These procedures describe how to prepare and update firmware and drivers on an Azure Stack HCI cluster manually.

Preparing for maintenance operations

Use the following PowerShell commands to ensure that all the requirements are met before proceeding with the maintenance operation of an AX node in an Azure Stack HCI cluster. These steps ensure that all the requirements are met and that no faults exist before placing an AX node into maintenance mode.

Verify that all nodes in the cluster are available, run the Get-clusternode command.
Verify that all cluster networks are available, run the Get-ClusterNetwork command.
Verify that the cluster status is healthy. Run the following commands:
- Get-ClusterS2D
- Get-StoragePool
- Get-StorageSubSystem -FriendlyName *Cluster* | Get-StorageHealthReport
Verify that all the physical and virtual drives are healthy. Run the following commands:
- Get-physicaldisk
- Get-virtualdisks
Run the Get-storagejob command to verify that no back-end repair jobs are running.

Placing an AX node in maintenance mode

After ensuring that the prerequisites are met and before performing the platform updates, place the AX node in maintenance mode (pause and drain). You can move roles or VMs and gracefully flush and commit data in the AX node.

Run the following command to put the node in maintenance mode (pause and drain). Verify that all the roles and virtual drives are drained properly and operational in other nodes after they are moved:
```
Suspend-ClusterNode -name “Hostname” -Drain
```

Place the target node in maintenance mode:

Get-StorageFaultDomain -type StorageScaleUnit | Where-Object {$_.FriendlyName -eq "<Hostname>"} | Enable-StorageMaintenanceMode

Run the Get-PhysicalDisk command and ensure that the Operational Status value is in maintenance mode for the drives that belong to that server.
You can also run the following command and verify that the drives all belong to the paused node:
```
Get-Storagepool -IsPrimordial 0 |Get-PhysicalDisk | ? operationalstatus -eq 'In Maintenance Mode' |Get-StorageNode -PhysicallyConnected
```
Turn off the System Lockdown mode.
Suspend BitLocker if enabled using the following command.
```
Suspend-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:" -RebootCount 0
```

Obtaining the firmware catalog for AX nodes or Ready Nodes using Dell Repository Manager

For a qualified set of firmware and drivers for AX nodes or Ready Nodes, Dell Technologies recommends that you use an Azure Stack HCI catalog.

You can generate the firmware catalog along with the firmware and drivers by using Dell Repository Manager (DRM) and copy it to a shared path.

Install DRM version 3.0.1.423 or later.
On the DRM home page, click the Dell EMC Repository Manager drop-down list.
In the Manage section, click Application Preferences.
The Preferences window is displayed.
Click Plug-ins.
Select all the plug-ins and click Update.
A message is displayed about the successful completion of the update.
Click Catalogs.
Select all the catalogs and click Update.
Click Close to close the Preferences window.
On the home page, click Add Repository.
The Add Repository window is displayed.
Enter the Repository name and Description.
Select Index Catalog-<version> from the Base Catalog drop-down menu.
Select Update Catalog for Microsoft HCI Solutions from the Catalog Group.
Select the latest catalog from the Catalogs section.
Click Save.
The Update Catalog for Microsoft HCI Solutions is populated in the Base Catalog section.
In the Manual Repository Type, click All systems in base catalog and then click Add.
The repository is displayed on the repository dashboard available in the home page.
Select the repository and click Export.
The Export Deployment Tools window is displayed.
Select the location to export files and click Export.
The files are exported to the specified location.

Updating the AX node by using iDRAC out of band

Updating the out-of-box drivers

Exiting the AX node from maintenance mode

After updating the AX node, exit the storage maintenance mode and node maintenance mode by running the following commands:

Get-StorageFaultDomain -type StorageScaleUnit | Where-Object {$_.FriendlyName -eq "<Hostname>"} | Disable-StorageMaintenanceMode

Resume-ClusterNode -Name “Hostname” -Failback Immediate

Resume-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:"

These commands initiate the operation of rebuilding and rebalancing the data to ensure load balancing.

For the remaining cluster nodes, repeat the preceding procedures for conducting maintenance operations.

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