Dell POWEREDGE 1855 - Manual (Page 3)

SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
DELL POWER SOLUTIONS Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, August 2005. Copyright © 2005 Dell Inc. All rights reserved . August 2005 58
the overall PowerEdge 1855 blade server change-management process.
However, the frameworks that are used to update individual server
blades do not scale to manage the updates of chassis components.
This section describes how to update components in the PowerEdge
1855 blade server chassis that have administrator-upgradeable system
software. These firmware components include:
• Management modules
• KVM modules
• I/O modules
Administrators can update the PowerEdge 1855 blade server
chassis module firmware using either the GUI or the CLI of the Dell
Remote Access Controller/Modular Chassis (DRAC/MC). Both inter-
faces require administrators to download the firmware image from
a TFTP or an FTP server. The updated firmware image should be
made available in a designated directory on the TFTP or FTP server.
Note: The Dell Remote Access Controller/Modular Chassis User’s
Guide provides specific instructions on how to set up the TFTP e
or FTP server for a firmware update at support.dell.com/support/
edocs/software/smdrac3/dracmc.
Management module firmware updates
The DRAC/MC is the management module that allows administra-
tors to monitor and manage chassis components in a Dell PowerEdge
1855 blade server. The PowerEdge 1855 blade server offers two dif-
ferent configurations for management module firmware:
• Single DRAC/MC
• Redundant DRAC/MC
Single DRAC/MC firmware. DRAC/MC firmware can be
upgraded using the GUI, CLI, or DRAC/MC firmware recovery
console. 2 The DRAC/MC firmware update is a TFTP-based update
process. For all three DRAC/MC firmware update methods, adminis-
trators must complete the following setup procedures before starting
the firmware update process:
1. Set up a TFTP server and copy the firmware image to the
root of the TFTP server.
2. Record the IP address of the TFTP server and the file name
of the updated firmware image.
3. Log in to the DRAC/MC, using either the GUI or CLI.
To update the firmware using the GUI, administrators should
navigate to the Update tab and select “Firmware Update.” Next,
they should enter the TFTP IP address of the firmware image file
name and start the DRAC/MC firmware update process by clicking
“Update Firmware.”
To update the firmware using the CLI, administrators should enter
the following Racadm command at the DRAC/MC console prompt:
DRAC/MC: racadm fwupdate -a TFTP_IP_ADDRESS
-d mgmt.bin
where TFTP_IP_ADDRESS is the IP address of the TFTP server and S
mgmt.bin is the name of the firmware image file.
Note: This Racadm command can be entered at the DRAC/MC
serial console or at a Telnet session. Best practices recommend using
the serial console because, if a TFTP download fails, administra-
tors will lose Web access and network connections such as Telnet.
DRAC/MC will boot to the DRAC/MC firmware recovery console,
which can be accessed only at the serial console. The firmware
recovery console provides the following options:
• Upgrade firmware from the serial port
• Upgrade firmware from the network
• Configure network parameters
Using the DRAC/MC firmware recovery console, administra-
tors can restart the firmware update process either via serial port
or the network.
Note: While in recovery mode, the DRAC/MC does not moni-
tor chassis components of the PowerEdge 1855 blade server. For
that reason, administrators should take extra care to minimize the
amount of time that the DRAC/MC spends in recovery mode.
Redundant DRAC/MC firmware. In a redundant configuration,
two separate DRAC/MC modules are installed in a chassis:
• A primary DRAC/MC module, which actively monitors the
chassis
• A standby DRAC/MC module, which monitors the active
signal from the primary DRAC/MC module (If a failure in the
primary DRAC/MC module occurs for more than five sec-
onds, the standby DRAC/MC module is designed to become
the active, primary DRAC/MC module.)
The PowerEdge 1855 blade server supports redundant DRAC/MC
mode if the DRAC/MC is running firmware version 1.1 or higher.
Although redundant DRAC/MC modules can be updated with a single
firmware package, the DRAC/MC goes through the following steps
to complete the firmware update process once the administrator
2 For more information about how to access the DRAC/MC GUI and the CLI (also known as the Racadm command-line utility), refer to the Dell Remote Access Controller/Modular Chassis User’s Guide at support.dell.com/support/ e
edocs/software/smdrac3/dracmc.