The Dell Lifecycle Controller is simply the management tool Dell built to update firmware.

dell-r640-server-Lifecycle-Controller-firmware-stuckWhen booting a Dell Server you will be able to access the Lifecycle Controller but it may ask you for an IP address.  My concern was that it was asking to set a static address on a NIC that I already had in use in Windows.  Dell support assures me that the same NIC can be used in Windows with one IP and in the Lifecycle Controller with a different IP.  They will not conflict because they are never in use at the same time.  That being said if you have a DHCP server on your LAN, just leave the Lifecycle Controller at DHCP.

If you see errors relating to the system being unable to get an IPv6 IP address and then having it not proceed in the Lifecycle Controller process, you are seeing a known bug.  To get around this, you will need to update the Lifecycle Controller firmware which you can do via:

  1. Windows (support.dell.ca – look for the Lifecycle Controller firmware), or;
  2. iDRAC – you will need to download the Lifecycle Controller firmware from support.dell.ca

After working with Dell support for more than an hour on this issues, I gave up and, much to the dislike of the Dell support tech, I updated all of the firmware through Windows… including the Lifecycle Controller.


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