POWEREDGE
TROUBLESHOOTING
LAB GUIDE
Version [1]
PARTICIPANT GUIDE
PARTICIPANT GUIDE
Dell Confidential and Proprietary
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Table of Contents
Introduction to On-Demand Lab Environment 4
Introduction 4
Downloading and Updating the iDRAC Firmware 6
Exporting a Server Configuration Profile 12
Performing a SupportAssist Collection 15
Summarizing PowerEdge Troubleshooting Lab 19
Conclusion 19
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Introduction to On-Demand Lab Environment
Introduction to On-Demand Lab Environment
LAB MANUAL
Dell PowerEdge Features, Administration, and Troubleshooting
Version 16G - 2023
Introduction
Lab Instructions
The Dell PowerEdge simulator opens in a browser tab. You can keep
the simulator open for all the lab activities. Keeping the simulator open in a
browser tab prevents you from needing to relaunch the simulator for each
activity.
Starting simulator page that directs you to launch the simulator in a browser tab.
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Introduction to On-Demand Lab Environment
Tip: You can restart the simulator at any time by logging out
(using the option from the user button located in the upper
right side of the iDRAC UI). The iDRAC login page and the
Dashboard have a button to restart the simulator .
Restarting the simulator allows you to relaunch the simulator
in a browser tab and resets all the internal variables if you
want to redo a lab activity.
The simulator is not a live or fully functional version of the iDRAC UI.
The simulator has no real-time data. Some of the options are not
available. The simulator is built to reinforce the course content and provide
high-level exploration of the UI.
Important: The simulator has no functionality for the mouse
scroll wheel in most windows. You must either click the
scroll button on the iDRAC UI page or click in the space in
the vertical scroll bar area.
Simulator Dashboard with prompts.
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Downloading and Updating the iDRAC Firmware
Downloading and Updating the iDRAC Firmware
Scenario: You are investigating an issue on a PowerEdge R660 servers
where there are failures when trying to import an server configuration
profile (SCP). You notice that the server runs an older version of iDRAC
firmware. You consult the iDRAC9 release notes and see that the SCP
import is resolved in a later version. Upgrade the iDRAC firmware to
resolve the issue.
In this lab, you perform the following tasks:
• Download firmware
• Update the iDRAC firmware to help resolve an SCP import issue
Downloading and Updating the iDRAC Firmware
1. If needed, log in to the iDRAC UI.
2. Go to Maintenance > System Update and then click or select the
Choose File button.
Important: The Choose File button takes you to the Dell
Support page (simulated). The behavior is a function of the
simulator and not a function of the iDRAC. Typically, you
would download the DUP before selecting Choose File.
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Downloading and Updating the iDRAC Firmware
3. The Drivers & Downloads displays with the product PowerEdge
R660 in the search field. In a production environment, you go to the
support page. Click Search.
4. Use the filters to narrow the search results. In the Category options,
click the iDRAC with Lifecycle controller option.
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Downloading and Updating the iDRAC Firmware
5. The result shows that firmware version 7.00.00.00 is available. Click
the checkbox.
6. Next click the Download button to download the firmware locally and
then click the download notification in the lower left of the simulator
page.
7. Choose the firmware package and then Open to notify the location to
the iDRAC.
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Downloading and Updating the iDRAC Firmware
When selecting Choose File on the iDRAC UI, the Windows Explorer
opens to the Downloads folder. Select the package iDRAC-with-
Lifecycle-Controller_Firmware_KH4XX_WN64_7.00.00.00_A00.EXE.
8. The file is listed in the Update Path area and is listed in the Update
Details area. In the Update Details area, check the package.
9. Once selected, the Install button becomes active. Click Install.
The simulator simulates loading the software. On a production system,
this job may take a few minutes.
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Downloading and Updating the iDRAC Firmware
10. The Manual Update page now shows no files. Click the RollBack
option in the submenu.
The Current version is now 7.00.00.00. The Available version is the
previous version of firmware. If the current version has issues, you
can rollback to the available firmware version.
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Downloading and Updating the iDRAC Firmware
11. Go to the Dashboard.
The firmware version displayed on the dashboard after the upgrade
completes is the firmware running on the server.
STOP: You have completed the activity.
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Exporting a Server Configuration Profile
Exporting a Server Configuration Profile
In this lab, you perform the following tasks:
• Export the SCP and answer the question: "By default, what folder on
the local system is the SCP file downloaded to?"
Exporting a Server Configuration Profile
1. If needed, log in to the iDRAC UI.
2. Go to the Configuration > Server Configuration Profile page.
3. Expand the Export option to open the Export page.
4. In the File Name field, enter sim_scp, and then you must click the
<tab> keyboard button or click outside of the File Name entry field.
5. In the Export Components field, check All.
6. Examine the Export types by clicking in the field dropdown.
7. You can click the "i" icon to view the definitions of the options.
8. Click the Export button.
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Exporting a Server Configuration Profile
9. In the green information banner, click the Save Locally button.
10. The SCP file is downloaded locally to the Downloads folder. Click or
select the "X" to close the Windows Download folder.
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Exporting a Server Configuration Profile
You can use the SCP file to import to another server or save in the
event you must restore the server configuration.
11. Go to the Dashboard.
STOP: You have completed the activity.
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Performing a SupportAssist Collection
Performing a SupportAssist Collection
Scenario: You have installed a PowerEdge R660 server. You notice that
there are health and status errors, but cannot immediately determine the
reason for the errors. Technical support asks that you gather server
information using SupportAssist.
In this lab, you perform the following tasks:
• Run a collection.
• Open the SupportAssist viewer and answer the question: "Do any of
the server components show an unhealthy status?"
Performing a SupportAssist Collection
1. If needed, log in to the iDRAC UI.
2. Go to Maintenance > SupportAssist to open the SupportAssist
page.
3. Click the Start a Collection button to open the collection options
window.
For this activity, keep the defaults of Storage Logs and Save
Locally. Saving locally downloads the file to the local management
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Performing a SupportAssist Collection
system.
4. Click Collect.
5. A green notification banner appears. Click the Save and View button
that is located on the banner.
6. When the process completes you can upload the file for Technical
Support to analyze. For this activity, view the server information. The
Windows Explorer window is open to the Downloads folder. Click the
TSR .zip file and then Extract All.
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Performing a SupportAssist Collection
7. Open the TSR20230712080235_CL07505.pl folder and then open
the tsr folder.
8. Click the viewer.html file to open the SupportAssist viewer.
The viewer is open at the Summary page, showing a view of the
inventory. The system appears to have no issues. If a problem is
detected, a red "x" instead of a green checkmark shows. In this
example, none of the server components show an unhealthy status.
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Performing a SupportAssist Collection
9. Click the X button to return to the iDRAC UI Dashboard.
STOP: You have completed the activity.
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Summarizing PowerEdge Troubleshooting Lab
Summarizing PowerEdge Troubleshooting Lab
Lab Wrap-Up
The lab activities showed you some of the features of the iDRAC UI. You
upgraded the iDRAC firmware, collected SupportAssist information, and
recovered a configuration using SCP.
Conclusion
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