VCEM questions I need answer on for customer .....

[chuckk281]

Peter had some customer questions regarding Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager(VCEM):

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I have a client with  domain groups in VCEM manager 7.0

Each domain group has  2 enclosures with each their own domain

The client wants to put both domains (complete domain group) in maintenance mode so she can upgrade domain 1 this week and domain 2 next week ....

now vcem doesn't allow this ... there are radio buttons and you can not select 2 of them

you can only put one domain in maintenance mode at a time 

but once you upgrade the firmware and release the domain back out of Maintenance the VCEM manager will complain that the firmware is not same.... (not sure what he will do but I guess he will attempt to upgrade the second domain too ??) since one of the dependencies of a domain group is, for it to have all domains at the same firmware level

so to do what she wants to know if we will need to delete the domain group and after 2or 3 weeks remake the domain group

but she wants to be sure this will not impact the production ....

So I need to make an action plan for her but I have following questions unanswered (or at least not clear after reading the VCEM 7.0 manual which is the version client is running )

1. What will the VCEM manager do if we don’t delete the domain group and for example put domain 1 in maintenance mode …. upgrade domain 1 … release it from maintenance mode and then ….

Will he just complain and leave it at that till we upgrade the second domain ourselves ?

or will he start the upgrade ?

or lock things down ?

or ….. ?

2. Will deleting the domain group impact production ?

3. Will making a new domain group once both domains are upgraded impact the production ?

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Answer from Vincent:

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It’s not that complicated, far from it.

Put one domain into maintenance, upgrade its firmware, exit (or cancel) maintenance. Pay attention to http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c03264140 if it applies to your customer.

When the upgraded domain comes back under the VCEM domain group, it will operate in compatibility mode, and VCEM will not allow you to use any new features of the upgraded firmware, but it will be “business as usual” as if you were still running the previous firmware.

Repeat for other domains in the domain group at your own pace.

Once all domains have had their firmware upgraded, go to the domain group in VCEM and upgrade its firmware mode. This is the software operation (i.e. it’s very quick) by which you signal to VCEM that all domains have been upgraded and that you want to start using new features of the new firmware.

All this is documented in the VCEM user guide.

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Comments or questions?