How to Upgrade Dell MEM 1.1.0 to 1.1.2 in vSphere 5.0 using Update Manager.

[harishms007]

Hello,

I would like to know step by stpe How to Upgrade Dell MEM 1.1.0 to 1.1.2 in vSphere 5.0 using Update Manager.

I have read few PDFs which say Update manager will only install the Dell MEM and again we need to configure MEM using vMA or vCLI.

I would like to know how to configure once we install MEM using update manager.

[a_nut_in]

See if this link helps

http://en.community.dell.com/dell-groups/dtcmedia/m/mediagallery/19991633/download.aspx

Check out pages 15 onwards - Appendix B: Installing the MEM with VMware Update Manager

[harishms007]

Hi,

I have gone thru this PDF already and this is what my doubt is.

Note:

vCenter Update Manager is only capable of install the MEM. vMA or vCLI will need to be utilized to configure the iSCSI vSwitch for the MEM.

How do we configure it after MEM is installed using Update Manager.

[a_nut_in]

This is talking about the first install when the vswitch is not even configured. I am assuming this is a host which already is configured and you just want the MEM to be upgraded from 1.1 to 1.1.2?

[harishms007]

Hi,

Yes, these hosts have vSwitch configured and running. Dell and other articles says, we need to delete the existing vSwitch and then again reconfigure while upgrading..

[dkraut]

I was wondering the same.  Did you ever get an answer to this?  I'm most interested in a way to update to 1.1.2 while retaining all settings.   

[dkraut]

fwiw, I just used the following doc to install MEM 1.1.2 using Update Manager to several ESXi 5.1 hosts that did not previously have MEM installed, but did already have an iSCSI vSwitch configured and connected to an EqualLogic array.   http://hansdeleenheer.blogspot.com/2011/07/equallogic-multipath-driver-for-vsphere.html#!/2011/07/eq...

It installed and changed the default path selection from Round Robin to Dell_PSP_EQL_Routed but did not appear to alter any of my ESXi vSwitch config, which is good.  Everything seems to be fine.

I'll update with more info after I perform a similar procedure during an upgrade from ESXi 4.1 to 5.1.  The ESXi 4.1 servers already have an older version of MEM installed so this should be interesting. 

[dkraut]

Hope this will help others.

Here are the steps I performed to update an existing ESXi4.1 Host with MEM to ESXi 5.1 Host with MEM.  I used vCLI and Update Manager.

*Do not attempt to update your Hosts to v5.1 until you have updated vCenter to 5.1

Evacuate vm's from current ESXi 4.1 (Update 1) Host and Enter maintenance mode.

Applied critical updates bringing host to ESXi 4.1 (Update 3).  This step may be unnecessary, but I found a thread where an upgrade failed and the solution was to apply updates to 4.1 before upgrading to v5.

Removed MEM from ESXi 4.1 Host by running Setup.pl from the new MEM 1.1.2 package.

( Setup.pl --remove --server=hostname )

*If anyone is wondering (like I was), this will not alter your Host configuration. Your existing iSCSI vSwitch will remain intact and the server will work just fine with MEM removed. The only thing that will be missing is the Dell optimized path selection so your host will revert to vmware fixed path.

Reboot Host

Upgraded to ESXi 5.1 using vcenter "Update Manager" from a baseline created using the Dell custom ESXi image. I had to check the box to remove incompatible third party drivers as noted in this KB > http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=201408...

This step took around 30 minutes to complete and here's a caveat if you're attempting remotely. You need access to the console screen of your Host because at the end of the upgrade, it will prompt for a reboot to complete. Luckily I had access via Dell DRAC and was able to watch the console screen and respond.

Applied all updates to ESXi 5.1 using Update Manager

Installed MEM 1.1.2 using a Baseline Extension I created in Update Manager (see Appendix C here for details > marketing.dell.com/.../eql-for-vmware-vsphere-en.pdf ). This could have also been done in CLI by issuing Setup.pl --install --server=hostname --bundle=filename

MEM 1.1.2 did not require a reboot, but I did one anyway.

Verified that path selection was now Dell_PSP_EQL_Routed (this is done automatically by the script). Exited maintenance mode and moved vm's back and all was well!

Cheers!