Replacing failed parts on servers is a mundane activity for an IT admin. Replacing a failed part with a new part is straight forward, however, matching the firmware level and configuration of the failed part with the new one can be tedious and complex when performed manually. We all know manual processes are error prone and could lead to more downtime on the server.
What if you didn’t have to worry about it and the server did it automatically?
The “Part Replacement” feature offered through “iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller” makes an IT admin or a tech’s life easy and seamless when replacing parts / devices (RAID controller, NIC/CNA cards, and Power supplies) in the server in the event of a failure.
iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller is the second generation of embedded server management that comes with the 12th generation of Dell PowerEdge Servers.
Part replacement is supported for the following Dell supported devices in the system.
- Network Interface Cards (NIC/CNAs)
- Storage Adapters (RAID Controllers)
- Power Supply Units (PSUs)
So you might ask just how easy it is. Here's a summary of steps in replacing a part:
1. Enable the feature “Configuration update”
2. Choose the “Firmware update” type.
The above features can be enabled in the following methods
- Using the Lifecycle Controller Platform (via F10 on POST)
- Using the Wsman based methods (Remote Enablement)
3. Replace the part
4. Observe that the firmware and configuration are updated based on the options chosen.
The above mentioned steps can be scripted using tools already available in the OS such as winrm or client libraries such as from the opensource OpenWsman project.
This blog is just a summary. If you want to know more, read all about it in the Dell published whitepaper on this feature.
See the full article in this whitepaper:
Lifecycle Controller Part Replacement
More details on the product "Lifecycle controller" can be found at Dell Tech Center.