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Cancelling a Failed VxRail 7.0 Upgrade

We’ve all been there. You’re working to stage your VxRail upgrade and something goes terribly, horribly wrong. You’re beside yourself because you’ve got a deadline, and your upgrade is dead in the water. You’ve tried cancelling the upgrade in the GUI, but it JUST. KEEPS. FAILING.

Well, here’s what you do to get back on track.

  1. SSH into your VxRail Manager as mystic.
  2. Elevate to root using the su command.
  3. Run the following string of commands.
psql -U postgres vxrail -c "delete from system.operation_status where (state='FAILED' or state='IN_PROGRESS') and owner like 'Lcm%';"

psql -U postgres vxrail -c "update system.operation_status set state='FAILED' where owner='CustomizeComponentScan' and state='STARTED';"

echo '{"state":"NONE","deployed_for_public_api":false}' > /var/lib/vmware-marvin/bundle_state.jsonvxrail:/home/mystic # mv /var/lib/vmware-marvin/composite-upgrade.json /var/lib/vmware-marvin/composite-upgrade.json.old

curl -X GET --unix-socket /var/lib/vxrail/nginx/socket/nginx.sock "http://127.0.0.1:5000/rest/vxm/internal/lockservice/v1/lock"

curl -X POST --unix-socket /var/lib/vxrail/nginx/socket/nginx.sock "http://127.0.0.1:5000/rest/vxm/internal/lockservice/v1/lock/release"  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"locked_by": "UPGRADE"}'

systemctl restart runjars
systemctl restart vmware-marvin

The result of the command above should resemble this:

DELETE 1
UPDATE 0
mv: cannot stat '/var/lib/vmware-marvin/composite-upgrade.json': No such file or directory
{"error_code": 1001, "message": "Failed to get the lock information due to the lock does not exist."}
{"error_code": 1001, "message": "Failed to release the lock due to the lock does not exist."}

If you’re not comfortable with executing that command, open …

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Cancelling a Failed VxRail 4.7 Upgrade

We’ve all been there. You’re working to stage your VxRail upgrade and something goes terribly, horribly wrong. You’re beside yourself because you’ve got a deadline, and your upgrade is dead in the water. You’ve tried cancelling the upgrade in the GUI, but it JUST. KEEPS. FAILING.

Well, here’s what you do to get back on track.

  1. SSH into your VxRail Manager as mystic.
  2. Elevate to root using the su command.
  3. Run the following string of commands.
psql -U postgres mysticmanager -c "delete from operation_status where state='FAILED';" ; psql -U postgres mysticmanager -c "delete from operation_status where state='IN_PROGRESS';" ; psql -U postgres mysticmanager -c "update virtual_appliance SET upgrade_status='HAS_NEWER' where component_id='VXRAIL_SYSTEM';" ;psql -U postgres mysticmanager -c "update virtual_appliance SET upgrade_status_response=null where component_id='VXRAIL_SYSTEM';" ;psql -U postgres mysticmanager -c "DELETE FROM composite_upgrade;" ;psql -U postgres mysticmanager -c "DELETE FROM operation_lock;" ;echo "Reset the Database Table and now will clean up LCM Folder" ;rm -rf /data/store2/lcm/* ;echo "This is above 4.7.300, so will reset the bundle_update.json" ;echo "{\"state\":\"NONE\",\"alerts\":[]}" > /var/lib/vmware-marvin/bundle_state.json ;echo "Restarting Services" ; systemctl restart vmware-marvin;systemctl restart runjars

The result of the command above should resemble this:

If you’re not comfortable with executing that command, open up a support ticket with Dell EMC …

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How to Find a Dell EMC Model and PSNT on VxRail Appliances

You can find the Model and PSNT on the luggage tag at the front of a VxRail Appliance. If you’re looking for a way to get the Model or PSNT remotely, check out one of the following methods.

You’ll find the Model and PSNT for each VxRail Appliance in the VxRail Plugin for vCenter. Navigate to Hosts & Clusters > Cluster > Configure > VxRail > Hosts.

Finding the Model and PSNT using the VxRail Manager Console

Once you’ve connected to your VxRail Manager as mystic, run the following bit of code.

psql -U postgres mysticmanager -c “select sn,name,psnt from node;”

Finding the Model and PSNT using the ESXi Console

Once you’ve consoled to the VxRail appliance, run the following command if you’re looking for both the Model and PSNT.

opt/dell/DellPTAgent/tools/ipmitool_static fru print 17

If, for some reason, the location of the ipmitool changes in a future version, run this handy command to find the new location.

find /* -name ipmitool_static

If you’re only looking for the PSNT, the first section of the Local Datastore name on each VxRail Appliance includes the 14 character PSNT. Run the following command if you’re just looking for the PSNT.

df -h

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How to Find a Dell EMC Service Tag on PowerEdge Servers and VxRail Appliances

You can find the Service Tag on the luggage tag at the front of a PowerEdge or VxRail Appliance. If you’re looking for a way to get that Service Tag remotely, check out one of the following methods.

Finding the Service Tag in the vCenter UI

PowerEdge Servers

You’ll find the service Tags for each Power Edge Server by navigating to Hosts & Clusters > Cluster > Configure > Hardware > Processors.

VxRail Appliances

You’ll find the Service Tags for each VxRail Appliance in the VxRail Plugin for vCenter. Navigate to Hosts & Clusters > Cluster > Configure > VxRail > Hosts.

Finding the Service Tag using PowerCLI

Once you’ve connected to your VxRail vCenter, run the following bit of code. Get-Hosts -Server VxRailManager_IP -Username administrator@vsphere.local -Password <Password> |ft sn, hostname

Finding the Service Tag using the ESXi Console

Once you’ve consoled to the PowerEdge Server or VxRail appliance, run the following command. /opt/vxrail/tools/ipmitool fru print 17

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Access a Dell EMC 14G iDRAC Using the USB Console Interface

Deploying infrastructure over the years has exposed some pretty useful shortcuts. It’s tedious to program an iDRAC using the front LED. Sometimes, unconfigured network switches hold up the entire configuration process. This method will allow you to hook up a USB console cable and control your iDRAC directly, which can be a life saver and makes configuration and deployment much easier and without the need for a network connection.

  1. Connect your laptop to the USB Management Port on the front of the PowerEdge or VxRail.
  2. Wait for your laptop to install the appropriate drivers.
  3. The USB interface on your laptop will be assigned an IP address of 169.254.0.4.
  4. Open the browser of your choice.
  5. Browse to https://169.254.0.3, which is the IP address assigned to the iDRAC USB interface.
  6. Log into the iDRAC as root.

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Dell EMC VxRail 4.7 Default Password List

Recently, I’ve had to factory reset a few VxRail nodes for some testing I’ve been doing and I thought it might be a good idea to publish the defaults that Dell EMC uses for VxRail running 4.7 code.

ComponentNetworking ConfigurationUsernameDefault Password
BIOSN/AN/Aemcbios
iDRACDHCProotcalvin
ESXi rootDHCProotPassw0rd!
vCenter Server ApplianceDefined at deploymentrootvmware
Platform Services ControllerDefined at deploymentrootvmware
vRealize Log InsightDHCProotPassw0rd!
VxRail Manager192.168.10.200rootPassw0rd!
VxRail Manager PluginDefined at deploymentrootPassw0rd!
VxRail Manager mysticVxRailManager@201602!
VxRail Manager Plugin mysticVBManager201415!

Hopefully this helps someone out there!…

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Flea Draining Equipment

I recently had someone ask me about flea power, or electrostatic discharge. I thought it might be useful for some to go over what it is, and how to drain it. This little procedure can be the magic touch that gets a piece of hardware up and working again.

So first, what is flea power in computer equipment?
Flea power is the residual static electricity that remains on electrical components (like the capacitors on a motherboard, for example) the computer even after it has been powered off, even if a battery has been removed.

What symptoms are typical?
This gets a little tricky. I’ve personally seen issues where a server refuses to power on. A good rule of thumb is, if you can power the server down to troubleshoot any issue with any component, a flea drain may help you resolve issues with bad power causing inconsistencies with the components.

Now, how do we fix it?
This part’s easy. Enterprise components are designed to remain powered on 24/7 but when you face an issue, a Reset of your device can make things work. There are 3 levels of Reset, all defined below. In order, you should try to …

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