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Dell® Repository Manager Tutorial A Simple and Efficient Way to Manage the Update Files

Yong Cao, Shoba SS, Paula Desmond

Dell® Repository Manager Team Product Group 2011, Dell Inc.

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Contents Dell Change Management Terminology ................................................................................................... 3

Dell Repository Manager and Change Management Solution ................................................................. 4

Manage a Local Repository ....................................................................................................................... 5

1. Create a local repository with local storage ................................................................................. 5

2. Create a local repository with Dell online storage ...................................................................... 13

3. Update local repository............................................................................................................... 14

Dell Repository Manager for Pre-Operating System Update ................................................................. 16

Dell Repository Manager for Post-Operating System Update ................................................................ 17

Dell Repository Manager for Microsoft Windows Operating System Deployment ............................... 20

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Dell Change Management Terminology Dell Update Repository An integrated entity that can support any Dell change management

solutions. This entity comprises of one Dell update catalog, one system inventory utility and multiple update packages.

Dell Update Catalog A metadata file to define all elements of a Dell update repository. The catalog file is in XML format or a .cab file containing a catalog XML file. For Dell server platforms, the Dell online catalog file is Catalog.cab while for Dell business client systems, it is CatalogPC.cab. Dell Repository Manager (RM) can save a catalog in XML or CAB formats.

Dell Update Package A self-contained installation package for BIOS, firmware, drivers, and system application software.

Dell System Inventory Utility An executable application that is run on each managed Dell systems to retrieve the system hardware configuration and the versions of BIOS, firmware, driver, and system application software.

Bundle A virtual concept in a Dell update catalog. A bundle defines a container that contains a group of correlated Dell update packages. The common bundle is system bundle which includes all update packages for one Dell platform. All update packages of a bundle must be defined in the same catalog.

Component A Dell update package. A component may or may not be contained within one or multiple bundles.

Base Location The root URI of a repository. The base location is defined in a catalog XML file as the attribute, baseLocation, of <Manifest/> element. An example for the value of a base location is - ftp.dell.com or c:\my-repo.

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Dell Repository Manager and Change Management Solution

The Dell online repository contains a repository metadata file, catalog.cab, a system inventory utility also called Dell Inventory Collector, and all Dell released update packages, such as system BIOS update packages, driver update packages, and firmware update packages.

Dell is responsible for maintaining the online repository by periodically updating the catalog, system inventory utility, and adding new update packages.

Each quarter, Dell releases a Server Update Utility (SUU), which contains the latest update packages, along with a catalog and system inventory utility. The SUU is released as a DVD ISO image format and tested by Dell as an integrated entity.

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The Dell online repository and the SUU DVD, released by Dell every quarter, support various system management consoles that make sure the managed Dell system is up-to-date.

The Dell online repository and SUU DVD must cover all Dell business client and server products. As a result, their sizes are huge and usually require a large amount of resources in a real time system management usage. Dell Repository Manager (RM) enables users to customize Dell online repository and create their own local repositories. Using Dell RM, users can achieve a flexible and agile system update solution.

The Dell supported change management solutions, such as Dell Management Console and Dell IT Assistant, support the Dell online and local repositories that are generated by Dell RM.

Manage a Local Repository You can perform the following tasks while managing a local repository:

• Create a local repository with local storage • Create a local repository with Dell online storage • Update local repository

1. Create a local repository with local storage Using Dell Repository Manager, you can create a customized local repository, based on a Dell online repository. The customized repository can contain select bundles and update packages. A local repository with local storage means that all three elements of a repository catalog file, update packages, and system inventory utility, are created or copied to the specified location. When your system update tool consumes this local repository, you need not connect to the Dell online repository through Internet. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create and save a local repository to a local directory.

Step 1: Load Dell online repository

Click Open to load a repository to the Dell RM work space. In the popup window, select Load Existing Repository.

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Click Next to go to next page. Select ftp.dell.com as the source. Then, follow the wizard to complete the load repository task.

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Step 2: Find and select bundles

Use RM filter to reduce the searching scope and quickly locate the system bundles.

Step 3: Export selected bundles into a new repository

After you select the target bundle(s), click Export at the bottom-right corner. In the export wizard, select Export to Repository or Export as New Repository.

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Click Next, and type the name of the new local repository and its description.

In the export summary page, click Finish to create a new local repository in RM.

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Step 4: Find and select components

Go back to the Dell online repository work space, and click the Component tab. Use the filter to reduce the searching scope. The figure below shows an example of how to use component filter to reduce the searching scope. In this example, we select BIOS update type and Windows Dell Update Package Format as the filter criteria. The selected filters are automatically applied to the component table displayed on the right side of the screen.

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Select the components you want to add to the new repository.

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Step 5: Export selected components into the new repository created in step 3

In the Components tab, click Export to export the selected components in the new local repository which is created in step 3. In the component export wizard, select Copy component(s) into an Existing Repository.

In the next page, select the local repository to which you want to add the selected components, and click Next.

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Step 6: Save the new repository to a local directory

Select the new local repository work space, and then click the icon to save the new local repository. In Save Repository window, select Full repository, and specify the repository location and catalog name, that is, c:\mylocalrepo\catalog.xml. Click Save to save all repository elements to the specified local directory.

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2. Create a local repository with Dell online storage Using RM, you can create a customized local repository using the Dell online storage instead of saving the update packages to your local. A local repository with Dell online storage saves only the catalog file to your local. When your system update tool consumes this local repository, you need the Internet to connect to the Dell online storage, ftp.dell.com. Refer to step 1) – 5) of Create a local repository with local storage to select bundle and/or

components into a new local repository. Then click the icon to save the new local repository as Catalog file only. Make sure to select to ftp.dell.com as the base location point.

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3. Update local repository Following the steps below, you can keep your local repository up-to-date with the Dell online repository.

Step 1: Add both your local repository and Dell online repository to RM

Step 2: In repository section, click Compare.

In the Repository Comparison Options window, select your local repository as Base Repository and Dell online repository as Comparison Repository. There are four options of comparison:

a. Newer versions - This option will find newer versions of an update package which is included in your local repository.

b. Changed files – This option can find update packages that are changed without revision on ftp.dell.com.

c. Updates to remove - For some reasons, Dell may pull back some update packages from ftp.dell.com. Use this option to find those removed packages.

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d. Update to add - Choose this option to find any new update packages in Dell online repository.

Click View Report to view the comparison report.

Step 3: The comparison report window displays 1- 4 result tabs based on the options you chose in step 2.

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Each result tab lists different update packages. You can select some or all files to update your local repository by clicking Update, Change, Remove, or Add depending on the tab you are on.

Dell Repository Manager for Pre-Operating System Update • Bootable Linux CD image for updates

RM enables you to update your Dell systems with least impact to the installed operating systems (OS) on them. You can use RM to build a bootable Linux CD image, which automatically launches the selected update packages while starting the system from it. The update packages are selected Linux Dell Update Packages for BIOS and firmware updates. The steps below describe how to build a bootable Linux CD image with selected updates. 1) In the Bundles tab, select one or many Linux bundles.

2) Click Export.

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3) Select Deployment Media (Linux bundle only).

4) Follow the instructions in the bundle export wizard to complete next few questions with

default settings. Then, click Finish. RM will create a Linux ISO image, named linuxIso.iso, to the directory you specified.

You can use a third-party utility to burn a bootable CD or create a bootable USB storage from this ISO file.

Note: you must install Dell OpenManage Deployment Toolkit (DTK) plug-in to use this function. For steps to install the DTK Plug-in, see the Dell Repository Manager User’s Guide.

Dell Repository Manager for Post-Operating System Update • Light-weight deployment pack

RM can generate a script-based solution called Light-weight Deployment Pack, for post-OS updates. The light-weight deployment pack consists of a shell script and all selected update packages. To deploy the updates, administrators can simply copy all files of a Light-weight Deployment Pack to a managed system and run the script. TheLight-weight deployment pack supports both Windows and Linux OS. In the bundle export wizard, select Export to light weight deployment scripts to create a light-weight deployment pack.

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In the Lightweight Deployment Pack folder, each bundle contains one sub-folder named by the bundle name. For example, a Linux bundle “System Bundle (Linux) PE400SC v170” will be a sub-folder named as “System Bundle (Linux) PE400SC v170”. Each bundle folder contains a shell script, apply_components.sh for Linux and apply_components.bat for Windows, and all update package files defined by the bundle. Run the shell script to execute all update packages one by one.

• Customized Server Update Utility Dell OpenManage Server Update Utility (SUU) is a DVD-based update solution for identifying and applying updates to your system, released by Dell every quarter. It supports both Windows and Linux OS. RM allows users to create a custom SUU, which contains only the update packages for relevant servers and/or devices. This reduces the size of the SUU for the final deployment tasks. In bundle export wizard, select Export as SUU to generate a custom SUU. The SUU can be customized using two options for this: Export as SUU to directory or Export as SUU to ISO.

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The Export SUU to a directory option is shown in the following figure.

If you want to export the SUU to an ISO file, the destination file name is suuImage.iso.

Note: You must install Dell OpenManage Server Update Utility (SUU) plug-in to use this function. For steps to install the SUU Plug-in, see the Dell Repository Manager User’s Guide.

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Dell Repository Manager for Microsoft Windows Operating System Deployment

• Microsoft Windows raw driver pack RM provides a solution called the Microsoft Windows raw driver pack to enable administrators to find all up-to-date OS driver packs and deploy them. You can build a Microsoft Windows raw driver pack that contains all Dell up-to-date OS drivers from selected Windows bundles. The following steps describe how to create a Microsoft Windows raw driver pack. 1) Select one or more Windows bundles. These bundles can be Dell-certified system bundles

for Windows or customer-defined Windows bundles. 2) In the bundle export wizard, select Raw Driver Pack (Windows bundle only)

3) Follow the instructions in the bundle export wizard to generate a raw driver pack in a

specific location.

The Windows raw driver pack created using RM is presented as a group of folders and files. Each bundle is a sub-folder and has the bundle name. Each bundle sub-folder contains a Rawdrivers folder. The Rawdrivers folder contains a batch file, DellDrvInstall.bat and two sub-folders, DPInst and Drivers. DPInst contains Microsoft driver installation utility DPInst.exe of both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The Drivers folder has the OS drivers extracted from Dell Update Packages. The picture below is an example of a raw driver pack file structure.

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