SPARC M8 and SPARC M7 Servers Administration Guide

Update the Firmware from Oracle ILOM

The Live Firmware update feature of the SPARC M8, M7, T8, T7, and S7 series servers supports updating Sun System firmware while the SPARC host is powered on. The Oracle ILOM firmware update goes into immediate effect. However, the host components update is delayed until the affected host(s) is power cycled. Because Oracle ILOM can be updated while the host is powered on, this feature reduces the total system down time. On SPARC M8 and M7 series servers, the firmware update can be done on a per-host basis as each PDomain can be restarted independently.

1. Check the current system firmware version. From the Oracle ILOM command prompt, type:

   -> show /System system_fw_version
   

2. Download the latest available system firmware version from My Oracle Support.

   See the web page Firmware Downloads and Release History for Oracle Systems (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/systems/patches/firmware/release-history-jsp-138416.html) for links to firmware downloads for each server type.

   The download is an archive file such as a zip file which you must extract to find the pkg file containing the firmware image.

   Place the firmware image in a shared location that the server can access, such as a local or network share or on a TFTP, FTP, HTTP or HTTPS server.

3. Read the README file that accompanies the firmware image to be aware of any special release notes or instructions.
4. Notify SP users of the scheduled firmware update and ask them to close all client sessions until after the firmware update is complete. Do not perform any other Oracle ILOM tasks during the firmware update.
5. Update the firmware through the Oracle ILOM CLI.

   For information about performing firmware updates using the web interface, see Update the Server SP or CMM Firmware Image in Oracle ILOM Administrator’s Guide for Configuration and Maintenance Firmware Release 4.0.x or Update the Server SP or CMM Firmware Image in Oracle ILOM Administrator’s Guide for Configuration and Maintenance Firmware Release 3.2.x..

   1. Log in to Oracle ILOM using an account with Admin privileges.

      See Logging In to Oracle ILOM.

   2. Load the firmware image from the shared location. Type:

      -> load -source protocol://username:password@server_ip_or hostname/path_to_image/image.pkg

      The value for protocol can be: http, https, ftp, tftp, sftp, or scp.

      For some protocols, you can specify the username and password of the user account to access the server where the firmware image is located. See Supported File Transfer Methods in Oracle ILOM Administrator’s Guide for Configuration and Maintenance Firmware Release 4.0.x.

      For example, if the firmware image can be accessed through an http server with IP address 198.51.100.123:

      -> load -source http://198.51.100.123/fw-downloads/Sun_System_Firmware-X_X_X.pkg
      

      A series of prompts display.

   3. Type y to load the image file, then type y to preserve the existing configuration, which saves the existing Oracle ILOM firmware settings and restores them after the firmware update is complete.

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      Note -  All firmware update options for your server are enabled (y) by default when using a script (-script) to perform the firmware update.

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   4. Oracle ILOM displays a status message when the firmware process is complete. The system will reboot to apply the new firmware image.

Related Information

• Display the Firmware Version

• SPARC M8 and SPARC M7 Servers Product Notes