want to upgrade firmware from 2.1(3a) to 2.2(8l) is direct upgrade path works?

[monotosh.mitra]

Hi All

want to upgrade firmware from 2.1(3a) to 2.2(8l), is direct upgrade path works?

or need to upgrade any other intermediate version. fi 6120XP. with b230m2 blades. 

as i know 1.4 to 2.2 direct upgrade is possible. So thinking this also work, please help need to do it asap by tomorrow

thanks

[josoneal · Accepted solution]

Hello Monotosh,

Yes, you will be able to upgrade directly from 2.1(3a) to 2.2(8l).

Here is our provided guide on upgrading: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/upgrading/from2-1/to2-2/b_UpgradingCiscoUCSFrom21To22.html#concept_3E13603D2F7440EA88581A5E28ADD3BC

-Josh

[monotosh.mitra · Accepted solution]

Thanks Josh, will go through the doc and update you bout the up-gradation status.

[monotosh.mitra]

Hi Josh,

upgrade was successful and no issue experienced.

Thanks All.

[EnterUserID]

So I'm going to make a few assumptions here, and if these assumptions are wrong, I suggest you get professional assistance:

1) this is test/dev or a lab environment

2) You have/know how to generate the backup files off the UCSM interface.

3) you're not familiar with running UCSM upgrades, but you've have/understand the procedure to rebuild the FI from a Full State backup if needed.

You're going to want to read the release notes for the firmware you're going to, check that the version you're on is supported, and verify there are no known issues with the blade hardware/VIC/Host OS etc. 

There is not usually a simple yes or no answer to these kinds of upgrades.  I'm just scanning the documentation, and I'm already seeing some caveats you'll want to double check prior to upgrading from 2.1 to 2.2.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/servers-unified-computing/ucs-manager/products-installation-guides-list.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/upgrading/from2-1/to2-2/b_UpgradingCiscoUCSFrom21To22.html#topic_6505D0253916438AB0D832BA8840A9FA

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/servers-unified-computing/ucs-manager/products-release-notes-list.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/CiscoUCSManager-RN-22.html

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

I'd also like to point out that your FIs look like they are EOL, and you will want to be very careful making changes.  Make sure you have valid backups of everything, and that you have no faults on the system.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-6100-series-fabric-interconnects/eol_c51-709473.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-b-series-blade-servers/eos-eol-notice-c51-733210.html

That being said, these upgrades should not be rushed, they should be planned out.  I would hesitate to start these with a single day for validation.  I would want to generate an inventory list of what hardware is in the UCS environment, double check hardware / firmware compatibility, and verify that the to - from code is supported.  Also verify the drivers installed on the guest OS, as they will more than likely need to be updated after a firmware upgrade.  These should be done in a maintenance window as they can impact production if there are issues.  Ideally because they are built for redundancy there are protections in place, but if you don't notice the issue, and upgrade both FI's, or don't have User Acknowledge set in the service profile you can cause outages.

[monotosh.mitra]

Many thanks for all the reply.