed on these machines.

    If the LifeCycle Controller Updates are critical I guess I could try livebooting into Windows or possibly temporarily install Windows onto a HDD on the machine just for the update.

    I am sorry if this is a stupid question. I appreciate your patience and value your advice.

  • Wesche

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    Posted October 7th, 2020 12:00

    @Dell -Charles R 

    Again, thank you so much for your assistance. I actually just found out we have an extra T710 not being used in a our IT graveyard. I am going to use that to test the upgrade path and see if I can do it without installing Windows. I will report back with the results.

    Thank you again for your support. This is one of my first times dealing with Dell support on this type of thing and to say I am impressed is an understatement.