vSphere 5.1 on Cisco UCS 5108

[amit.aggarwal]

Hi,

We have Cisco UCS 5108 with Fabric Interconnect 6120XP and Cisco B 230 M2 Blades with M81KR Adapters. The storage connected to this is EMC VNX5300. Currently we are running VMware vSphere 5.0. Now I want to upgrade this VMware to 5.1.

Kindly let me know what are the things I need to upgrade on UCS. Please send me the details on how to upgrade these things.

Thanks

[Aditya Sharma]

Hey Amit,

Please refer to this UCS Manger Interoperability Matrix :

http://www.cisco.com/web/techdoc/ucs/interoperability/matrix/matrix.html

You need to be on firmware 2.0(4) to be able to upgrade to vSphere 5.1i :

Other requirements from the martix:

Manufacturer     = Cisco UCS B230-m2

Adapter Driver   = 1.5.0.8 / 2.1.2.22 (NIC)

Adapter Firmware = 2.0(4)

Boot Code / BIOS =

Note 11: The listed driver version is required for support. The updated Driver CD is available from VMware.com > All Downloads > VMware vSphere  > Drivers & Tools > VMware ESX/ESXi Driver CD for Cisco FCoE CNA

Note 12: iSCSI Boot is supported. Both Appliance and Uplink ports are supported unless otherwise noted

Note 23: The listed driver version is required for support. They are contained in the Cisco OEM Customized ESX ISO available from VMware.com > downloads > VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi)

Here is the link to Install and Upgrade Guides if you decide to upgrade to 2.0(4) firmware:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10281/prod_installation_guides_list.html

[amit.aggarwal]

How stable is 2.0(4) to upgrade. As history of Cisco we should never upgrade to the latest patch immediately after Cisco releases it.

I am having only one chassis and my entire production servers are running on it, So I need to know how stable is this version before I go ahead and upgrade it.

Please suggest.

Also, is there a link which I can follow to get exact step by step guide of upgrade. Please share.

[Aditya Sharma]

Amit,

I completely understand your point of view, but at the end of the day the decision of upgrading or not, is completely up to you. As I stated before, vSphere 5.1i on B230-m2 blades is supported in UCS firmware 2.0 (4 a or b). However, I am attaching a link to the 2.0 release notes, which should hopefully help:

Release Notes for Cisco UCS Software, Release 2.0

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/OL_25363.html#wp333546

As to exact step by step guide of upgrade, what firmware are you currently on?

If you are upgrading between 2.0 releases:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/upgrading/from2.0/to2.0MR/b_UpgradingCiscoUCSFrom2.0To2.0MR.html

If you are upgrading from 1.4 to 2.0 releases:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/upgrading/from1.4/to2.0/b_UpgradingCiscoUCSFrom1.4To2.0.html

Also, these step by step video guides should help as well:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/video/upgrade/14to20/upgrade_20_a.html