Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Integrated Management Controller CLI Configuration Guide, Release 1.3
CIMC Firmware Management
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CIMC Firmware Management

This chapter includes the following sections:

Overview of Firmware

C-Series servers use firmware downloaded from cisco.com. This firmware is certified by Cisco to upgrade firmware on a C-Series server.

The firmware you download is packaged in a .zip file. After you have downloaded a firmware .zip from Cisco, you can use it to update the firmware on your server. Cisco also provides release notes with each image, which you can obtain from the same website from which you obtained the image.


Warning

Do not use the .zip file to reimage your server.

You use a .bin file to reimage. You must extract the proper .bin upgrade file from this .zip file. You can extract this .bin to a TFTP server or your local machine.


Note

When you update the firmware, you can either upgrade an older firmware version to a newer one, or downgrade a newer firmware version to an older one.

The CIMC separates the firmware update process into stages to ensure that you can install the firmware to a component while the server is running without affecting its uptime. Because you do not need to reboot the server until after you activate, you can perform that task overnight or during other maintenance periods. When you update firmware, the following stages occur:

Install

During this stage, the CIMC transfers the selected firmware version to the server. The install process always overwrites the firmware in the non-active slot on the server. You can install the firmware using either of the following methods:

  • Through a browser client—This method allows you to browse for a firmware image on your computer and install it on the server.
  • From a TFTP server—This method allows you to install a firmware image residing on a TFTP server.

Activate

During this stage, the CIMC sets the non-active firmware version as active and reboots the server. When the server reboots, the non-active slot becomes the active slot, and the active slot becomes the non-active slot. The firmware in the new active slot becomes the running version.

Obtaining CIMC Firmware from Cisco

Procedure
    Step 1   Navigate to cisco.com.
    Step 2   Click Support on the top toolbar, and then select Software Download from the drop-down menu.
    Step 3   Click the Unified Computing link in the lower left corner, and then log in.
    Step 4   Expand the Cisco C-Series Rack-Mount Servers node to display links to each model of the Cisco C-Series Rack-Mount Servers.
    Step 5   Click the appropriate link for your server model.
    Step 6   Click the Unified Computing System (UCS) Integrated Management Controller Firmware link, and then click the appropriate release version link.
    Step 7   Click Download Now.

    The Download Cart dialog box appears.

    Step 8   Review the information in the Download Cart dialog box, and then click Proceed with Download.

    The Software Download Rules page appears.

    Step 9   Review the download rules, and click Agree.

    A dialog box listing your download appears. The Select Location dialog box also appears. This dialog box has the focus.

    Step 10   Select a location in the Select Location dialog box, and then click Open.

    The download begins.

    Step 11   Click Close when the download is finished.

    The file that you downloaded is a .zip file.

    Warning   

    Do not use the .zip file to reimage your server.

    You use a .bin file to reimage. You must extract the proper .bin upgrade file from this .zip file. You can extract this .bin to an TFTP server or your local machine.

    The name of the proper .bin you extract file depends on the model server you are reimaging. Following are examples of 1.0.2 firmware update files:

    • C200 and C210—upd-pkg-c200-m1-cimc.full.1.0.2.bin
    • C250—upd-pkg-c250-m1-cimc.full.1.0.2.bin
    What to Do Next

    Install the CIMC firmware on the server.

    Installing CIMC Firmware from the TFTP Server

    Before You Begin
    Obtain the CIMC firmware from Cisco and store the file on a local TFTP server.

    Note

    If you start an update while an update is already in process, both updates will fail.

    Procedure
       Command or ActionPurpose
      Step 1Server# scope cimc  

      Enters the CIMC command mode.

       
      Step 2Server /cimc # scope firmware  

      Enters the CIMC firmware command mode.

       
      Step 3Server /cimc/firmware # update tftp-ip-address path-and-filename  

      Starts the firmware update. The server will obtain the update firmware at the specified path and file name from the TFTP server at the specified IP address.

       
      Step 4(Optional) Server /cimc/firmware # show detail  

      Displays the progress of the firmware update.

       

      This example updates the firmware:

      Server# scope cimc
Server /cimc # scope firmware
Server /cimc/firmware # update 10.20.34.56 //test/dnld-ucs-k9-bundle.1.0.2h.bin
  <CR>  Press Enter key
Firmware update has started.
Please check the status using "show detail"
Server /cimc/firmware #
      What to Do Next

      Activate the new firmware.

      Activating Installed Firmware

      Before You Begin

      Install the CIMC firmware on the server.


      Note

      If you start an activation while an update is in process, the activation will fail.

      Procedure
         Command or ActionPurpose
        Step 1Server# scope cimc  

        Enters the CIMC command mode.

         
        Step 2Server /cimc # scope firmware  

        Enters the firmware command mode.

         
        Step 3Server /cimc/firmware # show [detail]  

        Displays the available firmware images and status.

         
        Step 4Server /cimc/firmware # activate [1 | 2]  

        Activates the selected image. If no image number is specified, the server activates the currently inactive image.

         

        This example activates firmware image 1:

        Server# scope cimc
Server /cimc # scope firmware
Server /cimc/firmware # show detail 
Firmware Image Information:
    Update Stage: NONE
    Update Progress: 100
    Current FW Version: 1.0(0.74)
    FW Image 1 Version: 1.0(0.66a)
    FW Image 1 State: BACKUP INACTIVATED
    FW Image 2 Version: 1.0(0.74)
    FW Image 2 State: RUNNING ACTIVATED

Server /cimc/firmware # activate 1