PowerPath: How to upgrade PowerPath from 5.7.x to 6.1 in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012 environments
Summary: How to upgrade PowerPath from 5.7.x to 6.1 in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012 environments
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Instructions
Steps for PowerPath upgrade from 5.7 SP4 to 6.1
Note: The steps below are described below are not part of the standard Upgrade procedure of PowerPath. The commands, APIs provided are a representative set of APIs, commands that can be used. It is for demonstration purposes and Dell EMC does not assume any liability. Please refer documentation of respective APIs for suitablity, compatibility and further details.
Step 1: Validate the Microsoft Hotfixes KB2921916 and KB3033929 are installed (Only in case of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and not applicable to Microsoft Windows Server 2012 operating systems):
a. Using PowerShell, use the below commands to verify that the hotfixes are installed:
Get-hotfix id KB2921916
Get-hotfix id KB3033929
b. If the hotfixes are not installed, they have to be installed. Customer can download the Microsoft Hotfixes KB2921916 and KB3033929 and install them on the server before upgrading PowerPath. In case of installing hotfixes via command line, Installation of the KBs can be done using command line utilities like wusa.exe or any other utility customer may be using.
Here is an example of using wusa.exe utility from Microsoft:
wusa.exe C:\Windows6.1-KB2921916-x64.msu /quiet /norestart
wusa.exe C:\Windows6.1-KB3033929-x64.msu /quiet /norestart
Once it is done, reboot the server. The following errors can be ignored
0x00240005 WU_S_REBOOT_REQUIRED The system must be restarted to complete installation of the update
0x00240006 WU_S_ALREADY_INSTALLED The update to be installed is already installed on the system
0xf081E CBS_E_NOT_APPLICABLE the package is not applicable
or any other such error message as Microsoft may suggest.
The steps from here on are applicable for all supported Microsoft Windows Operating Systems including Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 R2:
Step 2 (Optional) Validate 5.7.X PowerPath installation
You can check it from the Device Manager under Storage Controllers right click on EMS Device Bus and check its properties:
A representative list of PowerPath drivers would be :
(emcpbase.sys, emcpclass.sys, emcpdm.sys, emcpgpx.sys, emcpmpx.sys, lamclar.sys, lamess.sys, lamgen.sys, lamhit.sys, lamhpsx.sys, lamhpxp.sys, laminv.sys, lamnet.sys, lamsymm.sys, lamxtremio.sys )
Check the version of the drivers to verify that they are at the level 5.7.x level
We ran the following PowerShell command to validate the Powerpath driver version and noted their versions:-
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpBase.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpMpx.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\lamsymm.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
This can be done for all drivers listed above (if one is using powershell, one can compare using gt 5.5 ).
Note: The above steps to validate 5.7.x are optional.
Step 3. Install PowerPath 6.1 over and above powerpath 5.7.x:
Command to install powerpath 6.1 is is:-
<Full path of PowerPath 6.1 Installation .exe with file name> /s /v"/L*v C:\logs\PPsetup.log NO_KBCHECK=1 NO_REBOOT=1"
Note: logs folder should exist on c: drive.
Alternatively if the customer is scripting the upgrade process, they can use PowerShell or any other process to automate the installation.
In the below example we used the PowerShell. You can run the below command:
PS C:\Windows\system32> $p = Start-Process "D:\PUBLIC\BigFix Enterprise\SMG\PowerPath_6_1\EMCPower.X64.signed.6.1.b295.exe" -ArgumentList "/s /v`"/L*v C:\logs\PPsetup_Test.log NO_KBCHECK=1 NO_REBOOT=1`" " -wait - NoNewWindow
PS C:\Windows\system32>
Once the install finishes, it will come to the next prompt:
Note: in the above command single back tick ` is used before the starting double quote and after /v and the same is used after No_reboot=1 but before the ending double quote.
$p in this case can be used to obtain the status (i.e. success or failure) of the command.
One can use methods like WaitForExit() to get the exit code on $p.
Step 4: Before the reboot, check the PowerPath driver file versions.
Run the following commands to get the file versions of all the PowerPath driver files installed:
A representative list of drivers for PowerPath 6.1 would be:
(emcpbase.sys, emcpclass.sys, emcpdm.sys, emcpgpx.sys, emcpmpx.sys, lamclar.sys, lamess.sys, lamgen.sys, lamhit.sys, lamhpxp.sys, laminv.sys, lamnet.sys, lamsc.sys, lamsymm.sys, lamxtremio.sys)
If all the drivers are in 6.1.xxx versions, go ahead with reboot. In PowerShell this can be checked by using -gt 6.0 on the ProductVersion.
Here is a sample command when checking via PowerShell:
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpBase.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
Following is the screenshot showing the outputs in case of a successful upgrade wherein all the drivers have been upgraded to 6.1.x:
In case of any issues during the upgrade where in the new version drivers fail to be replaced because of the file permissions or the Antivirus software preventing replacing the files or any other reason, we can see some of the file versions still at the older level especially for EmcpBase.sys and EmcpMpx.sys.
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpBase.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
5.7.0.0.0.208
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpMpx.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
5.7.0.0.0.604
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\lamsymm.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
6.1.0.0.0.207
In the above we noted some of the files are still of an older version in C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\ folder.
This can be validated manually by checking the setupapi.dev.log file. Go to the bottom of the file and search for !!!. You can note the Access is denied.
Alternatively
Manually right clicking on the files in C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\ folder we can check their file versions:
Some of the drivers are upgraded to 6.1.x.
EmcpBase.sys and EmcpMPX could not get updated
Programatically the versions of the files can be checked - for example the following command was used in the lab which uses PowerShell commands:-
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpBase.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
Step 5. Copy the New version Powerpath driver files to C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS folder
ren "C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpMpx.sys" EmcpMpx_574.sys
b. Copy the new version files from C:\Program Files\EMC\PowerPath\Drivers folder to C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\" folder copy "C:\Program Files\EMC\PowerPath\Drivers\EmcpBase.sys" "C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\"
copy "C:\Program Files\EMC\PowerPath\Drivers\EmcpMpx.sys" "C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\"
Justification for the above step to replace the files before the reboot:
-> Because of the MoveFile failure from the DriverPackageInstall() API, the system will have 5.7.4 driver after the update before the reboot.
-> Altough it may happen that the driver will eventually be replace from the .tmp file to the correct file, it is too late, since the Mpx and Base are boot start drivers and the rename happens much later in the boot cycle. This would lead to a crash. So we replace the correct 6.1 file before the reboot so that when the system boots it has the right file even before it gets an opportunity to rename it to the correct one.
So after the copy, verify the file versions of the copied files in the C:\Program Files\EMC\PowerPath\Drivers folder and make sure they are 6.1.xx.
You can check it from the Device Manager under Storage Controllers right click on EMS Device Bus and check its properties and validate it is showing 6.1.xx:
You can check it from the Device Manager under System Devices right click on EMC PowerPath Multipath Extension and check its properties:
Alternatively you can run the below PowerShell commands to validate that the file versions of the 2 files have changed to 6.1.x.
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpBase.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
6.1.0.0.0.253
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpMpx.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
6.1.0.0.0.267
Delete the renamed files EmcpBase_574.sys and EmcpMpx_574.sys from C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS folder .
Final Step: Reboot the server and validate PowerPath is working fine.
Note: The steps below are described below are not part of the standard Upgrade procedure of PowerPath. The commands, APIs provided are a representative set of APIs, commands that can be used. It is for demonstration purposes and Dell EMC does not assume any liability. Please refer documentation of respective APIs for suitablity, compatibility and further details.
Step 1: Validate the Microsoft Hotfixes KB2921916 and KB3033929 are installed (Only in case of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and not applicable to Microsoft Windows Server 2012 operating systems):
a. Using PowerShell, use the below commands to verify that the hotfixes are installed:
Get-hotfix id KB2921916
Get-hotfix id KB3033929
b. If the hotfixes are not installed, they have to be installed. Customer can download the Microsoft Hotfixes KB2921916 and KB3033929 and install them on the server before upgrading PowerPath. In case of installing hotfixes via command line, Installation of the KBs can be done using command line utilities like wusa.exe or any other utility customer may be using.
Here is an example of using wusa.exe utility from Microsoft:
wusa.exe C:\Windows6.1-KB2921916-x64.msu /quiet /norestart
wusa.exe C:\Windows6.1-KB3033929-x64.msu /quiet /norestart
Once it is done, reboot the server. The following errors can be ignored
0x00240005 WU_S_REBOOT_REQUIRED The system must be restarted to complete installation of the update
0x00240006 WU_S_ALREADY_INSTALLED The update to be installed is already installed on the system
0xf081E CBS_E_NOT_APPLICABLE the package is not applicable
or any other such error message as Microsoft may suggest.
The steps from here on are applicable for all supported Microsoft Windows Operating Systems including Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 R2:
Step 2 (Optional) Validate 5.7.X PowerPath installation
You can check it from the Device Manager under Storage Controllers right click on EMS Device Bus and check its properties:
A representative list of PowerPath drivers would be :
(emcpbase.sys, emcpclass.sys, emcpdm.sys, emcpgpx.sys, emcpmpx.sys, lamclar.sys, lamess.sys, lamgen.sys, lamhit.sys, lamhpsx.sys, lamhpxp.sys, laminv.sys, lamnet.sys, lamsymm.sys, lamxtremio.sys )
Check the version of the drivers to verify that they are at the level 5.7.x level
We ran the following PowerShell command to validate the Powerpath driver version and noted their versions:-
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpBase.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpMpx.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\lamsymm.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
This can be done for all drivers listed above (if one is using powershell, one can compare using gt 5.5 ).
Note: The above steps to validate 5.7.x are optional.
Step 3. Install PowerPath 6.1 over and above powerpath 5.7.x:
Command to install powerpath 6.1 is is:-
<Full path of PowerPath 6.1 Installation .exe with file name> /s /v"/L*v C:\logs\PPsetup.log NO_KBCHECK=1 NO_REBOOT=1"
Note: logs folder should exist on c: drive.
Alternatively if the customer is scripting the upgrade process, they can use PowerShell or any other process to automate the installation.
In the below example we used the PowerShell. You can run the below command:
PS C:\Windows\system32> $p = Start-Process "D:\PUBLIC\BigFix Enterprise\SMG\PowerPath_6_1\EMCPower.X64.signed.6.1.b295.exe" -ArgumentList "/s /v`"/L*v C:\logs\PPsetup_Test.log NO_KBCHECK=1 NO_REBOOT=1`" " -wait - NoNewWindow
PS C:\Windows\system32>
Once the install finishes, it will come to the next prompt:
Note: in the above command single back tick ` is used before the starting double quote and after /v and the same is used after No_reboot=1 but before the ending double quote.
$p in this case can be used to obtain the status (i.e. success or failure) of the command.
One can use methods like WaitForExit() to get the exit code on $p.
Step 4: Before the reboot, check the PowerPath driver file versions.
Run the following commands to get the file versions of all the PowerPath driver files installed:
A representative list of drivers for PowerPath 6.1 would be:
(emcpbase.sys, emcpclass.sys, emcpdm.sys, emcpgpx.sys, emcpmpx.sys, lamclar.sys, lamess.sys, lamgen.sys, lamhit.sys, lamhpxp.sys, laminv.sys, lamnet.sys, lamsc.sys, lamsymm.sys, lamxtremio.sys)
If all the drivers are in 6.1.xxx versions, go ahead with reboot. In PowerShell this can be checked by using -gt 6.0 on the ProductVersion.
Here is a sample command when checking via PowerShell:
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpBase.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
Following is the screenshot showing the outputs in case of a successful upgrade wherein all the drivers have been upgraded to 6.1.x:
In case of any issues during the upgrade where in the new version drivers fail to be replaced because of the file permissions or the Antivirus software preventing replacing the files or any other reason, we can see some of the file versions still at the older level especially for EmcpBase.sys and EmcpMpx.sys.
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpBase.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
5.7.0.0.0.208
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpMpx.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
5.7.0.0.0.604
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\lamsymm.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
6.1.0.0.0.207
In the above we noted some of the files are still of an older version in C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\ folder.
This can be validated manually by checking the setupapi.dev.log file. Go to the bottom of the file and search for !!!. You can note the Access is denied.
Alternatively
Manually right clicking on the files in C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\ folder we can check their file versions:
Some of the drivers are upgraded to 6.1.x.
EmcpBase.sys and EmcpMPX could not get updated
Programatically the versions of the files can be checked - for example the following command was used in the lab which uses PowerShell commands:-
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpBase.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
Step 5. Copy the New version Powerpath driver files to C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS folder
- Run the following commands to rename the EmcpBase.sys and EmcpMpx.sys files in C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\ folder to a different name so that we don t use these old version files. In the lab we renamed them to EmcpBase_574.sys and EmcpMpx_574.sys
ren "C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpMpx.sys" EmcpMpx_574.sys
b. Copy the new version files from C:\Program Files\EMC\PowerPath\Drivers folder to C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\" folder copy "C:\Program Files\EMC\PowerPath\Drivers\EmcpBase.sys" "C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\"
copy "C:\Program Files\EMC\PowerPath\Drivers\EmcpMpx.sys" "C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\"
Justification for the above step to replace the files before the reboot:
-> Because of the MoveFile failure from the DriverPackageInstall() API, the system will have 5.7.4 driver after the update before the reboot.
-> Altough it may happen that the driver will eventually be replace from the .tmp file to the correct file, it is too late, since the Mpx and Base are boot start drivers and the rename happens much later in the boot cycle. This would lead to a crash. So we replace the correct 6.1 file before the reboot so that when the system boots it has the right file even before it gets an opportunity to rename it to the correct one.
So after the copy, verify the file versions of the copied files in the C:\Program Files\EMC\PowerPath\Drivers folder and make sure they are 6.1.xx.
You can check it from the Device Manager under Storage Controllers right click on EMS Device Bus and check its properties and validate it is showing 6.1.xx:
You can check it from the Device Manager under System Devices right click on EMC PowerPath Multipath Extension and check its properties:
Alternatively you can run the below PowerShell commands to validate that the file versions of the 2 files have changed to 6.1.x.
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpBase.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
6.1.0.0.0.253
(Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\EmcpMpx.sys).VersionInfo.ProductVersion
6.1.0.0.0.267
Delete the renamed files EmcpBase_574.sys and EmcpMpx_574.sys from C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS folder .
Final Step: Reboot the server and validate PowerPath is working fine.
Article Properties
Article Number: 000158284
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 30 May 2024
Version: 6
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