Verifying file checksums before installing or updating ProSphere

We are continuing to see issues in support where a user has tried to update or deploy ProSphere with an iso or vmdk file that is corrupt.  Unlike zip files which will fail to decompress if they are corrupt, you can still use an iso or vmdk file that has not been completely downloaded.  However, if you perform an update or install with one of these corrupt files, you will have nothing but trouble with your ProSphere deployment afterwards.

To avoid this problem, we have included a list of MD5 checksums in the ProSphere software download bundles available at support.emc.com.  For example, here is the content of the ProSphereUpdateSoftwareChecksums.txt file contained in ProSphere2.0_UpdateSoftware.zip.

d064c9871b0e7a4f58e17cd357ca9e86  CollectorAppliance_Update-3.1.0.0.265.iso

15e1bf1a857c12b7f8b22a89f85861b7  DiscoveryAppliance_Update-3.1.0.0.265.iso

e5718cd6bc56a64887394e2709f3db13  HistoricalDatabase_Update-2.0.0.0.254.iso

c86414d3dfdd22b6614c929e0b614143  StorageResourceManager_Update-2.0.0.0.271.iso

There are a number of free tools available that will allow you to open a file and generate its checksum to compare with what we have documented.  I am not going to recommend one tool over another, any of them should do the trick.  If the checksum returned by the tool matches, it is safe to use the file.

Note that vmdk files are also not immune to this problem. You can easily mount a bad vmdk file to a VM.  The typical sign of trouble will be that you are missing important files or directories on the virtual machine.  Here is the list of checksums contained in ProSphere2.0_DeploymentSoftware.zip.

c9855512944a20c01578d61f3e00b07a  CollectorAppliance-3.1.0.0.265.ovf

ee5f33b37a5758585e4bcfd865cf00a2  CollectorAppliance_system-3.1.0.0.265.vmdk

0917a65c256f630d51beb9f974b7a303  DiscoveryAppliance_system-3.1.0.0.265.vmdk

89d4a96d118aaccfe00e6dacc9b8671c  HistoricalDatabase_sdb-2.0.0.0.254.vmdk

c7325a01e99c7561d6b84f948d0b9e36  HistoricalDatabase_system-2.0.0.0.254.vmdk

17f7527e93d5c8d5819634e9f69a9a6f  ProSphere-2.0.0.0.271.ovf

00302485a1a7ead1ce011c0b5e419c96  SecondaryProSphere-2.0.0.0.271.ovf

ceb09e5e7ba641d705b6e9392c4bbe47  StorageResourceManager_sdb-2.0.0.0.271.vmdk

ca8ab2a188eb3fcd414db32be6a46c88  StorageResourceManager_system-2.0.0.0.271.vmdk

.

At this point I would also like to remind you of the importance of taking a snapshot of your ProSphere virtual machines prior to updating.  If for example you inadvertently used a corrupt iso file to apply your ProSphere update, a snapshot would allow you to quickly start over using the complete iso file.

I hope you find these suggestions helpful during your next ProSphere update or deployment.

Message was edited by: Ryan, Updated checksums for ProSphere 2.0.