The SD-WAN VEP4600 (or edge 3400) appliance still has received some updates from Dell, mostly for stability. Most of the second-hand purchases were never updated and could benefit from a refresh.
Unlike the VEP1405 series that house an eMMC, on which diagOS can be installed, most of the updates here should be done from an installed OS or a boot disk.
The resources can be downloaded from the Dell website (be aware that some of the downloads could be model specific), for instance the 8-core version (based on the Xeon-D 2145NT) has the downloads available here: https://www.dell.com/support/product-details/en-us/product/virtual-edge-platform-4600-8c/drivers .
X722 card update
It seems that the flash utility is not 100% compatible with the unified firmware updater. The latter should be used to ensure all firmwares are compatible.
Flashing the X722 card is simple, using the X722_V6_20_Linux.tar.gz package, extract it to a known place, for example under /root/firmware/X722_V6_20_Linux, run ./nvmupdate64e (this could take some time):
~/firmware/X722_V6_20_Linux# ./nvmupdate64e
Intel(R) Ethernet NVM Update Tool
NVMUpdate version 1.39.5.5
Copyright(C) 2013 - 2022 Intel Corporation.
WARNING: To avoid damage to your device, do not stop the update or reboot or power off the system during this update.
Inventory in progress. Please wait [....-*****]
Num Description Ver.(hex) DevId S:B Status
=== ================================== ============ ===== ====== ==============
01) Intel(R) I350 Gigabit Network 1.99(1.63) 1521 00:002 Update not
Connection available
02) Intel(R) I210 Gigabit Network 3.37(3.25) 1533 00:005 Update not
Connection available
03) Intel(R) Ethernet 10G 4P X710/I350 6.128(6.80) 1572 00:023 Update not
rNDC available
04) Intel(R) Gigabit 4P X710/I350 rNDC 1.103(1.67) 1521 00:024 Update not
available
05) Intel(R) Ethernet Connection X722 3.51(3.33) 37D3 00:182 Update
for 10GbE SFP+ available
Options: Adapter Index List (comma-separated), [A]ll, e[X]it
Enter selection:
The tool will list all Intel network cards that could be updated, simply chose the one applicable (5) and press enter. It is wise to backup the NVM in case something goes wrong.
All-purpose flash (recommended)
Through the dell unified firmware updater, pretty much everything can be updated. The updater can be run with ./vep4600_ufw_4.3. Adding the parameter interactive allows selecting which component to update instead of trying to upgrade everything.
~/firmware# ./vep4600_ufw_4.3 interactive
[...]
Package version: 4.3
Packaged images:
BMC image: 2.30
BIOS image: 3.41.0.9-25
CPLD image: 0x12
Wifi CPLD image: 0x1
X722 image: 6.20
Note:If BMC version is less than 1.23 CPLD versions will not be shown correctly
1. Automatically update all firmware components
2. BMC image[Primary version:2.30, backup version:2.0]
3. BIOS image with X722 FW 3.33[Booted version: 3.41.0.9-15]
4. BIOS image with X722 FW 6.20[Booted version: 3.41.0.9-15]
5. CPLD image[CPLD version: 0x12]
7. rNDC right CPLD image[CPLD version: 0x2]
8. intel rNDC firmware update[ left Type: NA, (0.0)]
[ right Type: X710, (18.8.9)]
Note: also need to update i40e driver to 2.14.13 and DPDK to 20.08 or further version
9. intel X722 firmware[X722 firmware version: 0]
Note: also need to update i40e driver to 2.14.13 and DPDK to 20.08 or further version
10. Reset BMC after CPLD update completion and system bootup
q. Exit
Enter your choice: As much as possible, a reboot should be performed after each upgrade. Most of the critical firmwares are stored in two different chips, bricking the device should be unlikely even in case of a power outage.
After updating the bios from a version anterior to 16, a default password will be set to ServiceTag! (e.g if your tag is 123ABC, the password will be 123ABC!).
After updating the bios from a version anterior to 16, the CSM will be enabled by default. If an UEFI OS was installed, the system will boot loop until the CSM is disabled.
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