DELL Technologies Unity Quarterly Support Highlights User Guide

DELL Technologies Unity Quarterly Support Highlights

Product Specifications

• Latest Unity OE Release: 5.3.1 (Oct 12, 2023)
• Recommended Drive Firmware Bundle: V20
• Run Time Hours: >11 million hours

Product Usage Instructions

Updating to the Latest Code or Target Code
Updating to the latest code or Target is crucial for enjoying enhanced functionality and security features. Follow the steps below to update your Dell Unity product:

1. Check the latest Unity OE release version and drive firmware bundle.
2. Use the Drive Firmware upgrade wizard in Unisphere to upgrade your drive firmware.
3. Regularly check for Unisphere alerts indicating new firmware availability.

Connectivity
To ensure continuous connectivity of your Unity Array, take action as older versions are retired:

• Stay aware of End of Service Life dates for Secure Remote Services (SRS) gateways.
• Opt-In for Remote Services Connectivity (RSC) to benefit from enhanced features.

Technical and Security Advisories
Stay updated with technical and security advisories to address potential issues:

• Upgrade to Unity OE version 5.1.3 or newer if running 5.1.X code to prevent Storage Processor panics.
• Update Secure Remote Services Virtual Edition to version 3.52 or later to avoid connectivity issues due to certificate expiry.
• Apply security updates for Dell Unity Family to address multiple component vulnerabilities.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• Q: Why is updating to the latest code important?
  A: Updating ensures access to new features, functionality, fixes, and security enhancements, enhancing the performance and security of your Dell Unity product.

• Q: How can I check for the latest drive firmware bundle?
  A: You can use the Drive Firmware upgrade wizard in Unisphere to check and install the latest drive firmware bundle recommended for your Dell Unity product.

Time to Upgrade?

Updating/Upgrading to the latest code or Target is very important.

• Customers on newer code enjoy greater functionality and fewer outages/service requests. Dell Unity OE Revision Matrix | Dell US
• Updating to code levels that have been released in the last 12 months ensures that you can take advantage of the newest features, functionality, fixes, and security enhancements.
• For Unity that means 5.3.1 or greater.
• Updating to the Latest Code OR Target Code ensures that you can take advantage of the newest features, functionality, fixes, and security enhancements.

Latest Code Released

Dell Unity Operating Environment (“Unity OE”) Minor Release 5.3.1 is the latest release for all Dell Unity (“Unity”) products. It was released on Oct 12, 2023. Please see the Release Notes for a full list of resolved issues. This OE version includes the latest drive firmware bundle, V20. Unity OE and drive firmware are customer upgradable.

Target Code

Dell Technologies has established Target Code for each product to ensure stable and reliable environments. Target Code is a specific code release that has successfully met specific criteria that enables it to be a highly trusted and recommended code release. Dell Technologies encourages customers to upgrade to a Target Code version to ensure a stable and reliable environment. If a customer requires features or enhancements that are provided by a newer version, the customer should upgrade to that version. The current Target version for all Unity models is 5.3.1.

Unity Operating Environment

Model| Code Family| Target Code| Run Time Hours
---|---|---|---
Table entries| 4.x and 5.x| 5.3.1| >11 million hours

Recommended Drive Firmware Bundle

The latest version of the drive firmware bundle is V20. Customers are advised to regularly update their drive firmware using the latest drive firmware bundle. Drive firmware is customer upgradable using the Drive Firmware upgrade wizard in Unisphere. You will see a Unisphere alert when new firmware is available for your specific drives. The wizard will download and install the latest firmware.
You can read the drive Firmware release notes here: 000021322

Connectivity

Your Action may be Required to Keep your Unity Array Connected as older versions are Retired!
Unity Connectivity: Please be aware of recent End of Service Life (EOSL) date for Secure Remote Services (SRS) gateways.

• Centralized SRS Gateway: Effective June 15, 2023, all versions of Secure Remote Services (SRS) Gateway have reached end of service life and has been replaced with Secure Connect Gateway (SCG). All customers should upgrade to SCG. Upon reaching end of service life, support for SRS (including remediation and mitigation of security vulnerabilities) has now been discontinued.

  • See KB 000188341 for the SRS update path, as multiple updates may be required to reach version 3.52 and then upgrade to SCG, depending on the current version.
  • This video shows how to upgrade from SRS 3.52 to SCG.
    See KB 000022755 for information on how to upgrade your Unity OE.

• Remote Secure Credential (RSC) is included starting in Unity OE 5.3.x. RSC provides a one-time passcode for Dell Authorized Service Engineers to remotely log in to Dell ISG Products.
  RSC is an Opt-In only capability. Given the significant benefit of having RSC enabled Dell encourages customers to Opt-In.

• uDoctor Package Available (KB 0000199799): If your Unity array is at Unity OE 5.3.0 and you are connected to Dell via Support Assist, you may have seen a notification of an available uDoctor package. When this package is installed at your direction, it will address the two issues described in KB 216765 and 216860.

• Direct Connect from Unity: Upgrade to Unity OE 5.3.0 or higher before Dec. 31, 2024, to avoid disconnection.

Technical Advisories and Security Advisories

The following Advisories were released in the last 1.5 years.

Unity: Storage Processors Running 5.1.X Code May Panic After 275-300 Days of Runtime (User Correctable)| Sep 21, 2023

DTA 195555

| Arrays with Continuous Availability (CA) enabled may experience Storage Processor (SP) panics after upgrading to 5.1.2

Resolution : Upgrade to Unity OE version 5.1.3 or newer

|

Apr 11, 2022

DTA 193441

| Secure Remote Services Virtual Edition: Versions 3.40 and earlier may lose connectivity or feature availability on January 31, 2023, as a result of certificate expiry

Resolution : Update the SRS version to 3.52 or upgrade to

Secure connect gateway 5.1 or later

|

Oct 06, 2022

Article ID| Dell Security Advisories| Date
DSA-2023-349| Security Update for Dell Unity Family, Dell EMC Unity All Flash

for Multiple Component Vulnerabilities

| Oct 16, 2023
DSA-2013-141| Unity VSA and Unity XT Security Update for Multiple

Vulnerability

| May 8, 2023
DSA-2023-034| Dell Unity, Dell UnityVSA, and Dell Unity XT Security Update for

Multiple Vulnerabilities

| Jan 30, 2023
DSA- 2022-209| Security Update for Multiple Vulnerabilities| June 12, 2023
DSA-2022-138| Security Update for a Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability| May 11, 2022
DSA-2022-021| Security Update for Multiple Vulnerabilities| Feb 14, 2023

Top Customer Viewed Knowledgebase Articles

The following Knowledgebase articles were frequently referenced in the previous 90 days:

000216765

| Dell Unity: Arrays running 5.3.0 code with SupportAssist enabled may

experience Storage Processor (SP) panics after ~2 months uptime (User Correctable)

000216667| Dell Unity: The EOL flag may be set on some SSD drives after being powered

on for over 6.8 years (Dell Correctable)

000216591| Dell Unity: Unisphere GUI and CLI via SSH are no longer accessible after

attempting to change DNS settings (Dell Correctable)

000216606| Dell Unity: Single SP Panic due to SPCv Controller crash (Dell Correctable)
000216879| Unity: How to Get the Fullname Path When Have the Shortname Path in

Version 8.3

000217629| Dell Unity: Unisphere event log, SNMP, and remote syslog are not updated

(Dell Correctable)

000217696| Dell Unity: How to solve VMFS datastore administrative issues after OE

upgrade. (User Correctable)

000216708| Dell Unity: How to force FTP server to use binary mode (User Correctable)
000218180| Dell EMC Unity: How to check and disable automatic drive firmware upgrade

(User Correctable)

New Knowledgebase Articles

The following is a partial list of the Knowledgebase articles that were created recently.

000196041

| Dell Unity: uemcli command does not show “[3] Accept and store”, and the SSL Certificate cannot be stored. (User Correctable)|

Feb 01, 2024

000212222

| Dell Unity: If STIG and User Account Settings are Both Enabled, Following Knowledge Base Article 22355 to Reset the Admin and Service Password by Pressing the NMI Button May Not Work (Dell correctable)|

Jan 22, 2024

000022638

| Dell EMC Unity: How to properly power down and power up the system. (User Correctable)|

Jan 08, 2024

000220765| Dell Unity: Is Unity affected by CVE-2023-45802?| Jan 02, 2024

000220581

| Dell Unity: Password reset for Unity SMB servers is failing on the domain controllers when using Kerberos authentication (Dell Correctable)|

Dec 19, 2023

000220538

| Dell Unity: How to disable MAC algorithms for SFTP-enabled NAS servers (User Correctable)|

Dec 17, 2023

000220002

| Dell Unity: Disk Pool Expansion Continues After Being Canceled Using UEMCLI (User Correctable)|

Nov 29, 2023

000219935

| Dell Unity: How to prepare Unity OE code for upgrade after staging it from CloudIQ|

Nov 28, 2023

000217943

| Dell Unity: NAS server (cifs/smb) Restricted group policy ‘members of’ is not applied when ‘members’ policy exists (User Correctable)|

Sep 23, 2023

000218663| PPDM NAS Unity reached snapshot limit, error code: ABNA0026.|

Oct 17, 2023

---|---|---
000218631| Dell Unity: Creating a Proxy NAS Server name that contains spaces fails (User Correctable)|

Oct 17, 2023

000218620

| SRM 4.10 :: Changing the “Performance polling period” value in

the Solution Pack UI for VNX/Unity does not change the value in vnxe-realtime- performance.xml

|

Oct 16, 2023

000218533| Dell Unity: Error 0x80070091 occurs when attempting to rename a nonempty folder in an FLR enabled file system (User Correctable)|

Oct 13, 2023

000218433| Dell Unity: Is Unity affected by CVE-2023-24998?| Oct 11, 2023
000218431| Dell Unity: Is Unity affected by CVE-2023-41080?| Oct 11, 2023
000218200| Dell Unity: How to enable and configure SupportAssist (User Correctable)|

Oct 03, 2023

000218180| Dell Unity: How to check and disable automatic drive firmware upgrade (User Correctable)| Oct 03, 2023

000218118

| Dell Unity: Lots of messages about soft quotas are logged in the output. (User Correctable)|

Sep 29, 2023

000218029

| Dell Unity: Regarding the behavior of Replication synchronization time shifting slightly from the RPO time. (User Correctable)|

Sep 27, 2023

000217943

| Dell Unity: NAS server (cifs/smb) Restricted group policy ‘members of’ is not applied when ‘members’ policy exists (User Correctable)|

Sep 23, 2023

Videos

ATTENTION: Before proceeding with any Storage Processor (SP) maintenance activity, please consult KB article 000196684 regarding Dell’s recommendation to disable write cache first

Watch Video
Drives| Replace a 2.5-inch drive in a 25-drive DAE| 2:50| Watch Video
Drives| Add an optional 3.5-inch drive to a 15- drive DAE| 1:14| Watch Video
Drives| Replace a 3.5-inch Drive in a 15-drive DAE| 2:50| Watch Video
Drives| Replace a DPE internal M.2 drive: Unity x00/F Series, x50/F Series, and 380/F| 3:28| Watch Video
Drives| Replace a DPE internal M.2 drive: Unity 480/F, 680/F, 880/F| 3:23| Watch Video
DAE| Add a 15-drive Disk Array Enclosure (DAE)| 2:16| Watch Video
DAE| Add a 25-drive DAE| 2:17| Watch Video
DAE| Replace a DAE enclosure| 5:16| Watch Video
Power Supply| Replace a Disk Processor Enclosure (DPE) Power Supply| 2:40| Watch Video
Power Supply| Replace a 25-drive DAE power supply with cooling Module| 1:32| Watch Video
Fan / Cooling| Replace a DPE cooling module: Unity x00/F Series, x50/F Series, and 380/F| 3:56| Watch Video
Fan / Cooling| Replace a DPE cooling module Unity 480/F, 680/F, 880/F| 3:03| Watch Video
I/O Module| Add an optional I/O module| 2:21| Watch Video
---|---|---|---
I/O Module| Replace a faulty I/O module| 2:20| Watch Video
Memory| Replace a DPE DIMM:

Unity x00/F Series, x50/F Series, and 380/F

| 3:00| Watch Video
Memory| Replace a DPE memory module Unity 480/F, 680/F, 880/F| 6:40| Watch Video
Embedded Module| Replace a faulty Embedded Module| 2:44| Watch Video
Port Card| Add a DPE 4-Port Card to the embedded module| 3:28| Watch Video
Link Control Card| Replace a Link Control Card (LCC) in a 15 Drive DAE| 3:47| Watch Video
Link Control Card| Replace a Link Control Card (LCC) in a 25 Drive DAE| 3:42| Watch Video
SFP+ Transceiver| Add a CNA (Converged Network Adapter) SFP+ (Small Form- factor Pluggable) transceiver| 4:10| Watch Video
SFP+ Transceiver| Replace an SFP+ transceiver| 2:39| Watch Video
Storage Processor| Replace a Storage Processor (SP)| 8:25| Watch Video
Quick Start – Install| DPE Quick Start: Unity x00/F Series, x50/F Series, and 380/F| 3:14| Watch Video
Quick Start – Install| DPE Quick Start: Unity 480/F, 680/F, 880/F Series| 2:56| Watch Video

End of Standard Support

The updated Dell Infrastructure Solutions Group Software Standard Support Policy is available here: KB 000206598.
These tables provide the upcoming hardware and OE software EOSS* dates for all Unity products:

Unity System End of Standard Support dates:

Unity Operating Environment software, Release dates and End of Standard Support dates:

EOSS = End of Standard Support. EOSS indicates the date after which standard technical support is no longer available. Post Standard Support for the hardware may be available after EOSS. Unity Operating Environment Software Release Notes can be found here:
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000126652/dell-emc-unity-info-hub- product-documents-and-information

CloudIQ – Users indicate that CloudIQ helps them resolve issues faster and save hours per week

• CloudIQ is the cloud native AIOps application included with Dell ProSupport and ProSupport Plus that monitors the health of Unity, Unity XT and other Dell systems and provides recommendations for remediation of issues. CloudIQ reports performance analytics including performance anomaly detection and impact, capacity analytics including anomaly detection and capacity full projections, inventory data, notification of systems needing updates, reclaimable storage and more. Users surveyed consistently indicate that CloudIQ helps them resolve issues faster and save hours per week.
• See KB 000067484 for instructions on Dell Unity: General procedures to onboard Unity arrays to CloudIQ.
• Learn more about CloudIQ at: https://www.dell.com/en-us/dt/solutions/cloudiq.htm

CloudIQ AIOps Monitoring & Analytics for Unity

NEWS: CloudIQ introduces performance forecasting for Unity systems

• Watch our storage expert explain CloudIQ here.
• Watch this CloudIQ Storage Performance and other demos listed below.

New CloudIQ features for Unity

• Performance Forecasting
• Improved Performance Metrics for File Systems
• Powered-Off Virtual Machines in Reclaimable Storage

CloudIQ also now provides Optical Failure Prediction and Congestion Spreading Detection for Connectrix Storage Area Network Switches.
Read this for more details CloudIQ New Feature List January 1, 2022 – May 3, 2023.

About CloudIQ Health Monitoring & Analytics
CloudIQ is the cloud-native application included with Dell ProSupport and ProSupport Plus that monitors Unity and other Dell storage, as well as Dell server, network and hyperconverged infrastructure systems.

CloudIQ reports storage:

• Health scores and recommended remediation
• Performance analytics including anomalies and impact
• Capacity analytics and capacity full projections
• Reclaimable storage
• Inventory data and more.

Users surveyed consistently indicate that CloudIQ helps them resolve issues faster and save hours per week. See KB# 000067484 for how to onboard CloudIQ for your Unity systems. See these short demo videos: CloudIQ Home Page CloudIQ Storage Performance CloudIQ Storage Capacity
Learn more at https://www.dell.com/en-us/dt/solutions/cloudiq.htm

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  Published Feb 2024

• Dell believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date.

• The information is subject to change without notice.

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