Transcript of Dell 10G Eval Wiki Web Chat of 12/18/07 (edited for brevity and accuracy)

DELL-davej Hi and Welcome to the 2nd 10G Blades Eval Wiki web chat!
DELL-davej Today we will be talking about upgrading your blade firmware, which customers should probably do if they haven't already done so.
DELL-davej I have a few things to cover, and then Scott will add a few words about automating firmware updates, etc.
DELL-davej I'll go ahead and cover what I want to cover for customers to read later in the archives
DELL-davej I'm talking about the firmware on the CMC, the iDRACs and the blade BIOS.
DELL-davej I just got through upgrading the CMC firmware, bringing the BIOS on my blades up to 1.0 (mine shipped at 0.2.8) and upgrading the iDRAC firmware to .46. For the most part the Cookbook under Deployment covers the subject pretty well.
DELL-davej The key one for me was upgrading the iDRAC. This enabled the remote console to work
DELL-davej To upgrade from the .36 F/W, which is what shipped on my blades, to the current, .46, requires you to do it from a DOS session. Later on you will be able to do it in the GUI
DELL-davej The tricky part is that the firmware doesn't fit on a diskette so you will need to create a boot USB key
DELL-davej Well the guys in the lab will tell you that I spent the whole day today getting my boot USB key to work. I finally did but I'm not sure how!
DELL-davej Anyway, the package you want from the FTP site is P600 - 605 iDRAC 0.46.zip (customers will need their account team to download it for them)
dgebeke joined.
DELL-davej Once you get it on a bootable USB it's easy. Just boot into DOS and run idracdos
DELL-davej Hey DeDe, welcome!
dgebeke thanks
DELL-ScottH Welcome DeDe
lboeck joined.
DELL-ScottH Welcome Larry !
dgebeke We have only updated the cmc firmware so far, we did that through the gui
DELL-davej Any problems?
dgebeke none it was VERY simple.
DELL-ScottH Good to hear, we've been working on that simplification strategy over here
DELL-davej What level is your Server Firmware (iDRAC)?
dgebeke It doesn't sound like the iDRAC is going to be as easy though
dgebeke .37
DELL-davej Yeah, then you'll have to go through the DOS thing. I will document what I did and place it on the wiki - it's not in the Cookbook
dgebeke ok that sounds good.
DELL-davej As you pointed out, the CMC can be upgraded through the GUI. And for the BIOS there is the usual array of DOS, Windows and Linux programs
dgebeke so is this the boot USB key you discussed earlier
DELL-davej Yeah. Once you create it you can put the BIOS updates on there too and do both at once
dgebeke Ok and you are putting that on the wiki also?
dgebeke Have you got any negative feedback on this yet?
DELL-davej Are you referring to the iDRAC update or the blades in general? After you upgrade to .46 further upgrades will be done in the GUI.
dgebeke iDRAC
dgebeke Yeah the GUI works slick, so when this goes into production I am assuming all firmware will be upgradeable through the gui?!?!
DELL-davej Yes.
DELL-ScottH Yes, this is just in the interm. Also you will be able to update using the OpenManage suite of tools
DELL-ScottH Are you using OpenManage in your environment yet ?
dgebeke Will it be a new version of OM or 5.3?
DELL-ScottH 5.3 with a 3rd level update
DELL-ScottH not sure on version yet, but will be 5.3.x
dgebeke Yes, but not to its full potential, just for ITA basically to monitor all of our Dell hardware
DELL-ScottH We've got some demos to show other aspects of the tools. Link in a second .....
dgebeke ok,
dgebeke Can I change the subject for a second?
DELL-davej Yes, what's on your mind?
DELL-ScottH Here's the link on the public wiki --> http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/Demonstrations
dgebeke Have you guys done any iSCSI testing with the new switches?
dgebeke ok thanks
DELL-davej No, I don't have a switch, just passthrus. But what is your question/issue?
dgebeke We are wanting to test the private VLANing
DELL-davej Sounds cool. How far have you gotten?
dgebeke We've only done the testing on our in house Cisco switches, not the Dell switches yet, but we were informed it was possible
dgebeke We used the Dell passthrus
DELL-davej Yes, the switches are full PowerConnect switches so they should support a VLAN
dgebeke Well I think we've got everything we need for today, what is next weeks topic? I will take a look at the OM links you sent. Thanks for all the info
DELL-davej Let me know if you have any problems...I will route them to the correct person. Meanwhile I'm going to have to talk to the guy in charge of hardware in the lab (actually that's me!).
dgebeke haha
DELL-davej Next week Scott will be talking about his Christmas dinner
dgebeke oh yeah
dgebeke should be a good one
DELL-ScottH I'll remember to wear my sweats ... pack more in !
DELL-davej The next session is Thursday 1/3. What do you want us to talk about?
dgebeke I would like to learn more about inter connecting the switches
dgebeke Not that we can do that with one chassis, but would like to learn more
DELL-davej Excellent topic. For that one I will bring in one of our switch experts
dgebeke If we are going to discuss switches at our next webchat I would like to invite our network engineer is that ok?
DELL-davej Absolutely, but we will have to invite him/her first. Please send the email address to enterprise_techcenter@dell.com
dgebeke any particular subject?
dgebeke for the email
DELL-davej No, our computers can handle any subject (haha)
dgebeke so you'll know what it's about if i just send an email with an email address in it?
dgebeke You must think it's a friday or something. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but its only Tuesday. :)
DELL-ScottH pretty much, that email box is currently mainly doing eval wiki requests
DELL-davej The persons's name would be helpful too
dgebeke OK done.
dgebeke So are the OM demos worth watching?
DELL-ScottH :-) ... well since I made them, I would say they are AWARD winning :-)
dgebeke OK, I'll pass it on to someone else. :)
DELL-davej Scott's demos were mentioned by eWeek
dgebeke really...
DELL-ScottH I try to keep them short so only about 8 minutes of your life you'll never get back
dgebeke i guess i better watch them then
dgebeke ok I can handle that.
DELL-ScottH yeah, the trade publications always know what is good .... wink wink
DELL-davej We have a few more minutes left. What else is on your mind DeDe?
dgebeke Wow I feel so special
dgebeke I think that's it..... I'll be eagerly anticipating the switch webchat
dgebeke ok I will do that. So how do I get the transcript of this webchat?
DELL-davej Tomorrow go to the same page you launched this from and there will be a link to the transcript
dgebeke ok great.
dgebeke Thanks for the info and entertainment.
DELL-davej Well thanks for your time and best of luck with the blades
DELL-ScottH Great chatting with you, we'll be here every week
dgebeke ok CYA
DELL-davej Bye DeDe
DELL-davej Well, it's 4:00 so we'll wrap it up. I will go ahead and document the iDRAC upgrade in the CMC, iDRAC and KVM section for account teams that will be working with customers to do this.