Getting Firmware and Software Updates

Firmware and Software Updates

Firmware and software for your server are updated periodically. These updates are made available as software releases. The software releases are a set of downloadable files (patches) that include all available firmware, software, hardware drivers, tools, and utilities for the server. All of these files have been tested together and verified to work with your server.

You must update your server firmware and software as soon as possible after a new software release becomes available. Software releases often include bug fixes, and updating your server ensures that your server has the latest firmware and software. These updates will increase your system performance, security, and stability.

To determine which firmware version is installed on your server, you can use either the Oracle ILOM web interface or the command-line interface (CLI).

From the web interface, click System Information → Summary, then view the property value for System Firmware Version in the General Information table.
From the CLI, at the command prompt, type: show /System/Firmware

The server Product Notes list the current server software release and firmware version that are available.

Parent topic: Getting Firmware and Software Updates

Firmware and Software Update Options

Use one of the following options to update your server to the latest firmware and software:

My Oracle Support – All system software releases are available from the My Oracle Support web site at https://support.oracle.com .

For information about what is available from the My Oracle Support web site, see Software Releases.
Other Methods – You can use Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center, Oracle Hardware Management Pack, or Oracle ILOM to update your server software and firmware.

For information, see Installing System Firmware Using Other Methods.

Parent topic: Getting Firmware and Software Updates

Software Releases

Software releases on My Oracle Support are grouped by product family (such as Oracle Server), then the product (the specific server), and finally the software release version. A software release contains all the updated software and firmware for your server as a set of downloadable files (patches), including firmware, drivers, tools, or utilities, all tested together to be compatible with your server.

Each patch is within a zip file that contains set of firmware and software subdirectories and files, along with a ReadMe file. The ReadMe file provides information about the patch, such as what has changed since the prior software release and the bugs that have been fixed in the current release.

My Oracle Support provides the set of software releases for your server as described in the following table. You can obtain these software releases by downloading the files from My Oracle Support.

Package Name	Description	When to Download This Package
X7-2L SW release – Firmware Pack	Contains all system firmware, including Oracle ILOM, BIOS, and option card firmware.	You need the latest firmware.
X7-2L SW release – OS Pack	Includes a package of all tools, drivers, and utilities for a specific OS. An OS Pack is available for each supported operating system version. Software includes Oracle Hardware Management Pack, LSI MegaRAID software, and any other optional software that Oracle recommends. For the Windows OS, the OS Pack also includes Intel Network Teaming and Install Pack.	You need to update OS-specific tools, drivers, or utilities.
X7-2L SW release – All Packs	Includes the Firmware Pack and all OS Packs. This pack does not include the Oracle VTS image.	You need to update a combination of system firmware and OS-specific software.
X7-2L SW release – Diagnostics	Includes Oracle VTS diagnostics image.	You need the Oracle VTS diagnostics image.

Parent topic: Getting Firmware and Software Updates

Getting Updates From My Oracle Support

You can obtain updated firmware and software from the My Oracle Support web site at https://support.oracle.com . For instructions, see Download Firmware and Software Updates From My Oracle Support.

Parent topic: Getting Firmware and Software Updates

Download Firmware and Software Updates From My Oracle Support

Go to the My Oracle Support web site: https://support.oracle.com.
Sign in to My Oracle Support.
At the top of the page, click the Patches & Updates tab.

The Patch Search pane appears at the right of the screen.
Within the Search tab area, click Product or Family (Advanced).

The Search tab area appears with search fields.
In the Product field, select the product from the drop-down list.

Alternatively, type a full or partial product name (for example, Oracle Server X7-2L) until a match appears.
In the Release field, select a software release from the drop-down list.

Expand the list to see all available software releases.
Click Search.

The Patch Advanced Search Results screen appears, listing the patches for the software release.

See Software Releases for a description of the available software releases.
To select a patch for a software release, click the patch number next to the software release version.

You can use the Shift key to select more than one patch.

A pop-up action panel appears. The panel contains several action options, including the ReadMe, Download, and Add to Plan options. For information about the Add to Plan option, click the associated button and select “Why use a plan?”.
To review the ReadMe file for this patch, click ReadMe.
To download the patch for the software release, click Download.
In the File Download dialog box, click the patch zip file name.

The patch for the software release downloads. The download is an archive zip file, which you must extract to find the directory containing the image .pkg file.

Parent topic: Getting Firmware and Software Updates

Update System Firmware Using Oracle ILOM

You can update Oracle ILOM system firmware while the host is powered on. The Oracle ILOM firmware image includes firmware for the service processor (SP, Oracle ILOM) and the server's host components (FPGAs). The Oracle ILOM firmware update goes into effect immediately. However, the update of host components is deferred until the affected host is power cycled. Because Oracle ILOM can be updated while the host is powered on, this feature reduces the total system downtime.

Before You Begin

Determine the Oracle ILOM firmware version currently installed on the system. At the Oracle ILOM prompt, type: show /System/Firmware
Download the Firmware Pack (Patch) update from My Oracle Support.

Note:

This procedure uses the Oracle ILOM command-line interface to update the system firmware. You can also update system firmware using the Oracle ILOM web interface. For web interface instructions, refer to the Oracle ILOM documentation at https://www.oracle.com/goto/ilom/docs .

To update system firmware, follow these steps:

Notify Oracle ILOM 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.
Navigate to the directory where you saved the FIRMWARE PACK (Patch) archive zip file.

Extract the FIRMWARE PACK files from the archive zip file.

When you extract the files, the <image.pkg> file is in the Firmware/service-processor directory.

For example:

% unzip p26981570_102_Generic.zip
Archive: 26981570_102_Generic.zip
creating Oracle_Server_X7-2-1.0.2.87665-FIRMWARE_PACK/Firmware/service-processor/
inflating: Oracle_Server_X7-2-1.0.2.87665-FIRMWARE_PACK/Firmware/service-processor/
ILOM-4_0_0_28_r121827-ORACLE_SERVER_X7-2-rom.pkg

Review the README file that accompanies the firmware image to be aware of any special release notes or instructions.
Update the firmware using the Oracle ILOM command-line interface:
1. Log in to Oracle ILOM with an account with Admin privileges.
2. Load the firmware image from the stored location using the load -source command followed by the directory path to the firmware image you want to install. Type:
  
  -> load -source protocol://server_IPaddress/<path_to_image>/<image.pkg>
  
  Where protocol can be: http, https, ftp, tftp, sftp, scp
  
  For example, if you are accessing the server through a tftp server with an IP address of 198.51.100.123 in a directory called ilom/jdoe and with the <image.pkg> named firmware.pkg, enter the following command:
  
  -> load -source tftp://198.51.100.123/tftpboot/ilom/jdoe/firmware.pkg
  
  The following information is displayed:
  
  An upgrade takes several minutes to complete. Oracle ILOM will enter a special mode to load new firmware. No other tasks can be performed in Oracle ILOM until the firmware upgrade is complete and Oracle ILOM is reset.
  
  You can choose to postpone the server BIOS upgrade until the next server power off. If you do not do that, you should perform a clean shutdown of the server before continuing.
3. Answer the following prompts:
  
  Are you sure you want to load the specified file? y
  
  Preserve existing SP configuration (y/n)? y
  
  This prompt preserves your existing Oracle ILOM settings after the firmware update is complete.
  
  Preserve existing BIOS configuration (y/n)? y
  
  This prompt preserves your existing BIOS configuration settings after the firmware upgrade is complete.
  
  Delay BIOS upgrade until the next poweroff or reset (y/n)? y
  
  Answer "Y" (yes) to the Delay BIOS Upgrade question and, if the host is ON and there are host components to be updated, the host remains powered on and the host component updates are deferred until the next time the host powers off and powers on (next reset/reboot).
  
  Answer "N" (no) to the Delay BIOS Upgrade question and, if the host is ON and there are host components to be updated, the host is forced OFF so that host component updates can be applied immediately. After Oracle ILOM reboots, the host is powered on automatically if it was forced off.
  
  Note:
  If the server has a pending BIOS upgrade, the power reset could take longer to complete. This is expected behavior, as it is necessary to power cycle the server to upgrade the BIOS firmware. If the upgrade includes an FPGA update, the process can take as long as 26 minutes to complete.
4. Wait for the Oracle ILOM status message to confirm that the process is complete.
To verify that the updated firmware is installed, at the Oracle ILOM prompt, type:

-> show /System/Firmware

Parent topic: Getting Firmware and Software Updates

Installing System Firmware Using Other Methods

In addition to using Oracle ILOM, you can install firmware and software updates using one of the following methods:

Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center – Use Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center to automatically download the latest firmware from Oracle and then install the firmware onto one or more servers. Firmware updates can also be loaded manually into the Enterprise Controller.

For information, refer to the product information page at: https://www.oracle.com/enterprise-manager/technologies/ . For documentation, refer to the Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Documentation Library at: https://docs.oracle.com/en/enterprise-manager/related-products.html
Oracle Hardware Management Pack – Use the fwupdate CLI Tool in the Oracle Hardware Management Pack software to update firmware in the system.

For information, refer to the product information page at: https://www.oracle.com/servers/technologies/hardware-management-pack.html . For documentation, refer to the Oracle Hardware Management Pack Documentation Library at: https://www.oracle.com/goto/ohmp/docs
Oracle Integrated Lights Out Management (ILOM). For information, refer to the product information page at: https://www.oracle.com/servers/technologies/integrated-lights-out-manager.html . For documentation, refer to the Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) 5.0 Documentation Library at: https://www.oracle.com/goto/ilom/docs

Parent topic: Getting Firmware and Software Updates

Downloading an OS or Software Applications

You can download an operating system (OS) or software applications for all licensed Oracle products from Oracle Software Delivery Cloud (formerly called Oracle eDelivery). Software is available in zip and ISO formats, which you can unzip or burn to DVDs, respectively. All of the download links on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) point to the Software Delivery Cloud, making this site the authoritative source for all Oracle OS and application downloads. To access Oracle Software Delivery Cloud, go to https://edelivery.oracle.com/osdc/faces/SoftwareDelivery .

Parent topic: Getting Firmware and Software Updates

Oracle Support

If you need help getting firmware or software updates, or downloading a complete software application, you can call Oracle Support. Use the appropriate number from the Oracle Global Customer Support Contacts Directory at:

https://www.oracle.com/support/contact.html

Parent topic: Getting Firmware and Software Updates