Dell PowerEdge M1000e - CMC Setup and Management Resources

Table of Contents:

1. What Is the Dell Chassis Management Controller? (CMC)
2. Installing or Updating the CMC Firmware

Note: Find ALL below mentioned documents on the PowerEdge 1000e Manuals page.

1. What Is the Dell Chassis Management Controller (CMC)?  

The Dell Chassis Management Controller (CMC) is a systems management hardware and software solution for managing multiple Dell blade chassis. The CMC, which is a hot-pluggable module that sits in the back of a Dell blade Chassis, provides a secure web / browser based interface that enables an IT administrator to take inventory, perform configuration and monitoring tasks, remote power on/off blades and enable alerts for events on servers and components in the blade chassis.

Installing and Setting Up the CMC

• Dell PowerEdge M1000E Chassis Management Controller Userguide

• Dell PowerEdge M1000e RACADM Command Line Reference Guide

Additional Information

• You can find information about installing and setting up redundant CMC environment in the latest Dell PowerEdge M1000e Chassis Management Controller Firmware User's Guide in the Software Documents section on the PowerEdge M1000e Manuals page.

• With new firmwares Dell's M1000e Blade Chassis received new features. See the changes in the Dell Chassis Management Controller Version Release Notes.

Back to Top

2. Installing or Updating the CMC Firmware  

Before installing or updating the CMC Firmware, download the latest firmware version from the Dell Support website at support.dell.com, and save it to your local system.

The following software components are included with your CMC firmware package:

• Compiled CMC firmware code and data

• Web interface, JPEG, and other user interface data files

• Default configuration files

Note: During updates of CMC firmware, some or all of the fan units in the chassis will spin at 100%. This is normal.

Note: The firmware update, by default, retains the current CMC settings. During the update process, you have the option to reset the CMC configuration settings back to the factory default settings.

Note: If you have redundant CMCs installed in the chassis, it is important to update both to the same firmware version. If the CMCs have different firmware and a failover occurs, unexpected results may occur.

You can use the RACADM getsysinfo command (see latest PowerEdge M1000e RACADM Command Line Reference Guide) or the Chassis Summary page (Viewing Chassis Information in the latest Dell PowerEdge M1000e Chassis Management Controller Firmware User's Guide in the Software Documents section on the PowerEdge M1000e Manuals page) to view the current firmware versions for the CMCs installed in your chassis.

If you have a standby CMC, it is recommended that you update the firmware in the standby CMC first. When the standby CMC has been updated, swap the CMCs' roles so that the newly updated CMC becomes the primary CMC and the CMC with the older firmware becomes the standby. (See for cmcchangeover in the Command Line Reference Guide for help swapping roles.) This allows you to verify that the update succeeded and that the new firmware is working properly before you update the firmware in the second CMC. When both CMCs are updated, you can use the cmcchangeover command to restore the CMCs to their previous roles.

• For instructions on using the Web interface to update CMC firmware, see Updating CMC and iKVM Firmware in the User's Guide.

• For instructions on using the RACADM fwupdate subcommand to update CMC firmware, see fwupdate in the Command Line Reference Guide.

• For managing your individual BLADE servers, see Managing Servers With iKVM in the Configuring and Using iKVM section of the latest Dell PowerEdge M1000e Chassis Management Controller Firmware User’s Guide

Back to Top