Dell Unity: Managing Automatic Drive Firmware Upgrades

Summary: In Dell Unity OE 5.3 and later, Periodic ODFU (pODFU) stands for Periodic Online Drive Firmware Update. It is a background service that automatically checks for drives running older firmware revisions and upgrades them using a previously installed drive firmware bundle. ...

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Instructions

Periodic Online Drive Firmware Update (pODFU) is a Unity feature that automatically performs a weekly check for drives running outdated firmware and upgrades them, after successfully completing a pre-upgrade health check. 
 
This is distinct from a normal OE upgrade because pODFU specifically targets drive firmware on an ongoing basis rather than only during planned software upgrades.

Key points:

  • Runs automatically once per week.
  • Designed to update drives that were newly added or replaced after the last drive firmware upgrade.
  • Before upgrading any drive firmware, Unity runs a Pre-Upgrade Health Check (PUHC). If the health check reports an issue, the upgrade is skipped and an alert may be generated.
  • The feature is enabled by default and is generally transparent to the customer. 
  • Administrators can check the status, enable, or disable pODFU from the service shell:
13:25:18 service@FNM001612345678 spa:~/user# svc_change_hw_config --periodic_odfu --enable
Periodic ODFU State  =  Enabled.

13:30:31 service@FNM001612345678 spa:~/user# svc_change_hw_config --periodic_odfu --status
Periodic ODFU is enabled.

13:30:45 service@FNM001612345678 spa:~/user# svc_change_hw_config --periodic_odfu --disable
Periodic ODFU State  =  Disabled.

Additional Information

What’s New in Unity OE 5.3?

 

13:24:06 service@FNM001612345678 spa:~/user# svc_change_hw_config --help
Usage: svc_change_hw_config [<qualifiers>] where the qualifiers are:

  -h|--help              : Display this message
  -e|--eSLIC             : Commit eSLIC / IO Module
  -n|--net               : Remove network interfaces found on non-existent ports
  -u|--upgrade [options] : Perform a system upgrade (see below)
  -c|--change_chassis [options]: update the chassis wwn_seed
  -t|--convert [subcommands] : convert committed IO Module to a new one
  -C|--CNA [FC|iSCSI]    : Commit CNA Module
  -f|--fc_interrupt_mode [options] :  Toggle/query the fc interrupt mode setting.
  -p|--fc_polling_mode [options] :  Toggle/query the fc polling mode setting.
  -O|--periodic_odfu  [options] : Toggle the periodic odfu feature enable state.

This script changes hardware configuration information for the system.
See the help text below for more information on specific qualifiers.

Refer to the system documentation for a complete description of upgrades and
uses for this script.

-e|--eSLIC:
  Used to Commit a new eSLIC / IO Module. Run while installing
  a new eSLIC or IO Module.
  Options:

    --cancel        : cancel the commit process, clean up the ptm config

-n|--net:
  Used to remove network interfaces found on non-existent ports.
  For example, run this after an eSLIC has been removed to
  purge this configuration from the system.

-c|-change_chassis:
  Used to update the chassis wwn_seed by the value from system drives
  when the chassis is replaced intentially  intentionally
  Options for -change_chassis:
    -update_wwn_seed:      : update chassis wwn_seed automatically with the one read from system drive
    -update_wwn_seed_force : If there is one new drive in system slot(0_0_0 - 0_0_2),
                             and we want to change the chassis, please provide '-force' option.
    -get_system_drive_status: get current Chassis wwn_seed and the system drive info.

-u|--upgrade:
  Used ONLY as part of the approved, official process to upgrade system memory.
  Options:

    --begin[-b]     : valid in Normal Mode to begin an upgrade
    --commit[-c]    : valid in Service Mode to commit an upgrade
    --abort[-a]     : valid in Service Mode to abort an upgrade

  See system documentation for more information before attempting
  an upgrade as this is only valid using the approved method of system
  memory upgrades.

  Note: An upgrade involves running this script twice.
     1.  Run this script using the "-b" or "--begin" option to start the upgrade.
     2.  Perform whatever steps are necessary for the upgrade.
     3.  Rerun the script using the "-c" or "--commit" option to commit the upgrade.

-C|--CNA:
  Used to Commit a new CNA Module. Run while installing
  a new CNA Module.
  Options:
  FC : option used to commit Fiber Channel
  iSCSI : option used to commit iSCSI

-t|--convert:
  Convert committed IO Module to a new one
  Subcommands:

    --slot [XX]              : IO Module slot number
    --type [YY:YY:YY:YY]     : IO Module type which will be convert to, --list_options will show all valid types
    --list_options           : list all valid convert-to options for the IO Module
    --precheck               : IO Module conversion precheck
    --start                  : start IO Module conversion
    --replaced_first_IOM     : after first IO Module is replaced successfully, next step trigger
    --replaced_second_IOM    : after second IO Module is replaced successfully, next step trigger
    --status                 : show the current process/status of IO Module conversion procedure

-f|--fc_interrupt_coalesce_mode
  Used to toggle/query the fc interrupt coalesce mode setting.
  Options:

    --disable/enable/optimize
                       : Disable/enable/optimize the fc interrupt coalesce mode setting on this SP
                         (afterwards, users need to reboot the SP to make it effective)
    --status           : Display current fc interrupt coalesce mode setting

-p|--fc_polling_mode
  Used to toggle/query the fc polling  mode setting.
  Options:

    --enable/disable   : Enable/disable the fc polling mode setting on this SP
    --status           : Display current fc polling mode setting

-O|--periodic_odfu
  used to toggle/query the periodic odfu feature enable state
  Options:

    --enable/disable   : Enable/disable the periodic odfu
    --status           : Display current periodic odfu feature enable state setting

Affected Products

Dell EMC Unity, Dell EMC Unity XT 380, Dell EMC Unity XT 380F, Dell EMC Unity XT 480, Dell EMC Unity XT 480F, Dell EMC Unity 650F, Dell EMC Unity XT 680, Dell EMC Unity Family |Dell EMC Unity All Flash, Dell EMC Unity Hybrid

Products

Dell Unity 450F DC, Dell Unity 300 DC, Dell Unity 350F DC, Dell Unity 400 DC, Dell EMC Unity XT 680F, Dell EMC Unity XT 880, Dell EMC Unity XT 880F, Dell Unity Operating Environment (OE)
Article Properties
Article Number: 000218180
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 17 Sep 2026
Version:  4
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