Upgrade Dell OME from 3.10.x to 4.0

The latest version of Dell OpenManage Enterprise 4.0 was released on October 30, 2023. Some customers are already using the 4.0 version and are giving generally positive feedback, especially regarding performance. That’s why I would like to describe the upgrade path from 3.10.x to 4.0 in this blog post.

Before we start, I want to give you some basic upgrade paths, because you can only upgrade directly from 3.10.x to 4.0. If you are on an older release, you will need to upgrade in between.

Upgrade from any previous version to OpenManage Enterprise 3.10.

Upgrading to OpenManage Enterprise 3.10 directly from OpenManage Enterprise 3.9, 3.8.x, 3.7.x, 3.6.x, 3.5.x, 3.4.x, 3.3.x, 3.2.x, OpenManage Enterprise 3.1, OpenManage Enterprise 3.0, or OpenManage Enterprise Tech Release (1.0) directly is not supported.

1. Upgrade from OpenManage Enterprise 3.9 but first upgrade to version 3.9.2 before considering an upgrade to 3.10.
   • 3.9->3.9.2->3.10
2. OpenManage Enterprise versions 3.7.x or 3.8.x must first be upgraded to version 3.9, then to 3.9.2, before considering an upgrade to 3.10.
   • 3.7.x->3.9->3.9.2->3.10
   • 3.8.x->3.9->3.9.2->3.10
3. OpenManage Enterprise versions earlier than versions 3.7 must first be updated to version 3.9, then to 3.9.2, before considering an upgrade to 3.10.
   • 3.6.x->3.8->3.9->3.9.2->3.10
   • 3.5.x->3.7->3.9->3.9.2->3.10
   • 3.4.x->3.6.1->3.8->3.9->3.9.2->3.10
   • 3.3.x->3.5->3.7->3.9->3.9.2->3.10
   • 3.2.x->3.4->3.6.1->3.8->3.9->3.9.2->3.10
   • 3.1.x->3.3.1->3.5->3.7->3.9->3.9.2->3.10

OpenManage Enterprise – Tech Release version should be first upgraded to OpenManage Enterprise version 3.1.

Unlike previous versions, OME 4.0 does not offer an in-place upgrade from 3.10.x, but rather a transfer of existing data to a new instance of the appliance. Basically, there are 3 tasks for a successful upgrade:

1. Deploy a new instance of OME 4.0 virtual appliance (VMware, Hyper-V or KVM)
2. Migrate data from OME 3.10.x to OME 4.0
3. Decommission old OME 3.10.x virtual appliance

Allright let’s start with the Deployment of OME 4.0 in our VMware vSphere environment:

Hier kommen die OVA deployment bilder rein

After that open the virtual console of the freshly deployed appliance and change the Admin Password, set the Appliance Hostname and Networking Parameters so the OME 4.0 appliance can reach the OME 3.10 appliance.

!!! If you disable IPv6 in Networking Parameters; you have to reboot the appliance !!!

As soon as the appliance is available again, we log in via the browser using FQDN or IP.

You will be asked if you want to use the iDRAC password rotation feature in OME 4.0, in my upgrade scenario I will not enable it, what exactly happens you can read in the screenshot:

After clicking Next, you will get two options: a migration or a new deployment of OME 4.0, as we want to migrate, I select this option:

After you click on Finish, OME automatically switches to the Backup / Restore tab and then to Migrate In. The information from the source system is now required here, i.e. our OME 3.10 appliance:

We can answer Step 1 straight away, but of course it depends on your customer situation. In my case, I will continue with self-signed certificates. Otherwise you will have to upload the appropriate certificate:

In step 2, the connection data to the source system is also required:

As soon as we have entered and validated the credentials from the source system, the OME 4.0 appliance switches to import mode, i.e. it expects the data from the source system.

Now, let’s switch to our OME 3.10 appliance and go to Backup/Restore, Migrate, and then Migrate Out. Again, there are a few steps that need to be completed. Starting with the certificates:

We then ensure the access to the target system:

Next, click on the Red Bar for more details and you will see the OME Readiness Report is ongoing:

You can then run the import task on the new 4.0 OME appliance:

Of course, agreements and notices must be read and accepted in order to initiate the import operation:

Then it’s time for a coffee 😉 After the import, all data should be transferred from the old OME to the new one.

Migration is only required if you are upgrading from OME 3.10.x (CentOS-based) to OME 4.0 (SLES-based). In the future, in-place upgrades will be supported when upgrading (for example, from OME 4.0 to OME 4.1).

This transfer of existing OME data, such as discovered servers, deployment templates, policies, logs, and credentials, is accomplished through the migration feature built into OME. This migration wizard provides a step-by-step process to export data from the OME 3.10.x appliance and import it into a fresh OME 4.0 appliance. To migrate, you must have OME 4.0 installed and configured with a new IP address and administrator account. In addition, the existing OME 3.10.x and new OME 4.0 instances must be able to communicate over the network.

Sources: https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000175879/support-for-openmanage-enterprise#OME-Download
https://infohub.delltechnologies.com/en-US/p/upgrading-to-openmanage-enterprise-4-0/

This is it from this Blog Post, if you have any questions please use the comment section below. 🙂