How would you apply a BIOS update for a Dell M610 blade with VMware ESXi installed?

Question

We've got a Dell M610 blade with VMware ESXi 4 installed and we need to update it's BIOS to the latest version.

Unfortunately, Dell only makes available a Windows (.exe) and Linux (.bin) versions of the BIOS update program (as well as a bootable DOS floppy version that is too big to fit on a 1.44MB floppy!).

We've tried using various "LiveCD" versions of linux distributions but keep running into errors. Anyone out there with experience with Dell blades who could give us a hint or two to get this working?

Thanks a lot, in advance.

Joe

Answer 1

The M610 (and all Dell 11G or later servers) has a built in UEFI based utility called the Unified Server Configurator (USC) that you can boot into (by hitting F10 at startup) that includes the ability to download and upgrade the BIOS. There are full instructions on how to use it in this Dell support document. The appropriate OMSA Live CD will do the trick but keeping track of the correct versions for all platforms can be a pain and the USC is the direction Dell intends to go for all hardware management updates in future.

Answer 2

use dell omsa live cd from dell.. it works very well for me [ although i use only poweredge rack servers, not blades ], is based on cent-os and lets you apply all regular firmware/bios updates meant to be run redhat.

Answer 3

You may also be able to mount the bootable floppy image via the DRAC card on the blade enclosure and boot & update that way.

Answer 4

I might add that You could get further information concerning the mentioned methods out of the poweredge-m610-tech-guidebook (esp. p. 27 ff). Have fun!

Answer 5

this link help me a lot to understand the process : http://www.paulscomputerservice.net/articles/article.php?ID=177

In fact :

Install on your desktop Dell Repository Manager (Dell Repository Manager_1.1.70.msi actually)

with that, generate a SUU ISO (you have to install SUU plugin in the wizard for that)

• with this ISO, you can use it to update via UEFI system services (F10 at boot for me)
• If you don't have, Dell Systems Build and Update Utility (cdu_1.6_core_173_A01.iso actually) is a live CD you can boot in, and can update your system as the same way as "system services"