Firmware upgrade on T4-1 Sparc server

disclaimer: Please refer vendor provided instructions and follow carefully.

SUMMARY:

  1. cd /tmp/patch/
  2. unzip 148822-05.zip
  3. cd 148822-05
  4. ./sysfwdownload Sun_System_Firmware-8_2_2_c-SPARC_T4-1.pkg
  5. /usr/sbin/shutdown -i0 -g0 -yOK> type #. to go to ILOM mode in console
  6. show /HOST/boodmode (note config parameter value for LDOM servers to set after upgrade)
  7. show /HOST/ (will display the current versions of Hypervisor, OpenBoot, Post and  sysfw_version)
  8. stop /SYS
  9. set /SYS keyswitch_state=Normal
  10. show /SP/firmware/localimage (This will display upload date and version, if by mistake wrong image uploaded, it will display invalid image)
  11. load -source /SP/firmware/localimage (show progress in … and will reboot ILOM on completion)
  12. set /HOST/bootmode=”config-name”” (This is important for the LDOM servers)
  13. start the system “start /SYS”
  14. console /HOST/console….

Detailed explanation, have patience and read below steps

Step: 1

Go to this Oracle site and find the suitable firmware level for your server or refer your internal engineering documents to know upgrade level.

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/systems/patches/firmware/release-history-jsp-138416.html

I need upgrade to SysFW 8.2.2.c, this comes with Oracle Patch “148822-05

Step2: Login to oracle site with valid support id and download the patch. (Most of the enterprise organizations have engineering team, who test these patches and upload to internal repositories)

Step3: copy the “148822-05.zip” to the servers, where you need upgrade the firmware and unzip it.

Step4: Pre tasks

  • This firmware upgrade require down time. If you are planning on Production/Live servers, take proper down time from application teams.
  • Firmware upgrade require console, hence check your console access.
  • Take all LDOM guest configuration backup. Refer my previous article on saving and restoring Ldom guest configuration.
  • Check current configuration stored in Service Processor(SP). When you upgrade the firmware, it will reset SP bootmode configuration to default-factory. If you save the config name, it will be easy for you to reset. You can also check this from ILOM using “show /HOST/bootmode” save the config property value.
Step5: Load the firmware to System Processor (SP). ILOM has the mechanism to copy the image from OS using sysfwdownload tool. This tool always comes with your firmware patch and it’s recommended to use the same tool.

cd /tmp/patch/148822-05

./sysfwdownload [image].pkg (in my case the image name “Sun_System_Firmware-8_2_2_c-SPARC_T4-1.pkg

(if you observer image file name has all information like this firmware is for Sun Sparc hardware,it’s version is 8.2.2.c and it’s for Sparc T4-1 model. This is first level of defense to avoid loading wrong firmware image)

When downloading it will show progress in format “….(10%)….” it ends with download completed successfully

shutdown -i0 -g0 -y

OK> type #. to go to ILOM mode in console

show /HOST/boodmode (note config parameter value for LDOM servers)

show /HOST/ will display the current versions of Hypervisor, OpenBoot, Post and  sysfw_version

(sysfw_version is the one we mentioned above)

Verify downloaded image is correct or not with “show /SP/firmware/localimage” and verify upload date and Version. (Here second level of defense comes, if valid image is not uploaded instead of version it will show invalid image).

stop the system to poweroff competely “stop /SYS”

Verify the key_switch state “show /SYS keyswitch_state” it should be in normal state. If it’s in locked state change to normal

“set /SYS keyswitch_state=Normal” Check if value set properly.

After completing all pre checks now we are ready to upgrade the firmware

  load -source /SP/firmware/localimage

This will show progress in … and once it complete, it will reboot the ILOM.

Once it’s completed, change the bootmode “set /HOST/bootmode=”config-name”” (This is important for the LDOM servers)

start the system “start /SYS”

go to console to see the server boot progress

console /HOST/console

Integrated Management Module (IMM) management on IBM x86 M3 server

1. Find IMM version using dmidecode in Linux

dmidecode|awk -F\- ‘/Integrated Management Module/ { gsub(/\[|]/,””);print $2 }’

2. Upgrade the IMM firmware version

download the .bin file  example yuooe3c version upgrade file name “ibm_fw_imm_yuooe3c-1.33_linux_32-64.bin” and execute as root login using -s option

./ibm_fw_imm_yuooe3c-1.33_linux_32-64.bin -s

Note: This will not reboot the server automatically.  New version can be identified through dmidecode only after reboot

3. use asu64 utility to mange IMM from command mode.

Usage: ./asu [apps] <cmds> [<cmd_mod> | <class>] [<options>] [<connect_opts>]

Commands:

 –license           rebootimm
        batch               rebootbmc
        comparedefault      rebootrsa
        delete              replicate
        deletecert          resetrsa
        dump                restore
        encrypt             save
        export              set
        generate            setenc
        help                show
        import              showdefault
        loaddefault         showgroups
        nodes               showlocation
        patchadd            showvalues
        patchextract        version
        patchlist           readraw
        patchremove         writeraw
        rebootimm

4. To check values, first dump all values to a  temp file and use the file for reference

/opt/ibm/toolscenter/asu/asu64 show all 2>/dev/null >/tmp/imm-dump.txt

grep IMM.NTPHost /tmp/imm-dump.txt
IMM.NTPHost=nn.nn.nn.nn

5. To modify individual property value:

 /opt/ibm/toolscenter/asu/asu64 set IMM.NTPHost <IP address>

6. To Modify multiple values, then create a temp file /tmp/imm-values.txt with values

set IMM.DNS_IP_Address1 “nn.nn.nn.nn”
set IMM.DNS_IP_Address2 “nn.nn.nn.nn”
set IMM.NTPHost “nn.nn.nn.nn”
set IMM.SMTP_ServerName “nn.nn.nn.nn”

 then input the temp file /tmp/imm-values.txt to asu64 tool

asu64 batch /tmp/imm-values.txt

As some values will reflect after imm reboot, reboot it using rebootimm

asu64 rebootimm

HP ILO3 upgrade from 1.26 to 1.28 on Proliant BL460c G7

/sbin/hponcfg -g  ==>this will get host info if ILO

Firmware Revision = 1.26 Device type = iLO 3 Driver name = hpilo
Host Information:
                        Server Name: xxxxxxx
                        Server Number:

 ./CP016462.scexe

FLASH_iLO3 v1.06 for Linux (Jan 17 2012)
(C) Copyright 2002-2011 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
Firmware image: ilo3_128.bin
Current iLO 3 firmware version  1.26; Serial number ILOxxxx

Component XML file: CP016462.xml
CP016462.xml reports firmware version 1.28
This operation will update the firmware on the
iLO 3 in this server with version 1.28.
Continue (y/N)?y
Current firmware is 1.26 (Aug 26 2011 )
Firmware image is 0x800000(8388608) bytes
Committing to flash part…
******** DO NOT INTERRUPT! ********
Flashing completed.
Attempting to reset device.
Succeeded.
***** iLO 3 reboot in progress (may take up to 60 seconds.)
***** Please ignore console messages, if any.
iLO 3 reboot completed.