SD Card UCS-SD-32G Support with UCS 2.1(3a)

[ataranen]

Hello,

I realize that 16G cards are the only ones supported with UCS 2.1, but since they are EOL, we had to purchase the UCS-SD-32G=

I found an explanation that it is possible to run 32G by just upgrading the CIMC software to 2.2(3a) or later. Would that work if I keep my UCS infrastructure on version 2.1(3a) and just upgrade the b200 M3 host firmware to  2.2(3a) ? 

The link for release notes I referenced is http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/ucs_2_2_rn.html

[Justin Welch]

Hello,

If you look in the release notes we support the infrastructure being on the same revision or above as the blades but not vice versa. If you are going to upgrade the blades you need to upgrade the infrastructure. 

Thanks,

Justin

[Keny Perez · Accepted solution]

Just to add on what Justin said... with your current version you need to have the Infrastructure firmware run same or higher version than the blades, if you were running 2.2.4b or later, the blades on higher version would be supported with a  "server Pack"

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/ucs_2_2_rn.html#pgfId-282711

New Software Features in Release 2.2

Release 2.2(4b) adds support for the following:

• Server Pack—This feature allows you to support new server platforms ^* on existing infrastructure without requiring a complete firmware upgrade. In this model, new B/C server bundles enabling the new servers will be supported on the previous infrastructure A bundle. For example, Release 2.2(5) B/C server bundles are supported with Release 2.2(4) infrastructure A bundle as highlighted in Table 2 . New features introduced in the B/C bundles may only become available after upgrading the A bundle to the respective version.

The Server Pack feature provides the additional flexibility of adding new server platforms to active UCS domains without incurring the operational overhead of upgrading firmware across the whole domain.

^* The feature will apply to select server platforms.

-Kenny

[ataranen]

Just a follow up. With my current infrastructure version 2.1(3a), will I see SD card under local devices of my boot policy ?

I realize that I need 16G card to work with 2.1 infrastructure. Once I put it in, enable the Flex Flash in local disk policy assigned to service profile, and put it on the blade, will the SD card option magically add itself as one of the options in boot policy ? Or will I always have to press F6 and go into bios to choose my SD card to boot from ? 

Thank you.