DELL Custom Update Catalog 2.12 Release Notes for Support Assist v3.3 User Manual

DELL Custom Update Catalog 2.12 Release Notes for Support Assist v3.3

Notes, cautions, and warnings

• NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product.
• CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem.
• WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.

Dell Custom Update Catalog Release Notes

The custom update catalog feature is a cloud-based application. The feature allows IT administrators to create and manage one or more custom catalogs for updates to the Dell client systems within their environment. System updates include updates to drivers, firmware, BIOS, and some Dell applications.
For IT teams spread across multiple offices, work environments, and time zones, the console for update catalogs provides a centralized library of saved custom catalogs. IT teams can collaborate and access shared catalogs regardless of location, saving time and effort and ensuring consistency in the update process.
For documentation on custom update catalogs, see SupportAssist for Business PCs and select one of these documents:

• SupportAssist for Business PCs with Windows OS Administrator Guide
  • Set PC Resource to Custom update catalog – See chapter 11.
  • Custom catalogs for your PC fleet – See chapter 6.
• SupportAssist for Business PCs with Windows OS Release Notes

For a detailed overview of custom catalogs and documentation, see Reference > Custom update catalog options.

Previous product name
As of October 11, 2021, the Dell Command | Cloud Repository Manager product is replaced with the Update catalogs feature. Within Dell TechDirect, this feature is part of the Manage PC Fleet > Connect and manage PCs > Manage workflow.

New features and known issues – January 30, 2023

v3.3.1.93 SupportAssist update catalogs and v2.12 update catalogs
New features

Manage catalog page

• Invalid characters in a catalog name can result in a download error for the .zip file that contains the catalog. Therefore, invalid characters in catalog names are not permitted when the administrator creates a catalog or selects Edit Definition > Edit Catalog.

Edit components page – filters pane

• When a catalog contains a single model, the Model Names filter is not necessary so does not display.

Fixed issues

Edit components page

• When Newly Available or Discontinued items exist, the What’s New filter is expanded. [DCRM-5353]

New features and known issues – December 5, 2022

v3.3.1.93 SupportAssist update catalogs and v2.11 update catalogs
New features

Manage catalog page

• In 2.11 and higher, for security purposes, the update catalog feature supports signed CAB files. When the Cab Creation in Zip feature is enabled, the extracted .zip file of a downloaded Production catalog also contains a .cab file.

Fixed issues

Manage catalog page

• An issue is fixed so that if a Draft, Test, and Production version exists and the administrator creates a new draft, the Last Modified Date column updates the date only for the Draft version.

Edit components page

• For the Discontinued filter, improved filtering resolved an issue so that unrelated suggestions for alternative options no longer display. The issue occurred with Intel Manageability and Security Status Application and Intel HID Event Filter Driver.
• For Production catalogs and the Latest filter, an issue is resolved with Dell Command | Configure and Dell Command |Monitor. If the catalog has two or more versions of the drivers or hardware, sometimes both versions are starred as the latest. At times, only one item is starred. If both are starred, the administrator can select both. Dell Command | Update determines the correct hardware and applies the correct version to that hardware.

New features and known issues – November 7, 2022

v3.3 SupportAssist update catalogs and v2.10 update catalogs
New features

Manage catalog page

• When the administrator clicks a notification icon and a dialog opens, a field displays beneath newly available or discontinued items only if components changed in that area.

Edit components page – filters pane

• Filters in the left pane have an expand and collapse arrow.
  • Component Display and Version filters are expanded by default.
  • Newly available and Discontinued filters are collapsed by default when the number of components is 0.
  • All other filters are in a collapsed state by default.
  • Tooltips display when a user hovers over a filter. A tooltip displays for the contents of Update Type only when check boxes are selected.u

Fixed issues

Edit components page

• For the Model Names filter in the left pane, the All check box has been removed. This removal resolves an issue after a Search where selecting one check box, all were selected. [DCRM-5275]
• An issue is resolved when an administrator filters with BIOS. In the Name column, dependencies for a model consistently display. [DCRM-5229]
• When a catalog has multiple models and the filter indicates a discontinued BIOS, the Name column no longer displays an unrelated BIOS component as an alternative to the discontinued BIOS. [DCRM-5230]

New features and known issues – October 10, 2022

v3.3 SupportAssist update catalogs and v2.9 update catalogs
New features

Edit components page – filters pane

• The filters pane now has a category for Model Names. The dropdown arrow displays the list of models for that catalog.

  • The administrator can select the check boxes for one or more models to view and edit the components for those models only.
    NOTE: If you plan to modify or delete components for that selected model, confirm whether it affects any other models.

  • Update in v2.10: The All check box has been removed due to some issues. Another option is in development.

  • A Search field also displays after the administrator selects the dropdown arrow.

  • As the administrator selects check boxes, the model names display beneath the filter category and a number increments for the models selected. Hovering over the number displays the names of the selected models .

• For consistency with other Dell Technologies products, the Criticality filter category is renamed to Importance.

Fixed issues

• On the Manage Catalogs page, an issue is fixed with the notification icons for out-of-sync catalogs. Previously, the screen for newly available or discontinued software components was cut off for the first catalog. Now the entire screen displays, allowing the administrator to close the screen (X). [DCRM-5208]

New features and known issues – September 12, 2022

v3.3 SupportAssist update catalogs and v2.8 update catalogs
New features

Update catalog page
With a new sync of an existing catalog, a notification icon ( ) displays next to the catalog definition name if the catalog has newly available or discontinued software components. For detailed information, see Reference > Notification icons for out-of-sync catalogs.

Deploying a catalog manually

• The -o command (combine <combinedXml.xml>) in the readme.txt file and command-line help text now lists an example for combining multiple catalogs:
  Update.Maker.exe -b c:\myDirectory -o combinedXml.xml

Fixed issues

• On the Edit components page, the Name column for the Discontinued filter no longer has a down arrow if no alternate components exist. [DCRM-5130]

New features and known issues – August 15, 2022

v3.2.0.87 SupportAssist update catalogs and v2.7 update catalogs

New features

Edit components page

• The Show More links for Models and Operating Systems now have two options:

  • Hover over the link to view the complete lists.
  • Click the link for a dialog to open with the list.
    When you click the Show More link, the number of items displays in parentheses. A link displays for Copy to Clipboard.

• For v2.6 and later, when the Discontinued filter in the left pane indicates a number in parentheses, select that check box. An arrow (>) displays next to each disabled component in the Name column.

  1. Expand the arrow (>), and a list of alternative components displays alphabetically based on similar component IDs. The latest components in the list have stars next to the name, which are recommended to select.
     If the fleet has more than one model or operating system with different component IDs, multiple starred components may display in the list.

  2. Select the alternative components to replace discontinued ones.

  3. Click Save when done.
     NOTE: For v2.5 and earlier, discontinued entries in the Name column have a down arrow but no alternative components.

Fixed issues

• For Edit Definition > Edit Catalog screen > Model Selection, the duplication of model names, such as OptiPlex OptiPlex or Latitude Latitude, has been fixed. Only the single model name displays. [DCRM-4883]

New features and known issues – July 18, 2022

v3.2.0.87 SupportAssist update catalogs and v2.6 update catalogs

New features

Edit components page

• The left pane contains an additional DriverPack ID filter that allows the IT administrator to enter one or more DriverPack IDs instead of a list of Release IDs. Delimiters include comma, semicolon, and space.

  • The Name column displays only the software components associated with the Release IDs in those Driver Packs.
  • In the Type column, IT administrators can hover over the Driver entry where a tooltip displays the name of the specific DriverPack ID. If the software component belongs to multiple DriverPacks, the tooltip displays mutiple IDs.
  • Some Release IDs have no associated software components. If so, a yellow triangle warning icon displays, and a dialog lists those missing Release IDs. A Copy to Clipboard link in the dialog allows the administrator to copy the missing Release IDs to compare with their expected list.
    Possible reasons for missing Release IDs: DriverPacks may contain some older Release IDs that no longer exist in eSupport (dell.com/support). Some Release IDs may be for utilities or other data, not software components.

• When an IT administrator clicks Save but has not selected all the latest component versions marked by stars, the Save dialog now has an additional statement to notify the administrator. When this additional statement is included, a warning icon displays within the dialog to highlight it. If necessary, the administrator can confirm that the older version of the component is intended rather than the starred, latest version.

Update Catalog Makers tool for manually deployed catalogs

• The tool has an additional executable command (-o) that allows the IT administrator to combine the .xml files from two or more downloaded catalogs to result in one catalog. When an enterprise has two or more device models that share the same software bundles, the administrator may want to select all the latest bundles for one device model but not for the others. Therefore, the administrator would create separate catalogs to deselect some software bundles for the other models. After downloading the catalogs, the administrator can specify -o in the UpdateCatalogs.Maker.exe. The .exe stacks the .xml files to combine the catalogs.

New features and known issues – June 20, 2022

v3.2.0.87 SupportAssist update catalogs and v2.5 update catalogs

New features

• When the administrator selects the 80th model, a dialog displays that the limit has been reached. To include more models, the administrator must create another catolog.
• For Dell Command Update, administrators must use the default folder structure, which is defined by the .xml. However, the folder names do not easily identify the content. For a third party, type -n to use a single folder structure and to see descriptive names within.

Known issues
Table 1. Latest filter does not display for duplicate versions of software bundles

Description| When using the Latest filter on the Edit components page, occasionally two software bundles have the same version. Therefore, the grid may not indicate which of the two is the latest.
---|---
Workaround| None
Tracking number| DCRM-4687
Version affected| 3.2.0.87

New features and known issues – May 23, 2022

v3.2.0.87 SupportAssist update catalogs and v2.4 update catalog feature

New v2.4 features

Edit catalog page – SupportAssist and Models

• The filters pane contains a search field for Release IDs, allowing the administrator to enter a list of multiple Release IDs, separated by colon, semicolon, or space. The Name column displays only the software components that are associated with those Release IDs. If Release IDs have no associated software components, a yellow triangle warning icon displays, and a dialog lists those missing Release IDs. A Copy to Clipboard link in the dialog allows the administrator to copy the missing IDs to compare with the original list. If the administrator pulled the Release IDs from a driver pack on the support site, some Release IDs may be for utilities or other data, not software components.
• When an administrator selects the Newly Available filter, software components that are new since the previous catalog refresh are highlighted in addition to having the check boxes selected.
• For the Latest filter, the Name column displays a star icon with tooltip next to components are the Latest.

Model only

• For older update catalogs created with Dell Command | Cloud Repository Manager, an administrator can now select Edit Definition and add another model.

New features and known issues – April 25, 2022

v3.2.0.87 SupportAssist update catalogs and v2.3 update catalog feature

New features

Edit components page

• All filter options list the number count in parentheses. The count changes as the administrator modifies the filters.
• What’s New filter – When creating a Draft or Test from an existing Production catalog, the administrator can see which software components are new or have been discontinued since the Production catalog was previously refreshed or created. The administrator can select one or both filters.
  • New Availability – New software components that are now available when a Draft or Test version is created from an existing Production catalog.
  • Discontinued – Components that are no longer available since the previous version of the catalog. These components display as gray.
    NOTE: This filter was previously named Removed and was under the Component Display list.

Fixed issues

• An issue is resolved so that catalog creation for Latitude 3420 and Latitude 3520 models takes about two minutes or less, not up to 6-12 minutes. [DCRM-3483, DCRM 4505]

New features and known issues – March 28, 2022

v3.2.0.0 SupportAssist update catalogs and v2.2 DCCRM

New features

Edit components page

• Sorting on the Edit components page has been refined to improve usability, particularly for components that have multiple instances. This feature simplifies version selection for administrators.
  • Default sort
  • Name column lists components alphabetically.
  • For multiple instances of a component, the Release Date column lists the most recent date and then in descending order.
  • Click the Release Date column to focus on all the recently added components.
  • The column begins with most recent date and then lists in descending order.
  • For components with the same dates, the Name column lists them alphabetically.
  • Click the Criticality column to group by those filters.
  • Critical filters display first, and then Recommended followed by Optional.
  • Within each filter group, components are listed in alphabetical order.
  • If two or more component names are the same, the column lists options by Release Date with the most recent first.
  • Click the Type column to group components by type.
  • Within each Type filter, components are listed in alphabetical order.
  • If two or more component names are the same, the sort is by Release Date in descending order.

Manual catalogs

• For manual catalogs, administrators can now add up to eighty models to a catalog rather than the forty model limit. Administrators with larger numbers of models can create one catalog for their fleet.

Fixed issues

• Resolved caching issue that kept users from seeing newly launched features on a launch day.

New features and known issues – February 28, 2022

v3.2.0.0 SupportAssist update catalogs and v2.1 DCCRM

New features

• For the update catalogs feature, when the administrator creates a catalog with the Update Catalog or Criticality filters, the tool preselects the latest components rather than all versions of the component.

• A new Version filter on the Edit components page allows the administrator to select options so that the Latest, Recent, or Older versions of the components display.

• To improve readability, the update catalog feature now sorts the lists of models and operating systems. Within each list, it sorts models alphabetically and sorts operating systems by release date.

• These features occur on the catalog components page:

  • Performance in loading time has improved when selecting to edit a catalog or when applying a filter.
  • Pagination allows the administrator to display up to five hundred components per page. The default is fifty per page.
  • The check box toggle on the header that selects all the check boxes now selects the check boxes on multiple pages not just the current page.
  • Columns for Criticality and Release Date have an option for sort behavior. Sorting the Criticality column groups the options in order of importance. Clicking again lists each category in ascending order.
  • Tooltips are added for filters under Component Display and Criticality.
  • IntelligentService sync should validate xml can be parsed.
    The intelligentservice should verify before putting the software component xml into the database that it can be parsed and is valid.
    If it is not valid we should log and not put that software component in the Database.

• Support has been added for channel partners within customer tenant accounts.

Known issues
Table 2. Update catalog feature currently does not supprot Utilities or INF- based chipset software

Description| Updates to utilities and INF-based chipset software are not supported through custom update catalogs or SupportAssist recommended updates.
---|---
Workaround| Download utilities and INF-based chipset software from dell.com/support.
Tracking number| DCRM-2404, DCRM-4435
Version affected| 3.1

Table 3. Catalog creation delayed

Description| In some instances, catalog creation for Latitude 3420 and Latitude 3520 models could take up to 6-12 minutes.
---|---
Workaround| None
Tracking number| DCRM-3483
Version affected| 3.1 and later

Fixed issues

• Earlier versions of a catalog in the Download Ready state no longer require a refresh. Clicking Download works as expected. DCRM-3539

New features and known issues – January 2022

v3.1.1.18 SupportAssist update catalogs and v2.0 DCCRM

New features

• These features occur on the catalog components page:
  • Performance in loading time has improved when selecting to edit a catalog or when applying a filter.
  • A menu on the bottom right allows the administrator to display up to five hundred components per page. The default is fifty per page.
  • The check box toggle on the header that selects all the check boxes now selects the check boxes on multiple pages not just the current page.
  • Columns for Criticality and Release Date have an option for sort behavior. Sorting the Criticality column groups the options in order of importance. Clicking again lists each category in ascending order.
  • Tooltips are added for filters under Component Display and Criticality.

Known issues

• In Command Prompt for downloading a catalog, the command-line example for -c should be -c “catalog.xml”. The example in the Readme is correct. [DCRM-1813]
• The update catalog feature does not support Utilities or INF-based chipset software, which can be found on e-Support
  (dell.com/support). The current workaround is to download those updates from e-Support and deploy outside of the existing Dell deployment options, including SupportAssist and Dell Command Update. [DCRM-2404, DCRM-4435]

Fixed issues

• This release has no fixed issues.

This section provides an overview of the options for the custom update catalog. It also provides details on some of the features.

Custom update catalog options

This section provides an overview of the options for custom update catalogs.

Set PC update source
To use the Update catalogs feature, be sure that the resource is set to custom update catalogs. See Connect and manage > Manage PC fleet > Connect and manage PCs > Manage > Settings and select Custom catalog updates.

NOTE: If you have SupportAssist installed and have ProSupport Plus or ProSupport Flex service plan and want to deploy remotely, you can download the updates to a specified network location. If so, select the check box and specify the network location.
For more information, see chapter 11 of the SupportAssist for Business PCs with Windows OS Administrator Guide.
NOTE: If you select Dell recommended updates, see chapter 5. You must be connected to Dell, have SupportAssist installed, and have ProSupport Plus or ProSupport Flex. In this case, SupportAssist provides more automated options for creating, managing, and deploying catalogs.

Custom update catalog options
This table lists different variants of custom update catalogs based on your service plan and PC connection to Dell Technologies. Chapter six of the SupportAssist for Business PCs with Windows OS Administrator Guide explains how to use this feature and is available at SupportAssist for Business PCs. This table also describes which part of chapter six applies to each option.

●        Connected to Dell

●        SupportAssist installed

●        ProSupport Plus or ProSupport Flex service plan

| Product series Fleet

Model

| Do one of these options:

●        Deploy remotely. Click the Deploy catalog button at top.

●        Deploy manually.

| Managing catalogs for PCs connected to Dell

One of these sections:

●       Deploy a catalog remotely and Download updates to the network location

Or

●       Deploy a catalog manually

●        Connected to Dell

●        SupportAssist installed

●        Basic or ProSupport service plan

| Model| Deploy manually.| Managing catalogs for PCs connected to Dell

Deploy a catalog manually

●        Not connected to Dell

●        SupportAssist not installed

●        Basic, ProSupport, ProSupport Plus, or ProSupport Flex service plan

| Model| Deploy manually.| Managing catalogs for PCs

not connected to Dell Deploy a catalog manually

Notification icons for out-of-sync catalogs

With a new sync of an existing catalog, a notification icon ( ) displays next to the catalog definition name if the catalog has newly available or discontinued software components.

1. Expand the catalog definition.
   A notification icon also displays next to the Draft, Test, or Production version that is now out of sync.

2. Click the notification icon next to the version to view a screen with fields for new and discontinued components. For each field, the total number displays in parentheses and a list of the specific components.

3. Follow these steps based on the version with the notification icon.

Draft

NOTE: The Draft is a snapshot of the catalog definition. It contains the drivers and software components that were available at the time the administrator created the catalog.

| a.      Do one of these options:

●        On the Draft version, click

Delete , and then create a new catalog.

NOTE: You have to select software components again.

Or

●        To maintain the original components in the draft, click   > Change to Test. On Test, click  > Create Draft.

The notification icons are cleared. Continue to step b.

b.      On the new Draft version, click  > Edit Draft.

c.      Go to step 4.

Test or Production

NOTE: The newly available or discontinued software components do not actually display in the current Test or Production.

• a. For the version that has the notification icon, click > Create Draft. The notification icons are cleared.
• b. Next to the new Draft version, click > Edit Draft.
• c. Go to step 4.
• 4. On the Edit components page, click the New Availability or Discontinued filters that have a number in parentheses.
  • a. For the New Availability filter, components display that are new since the last sync. If components of the same type display, the latest have stars next to the name.
  • b. For Discontinued, expand the arrow (>) next to any unavailable components. A list of alternate components displays alphabetically based on similar component IDs. The latest components in the list have stars next to the name.
• 5. Determine which new components to select or which discontinued ones to replace.
  • Sometimes, you will select the starred components since they are the latest. Occasionally, an earlier version of the component is best for some devices in your enterprise.
  • Multiple starred components in the lists may occur if different models in that fleet have a new or discontinued component. In that case, determine if you should select several starred components.
• 6. Save the Edit components page.

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