KBOX 1000 Dell BIOS Management Best-Practices?
In a stroke of dumb luck we decided to standardize our client machines as Dell Opti960's and LatE6500's last summer and we picked up our KACE appliance at the beginning of this year. With that in mind you'd think that the two machines would work together like they were old friends, only not so much.
For some reason or another, the KBOX does not want to update the BIOS on any of our Dell's. I am thinking that it may relate to the system password we have in place to prevent our users for inadvertently changing any settings, but if that is the case wouldn't there be an text area to supply the password for the installation?
Keep in mind that the KBOX Dell Inventory sees that an update is available (A05 to A06 for example) and lists it as Recommended. The agent even attempts installation but fails after the third attempt. There isn't, as far as I can tell, a Reset Patch Tries button for the Dell updates even if I wanted to bang my head against the wall and see if something different would occur.
I resorted to using the Dell Client Configuration Utility to package BIOS Updates and Settings changes (with the idea I would push them out through KACE Deployment), but even that isn't behaving as it should. Even after a successful installation the KBOX lists the deployment as Failed (obviously a work around would be to set the retry number to 1, but that is hardly a solution).
Has anybody else had this type of issue and found a workaround to it? Thank you!
For some reason or another, the KBOX does not want to update the BIOS on any of our Dell's. I am thinking that it may relate to the system password we have in place to prevent our users for inadvertently changing any settings, but if that is the case wouldn't there be an text area to supply the password for the installation?
Keep in mind that the KBOX Dell Inventory sees that an update is available (A05 to A06 for example) and lists it as Recommended. The agent even attempts installation but fails after the third attempt. There isn't, as far as I can tell, a Reset Patch Tries button for the Dell updates even if I wanted to bang my head against the wall and see if something different would occur.
I resorted to using the Dell Client Configuration Utility to package BIOS Updates and Settings changes (with the idea I would push them out through KACE Deployment), but even that isn't behaving as it should. Even after a successful installation the KBOX lists the deployment as Failed (obviously a work around would be to set the retry number to 1, but that is hardly a solution).
Has anybody else had this type of issue and found a workaround to it? Thank you!
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Posted by:
ccuttriss
14 years ago
(un)Fortunately the BIOS update was successful with the password removed. This hardly solves the problem of course, as it boggles my mind that the almighty KBOX can't deal with a simple BIOS password where as the dinky DCCU can not only take the password, but also package BIOS settings in XML through a simple .EXE. Here's to hoping, I suppose, that in the Fall update there is a significant shift towards integrating the two services.
Posted by:
airwolf
14 years ago
You could easily test this by removing the password on one of your systems. Have you tried that?
I wish I had some insight for you, but we haven't begun using the Dell updates yet. I will say that updating BIOS automatically scares me a bit - I guarantee we'd have users hibernating their laptops during the middle of a BIOS update, which = BRICK.
I wish I had some insight for you, but we haven't begun using the Dell updates yet. I will say that updating BIOS automatically scares me a bit - I guarantee we'd have users hibernating their laptops during the middle of a BIOS update, which = BRICK.
Posted by:
ccuttriss
14 years ago
I'm just about to do that actually. Kept forgetting to post this question for the past few days so I wanted to get it done while I was thinking about it!
We are working towards having full WOL compatibility and waking out clients on a specific date around 2 or 3am to ensure that updates are done without user interruption and (more importantly) potential user involvement. Will be reporting back momentarily with an update on the password problem.
We are working towards having full WOL compatibility and waking out clients on a specific date around 2 or 3am to ensure that updates are done without user interruption and (more importantly) potential user involvement. Will be reporting back momentarily with an update on the password problem.
Posted by:
ustacp
14 years ago
ORIGINAL: airwolf
I will say that updating BIOS automatically scares me a bit - I guarantee we'd have users hibernating their laptops during the middle of a BIOS update, which = BRICK.
Yeah, I would have to agree with you on that!
Posted by:
JonHall
13 years ago
Any luck pushing out the DCCU BIOS changes via Kace? I figured out how to do it with the scripting module, but if the PC is off, the script fails immediately rather than waiting until the machine is available again.
Thanks!
Jon
Thanks!
Jon
Posted by:
dchristian
13 years ago
I think the DCCU has been superseded with CCTK (Client Configuration ToolKit).
So far it seems WAY easier to use and is nicer to script.
[link]http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/Dell+Client+Configuration+Toolkit[/link]
So far it seems WAY easier to use and is nicer to script.
[link]http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/Dell+Client+Configuration+Toolkit[/link]
Posted by:
cblake
13 years ago
Using DCCU [or CCTK] one could have a script that removes the password on a regular schedule (say, just prior to the K1's dell update schedule), then reapplies it after an update.
Posted by:
cblake
13 years ago
@JonHall
Posted by:
JonHall
13 years ago
Thanks, Chris! The BIOS settings update was my first task using Kace, but I did get it working once I learned how to read the screens. There's a lot of potential here, once you know what you're doing.
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