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Topic
VxRail Restricted Procedures
Selections
Select the VxRail Appliance Model: VxRail V570/V570F
Select a Procedure: Rapid Appliance Self Recovery (RASR) Factory Image Upgrade Procedure
(Remote Capable - Dell platforms only)
Select the Version you wish to upgrade the RASR Image to:: v4.7.510
Do you want to include the RASR Reset Procedure?: Yes

Generated: September 9, 2020 11:55 AM GMT

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If you find any errors in this procedure or have comments regarding this application, send email to
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Copyright © 2020 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved.

THIS DOCUMENT IS RESTRICTED FOR THE INTERNAL USE OF EMC CORPORATION (“EMC”)
ONLY. THIS DOCUMENT AND THE INSTRUCTIONS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE FOR USE BY
APPROVED EMC SERVICE PERSONNEL ONLY. ANY USE OF THIS DOCUMENT AND/OR ITS
INSTRUCTIONS BY ANYONE OTHER THAN AUTHORIZED EMC SERVICE PERSONNEL
(“UNAUTHORIZED USER”) IS NOT AUTHORIZED, LICENSED OR PERMITTED BY EMC.
UNAUTHORIZED USER ASSUMES SOLE AND COMPLETE RESPONSIBILITY AND RISK FOR ANY
AND ALL LOSSES OR DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH ANY SUCH
UNAUTHORIZED USE.

Dell, EMC, Dell EMC and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other
trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.

Publication Date: September, 2020

Dell Technologies Confidential Information- for internal use only version: 4.0.1.1

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 Contents
Preliminary Activity Tasks .......................................................................................................3
Read, understand, and perform these tasks.................................................................................................3

VxRail v4.7.510 RASR Factory Image Upgrade from ISO......................................................4

Summary:......................................................................................................................................................4
Supported Models.........................................................................................................................................4
System requirements ....................................................................................................................................4
Task 1: RASR Reset using RASR ISO .........................................................................................4
Task 2: Install DUPs from Internal SD ........................................................................................12
Task 3: Factory reset through Internal SD ..................................................................................20
Appendix A: Gathering RASR Update Utility Logs ...........................................................24

Dell Technologies Confidential Information- for internal use only version: 4.0.1.1

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Preliminary Activity Tasks
This section may contain tasks that you must complete before performing this procedure.

Read, understand, and perform these tasks

1. [ ] Table 1 lists tasks, cautions, warnings, notes, and/or knowledgebase (KB) solutions that you
need to be aware of before performing this activity. Read, understand, and when necessary perform
any tasks contained in this table and any tasks contained in any associated knowledgebase solution.

Table 1 List of cautions, warnings, notes, and/or KB solutions related to this activity

530869: VxRail: Intel Youngsville SSD may stop prepossessing when FW less than DL63

528536: VxRail: vSAN license and deployment guidance; caution do not use 4.7.X (and above) RASR
package for purchases at 4.5.X and below

501659: VxRail: Upgrade fails when upgrading VxRail VIB on Dell node that was previously reimaged
with RASR procedure

504087: VxRail: How to find the version on RASR image

525386: VxRail: iDRAC doesn't get updated when performing RASR with devices connected to other
USB ports on the node

2. [ ] This is a link to the top trending service topics. These topics may or not be related to this activity.
This is merely a proactive attempt to make you aware of any KB articles that may be associated with
this product.
VxRail Appliance Top Service Topics

Dell Technologies Confidential Information- for internal use only version: 4.0.1.1

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VxRail v4.7.510 RASR Factory Image Upgrade from ISO
Summary:
This procedure describes the steps to upgrade the RASR image on VxRail Dell appliance (node) to the
VxRail 4.7.510 release version. This procedure requires the node to be power-cycled. If this RASR image
upgrade is run on a currently running cluster, the cluster might be impacted. This procedure contains the
following steps:
1. Upgrade the RASR image on the node using ISO.
2. Install the Dell Upgrade Packages (DUPs) from SD.
3. Factory Reset from SD.

IMPORTANT: Using this procedure to downgrade nodes is NOT supported.

IMPORTANT: Please DISCONNECT the external data storage before performing the RASR procedure,
or the data in the external storage might be lost after RASR.

Supported Models
This procedure supports the following VxRail models:
 Dell EMC VxRail E460
 Dell EMC VxRail E460F
 Dell EMC VxRail P470
 Dell EMC VxRail P470F
 Dell EMC VxRail V470
 Dell EMC VxRail V470F
 Dell EMC VxRail S470
 Dell EMC VxRail E560
 Dell EMC VxRail E560F
 Dell EMC VxRail E560N
 Dell EMC VxRail P570
 Dell EMC VxRail P570F
 Dell EMC VxRail P580N
 Dell EMC VxRail V570
 Dell EMC VxRail V570F
 Dell EMC VxRail S570
 Dell EMC VxRail G560
 Dell EMC VxRail G560F

System requirements
 VxRail RASR ISO upgrade image for version 4.7.510. (available for download from
https://support.emc.com/downloads/39970_VxRail-Appliance-Series)
 Access to iDRAC

Task 1: RASR Reset using RASR ISO

IMPORTANT: The iDRAC Virtual Console can be configured to use different plugins. The Java plugin
(default setting) should be used for this procedure. Do not use the HTML5 plugin for the virtual console as
it might increase the amount of time to complete this procedure.

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 1. [ ] In a Windows client, open iDRAC web UI and launch virtual console.

Note: Screen shots may differ depending on the RASR version and/or Java plugin version.

Figure 1

2. [ ] In the Virtual Console window, click Virtual Media tab and select Connect Virtual Media.

Figure 2

3. [ ] Select Virtual Media again, then select Map CD/DVD.

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 Figure 3

4. [ ] The Virtual Media pop-up opens. Click Browse to open file explorer. Select the RASR ISO file
and click Open. Then click Map Device.

Note: Screen shots may differ depending on the RASR version.

Figure 4

5. [ ] After mapping the RASR ISO, select Virtual Media to confirm the ISO is mapped as shown in the
following figure.

Note: Screen shots might differ, depending on the RASR version.

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 Figure 5

6. [ ] Click Next Boot and select Virtual CD/DVD/ISO.

Figure 6

7. [ ] The Next Boot pop-up opens. Click OK to save the selection.

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 Figure 7

8. [ ] Click Next Boot to confirm Virtual CD/DVD/ISO has been selected.

Figure 8

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 9. [ ] Click Power and select Reset System (warm boot).

Figure 9

10. [ ] Click Yes to continue and the system will reboot.

Figure 10

The system will boot to the RASR Update Utility menu.

Dell Technologies Confidential Information- for internal use only version: 4.0.1.1

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 Figure 11

11. [ ] Type R to select RASR Reset, and then type Y to continue.

Figure 12

12. [ ] The RASR Reset process begins. Monitor the progress until completion. This portion of the
process will take approximately 30 minutes.

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 Figure 13

13. [ ] RASR reset completes and displays the message "Factory install Prototype (FIP)
successfully completed". Press Enter to continue and to go back to the RASR Update Utility
menu.

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 Figure 14

Task 2: Install DUPs from Internal SD

IMPORTANT: Please note this procedure does NOT update drive firmware. Drive firmware can only be
updated manually or via LCM. Update the drive firmware according to the recommend firmware
documented in the Dell EMC Support Matrix.

1. [ ] After completing RASR reset through ISO, disconnect virtual media by selecting Virtual Media
then Disconnect Virtual Media.

Figure 15

2. [ ] From the RASR Main menu, Type Q to quit and Y to reboot.

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 Figure 16

3. [ ] During boot, press F11 to enter Boot Manager.

Figure 17

4. [ ] Choose one of the following:

For VxRail 13G nodes, proceed to Step a.
For VxRail 14G nodes, proceed to Step c.

a. (For VxRail 13G nodes only) If prompted for a password, enter emcbios. Next, select One-shot
BIOS Menu.

Figure 18

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 b. Select [Hard drive] Internal SD: IDSDM and then proceed to Step 5.

Figure 19

c. (For VxRail 14G nodes only) Select One-shot UEFI Boot Menu.

Figure 20

d. Select Internal SD: RASRTOOL and then proceed to Step 5.

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 Figure 21

System will reboot to start RASR.

Figure 22

5. [ ] At the VxRail RASR Menu, type 99 then press Enter. The VxRail RASR Support Menu will open.

Figure 23

6. [ ] Type I to select Install (DUP(s) and press Enter.

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 Figure 24

The system will be scanned to determine compatible DUPs. See next screen. Firmware version and
list might be different per platform.

Figure 25

7. [ ] Type U to select Upgrade from the Support menu and press Enter.

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 Figure 26

8. [ ] Type R to select Rolling DUP(s) Upgrade and press Enter.

Figure 27

The DUP upgrades will begin. The system will automatically reboot after each DUP is installed.

Figure 28

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 After each reboot, the system will return to the SD Card and execute the remaining DUPs Update.

IMPORTANT: If the system does not automatically boot into the BIOS Boot Menu, then manually
reboot the node and select F11 during boot to enter the BIOS Boot Manager. Choose one-shot UEFI
boot menu and select “Internal SD:RASRTOOL” to boot.

Figure 29

After selecting Internal SD:RASRTOOL, the DUP upgrade process will continue with “Rolling DUP
Update Detected” message.

Figure 30

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 Figure 31 BIOS Update via Rolling DUP

The system will reboot for each DUP upgrade. The total number of upgrades will vary depending on
the number of DUPs that need to be updated. After each reboot, ensure that “Internal
SD:RASRTOOL” is selected from the BIOS Boot Manager until all DUP updates are complete.

IMPORTANT: During the DUP update process, connection to iDRAC will be disconnected. This is
expected behavior when iDRAC is updated. When this occurs, close the virtual console and login to
iDRAC web UI. It may take a few minutes before iDRAC is up and login is enabled. After logging into
iDRAC, launch the Virtual Console to proceed with this procedure.

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 Figure 32 iDRAC dissconect during iDRAC Update

When all DUPs are completed, the RASRTOOL will return to the main menu as shown below.

Task 3: Factory reset through Internal SD

The system will boot to the RASR Update Utility menu.

Figure 33

1. [ ] Type F to do Factory Reset and type Y to continue.

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 Figure 34

2. [ ] Ensure all external storage devices are disconnected correctly to prevent the potential risks of
data corruption. If yes, type Disconnected to continue. Press any key to exit Factory Reset.

Note: Refer to https://support.emc.com/kb/532366 for more details about how to disconnect external
storage devices.

Figure 35

3. [ ] Factory Reset completes and displays message “Factory install Prototype (FIP)
successfully completed”. Press Enter to continue and return to RASR Update Utility menu.

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 Figure 36

4. [ ] Enter Q to quit and Yes to reboot the system.

Figure 37

The node boots into the ESXi Installer. The factory reset is completed once the ESXi screen
Installation Status reports “VxRAIL Appliance Installation Successfully Completed”.
This automated reset process will take approximately one hour to complete with multiple reboots.

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 Note: If you are upgrading the RASR image for an entire cluster, repeat this procedure for each node
in the cluster.

Figure 38

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Appendix A: Gathering RASR Update Utility Logs
The logs are stored in a directory on the RASR device you have booted from except for RASR ISO.
When booted from the IDSDM or USB disk, the logs are stored at:
/mnt/RASR/systems/<service tag>/logs/
When booted from RASR ISO, the logs are stored at:
/tmp/systems/<service tag>/logs/

IMPORTANT: Log files contain useful information on all invocations of RASR. In the event of an error
occurring while using RASR, collect all available logs which include the individual RASR.log files, for
debugging by engineering.

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