Creating a Custom Catalog for Dell PowerEdge Servers using Dell Repository Manager

Create a Custom Firmware Update bundle using Dell Repository Manager Version 2.2.0

To update firmware of Dell servers, Dell provides many methods like SUU (Server Update Utility), Bootable ISO, Individual firmware packages etc.

Sometimes we need to install some specific version of firmwares for different components on our Dell servers and for that we need to create a Custom firmware repository for which Dell has published a utility called Dell Repository Manager.

I am going to show the steps required for creating a custom Firmware Bundle along with a Catalog file (catalog.xml) using Dell Repository Manager.

We will be using Data Center Version because we need to build a repository for Enterprise Devices (PowerEdge Servers).

Install a bat file or cmd script as service on a Windows Server machine.

Install a bat file or cmd script as service on a Windows Server machine.

To install a Bat file or CMD script as a Service we would need a small Microsoft utility called srvany.exe which is part of the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit tools and can be downloaded free from Microsoft Download center here.

Steps:

·        Download Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit tools from here and install it on any server.

·        Create a folder on your server ex C:\YourServiceName

·        Just copy srvany.exe to C:\YourServiceName from the location where Resource Kit tools were installed (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\), after this step Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit tools can be uninstalled as it is no longer needed.

·        Launch CMD as Administrator.

·        Type following Command which will install a service named YourServiceName on the server

 sc create YourServiceName binpath= C:\YourServiceName\srvany.exe DisplayName= "Your Service Name"

·        Open Registry editor by Clicking Start > regedit

·        Navigate to following location and right click and create a New key named YourServiceName

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\YourServiceName

·        Right Click on YourServiceName  and Create another key named Parameters under that.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\YourServiceName\Parameters

·        Under Parameters Right Click in the righthand pane and select New String Value named Application Under that.

·        Double Click the String Value named Application mention the Path of your bat file/cmd script there.

At this point we are done and we can now start the service and set the mode of the service to Automatic/Manual or whatever we want as per our need and the service will keep running which in background will run the Batch file/CMD Script continuously.

 

 

Add/Edit content to a Windows Bootable ISO (Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, windows Server 2019)

Add /Edit content to a Windows Bootable ISO (Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, windows Server 2019)

Sometimes we are needed to add/update files/folders in Windows Bootable ISOs which makes it little difficult because these CD/DVD Images are not simple Data disks but they are bootable too which needs to be created differently so that it remains bootable even after it is edited.

Recently I had to do similar thing and had to face little difficulties and finally I was able to do this using some open source tools, I am presenting the way I achieved it.

To edit/add remove files/folders to a Windows ISO here are the steps.

• Mount the Windows Bootable ISO and copy everything to a temporary folder (Example C:\Temp) or extract the content of the ISO using 7Zip/WinRAR etc..
• Add files/folders content in the temporary folder where contents from ISO are extracted.
• Download ImgBurn from Here
• Install ImgBurn and launch it:
• Click on Create image file from files/folders

Explanation:

1. Select the Folder where the content copied from ISO is copied and add it to Source pane.
2. Select the destination where modified .ISO file will be written.
3. Click on the Advanced Tab
4. Select Bootable Disk Tab below
5. Tick the Checkbox Make Image Bootable
6. Select the boot file etfsboot.com from the boot folder of the location where you extracted the content of ISO originally.
7. Mention 8 in sectors to load
8. Finally Click on the Write button.

This will create a bootable ISO image with whatever content was added to the Temporary folder where Extracted data from the ISO was located originally.

Miscellaneous Dell iDRAC settings and commands

Miscellaneous Dell iDRAC settings and commands

Dell PowerEdge Servers: Disable C1E States, Disable C states, Set CPU profile to Max Performance:

Define Settings using iDRAC web console:

Set CPU Performance settings to Max Performance (using iDRAC Web Console):

System BIOS > System Profile Settings > CPU Power Management > Change CPU Profile to Max Performance.

Set CPU C1 Settings to Disabled (using iDRAC Web Console):

System BIOS > System Profile Settings > C1E > Disabled

Set CPU C Settings to Disabled (using iDRAC Web Console):

System BIOS > System Profile Settings > C States > Disabled

Define Settings using racadm command line:

Set Bios Profile settings to Custom mode to be able to set Performance settings (Using racadm command line):

racadm set bios.SysProfileSettings.SysProfile Custom

Set CPU Performance settings to Max Performance (Using racadm command line):

racadm set BIOS.SysProfileSettings.ProcPwrPerf MaxPerf

Set CPU C1 Settings to Disabled (Using racadm command line)

racadm set BIOS.SysProfileSettings.ProcC1E Disabled

Set CPU C Settings to Disabled (Using racadm command line)

racadm set Bios.sysprofileSettings.proccstates Disabled

Create Job Queue for changes done above (Using racadm command line)

racadm jobqueue create BIOS.Setup.1-1 -r forced

Initiate Server Reboot to apply changes (Using racadm command line):

racadm serveraction powercycle

              

Retrieve Settings defined using racadm command:

Get Bios Profile Settings

racadm get bios.SysProfileSettings.SysProfile

Get CPU Power Performance Settings

racadm get BIOS.SysProfileSettings.ProcPwrPerf

Get CPU C1 Settings

racadm get BIOS.SysProfileSettings.ProcC1E

Get CPU C Settings

racadm get Bios.sysprofileSettings.proccstates