UCS C260 M2 E7-2830 Upgrade From ESXI 5.5 Enterprise Plus to ESXI 6.0

[DIONICIO MANUEL LUNA MONTOYA]

What we need to upgrade from  VMware ESXI 5.5 Enterprise Plus to ESXI 6.0? It´s posibble?.

We have 3 servers working together with Vmotion, Virtual machines and boot files live in the SAN.

Cisco UCS C260 M2

Characteristics    Quantity     Description
CPU                      2                 2.13 GHz E7-2830 105W 8C/24M Cache
Memory                2                 2X16GB NHS DDR3-1333-MHz
HBA                      2                 Emulex LPe 12002 Dual Port 8Gb Fibre Channel
Network                1                 Intel i350 Quad Port 1Gb Adapter
O.S.                       1                Vmware ESXi 5.5 Enterprise Plus

BIOS C260.1.5.1A.0 07/17/2013
Firmware 1.5 (3d)

[Kirk J]

Greetings.

From a hardware/software interop perspective, this should be possible, although you'll need to visit the UCS interop tool at : http://www.cisco.com/web/techdoc/ucs/interoperability/matrix/matrix.html which shows 1.57 HUU as being the lowest version to support ESXi 6.0.

The HUU firmware can be downloaded from https://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=283862072&softwareid=283850974&release=1.5(8a)&relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=&reltype=latest

From the same interop tool, you'll want to check the matching Intel I350 (igb) driver, along with the Emulex driver, and possibly raid card (if present and used) driver which is likely the LSI megaraid_sas driver.  The VMware website is the only location to actually download the drivers from.

I would also recommend downloading the Cisco Customized ESXi install ISO image that most closely matches the version you are wanting to upgrade to.

Generally, you'll want to upgrade vcenter 1st before upgrading any of the ESXi hosts.

Once you upgrade Vcenter to 6, you want to make sure you have updated 6.0 license keys, or your hosts will go into a 60 day countdown trial period when you upgrade them to 6.0.

If you run guestVM appliances like Cisco call manager server, please make sure those versions support the ESXi version you are considering.

Thanks,

Kirk...

[DIONICIO MANUEL LUNA MONTOYA]

Hi Kirk J.

Thank you very much for your comments, you now previously we was review the UCS interoperability tool at http://www.cisco.com/web/techdoc/ucs/interoperability/matrix/matrix.html, and check the complete matrix in pdf at the cisco page, and we don´t see the exact server firmware. We check the VMware page and they say that this hardware is not supported, but also say that check with the manufacturer.

We will need to now, what is the exact firmware to support ESXI 6 in that server?

Best Regards.

[Kirk J · Accepted solution]

The Cisco Interop matrix does reference it, if you choose the correct HUU firmware level (example 1.57, 1.58)

Just adjust the 'component' to get the driver info from the various devices in your server.

Kirk...

[DIONICIO MANUEL LUNA MONTOYA]

Hi Kirk J.

Thank you so much for your support, with your last comment, we could see the light, you now, you have all the reason, this firmware version contains adapter Intel i350 Quad Port 1Gb Adapter.

Do you can help us only with 2  questions please?

First Question

Do we can upgrade from system firmware version 1.5(3d) to 1.5(8a) directly?

Second Question

What that this mean? Do we need a special ISO image from Vmware?

Information from UCS HW and SW Interoperability tool:

Note 4: Boot from SAN or Boot from iSCSI or Boot from LSI RAID requires Cisco Customized ISO image available for download at www.vmware.com.

Regards.

[Kirk J · Accepted solution]

You should be able to upgrade from 1.53(d) to 1.5(8a) directly.

You don't have to use the Cisco (OEM) customized image, but the image with Cisco customization will have more recent drivers natively built in for the devices that would ship with Cisco UCS servers.  If you use a generic install ISO, or use VUM to push the esxi versions updates out,, just check the interop matrix  to determine the correct drivers for your Emulex card, the Intel I350 NIC, and the LSI raid controller in use.

The HUU firmware process will actually update the firmware for CIMC, BIOS, LOM nics, harddrives, add-in NICs, Emulex card, etc.

Thanks,

Kirk

[DIONICIO MANUEL LUNA MONTOYA]

Hi Kirk J.

We appreciate your help, you are very professional. With your help we can resolve the problem.

Thank you.