Dell EMC PowerEdge Updates Best Practices Guide (BPG) This document goes over the high level best practices for maintaining the driver/firmware/BIOS levels for Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers. Abstract Keeping the versions of your Dell EMC Enterprise Systems Management applications enables you to achieve high efficiency and reduce downtime.
Baseline development and management Revisions 2 Date Description September 2017 Updated with the latest information Dell EMC PowerEdge Updates Best Practices Guide (BPG)
Baseline development and management Acknowledgements This paper was produced by the following members of the Dell EMC storage engineering team: Author—Dell EMC Product Management Support—N/A Other—N/A The information in this publication is provided “as is.” Dell Inc. makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Baseline development and management Contents Revisions.............................................................................................................................................................................2 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................................................3 Executive summary.........................................................................................
Baseline development and management Executive summary Keeping your business-critical operations in your data center is key to run your IT infrastructure effectively. In this process, you are always faced with the challenge of keeping the driver, BIOS, and firmware versions of your PowerEdge server updated. This will also enhance system security, performance, and support new Operating Systems (OSs).
Baseline development and management 1 Establishing a server maintenance strategy The best practice for establishing a server maintenance strategy is to identify the components of a good plan. The core of a good plan is the creation and maintenance of a baseline of device levels. Once the components of a sound strategy are in place, ongoing maintenance is easier: Develop and maintain a baseline Notification of new updates Deploy the baseline and any subsequent updates.
Baseline development and management 1.1 Baseline development and management It is a best practice to establish a common set of device levels (both drivers and firmware) for the systems in your data center; this is referred to as a baseline configuration. The Dell EMC Advantage: Dell EMC Repository Manager (DRM) is designed to assist in the creation and maintenance of a baseline configuration of BIOS, Firmware and Driver levels.
Deployment Note—If an update is identified as urgent, it is recommended that the update be applied as soon as possible. Consult any readme files and/or related documentation for more information. How to deploy updates is usually a matter of personal preference. A large consideration is determining whether or not to deploying to multiple servers at once or to one server at a time.
Additional deployment options 1.4 Additional deployment options Dell EMC realizes that one size does not fit all scenarios, Dell EMC provides the tools for many optimized environments as well as the building blocks for creating your own tool for deploying updates. Multiple Server update tools can also be used to update a single server; however they are not optimized for that use. 1.4.1 Updating single server options Dell Update Package: A self-extracting executable that contains an individual update.
Additional deployment options 1.4.3 Dell partner console integration Dell has partnerships with many providers of systems management consoles. Dell provides the building blocks for these consoles to deploy updates, and, when required, to optimize catalogs and repositories. Dell EMC Linux YUM Repository: Yellowdog Update Modified (YUM) is a popular Open Source tool used to update Linux based servers. Dell EMC provides a YUM Repository, which is a collection of updates in RPM format for use by YUM.
Scripting information 2 Additional information Dell provides a collection of tools to assist in the deployment of updates in a number of specialized environments. 2.1 Scripting information Often updates are deployed using scripts to assist in the automation process. Dell has a robust set of scripting technologies to assist in the development and deployment of updates using scripting. 2.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) A Terminology Updates can be classified into three general categories. Device Drivers, Device Firmware and BIOS. List of terminologies used in this BPG Update Types 12 Device Driver Device Drivers allow a specific device to be utilized on a system, such as a Networking adapter. Device Drivers are Operating system specific, and must be deployed through the operating system.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) B Technical support and resources Dell.com/support is focused on meeting customer needs with proven services and support.
