This article explains the process of manually creating an environment -- without the help of an Internet connection -- ready to use Patch for Dell Servers 6.2. There was an older version for 6.1 that automated the updates of patches but this guide goes through setting up the relevant folders and making the system ready to deploy the patch agent and push Dell patches for version 6.2 of Patch for Dell Servers.
Note: You must have Notification Server Service Pack 3 Release 4 and the Patch for Dell Servers installed.
For this to work you must seed a Notification Server that has both Release 4 and Patch for Dell servers installed and has a connection to the Internet. Follow the normal installation methods for downloading the Dellpmimport.cab file, and go through and stage as many bulletins as needed. This will probably take a while to stage several Dell updates but it must be done. If you stage as many bulletins as possible you will have more patch updates to use on the new Notification Server system without the Internet connection but the download or staging process will take much longer. You can also install Patch for Windows 6.2 and stage regular Microsoft and Windows patches if you want to manage patches outside of Dell Servers.
The article is broken down into 5 stages, listed below.
Step 1. Copy needed files off Seeded Notification Server
Step 2. Install Patch for Dell servers on machine without an Internet connection.
Step 3. Configure the Server to run from a local location for patch updates.
Step 4. Import the cab files.
Step 5. Staging Dell server bulletins.
Step 1. Copy needed files off seeded Notification Server.
Once you have a Notification Server with Patch for Dell servers installed you need to copy several files off your Notification Server ready to transfer onto the Notification Server without an Internet connection. Browse to the c:\Program Files\Altiris\Patch Management folder and copy the following:
Under the Download folder, copy DellComputerHardware.cab and DellInvTool.cab files.
Under the Import folder, copy the DellComputerHardware folder and contents.
Under the Packages folder copy both folders called DellInvAgent and Updates.
These files need to be copied off your seeded Notification Server and will be transferred over to the new machine once the install has been done. Keep these files handy as you will need them in Step 3.
Step 2. Install Patch for Dell Servers onto machine without Internet connection.
Install the Notification Server, release 4 of Service Pack 3 and Patch for Dell Servers. This guide uses the Altiris console 6.5 so you should also install the console update. You may also want to install Patch for windows so that you can show managing patches for windows OS and applications under the same section. The files downloaded by Patch for Windows are not needed for this Patch for Dell installation. Once you complete the install you can move on to Step 3.
Step 3. Configure the Server to run from a local location for patch updates.
By default when Patch management tries to download cab files and updates, it will connect to the Internet. This step will set your Notification Server to look for a local path for the files rather than going through the Internet. On the Notification Server with no Internet connection, click on start > run and type regedit. Browse to the HKey_local_machine\software\altiris\patch management section and in the right hand pane right click and create a new string value.
Enter the name as DisableSoftwareUpdateWebfileCheck.
Right click and select Modify. For the key value enter the value as 'True'. This should now stop the Patch management solution trying to go to the Internet while updating patches. See picture below for example.
Now copy the files you copied off the seeded Notification Server in Step 1 and copy those files back to the same place in the new Notification Server. If the folder does not exist simply create a new folder where it should be. This step must be done before you run any import tasks from the Altiris console.
Step 4. Import the cab files.
Open the Notification Server, if you are using the Altiris console 6.5 go to View > Solutions >Patch Management. Expand Configuration > Server settings > Dell Settings >Windows and click on Dell Patch Management Import. If you are using the 6.0 console you will need to go to the configuration tab and then browse from Solutions > Software Management > Patch for the same page.
Replace the location field with the location on your c drive where the pmimport_Dell.cab file was copied to (see image above). Click on apply, and then right click and select 'Start Download Task'. This will run the import from the local location rather than from the Internet.
This process may take some time to complete so be prepared to wait. It is a good idea not to select 'close window when task is complete' so that you can see what stage the PM import is at. Repeat this task with the Hardware Inventory Collector with the same process used for the pmimport_Dell.cab file documented above. This process does not take as long as the PM import.
Once both of the imports have completed a good way to check to make sure the import process has completed successfully is to go to Tasks > Manage Software Updates and select Dell from the Vendor drop down. Click on refresh and you should see a list of Dell specific bulletins available for download.
Step 5. Staging Dell server bulletins.
The next step is to 'stage' some bulletins. These bulletins are already on your system as they were copied in Step 3 but they have not been detected yet. If you look at the downloaded column you will notice that each bulletin has a value of 0. Select a number of bulletins and right click and select Stage. This process may take a while depending on how many bulletins are selected. You can hold down the shift or control key and select multiple bulletins or you can stage them individually.
Once this process completes, refresh the page and you should now see that the Downloaded section should be either the same as or close to the same total as the updates section. If the number is not the same it may be down to the Patch management solution not being able to gather the patch update files from the Dell downloads website. A patch update may have been removed or has a broken link on the Dell website.
Before you can begin to deploy your Dell bulletins to your Dell servers you must deploy the Altiris agent to your Dell Servers and also enable the relevant policies to discovery and run inventory rules on the Dell servers. You can enable these policies under the Configuration > Windows section of the Patch management Solution. There are a number of discovery and inventory policies to enable which will discovery each of your Dell servers and work out which level of compliance they are at based on the Dell update packages published by Dell.
This guide will not go into how to deploy the Altiris agent or enable patch policies. To find out instructions for these please refer to the user guides for the Patch for Dell Servers Solution.
Once these policies have run on the managed servers you should now be in a position to start deploying the updates to Dell Servers.
When new patches are released from Dell, Altiris will create a new pmimport_Dell.cab file. To continue to keep the offline patch Notification Server up to date you will need to update this file to make sure the latest patches are included within the bulletin list. Once you download the latest pmimport_Dell.cab file you will need to repeat Step 4 described above to re import the cab file with the latest bulletin updates.