Administrator Guide

Technical support and resources
ID 483
In extreme case of BIOS corruption, users must have a way to recover the BIOS to its original state. BIOS
corruption can be caused by a malicious attack, power loss during the update process, or any other
unforeseen event. A backup BIOS image is stored in iDRAC so it can be used to recover the BIOS image.
iDRAC orchestrates the entire end to end recovery process. There are two options for BIOS recovery:
o Automatic BIOS recovery is when the BIOS initiates the process.
o On-demand BIOS recovery is when a user initiates the process using the RACADM CLI command.
5.3 Firmware Rollback
Dell EMC recommends keeping firmware up to date to maintain the latest features and security updates. If
there is an issue after an update, it is possible to rollback an update or install an earlier version. Firmware
rollbacks are verified against its signature.
Firmware Rollback from existing production version “N” to a previous version “N-1” is supported for the
following firmware images:
o BIOS
o iDRAC
o Network Interface Card (NIC)
o PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC)
o Power Supply Unit (PSU)
o Backplane
Firmware Rollback can be performed using any of the following methods:
o iDRAC web interface
o CMC web interface
o RACADM CLI – iDRAC and CMC
o Lifecycle Controller User Interface
o Lifecycle Controller Remote Services
Users can roll back the firmware for iDRAC or any device that iDRAC supports, even if the upgrade was
previously performed using another interface. For example, if the firmware was upgraded using the Lifecycle
Controller (F10) interface, the iDRAC web interface can roll it back. Multiple firmware rollbacks can be
performed with one system reboot.
5.4 Restoring Server Configuration after Hardware Servicing
Remediating service events is a critical part of any IT operation. The ability to meet recovery time objectives
and recovery point objectives has direct implications on the security of the solution. Restoring server
configuration and firmware assures that security policies for server operation are automatically met.
PowerEdge servers provide functionality that quickly restores server configuration in the following situations:
o Individual part replacement
o System board replacement (Easy Restore)