PowerFlex: RPS Upgrade General Procedure: Customer Preparation Guide

Dell Technologies PowerFlex Upgrade Preparation Guide

As your partner in IT, Dell Technologies has created this Upgrade Preparation Guide to help guide a successful upgrade of your Dell Technologies equipment. While this guide is not intended as a replacement for any of our other guides or release notes, it does point out known concerns related to the upgrade which have the potential to disrupt your environment.

From August 2025, the Dell Remote Proactive Services team supports upgrades of PowerFlex Rack and Appliance running PowerFlex core software version 4.5 or later. The corresponding PowerFlex Rack Release Certification Matrix (RCM) release for 4.5 is 3.7.3.0. For PowerFlex Appliance, the corresponding Intelligent Catalog (IC) release is 45.373.00.

Upgrading a PowerFlex rack or appliance to a new release is only permitted if the existing system is already running on an earlier PowerFlex 4.5.x release. For upgrades from versions earlier than 4.5, assistance from the Dell Professional Services team is required, as this falls outside the scope of the RPS team. Contact your Dell account team if this service is required.

• Scope of RPS Support

How to Engage RPS for a PowerFlex Upgrade

• Using your Service Tag, open a Maintenance Services case online by selecting Operating Environment Upgrade and Create Service Request.
  • Fill out the simple webform and submit your case.
• The Dell Scheduling Team will reach out to manage event scheduling.
• A live remote session is required for the assessment and upgrade. Dell engineers will connect using Zoom, Microsoft Teams or WebEx. If another connection method is required, we will review the request, but alternatives may not always be supported.
• If your environment has restrictions that limit screen-sharing, command entry, or audio use during the assessment or upgrade sessions, please inform our scheduling team in advance. We will review these constraints with management, but please note that some restrictions may limit our ability to proceed with the upgrade.

In Preparation for Your Upcoming Upgrade Event

• Schedule your upgrade for a time outside of your peak I/O load, as performance degradation may occur as individual nodes/hosts are being upgraded.
• Do not run any management operations while an update is in progress. Example: creating a new protection domain, deploying a new resource group, removing hosts from a resource group.
• Do not run any password rotations or certificate rotation operations.
• Ensure that file-based backups are configured and working for PowerFlex Manager. This can be configured at Settings > Backup and Restore.
• Ensure that a local network share path (SMB/NFS) is available to PowerFlex Manager with read/write permissions, from which it can access the required upgrade files.
• Ensure that there are no failed workflows in your environment and no resources in an error state. If any of these conditions are true, contact the Dell PowerFlex Support Team before starting the upgrade.
• Since Virtual Machines (VMs) are migrating as part of the upgrade, ensure that VMs can be migrated in advance. Examples of issues that may prevent migration:
  • VM with an ISO mounted
  • VM with external storage locally mounted
  • VM pinned to a host
  • Verify that all third-party software is compatible with the target PowerFlex version.

Downloading Required Files

When preparing the upgrade of PowerFlex software and its infrastructure components, it is recommended to download all the required files. Download the files to the embedded jump host or a jump server, ensuring this server has access to the PowerFlex software. Configure a share using CIFS or NFS to enable access to the upgrade files.

The required files may consist of some or all the following, depending on the configuration and the scope of the upgrade:

• PowerFlex Rack Release Certification Matrix (RCM) or PowerFlex Appliance Intelligent Catalog (IC) code upgrade bundle
• Dell Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD) firmware (if not in RCM/IC bundle)
• PowerFlex management platform
• Compatibility matrix file
• Compliance file
• VMware ESXi, vCSA images, and patch depot files
• CloudLink image files (if not in RCM/IC bundle)
• IC file for the embedded operating system-based jump server
• Dell PowerSwitch and Cisco switches firmware (where applicable)
  • For Cisco Nexus switches upgrading to an NXOS image lower than 10.5(3), the corresponding EPLD firmware must be downloaded separately from the Cisco support site (External Link). Ensure that the EPLD image is available before the upgrade to avoid delays.
  • Starting with NXOS 10.5(3), EPLD is bundled with the NXOS image, so a separate EPLD download is not required.
    
    
• PowerFlex Rack RCM bundles 3.7.5.0, 3.8.0.0, and later on the Dell support site do not contain VMware ESXi and vCenter images.
• PowerFlex Appliance IC bundles 46.375.00, 46.380.00, and later on the Dell support site do not contain the VMware ESXi and vCSA images.
• Download any required files from the Broadcom support portal before the upgrade session.
• Broadcom has introduced Download Verification for multiple products including VCF. Downloads are authorized through a unique token, and the new URLs are embedded with the token to verify authorization. See Broadcom VMware articles 390098 – VCF authenticated downloads configuration update instructions (External Link) and 389276 – Authenticated Download Configuration Update Script (External Link).

Customer Jump-Box Requirements

(If not using the PowerFlex embedded jump server.) Ensure the jump-box meets the following requirements:

• 250 GB free disk space
• 4 GB RAM (8 GB+ recommended)
• Use a VM, preferably on the same management network as PowerFlex Manager, to avoid firewall ports being blocked. Ensure network access to each PowerFlex component on ports 22, 80, and 443.
• Zoom session initiated directly from the jump-box VM to avoid latency over VPN.
• Fast Internet connection. You should have the following software installed:
  • PuTTY Client (or equivalent)
  • WinSCP
  • Zoom or WebEx
• Jump-box VM or physical machine should have full admin privileges to avoid permission errors.

Latest PowerFlex Code Releases

Rack:

• 3.8.3.2 — Released 2026-04-24 — Release Notes
• 3.7.8.2 — Released 2026-04-24 — Release Notes

Appliance:

• 48.383.02 — Released 2026-04-24 — Release Notes
• 48.378.02 — Released 2026-04-24 — Release Notes

Password Requirements for Assessment and Upgrade Sessions

(Depending on configuration.)

Broadcom License Keys

• VMware license keys are required for major version upgrades (out of family), for example vCenter/ESXi 7.x to 8.x.
• See Broadcom VMware article 281797 – Upgrade and Downgrade VMware License Keys (External Link) for information about upgrading your license keys after a PowerFlex upgrade.
• See Broadcom VMware article 334240 – Managing licenses on ESXi hosts using the vSphere Client (External Link) for assistance in applying licenses.
• Customers are responsible for obtaining and updating license keys.

Request for Product Qualification (RPQ)

Do you have an existing RPQ in place or planned for your PowerFlex environment?

• Upgrading any PowerFlex component beyond the version specified in the PowerFlex RCM/IC requires an approved RPQ. Contact your account team to raise an RPQ request if required.
• Previously approved nonstandard configurations could impact the upgrade process. Inform the RPS team during your upgrade assessment if nonstandard configurations are in place.
• Any reconfiguration work outside of the upgrade process would require a paid engagement with the Dell Professional Services Team.

CPLD Firmware Upgrade Requirement for PowerFlex Nodes

• If the CPLD firmware upgrade file for your PowerFlex node type is not included as part of your target RCM/IC release, it must be upgraded separately prior to the scheduled upgrade window.
  
  

• To check whether the CPLD firmware for your PowerFlex node is in the target RCM/IC version, go to the Code Knowledge Hub and review your target PowerFlex Rack or Appliance release.

Relevant Documentation

• Dell PowerFlex Rack with PowerFlex 4.x Upgrade Guide
• Dell PowerFlex Appliance with PowerFlex 4.x Upgrade Guide

Customer Actionable Items

For upgrade tasks that fall outside the scope of the Dell Remote Proactive Services (RPS) team, customers are responsible for performing these updates. If a customer prefers not to perform any of these activities, they may contact their Dell account team to request a quote for Dell Professional Services to complete the work. The following reference documentation is provided to help with the upgrade:

vCenter Upgrade

1. Backup and then remove the vCenter HA configuration if present. Follow Broadcom documentation: Remove a vCenter HA Configuration (External Link)
2. Upgrade the management and then production vCenters. Follow Broadcom documentation: Upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance (External Link)
   
   

CPLD Firmware Upgrade

1. PowerFlex 4.x: PowerFlex: How to Verify and Upgrade the CPLD Firmware
2. When running 15G PowerFlex storage nodes, follow article PowerFlex Procedure to Update Firmware to Mitigate NVDIMM Batteries Losing Charge if affected by the issue of NVDIMM batteries losing charge on PowerFlex Rack and Appliance (R650, R750) nodes.
   
   

CloudLink Center Major Version Upgrade

1. Refer to chapter 13 of the PowerFlex Rack or Appliance upgrade guide.
   
   

Dell PowerSwitch Upgrade

1. PowerFlex 4.x: PowerFlex: Upgrading the Dell PowerSwitch Switches
   
   

SDC Driver Upgrade

1. Customers are responsible for upgrading the Storage Data Client (SDC) drivers within the OS for machines not upgraded as part of the RPS upgrade process. Updated SDC driver packages for manual installation are available for various OS platforms on the Dell Support site. Ensure that the SDC driver is updated to the latest version after the main PowerFlex upgrade process is completed.
   
   
   • Download link: PowerFlex SDC Driver Package 4.5.5.2
   • SHA-256: 0daecbc374e979015c1c6bac88532775b0de485d5f6d8f5111ea57bce84131e0 
   • Release date: April 24, 2026
   • Description: This package includes SDC drivers for manual installation across supported operating systems.

Pre-Upgrade Node Reboot Recommendation

1. Dell Technologies recommends that customers review the uptime of all PowerFlex nodes as part of the upgrade planning process. Where node uptime exceeds 180 days, performing a planned, preemptive reboot ahead of the upgrade is recommended. Any preemptive node reboots should be completed serially, using established maintenance mode practices, during a maintenance window or period of low system utilization.

Configuration Change Advisory

⚠ Important: To ensure a successful upgrade, customers must avoid making configuration changes to their PowerFlex environment between the completion of the upgrade assessment and the start of the scheduled upgrade window. Configuration modifications during this period may result in inconsistencies that can delay or prevent the upgrade from proceeding.

If configuration changes are unavoidable, they must be performed strictly in accordance with the procedures documented in the official PowerFlex Administration Guide and other relevant product documentation (e.g., password changes, certificate changes).