Tech Stuff

Dell Servers and Linux

Details

Last Updated on Saturday, 07 April 2012 00:15

Written by MrB

After managing Dell servers for a while I recently discovered they have some very handy Linux tools for managing BIOS and other firmware updates as well as a software repository. It integrates very nicely into RedHat and CentOS. Well done Dell. I can't believe I've missed this all this time.

The instructions below install all three repositories and focus on getting all the firmware in your server updated. All commands are run as root.

Dell Community Software

More info - http://linux.dell.com/repo/community/

This repository contains community supported software written by Dell and third parties. Third parties are welcome to submit software for distribution in this repository, providing the sofware meets guidelines. Beta Note: third party content will not be accepted until the beta period ends.

wget -q -O - http://linux.dell.com/repo/community/bootstrap.cgi | bash

Dell OpenManage Server Management Software

More info - http://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/latest/

wget -q -O - http://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/latest/bootstrap.cgi | bash
yum install srvadmin-all
inventory_firmware          # Provides list of all supported hardware & versions

Updating BIOS and other Firmware

More info - http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Repository/firmware

It is recommended to have no excess applications running when updating and be prepared to reboot.

wget -q -O - http://linux.dell.com/repo/firmware/bootstrap.cgi | bash
yum install dell_ft_install
yum install $(bootstrap_firmware)
update_firmware               # This will not install BIOS firmware, only test
update_firmware -yes        # This will install BIOS firmware
     # To start interactive GUI (optional)
inventory_firmware_gui

An example of what the repos look like in CentOS post install...