A P P E N D I X A

Upgrading Firmware

This chapter provides information on upgrading the System Controller firmware and Blade System Chip firmware. The chapter contains the following sections

Section A.1, Introduction

Section A.2, Installing Firmware Images on a TFTP Server

Section A.3, Upgrading the System Controller Firmware

Section A.4, Upgrading the Blade Support Chip Firmware on One or More Blades

A.1 Introduction

Note - To perform the update procedures in this chapter, you need to have a connection from the NETMGT port to the management network. This is because you need to transfer the new firmware from a location on your network.

This chapter tells you how to upgrade the firmware on:

The System Controllers,

One or more Blade Support Chips (each server blade contains a single one of these, called a BSC for short),

The BSC on each server blade is a management agent for the System Controller. It communicates information about the server blade it resides in to the System Controller. It also receives and processes any commands that you type into the System Controller's command-line interface.

Follow the instructions in this chapter if you have been advised by a Sun support engineer to download new firmware onto a System Controller, server blade, or integrated switch.

New firmware for System Controllers and server blades will be made available as patches on SunSolve. These patches are not operating system patches and are not installed using the standard Solaris patchadd(1m) utility. Once the patches have been unpacked they deliver the firmware images with the filename format shown in TABLE A-1.


Firmware Image	Filename
System Controller application	SunFireB1600-sc-vxxxx.flash1
Blade Support Chip firmware	SunFireB100x-bsc-vxxxx.flash1 SunFireB200x-bsc-vxxxx.flash1

^{1. Note that -vxxxx represents the version number of the firmware.}

In addition to following the instructions in this chapter, please perform any special instructions that are provided in the patch README files.

A.2 Installing Firmware Images on a TFTP Server

The latest firmware patches are available from the following website:

wwws.sun.com/software/download/network.html

When you have downloaded the Sun Fire B1600 firmware patches (and unpacked the firmware images), you need to install them onto a TFTP server. This makes them available to the System Controller's flashupdate command.

You can install firmware images on the Linux TFTP server that you created when preparing to perform the PXE boot installation (see Section 4.2.2.2, Configuring the TFTP Server for more information). Alternatively, if you are using a Solaris TFTP server, see the chapter on updating firmware in the Sun fire B1600 Blade System Chassis Administration Guide.

To install the firmware onto the TFTP server, at that system's # prompt, type the following:

# cd /tftp-root-dir

# mkdir firmware

# cp SunFireB1600-sc-vxxxx.flash /tftp-root-dir/firmware

# chmod 444 /tftp-root-dir/firmware/SunFireB1600-sc-vxxxx.flash

# cd bsc-firmware-patch-dir

# cp SunFireB100x-bsc-vxxxx.flash /tftp-root-dir/firmware

# chmod 444 /tftp-root-dir/SunFireB100x-bsc-vxxxx.flash

where:

vxxxx is the version of the firmware,

tftp-root-dir is the TFTP root directory on the TFTP server. On Linux systems this directory is called /tftp, and on Solaris systems it is called /tftpboot.

sc-firmware-patch-dir is the directory into which you unpacked the contents of the System Controller firmware packages.

switch-firmware-patch-dir is the directory into which you unpacked the contents of the switch firmware packages.

bsc-firmware-patch-dir is the directory into which you unpacked the contents of the BSC firmware packages. Note that this example shows the location of BSC firmware for a B100x server blade.

A.3 Upgrading the System Controller Firmware

Note - You must have a-level user privileges to perform an update of the System Controller firmware. For information about the levels of user permission that are available, see the Sun Fire B1600 Blade System Chassis Administration Guide.

Note - To make the standby System Controller take over as the active one so that you can upgrade the firmware on it, use the setfailover command. For information, see Step 7.

To perform the upgrade, do the following:

1. Check the current version of the System Controller firmware.

Type:

sc>showsc

Sun Advanced Lights Out Manager for Blade Servers 1.1

Copyright 2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ALOM-B 1.1

Release: 1.1.8

Parameter                           Running Value      Stored Value

----------------------------------------------------------------

Bootable Image :                1.0.97 (Jan 06 03)

Current Running Image :         1.0.97 (Jan 06 03)

...

The current version of the System Controller firmware appears in the line labeled "Current Running Image".

2. Read the patch README file supplied with the System Controller firmware image and note the version of the firmware it describes.

Also note any special instructions and cautions.

3. Establish that the upgrade is necessary.

If the current System Controller firmware revision matches the version numbers listed in the patch README file, the upgrade is not necessary for this System Controller.

If the current System Controller firmware revision is lower than the latest firmware revision specified in the patch README file, proceed to Step 4.

4. At the sc> prompt, type:

sc> flashupdate -s ipaddress -f path/filename [-v] [-y] sscn/sc

where:

path specifies the path of the new firmware you intend to download,

filename specifies the filename of the new firmware you intend to download,

ipaddress specifies the IP address of the computer on which the new firmware is stored (in other words, of the TFTP server),

n is either 0 or 1 depending on whether you are downloading new firmware onto SSC0 or SSC1,

and where the -v (verbose) option displays detailed screen output to enable you to observe the progress of the firmware update, and the -y option causes the update command to execute without prompting you for confirmation to proceed.

For example:

sc> flashupdate -s 129.156.237.102 -f /firmware/SunFireB1600-sc-vxxxx.flash -v -y sscn/sc

5. When the update operation has completed, you must reset the System Controller for the new firmware to come into use.

Type:

sc> resetsc -y

where the -y option causes the System Controller to reset without prompting you for confirmation to proceed.

6. Confirm that the System Controller is now running the new firmware.

Type:

sc>showsc

Sun Advanced Lights Out Manager for Blade Servers 1.2

Copyright 2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ALOM-B 1.2

Release: 1.2.1

Parameter                              Running Value      Stored Value

----------------------------------------------------------------

Bootable Image :                       1.2.1 (May 29 03)

Current Running Image :                1.2.1 (May 29 03)

7. To upgrade the firmware on the standby System Controller, you must first make the standby System Controller take over from the active System Controller:

At the sc> prompt, type:

sc> setfailover

SSC0 is in Active Mode

SSC1 is in Standby Mode.

Are you sure you want to failover to SSC1?

All connections and user sessions will now be lost on SSC0 (y/n)? y

System Controller in SSC0 is now in Standby mode

To check which System Controller is active, type:

sc> setfailover

SSC0 is in Standby Mode

SSC1 is in Active Mode.

Are you sure you want to failover to SSC1?

All connections and user sessions will now be lost on SSC0 (y/n)? n

sc>

8. Repeat Step 1 through Step 6 above.

A.3.1 Example for Upgrading the System Controller Firmware

To download a new image (called SunFireB1600-sc-v1.1.8.flash) onto the System Controller in SSC0 from a TFTP server whose IP address is 129.156.237.102, you would need to type the following at the SC's command line:

sc> flashupdate -s 129.156.237.102 -f /firmware/SunFireB1600-sc-v1.1.8.flash ssc0/sc

Warning: Are you sure you want to update the flash image (y/n)? y

Erasing segment 2f Programming address ffaeffef

Update of SSC0/SC complete.

The system must be reset (using resetsc) for the new image to be loaded

sc> resetsc -y

A.4 Upgrading the Blade Support Chip Firmware on One or More Blades

1. Check the current version of the blades' BSC firmware.

The current version of the firmware running on each blade is listed at the end of the output from the showsc -v command. Type:

sc>showsc -v

Sun Advanced Lights Out Manager for Blade Servers 1.2

Copyright 2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ALOM-B 1.2

Release: 1.2.1

FRU   Software Version            Software Release Date

--------------------------------------------------------

S0    v5.1.0-SUNW,Sun-Fire-B100x  Jun  5 2003 10:27:31

S1    v5.1.0-SUNW,Sun-Fire-B100x  Jun  5 2003 10:27:31

S2    v5.1.0-SUNW,Sun-Fire-B200x  Jun  5 2003 10:27:31

S4    v5.1.0-SUNW,Sun-Fire-B200x  Jun  5 2003 10:27:31

S6    v4.1.1-SUNW,Sun-Fire-B200x  May 27 2003 10:36:23

S8    v4.1.1-SUNW,Sun-Fire-B200x  May 27 2003 10:36:23

S15   v5.1.0-SUNW,Sun-Fire-B100x  Jun  5 2003 10:27:31

(Note that the : character indicates omitted information.)

2. Read the patch README file supplied with the BSC firmware image and note the version of the firmware that it describes.

Also note any special instructions and cautions.

3. Establish that the upgrade is necessary.

If the current BSC firmware revision for a blade matches the version numbers given in the patch README file, the upgrade is not necessary for that blade.

If the current BSC firmware revision is lower than the latest firmware revision specified in the patch README file, proceed to Step 4.

4. At the sc> prompt, type:

sc> flashupdate [-v] [-y] -s ipaddress -f path sn [sn...]

where:

the -v (verbose) option displays detailed screen output to enable you to observe the progress of the firmware update, and the -y option causes the update command to execute without prompting you for confirmation to proceed.

ipaddress specifies the IP address of the computer on which the new firmware is stored (in other words, of the TFTP server),

path specifies the path and filename of the new firmware you intend to download,

n specifies the blade whose firmware you want to upgrade,

and where [sn...] indicates an optional space-separated list of blades to be updated.

5. Check that the new firmware is running on the blades.

To do this, repeat Step 1 to see an updated list of the firmware on the blades.

A.4.1 Example of Upgrading Firmware on a Single Blade

To download a new image (called SunFireB100x-bsc-v5.0.0.flash) onto the blade in slot 3 from the firmware directory on a TFTP server whose IP address was 129.156.237.102, you would need to type:

sc> flashupdate -s 129.156.237.102 -f /firmware/SunFireB100x-bsc-v5.0.0.flash s3

Warning: Are you sure you want to update S3 bsc image;

all console connections to the fru will be reset (y/n)? y

131072 bytes of 131072 completed on S3

Update of S3 complete

sc>

A.4.2 Examples for Upgrading Firmware on a Number of Blades

To download a new image (called SunFireB100x-bsc-v5.0.0.flash) onto the blades in slots 5, 10, and 13 from a TFTP server whose IP address was 129.156.237.102, you would need to type:

sc> flashupdate -s 129.156.237.102 -f /firmware/SunFireB1600x-bsc-v5.0.0.flash s5 s10 s13

Warning: Are you sure you want to update s5 bsc image;

all console connections to s5 will be reset (y/n)? y

131072 bytes of 131072 completed on s5

Update of s5 complete

Warning: Are you sure you want to update s10 bsc image;

all console connections to s10 will be reset. (y/n)? y

131072 bytes of 131072 completed on s10

Update of s10 complete

Warning: Are you sure you want to update s13 bsc image;

all console connections to s13 will be reset (y/n)? y

131072 bytes of 131072 completed on s13

Update of s13 complete

sc>