Failed BIOS update on Dell R710 with CentOS 5.5 solved! (Worked around, realy)

Problem: Dell R710 (and likely R610 and others) under CentOS 5.5 with OMSA 6.4 (newest at this time) fails to update BIOS and will not attempt to update any other component:
# update_firmware --yes
...

Found firmware which needs to be updated.

Running updates...
hey, we are supposed to be installing now... :)
loading xml from: /usr/libexec/dell_dup/BIOS_NONE/PIEConfig.xml
loaded.
/ Installing dell_dup_componentid_00159 - 2.2.10 Plugin command is biosie.bin -u update.xml
Output file is update.xml
Plugin timeout is 600
- Installing dell_dup_componentid_00159 - 2.2.10output from the cmd was:

\ Installing dell_dup_componentid_00159 - 2.2.10Could not parse output, bad xml for package: dell_dup_componentid_00159
None
Installation failed for package: dell_dup_componentid_00159 - 2.2.10
aborting update...

The error message from the low-level command was:

Could not parse output, bad xml for package: dell_dup_componentid_00159
Complete!


Closest as I can tell, there is a Dell parser utility that is not understanding the CentOS derived content of the /etc/redhat-release and a possible "distroverpkg=redhat-release" in the /etc/yum.conf.

There are at least 4 ways to work around or fix this issue until Dell can fix the parser problem.

1. Change the contents of the /etc/redhat-release to the official RHEL information

cp -p /etc/redhat-release /etc/redhat-release.org
echo "Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5 (Tikanga)" > /etc/redhat-release

And the BIOS update will work. Just put back your redhat-release.org when your done.

2. Get the official stand alone Dell BIOS Linux update .BIN file for the R710 and update via the normal

bash ./PER710_BIOS_LX_2.2.11_1.BIN

You will need the "compat-libstdc++-33.i386" package installed if not already. Sadly, this option has not proved 100% yet.

3. If you have the *.BIN file and option #2 fails, you could

bash ./PER710_BIOS_LX_2.2.11_1.BIN --extract PER710_BIOS_LX_2.2.11_1
modprobe dell_rbu
smbios-rbu-bios-update -u -f PER710_BIOS_LX_2.2.11_1/payload/*

Of course you will need to replace with *YOUR* downloaded .BIN file for *YOUR* class of system.

4. Bypass some Dell safeguards and update directly

updatedb
locate dell_dup_componentid_00159|grep ".hdr"

If you get only one return value you can short cut by running

dellBiosUpdate -f `locate dell_dup_componentid_00159|grep ".hdr"` -u

Or just figure out which one you want a put it in

dellBiosUpdate -f /usr/share/firmware/dell/dup/system_ven_0x1028_dev_0x0235/dell_dup_componentid_00159_version_2.2.10/R710-020210C.hdr -u

5. Bypass the OS completely with iDRAC card and Lifecycle Controller. In this case the part that you will care about is that:

Unified Server Configurator (USC) aims at local 1-to-1 deployment via a graphical user interface (GUI) for operating system install, updates, configuration, and for performing diagnostics, on single, local servers. This eliminates the need for multiple option ROMs for hardware configuration

You are suppose to be able to update the BIOS from this thing in other words. The LC will download and install all on its' own. It will scan your hardware and update everything it can find that needs updating. You will need to shutdown and boot into the iDRAC and then do all of the updates. Good, but not ideal for normal production servers with the extra downtime. On the other hand, this should not be a huge issue if you applying updates on a scheduled basis. It would still suck (a lot) if you have a large number of servers.

6. Grab a OMSA LiveCD and boot from it. Initial blog entry is HERE The most recent version is running CentOS with some of the mods above including the /etc/redhat-release change (in part). I did have issues with attempting to use OLDER BIOS .BIN files when I had a badly behaving R710 BIOS. Again, the downside is a shutdown for this to happen and not just a simple reboot.

With *ANY* of these options make sure to *REBOOT* your server and not shutdown or your BIOS update will not take into affect.