Look to 2019 with Velocity Tech Solutions!

It’s the middle of October and everyone is gearing up for the excitement of the holidays, but here at Velocity Tech Solutions, we are gearing up to help our customers in their 2019 ventures and helping them plan out their network and IT solutions.

We pride ourselves on not only being a reliable source for IT and networking parts but also a hub for solutions and intricate architectures. This means that we are more than excited to help you and your company find the perfect solutions: whether it be for virtualizing your network, automating your factory setting, or just getting your first business up and running.

Our Solutions Specialists are also available to help your company plan any upgrades that your existing server may need heading into the new year! We can help you add hard drives for storage, reconfigure your raid controller,  and also upgrade your existing memory.

Not in the market for a new server or any upgrades to your server? Fantastic! Because we can still be a resource for you. We offer affordable and reliable third party maintenance for Dell servers that are no longer under warranty. Unsure whether third party maintenance is for you, check out our blog, Why you should use third party maintenance for your IT assets. Having third party maintenance allows for peace of mind and lets your sit back and relax and let the professionals take care of you in any case that your server may fail you.

Not sure what your planning yet for 2019? Let us be a part of the conversation! We’ll help you figure out what you need and work with you to find solutions that work best for your company. It’s never too early to call your favorite Solutions Specials at Velocity Tech: reach out at (651) 633-0095 or (888) 784-2088.

How To: Optimize the Memory Layout for Dell PowerEdge R710

Today, we are going to be going over optimized memory layouts for the Dell R710 server. The Dell R710 runs memory in a triple channel configuration and can be run in a single and dual processor setup. For an ideal setup you would run sets of three sticks for each processor and match across both processors as well.  So you would be populating A1, A2, A3 and B1, B2, B3 with the same sticks and for the next set of memory you would be populating A4, A5, A6 and B4, B5 and B6 and so on.

You can install memory in sets of two but it will require a slight change in the memory layout that won’t follow the numerical order.  For example, if you have 8 sticks you want to install, you would install the sticks in A1, A2, A4, A5 and B1, B2, B4, B5.  You are essentially leaving the 3^rd channel completely unpopulated as the system requires an equal number of sticks per channel to be optimized.  This will drop you from triple channel to dual channel but it is the only way to get this number of sticks to work. Otherwise, attempting to go in numerical order will leave you with memory optimization errors in POST.

There are some limitations if you want to use quad rank memory. In this situation, you can only populate 2 of the 3 slots per channel, meaning you would be maxed out at 12 sticks of memory as opposed to 18. If you are unsure, you can tell if you have quad channel memory by looking at the specs on the ram sticker. After the size of the stick you should notice a set of numbers in a layout like this, “4rx4” or “2rx8”.  If the first number in that section is a 4 that means you have quad rank memory which will be subject to this limitation.

Thank you for visiting this Velocity How To article; we hope that you learned a thing or two about memory optimization for the PowerEdge R710!

How to: Create your Own Dell Update Repository

Today, we’re going to go through the process of creating your own update repository for Dell servers-Generation 11 and up. To start, you’re going to need a standalone computer that you will use as the CIFS file share computer. You’re also going to need all of the update files which can be found as a downloadable ISO from dells driver pages. These pages have the firmware for all generation 11-13 servers within the ISO file.  For our benefit, Dell puts out a new ISO with new firmware every six months or so. Lets get started!

• First, download and mount the ISO on the computer that you are going to make the file share on.
  • There will be a repository folder that is filled with WIN32 update files and a large list of XML files that are associated with each server model that the disc covers.
  • Copy that repository folder to where ever you choose to host the files.
• Once the repository folder has been copied, right click on the folder and select, “properties”.
  • Go to the “sharing tab” and select, “advanced sharing.”
  • Put a checkbox in the “Share this folder” option.
  • Scroll down to the “permissions” button and click on it.
    • Add a user and set it to “full control,” this user is going to be the credentials you will use within the lifecycle controller to connect to the CIFS share.
• After the folder is shared, the network path should be referenced as: \\computername\repository
• As long as your folder is set and the permissions are set properly you are now set to attempt to log into the CIFS share from the lifecycle controller on a Dell server.
• Press “f10” while your system is booting up and it will take you into the lifecycle controller at the end of post.
  • In the lifecycle controller, you will see “platform update” OR “firmware update,” as one of the options on the left hand side, select this option.
• In the platform/firmware update section you will see multiple options given on how you would like to update.
  • Select “CIFS” – it should be the bottom option in the list presented.
• If you have never setup the IP within the lifecycle controller it will prompt you to configure.
  • Select a NIC port that has a cable plugged into it and select “DHCP,” your server will take care of the rest.
• After your network has been configured it will kick you back out to the selection screen.
  • Select “CIFS”  again – it will bring you to a menu with a number of values you will have to enter.
  • First, you will have to put in the “share name” of your CIFS share. 
    • If your share computer is part of your domain and is resolvable by the computer name you can use the exact network path shown on your share computer.
    • If it is not resolvable by the computer name you can use the IP address of your system. It would be something like: \\192.168.0.20\repository.
  • Next, put in the user name and password of the account that you have given permissions to the share.
  • Select the “next” button after everything has been populated.
• Now, the system will connect to your share, it will take several minutes and should bring you back results of all of the available updates. You may pick and choose what you want to update on the system. 
  • After you’ve selected your updates, click “Accept,” and it will go through the automated update process, and it will have multiple system reboots.
  • After the the last reboot, it will bring you back to the lifecycle controller and you may now continue using the system.

Thank you for running through our How To on creating your own Dell update repository! We appreciate you coming to us for your IT support and love working with you. Check back in a couple of weeks for our next How To.

How To: Velocity’s Guide to IDRAC Configuration and Usage

In this installment of the How To series by Velocity Tech Solutions, we take you through the steps to configure your IDRAC information so that it is accessible and then take you through how to access your IDRAC once it can be found in your network.

Configuration: First, you need to configure your IDRAC IP information in order to make it accessible on  your network by following these steps.

For Generation 11 and earlier servers:

• To get to the configuration menu in post, hit Ctrl+E when it references the “IDRAC configuration utility”.
• Once in this utility, you will find a “LAN parameters” option. The first thing that you will want to do is clarify whether you have an enterprise or express IDRAC.
  • If you have enterprise you can use the dedicated IDRAC network port.
  • If you have express, it will share one of the LAN ports on the motherboard. You can decide which port you want to share if that is the case.
• Farther into the “LAN Parameter” menu, there will be a section where you input your ipv4 and ipv6 information for your network.
  • You can also use the default IP of 192.168.0.120

For Generation 12 and later servers:

• To get to the IDRAC configuration, use the F2 menu.
• Once there, after post, select the “IDRAC settings menu” option.
• Choose the “network settings” option.
  • Within there, it has the selection of dedicated and shared ports along with the IP configuration information.

Usage: Once you have your IP information configured and your IDRAC has a network cable hooked up to the proper NIC; you can then access your IDRAC using the IP information you configured in the earlier steps. Follow these steps to access your IDRAC.

• Type the IP information into a web browser on a computer that is on the same network as your server. It will bring you to a log in page (it may also give you a certificate error that you can bypass).
  • You will be prompted to type in a username and password, the default login information is:

Username: root

Password: calvin

• Once you are logged in, you will be directed to a page where you will see tons of information about the server.
  • There will be a column along the left hand side with different sections you may go to for different bits of information about the server.
  • Along the top bar, there will be tabs that change and give you different options depending on what section you are in.
• If you have an enterprise license on the main page of the IDRAC you will also have remote access option that will allow you complete remote access of the server; even outside of an OS environment.
  • However, this will require a specific version of Java to function properly.

We hope that this How To garnered success on your end! Thank for visiting our blog and our bi-weekly How To!

 

How To: Run Onboard Diagnostics for the Dell Generation 11 and Up Servers

Built into the lifecycle controller; the Dell, generation 11 and up, servers come with onboard diagnostics that can be used to test almost all of the hardware within the system.

1. The first thing you need to do in order to reach the onboard diagnostics is to boot into the lifecycle controller; to do this press f10 while the system is going through its POST process. It will start by saying, “press f10 to enter system services” on the top right hand corner of the screen. When pressed it will change the message to inform you that it will attempt to boot into the lifecycle controller at the end of POST.
2. After it’s booted into the lifecycle controller, which can take several minutes depending on the model, you will be brought to a UEFI menu with full mouse and keyboard support. Look for “hardware diagnostics” on the left hand column of options.
3. Once the “hardware diagnostics” option is selected there will be a link on the right that you can click into.
4. On Generation 11 servers you will be brought into a two-option menu after entering the hardware diagnostics; one of the options is “MPmemory” and the other option is “diagnostics”. The “MPmemory” option will allow you to run tests on all of the system memory within the system. There is also an express option that will run a set number of tests and a custom option that will allow you to select a number of more time consuming options. The other menu, “diagnostics,” will have a number of different types of tests you can run. You can either select “express” or “full tests,” which will run the system through a set number of tests or you can use custom tests which will bring you to a menu were you can manually select and deselect different devices to test.
5. On Generation 12 servers you will be brought into one single diagnostic menu which will test everything from within one test area.
6. After all tests are completed there should be an error readout area that will list any devices that failed. It should also give some information on what failed on each device, if any.

This finalizes the steps to take in order to run onboard diagnostics for Dell, Generation 11 and up, servers. We hope these steps aided in your success and we thank  you for visiting our blog and our bi-weekly How To!

How To: Upgrade Firmware on Generation 11 and Up Servers Using the Lifecycle Controller

Listed below are some simple steps to follow in order to upgrade the firmware on servers that are classified as generation 11 and up. This method of upgrading uses the lifecycle controller.

1. Boot the server and press F10 during post. You will notice it will reference “entering system services” or “lifecycle controller,” this  will depend on the model of the server.
2. Once it has booted into the lifecycle controller you will see, on the left hand column, a “firmware update” or a “platform update,” depending on what generation server you’re on. Click this option and it will give you several links within the right side of the screen. Then click “Launch firmware update” as the top option.
3. Once there, you will have three options to select, “FTP server” being the top option, select this option.
4. If you have never configured a NIC within the lifecycle controller it will give you a message saying “Network is not configured” and ask if you would like to configure it now. Accept to go into the NIC configuration.
5. Once in there, it will give you a list of available NIC ports to configure. Select one that has a cable plugged into it and it will give you an option of “static” or “DHCP” configuration. Select whichever will be applicable for your network. Once selected, click “finish” on the bottom right corner.
6. Once you have the NIC port set up and it successfully configures, it will send you back to the initial selection of “FTP server”, Local Drive, and Network Share. Select “FTP Server” again.
7. Now that the NIC is configured it should send you to a page with several fields. The top field should be filled in already with “ftp.dell.com.” You may leave the rest of the options blank. Now, click “next” on the bottom right corner.
8. It will now start connecting to the FTP server and will likely take several minutes to go through and detect all of the potential updates for the system.
9. After it has found all the potential updates it will bring you to a list where you may select which devices to update. Once you’ve selected your devices and clicked “accept” it will start downloading all of the updates that were selected and automatically run the updates. The system will likely reboot several times during the update process. The number of reboots will depend on how many updates are selected.
10. You will know it’s complete when it sends you back into the lifecycle controller a final time and does not go back into the “firmware” updater window.

This finalizes the steps to take in order to upgrade the firmware on your generation 11 and up server. We hope these steps were easy to follow and guided you to success on your firmware upgrade. Thank you for visiting our blog and this How To!