PowerFlex Manager enables you to view a compliance report and perform firmware and software updates as needed. You can update software and firmware components for a new resource group that
PowerFlex Manager deploys or an existing resource group that was not originally deployed by
PowerFlex Manager.
Prerequisites
If you want to update only the firmware on the nodes, select a minimal compliance version with firmware only as the target version for the resource group before you proceed.
About this task
The update process handles node, BIOS, firmware, ESXi driver updates, and ESXi upgrades automatically.
PowerFlex Manager does not upgrade vCenter itself. However, it checks the vCenter version to determine if it matches the ESXi version. If the ESXi version is greater than the vCenter version,
PowerFlex Manager blocks the ESXi host upgrade and displays an error.
Steps
On the menu bar, click
Lifecycle > Resource Groups.
Select a resource group to view the compliance report.
In the right pane, click
View Details.
The
Resource Group Details page is displayed.
On the
Resource Group Details page, click
View Compliance Report.
The
Node Compliance Report page is displayed.
You can also view the compliance status on this page.
When you view a compliance report,
PowerFlex Manager checks to see whether there are any vCLS VMs on local storage. If it finds any, it displays a banner at the top of the report and gives you the opportunity to migrate the VMs to shared storage.
Click
Change to modify the target compliance version.
Select the
Preferred Compliance File.
Review the
Compatibility setting. If it shows
Recommended or
Supported, you can proceed with the change. If it shows
Not Allowed,
PowerFlex Manager blocks the change. Review the alert for details about recommended or supported paths.
If the change is either recommended or supported, type
CHANGE COMPLIANCE FILE if you are ready to proceed.
Click
Save.
Click
Firmware Components to view the firmware components.
Click
Software Components to view the software components.
For compute-only and storage-only resource groups,
PowerFlex Manager lists the software components that are available for update under the
Components drop-down list. For hyperconverged resource groups,
PowerFlex Manager displays the following subcategories of software components that are available for update:
Node Software lists the ESXi drivers that are installed if you choose to update.
SVM Software lists the embedded operating system packages that are installed if you choose to update.
MVM Software lists the embedded operating system packages that are installed if you choose to update.
Select one or more noncompliant nodes, and click
Update Resources.
The
PowerFlex gateway must first be compliant before you update the
PowerFlex components for a node. If a node is already compliant, it is disabled and cannot be selected.
If you are planning to perform an upgrade on all the nodes in a
PowerFlex rack or
PowerFlex appliance, click the box in the upper left corner of the
Firmware Components tab to select all the nodes in the resource group.
Specify when to apply the resource updates and click
Apply:
To perform a non-disruptive update right away, choose
Allow PowerFlex Manager to perform firmware and software updates now.
Specify the type of update you want to perform by selecting one of the following options:
Instant Maintenance Mode enables you to perform updates quickly.
PowerFlex Manager does not migrate the data.
Protected Maintenance Mode enables you to perform updates that require longer than 30 minutes in a safe and protected manner. When you use protected maintenance mode,
PowerFlex makes a temporary copy of the data so that the cluster is fully protected from data loss. Protected maintenance mode applies only to hyperconverged and storage-only resource groups.
For a non-disruptive update,
PowerFlex Manager performs updates for
PowerFlex nodes within a single resource group in a serialized workflow. The workflow updates one node at a time.
To perform a non-disruptive update later, choose
Schedule firmware and software updates.
Specify the type of update you want to perform by selecting one of the following options:
Instant Maintenance Mode enables you to perform updates quickly.
PowerFlex Manager does not migrate the data.
Protected Maintenance Mode enables you to perform updates that require longer than 30 minutes in a safe and protected manner. When you use protected maintenance mode,
PowerFlex makes a temporary copy of the data so that the cluster is fully protected from data loss. Protected maintenance mode applies only to hyperconverged and storage-only resource groups.
To perform a disruptive update right away for a full
PowerFlex rack or
PowerFlex appliance upgrade, choose
Allow PowerFlex Manager to perform disruptive updates now.
PowerFlex Manager does not support disruptive updates for the
PowerFlex management platform (PFMP).
The full system upgrade process is faster. This process should take a matter of hours. However, the nodes and all of the data are unavailable while the upgrade is in process.
If you are certain that you want to proceed, type
REBOOT ALL NODES AT ONCE.
For a full system upgrade,
PowerFlex Manager ensures that the
PowerFlex gateway is used only by this resource group, and checks to see whether any other VMs are running in the cluster.
PowerFlex Manager stops the process if these conditions are not met.
If you encounter any errors while performing firmware or software updates, you can view the
PowerFlex Manager logs for the resource group. On the
Resource Group Details page, click
Generate Troubleshooting Bundle.
This action creates a compressed file that contains:
PowerFlex Manager application logs
SupportAssist logs
PowerFlex gateway logs
iDRAC life-cycle logs
Dell PowerSwitch switch logs
Cisco Nexus switch logs
VMware ESXi logs
CloudLink Center logs
The logs are for the current resource group only.
Alternatively, you can access the logs from a VMware console, or by using SSH to log in to
PowerFlex Manager.
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