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The Dell Unity operating environment, or OE, refers to the software running on the Dell Unity All Flash, Hybrid, or UnityVSA system. Nondisruptive upgrades to a newer version of the Dell Unity OE are supported on all physical Dell Unity systems and Dell UnityVSA HA. This is accomplished by upgrading one SP at a time and ensuring that all resources are running on the SP not undergoing the upgrade. Upgrading to a newer version of Dell Unity OE provides access to all new functionality that is supported on that system, and is easily initiated and monitored through Unisphere, UEMCLI, or REST API.
The Dell Unity OE version software scheme breaks the version number into either four or six separate fields, depending on the major version. Fields are separated by a period. In versions up to 4.4, there are four fields (ex: 4.3.1.1525703027). From left to right, the first field indicates the major release number, the second indicates the minor release number, the third indicates the service pack number, and the fourth field indicates the build iterator.
In Dell Unity OE version 4.5 and later, the number scheme to track different versions has been changed, making it easier to identify a certain build. The version number is now broken into six fields. The following table defines each field and provides an example of build 4.5.0.0.5.009:
Field # | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Value | Major release number | Minor release number | Service pack number | Branch version identifier | Distribution type | Three-digit iterator |
Example | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 009 |
The two primary changes are the addition of a branch version identifier and distribution type field. The branch version identifier will be 0 for any customer deliverable branch, and some value 1 through 9 for internal domain or development builds. The distribution type represents four different distribution possibilities:
For physical systems when upgrading to Dell Unity OE version 5.0 and later, the drive firmware bundle is included in the OE upgrade package downloaded from Dell Support. The drive firmware package will be staged within the system as part of the upgrade process. The drive firmware bundle will still be available as a separate download. The software OE and drive firmware upgrade operations through Unisphere and Unisphere CLI remain the same. If the system was upgraded using an OE upgrade package that includes a drive firmware bundle, the user is prompted to upgrade any drives which are not running the latest firmware. For which case, the user can opt out and skip the drive firmware upgrade operation or proceed with the Upgrade Drive Firmware wizard as it is automatically opened.
In Dell Unity OE 5.3 and later, the system periodically checks for any drives running lower revision firmware than the last accepted and runs the Online Disk Firmware Upgrade (ODFU) package on the system. This process is referred to as Periodic ODFU and is designed to address any drives that have been added or replaced in the system that may be running on out-of-date drive firmware.