Trying to understand how Cisco firmware versions work

[JDMils]

I have a customer with a Cisco UCSM:

2x Fibre Interconnects

2x Chassis

6x B-series blade servers

The customer currently has firmware 3.2(3p) on their system and would like to upgrade to V4.1 (N-1) as they are upgrading their vSphere environment to 6.7u3.

From what I can see on the Cisco Downloads site, the following software is available (N-1):

Infrastructure firmware 4.1(3f)

Blades firmware 4.1(3f)

Blades ESXi drivers 4.1(3n)

Considering I will be upgrading the Infrastructure & Blade firmware to 4.1(3f), which ESXi drivers should I use for the ESXi hosts? Is the minimum driver I can use 4.1(3f) and the latest 4.1(3n) OK to use and how do I choose which one without losing compatibility between the drivers and the firmware?

[Kirk J · Accepted solution]

One you have picked a firmware version, use the HCL tool to confirm the driver version that is applicable.

https://ucshcltool.cloudapps.cisco.com/public/#

You base your 'firmware version' for driver/HCL purposes on the blade/rack firmware bundle version.

Generally, driver versions will not distinguish between minor firmware revisions (i.e. 4.13f vs 4.13n)

Kirk...

[JDMils]

Thanks. I put in the following information:

Server Type: B-Series

Server Model: Cisco UCS B200 M5 2 socket blade server

Processor Version: Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family (the CPU is actually an Intel Xeon Gold 6132)

Operating System: VMware

Operating System Version: 6.7U3

From the results shown, I checked the UCS Server Firmware 4.1(3) and the following was provided:

Firmware Bundle: https://software.cisco.com/download/home/283853163/type/283655681/release/4.2(1f)

Driver ISO: https://software.cisco.com/download/home/283853163/type/283853158/release/4.1(3n)

For the Driver ISO, I understand that I can use the 4.1.3n bundle to inject the required drivers into the ESXi hosts- this is OK. I guess this answers my question!