Installation of Dell EqualLogic MEM 1.0.9 (1.1 EPA) and vSphere 5

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So the 1.0.9 version of Dell’s MEM module (ug, that’s as bad as PIN number), scratch that, of Dell’s Multipathing Extension Module for EqualLogic was released last week. I promptly ignored it for a week before reading the line that said “fully supported in production environments” (whoops) and installed it today. It wasn’t easy.

I’ve already upgraded vSphere Centre to version 5, and so I made an install package for MEM 1.0.9 (1.1EPA) – Update Manager then told me that it wasn’t required anywhere, “that can’t be right”, I thought to myself, and then realised that I needed ESXi 5.0 to install MEM; but you can’t install ESXi 5.0 while MEM1.0 (or anything pre 1.0.9) is installed. A little bit of a catch 22.

I then embarked on a whirlwind tour of command line chaos, using PowerShell to create my own installation .iso which combined the ESXi 5.0 install with the Dell MEM bundle, I uploaded that to the Update Manager and used it to upgrade two hosts, and I’m shocked to say that it worked almost perfectly, so, for the simple commands you need to use, see below!

To do all this you’ll need to download and install the vSphere PowerCLI.

So, run the VMware PowerCLI from the newly created shortcut on the start menu and do the following:

  1. Connect to the vCentre instance you require:

    Connect-VIServer 10.20.30.40

  2. Add the software images, both the offline install bundle of ESXi 5.0 and then the MEM zip file:

    Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl C:\myfolder\ESXi500-201111001.zip
    Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl C:\myfolder\dell-eql-mem-1.0.9.205559.zip

  3. Get the Image name and the package name you want ready for the next commands, you’ll note I’ve specifically toned down the list of retrieved names for the software package because there are hundreds of them:

    Get-EsxImageProfile | Select Name
    Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -Name *dell* | Select Name


    This command should return something that looks like this:

    Name
    ----
    ESXi-5.0.0-20111104001-standard
    ESXi-5.0.0-20111104001-no-tools

    Name
    ----
    dell-eql-routed-psp
    dell-eql-host-connection-mgr
    dell-eql-hostprofile

  4. Add the three (I don’t know if you need all three, but I did) dell packages to the image:

    Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile ESXi-5.0.0-20111104001-standard -SoftwarePackage dell-eql-routed-psp
    Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile ESXi-5.0.0-20111104001-standard -SoftwarePackage dell-eql-host-connection-mgr
    Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile ESXi-5.0.0-20111104001-standard -SoftwarePackage dell-eql-hostprofile

  5. And then finally export the bundle as an .iso for Update Manager (an .iso rather than a zip in this particular instance because the upgrade from 4.1 to 5 must be a complete .iso):

    Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile ESXi-5.0.0-20111104001-standard -ExportToIso -FilePath C:\myfolder\ESXi5andMEM109.iso

    6. You will then be able to import this .iso into Update Manager and use it in a baseline / remediate operation.


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