Need correct firmware packages for Cisco UCS, FI and blade servers

[REE]

Hello there,

we have a UCS here which is a UCS SP BASE 5108 Blade. Also, there is a FI attached to that UCS called UCS FI 6332. In the UCS, the blade servers are Cisco B200 M6 and I'd like to upgrade the firmware on those devices. I know that the last time I did it, I got two firmware binaries: 4.X.(Xx)A and 4.X.(Xx)B. The A upgraded the UCS and the FI (without interruption due to redundancy), the B was for the servers which had to be taken into maintenance mode to do the upgrade.

Now I try to find data about the correct upgrade path as well as the unique correct most recent A and B packages for these devices and I couldn't find clear answers here. Could please anyone tell me how to find the correct ones?

Best Regards

[jakande]

Hi RE East,

Yes, you are right, the A-Bundle will upgrade the FIs and the IO Modules of the Chassis, one after the other (starting with the subordinate FI and its corresponding Chassis IO Module).
The B-Bundle will be used to upgrade the blade servers in the chassis.

You can download the Images on the Cisco Software download page:

https://software.cisco.com/download/home/283612660/type/283655658/release/4.3(4e)

Ensure to select your interesting (desired) firmware version and your specific FI(6332) for the A bundle, and download the corresponding B-Bundle on the same page (below)

Depending on your current firmware version, you can check to see if you need a DIRECT or INDIRECT(first moving to a transit version before final upgrade to desired version) upgrade via the Cisco UCSM Upgrade Matrix (websites below):

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/ucs-manager/UCSM-upgrade-downgrade-matrix/index.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/ucs-manager/UCSM-upgrade-downgrade-matrix/UCSM-Upgrade-path-Overview.htm

When you select your desired firmware version, don't forget to read the release notes for that specific version before proceeding with your upgrade (always helpful).

You might find the following video helpful also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAGMOb_lt8o&t=2s

You can kick off the upgrade when you are ready and Cisco TAC is your friend if you need additional help

Thanks

[REE]

Thank you. The video shows how to upgrade the UCS and FIs using the A package. Unfortunately, it is still not clear how to upgrade the B200 blade servers one by one using the B package. Can this be clarified, too, please, with an explaining video or do I have to open a separate thread for this question? I found another video for the B package but Im not really sure that not all servers are rebooted at once.

I can use the Firmware Management / Firmware Auto Install / Install Server Firmware button. But there are several servers on this UCS and I do not want to upgrade them all. I want to take the 1st one into maintenance mode, upgrade it, reboot, etc.... then I want to take this one out of the maintenance mode, then do the 2nd server, etc.

How can I be sure that not all of them are rebooted?

[jakande]

Hi REE, 

A recommended approach to upgrading a blade server will be to create a "Host Firmware Packages" (HFP) policy, where you define the new version and all other parameters.
You then apply this policy to your service profile (or service profile template if you plan to upgrade multiple blade servers) and that should cut it.

Note that if you plan to upgrade just one server, if the service profile for that server is part of a service profile template, you might need to first unbind the service profile from the service profile template (by right-clicking on the service profile and clicking on "Unbind from the Template"), add your HFP policy to the 'unbinded' service profile and then perform your upgrade on that server specifically. When your upgrade is done, you can remove the HFP policy and then bind the service profile back to the template.

The following doc will be helpful:
https://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_0111.html

To ensure that servers are not rebooted automatically during upgrade, a separate policy handles that in UCS system (Maintenance Policy). You need to change the "Reboot Policy" option to "User Ack"

Thanks
Regards

[REE]

Thanks for your reply. So, all in all, if the maintenance policy is as you can see on the printscreen below, I can be sure that if I do the upgrade via

Firmware Management / Firmware Auto Install / Install Server Firmware

it only stages the firmware and does nothing else, at first. After that, I get a User Ack alert for every server separately such that I can choose which server to reboot first, install firmware etc., exit maintenance mode and proceed with the next server.

It does nothing and it asks for every server separately to confirm the reboot for each server (and only one)? If you could please confirm this quickly that would be nice.

Regards