Upgrade CIMC of BE6H-M5-K9- server

[nicanor00]

Hi

I have 2 server BE6H-M5-K9 with esxi 7.0

I need to upgrade cucm from 12.5 to 15.

One requirement of these upgrade is to upgrade esxi from 7.0 to 8

The actual version of the CIMC BIOS firmware version is 4.1(2a)

So I use the cisco UCS Hardware and Software Compatibility to check as show below

This is the result that I got

When I see this result above; it mean that i must upgrade the CIMC to 4.1(3) minimum before upgrade esxi to 8.0 ?

1. Please advise

I check on the cisco website as show below and there are many 4.1(3) version.

2. which one should I choose

[Wassim Aouadi]

Hello @nicanor00 ,

1. Based on the screenshots you've provided, your BE6H-M5-K9 is based on a Cisco UCS C220 M5. And the minimum supported server firmware for the UCS C220 M5 is in this case the 4.1(3), which means yes you should upgrade the UCS firmware because your version is lower than the minimum required version.

The order of upgrade: You should upgrade the CIMC firmware before upgrading ESXi software.

2. Cisco mentions version 4.3(2.250045) at the time of this writing as a stable recommended release. You can go with it.

[Steven Tardy]

You should always use the latest version of a code train as (supposedly) only bug fixes have gone into letter release; meaning the latest would have the most bugs fixed. So: 4.1(3n)

From a UCS perspective you should use the latest (starred) version on the C220 M6 download page which is currently: 4.3(2.250045)
+ https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286318809/type/283850974/

From a BE6K perspective you should use whatever the BE6K Engineering team has qualified.
Has BE6K Engineering tested 4.3(2.250045)?
(I don't know what that is and should be asked of BE6K team.)

From a VMware ESXi perspective ESXi 8.0 recommends UEFI boot mode instead of Legacy boot mode.
+ https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=84233

Changing from Legacy boot mode to UEFI boot mode may or may not work.
I have seen this work and I have also seen this NOT work.

Does BE6K software support (changing to) UEFI boot mode?
(I don't know and should be asked of BE6K team.)

[nicanor00]

Hi

So please If I choose this version 4.1(3n)

Please kindly confirm if BE6H-M5-K9 server can support UEFI boot mode?

Please need also documentation or link to help to upgrade

Please advice

[mserwon-net]

Did Cisco confirm if BE6H-M5-K9 server can support UEFI boot mode?