Identifying and removing old firmware packages

[dittocisco]

I have read this document:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/servers-unified-computing/ucs-manager/110511-ucs-fw-mgmt-00.html

Specifically:

Image Delete

Here are some best practices to consider when you delete images:

• You can use the UCS Manager GUI or the CLI in order to remove unused images.

• Image deletion is asynchronous. When the administrator removes an image, the object is marked as “Deleted." The delete process performed in the background.

• In the case of an HA cluster, images are automatically deleted on both fabric interconnects.

• Packages are read only, and they cannot be deleted.

• You can delete multiple images in either the UCS Manager GUI or CLI:

  • Select multiple images in GUI.

  • Execute the delete image command in the CLI.

    You can delete by type or version. For example, this command deletes all images versioned as 1.1(0.47):

    delete image version 1.1(0.47)

But I'm still a little lost on a few concepts.

1. The doc says "A package cannot be deleted. Packages are automatically purged when all the images that are part of the package are removed." - Yet inside UCS Manager I CAN select a package and choose delete.  Is this semantics and it is really deleting all of the images in the package and then removing the package?
2. What is the proper way to do clean up of old packages/images?  I see them marked as "Active" in packages.  Is there a way to understand what is and isn't being used?  For instance if I have packages that are the "backup versions" on devices, can I safely remove them from UCS at that point?

Maybe I'm reading too much into it...and I have plenty of free space on the FI's, but if I can do some spring cleaning, I will.

[Wes Austin]

Hello,

That document is from 2009 and a lot has changed since then. Here is an updated document:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/firmware-mgmt/gui/2-2/b_GUI_Firmware_Management_22/b_GUI_Firmware_Management_22_chapter_0100.html

To answer your questions, when you delete a package it deletes the images that reference that package, so you have to be careful when you are removing old packages. The best way to check is from the Firmware Management tab and ensure there are no old servers running old FW versions. Even if a device is using an image, if it is deleted, the server will stay online, but you will get major faults in UCSM that package versions are missing.

If you still have doubts, open a TAC case and we can take a look at it with you.

HTH,

Wes