Dell Networking VEP4600 Unified Firmware Updater Using Diag OS ISO DD Image

This procedure is for a VEP4600 firmware update using the Unified Firmware Updater in the DiagOS environment. These steps differ from the VEP4600 Release Notes upgrade selection regarding the DiagOS where an automated DiagOS installation USB is used to install the DiagOS as a livedisk onto a second USB inserted into the VEP4600. This procedure uses an already created livedisk image that will be installed on a single USB and then used to boot into the DiagOS environment once inserted into the VEP4600.

NOTE: The diagOS_32GB_DD image can also be used on the VEP14xx models and S series switches

Prerequisites

• Personnel on site
• 2 formattable USBs, one being 32GB or larger
• diagOS_32GB_DD image
  • Can be found in the Vep4600 OS Image_Extnal .zip folder
• Vep4600 Unified Firmware Updater .zip file
• Vep4600 x722 FW NVRAM .tar.gz file
• One of the following:
  • Windows system to download Rufus on
  • Linux system to create livedisk using dd commands

Obtaining the diagOS_32GB_DD Image

NOTE: This DOES NOT use the Dell Diagnostics OS Recovery iso for the VEP4600 Switch.
 

1. Go to the VEP4600 device page located on the Dell support website and select the "Drivers & Downloads" tab
2. On the "Drivers & Downloads" tab scroll down until you see the section labeled "Dell Diagnostics OS ISO DD Image" and expand it. You may have to select "show more" at the bottom.
3. Once expanded you can select "Other Formats" and download the .zip file. It is recommended to use 7-Zip to extract these files
4. The 32GB or larger USB will be used for the DiagOS livedisk, and the second will have the VEP4600 firmware files on it to be installed.

Creating DiagOS Livedisk Using Rufus

1. Download Rufus from the following website, Standard Windows x64 option:  https://rufus.ie/en/#google_vignette 
2. Start the Rufus .exe file
3. Select the USB drive that is 32GB or larger to be used as a livedisk bootable USB under “Device”
4. Select the diagOS_32GB_DD image file from the extracted folder under “Boot Selection”
5. For “Partition Scheme”, options are expected to be greyed out. If they are not, select GPT and for “Target System” Select UEFI (non CSM).
6. After selecting the “Start” option to create the livedisk, it will be automatically be created in DD mode. If an additional window opens asking to select the mode to use to write the image. Choose the DD option for creating the image
7. A warning message appears notifying that all data currently on the USB will be destroyed, select OK, to continue the operation.
8. Once completed, the status on Rufus will return to “READY” down below.
9. Remove the USB from the workstation and insert it into the VEP4600

Creating DiagOS Livedisk Using Linux CLI

1. Insert a USB that is 32GB or larger into a Linux device with the diagOS_32GB_DD image on it
2. If the USB is not detected immediately you search for it using the following command:

fdisk -l

NOTE: The "fdisk -l" command in Linux will list partition tables for all storage devices detected. They will typically be in the format /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, etc. 

 

dd if=diagOS_32GB_DD of=/dev/sdb bs=10M status=progress

umount /mnt/media

Performing the Upgrade Using UFW in DiagOS DD Livedisk

1. Insert the DiagOS DD livedisk USB inserted into the VEP4600 and restart with console access
2. While the device is rebooting press the 'Del" key to enter the BIOS
3. A password prompt will appear to enter the BIOS, the default password is that device's service tag with all capital letters followed by an exclamation mark. Ex: <ST>!
4. Once in the BIOS use the arrow keys to navigate to the "Save & Exit" tab on the very right and then navigate down to the "Boot Override" section and select the inserted USB to boot into
5. Log into the DiagOS using root/calvin for the username and password respectively
6. Insert the second USB with the extracted vep4600_ufw_x.x file on it into the VEP4600
7. Search for, and mount the second USB followed by updating permissions for the ufw file using the following commands                               

   fdisk -l
   mkdir /mnt/usb
   mount /dev/sdc1 
   /mnt/usb 
   cd /mnt/usb
   chmod 777 vep4600_ufw_x.x

8. Run the VEP ufw in interactive mode using the following command:                                                                         .                                                                                                                                                                   

   ./vep4600_ufw_x.x interactive

9. A list of options will appear, we will first select "Option 1" for updating all.
10. After that is complete we will then select "Option 9" for "Reset BMC after CPLD update completion and system bootup"
11. After Option 9 has completed, select "Option 8" for updating the intel x722 standalone firmware. 
12. Once that has completed you can press "q" to exit (twice), to return to the diag-os CLI. From here you can verify firmware versions in place using "sh_ver".

NOTE: Options 5,6,7 in the Unified Firmware Updater menu are rNDC options and will not appear if the hardware is not present

NOTE2: The USB will typically be at the bottom of the drives returned using the "fdisk -l" option and usually /dev/sdb#. For the VEP4600, /dev/sdb will typically be in USB slot 1 and /dev/sdc in USB slot 2

Performing NVRAM update

1. Boot into the DiagOS DD livedisk USB once again if needed
2. Insert and mount a second USB on the VEP4600 that has the X722 .tar.gz firmware saved to it and copy them to your desired working directory on the VEP4600
3. After navigating to the location where the X722 .tar.gz file was moved, use the following command to extract the files:                                                                                                                                                                                         

   tar -xvf *.tar.gz

4. Update the permissions and run the nvmupdate64e file that was extracted using the following commands:                         

   chmod 777 nvmupdate64e 
   ./nvmupdate64e

5. Select option for x722 when available
6. Yes to backup the NVM images
7. Reboot and remove the livedisk usb, let the VEP4600 boot into the original OS

NOTE: "ERROR: Module ice not found" messages are normal