June 20, 2013

NOTICE:

THIS FIELD NOTICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS AND DOES NOT IMPLY ANY KIND OF GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY, INCLUDING THE WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY. YOUR USE OF THE INFORMATION ON THE FIELD NOTICE OR MATERIALS LINKED FROM THE FIELD NOTICE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. CISCO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR UPDATE THIS FIELD NOTICE AT ANY TIME.

Revision History

Revision	Date	Comment
1.0	20-JUN-2013	Initial Public Release

Products Affected

Products Affected
C160
M160
S160

Problem Description

C160, S160, and M160 products shipped with BIOS 1.4.3I experience performance degradation and will not perform at the full CPU capacity.

Background

Cisco manufacturing recently discovered an incorrectly configured BIOS firmware that impacts a number of C160, S160, and M160 appliances shipped to customers.

Problem Symptoms

System performance can be up to 40% lower than appliances with other BIOS versions.

The device shows BIOS version 1.4.3I. In order to verify the version, enter the version command in the appliance CLI:

160_model> version
Product: Cisco IronPort C160 Messaging Gateway(tm) Appliance
Model: Either C160, S160, M160
Version: AsyncOS version
Build Date:  date value
Install Date:  date value
Serial #: serial of appliance
BIOS: 1.4.3I    <<<< old BIOS number
RAID: 02
RAID Status: OPTIMAL
RAID Type: 1
BMC: 1.79

Workaround/Solution

This problem is fixed in a new BIOS firmware for C160, M160, and S160 Cisco Content Security Appliances.

If you have an appliance affected by this issue, complete these steps in order to upgrade your BIOS firmware:

1. Access the CLI interface.

   Note: For the upgrade to run correctly, you must run it from the CLI.

2. From the CLI, enter upgrade. A list of available upgrades displays.

   The update for BIOS firmware package is provisioned only for appliances that require the upgrade. If you run a supported version of AsyncOS and you do not see the Update for BIOS firmware package in the list of available upgrades, you can assume that your appliance does not require the upgrade and you can skip any further upgrade steps.

3. Choose the package Update for BIOS firmware.
4. You will be prompted to reboot your machine. Click Yes.
5. Wait approximately fifteen minutes. Your machine should automatically reboot after approximately fifteen minutes.

   Caution: If your machine does not automatically reboot in fifteen minutes, contact the Technical Assistance Center (TAC). Do not attempt to reboot your machine again.

6. In order to verify that the upgrade ran successfully, run the upgrade script again after the machine reboots. If the upgrade was successful, the upgrade script indicates that the appliance does not require an upgrade.

In order to verify the new BIOS firmware version, enter the version command:

160_model> version
Product: Cisco IronPort C160 Messaging Gateway(tm) Appliance
Model: Either C160, S160, M160
Version: AsyncOS version
Build Date:  date value
Install Date:  date value
Serial #: serial of appliance
BIOS: 1.4.6I <<<< New BIOS number
RAID: 02
RAID Status: OPTIMAL
RAID Type: 1
BMC: 1.79

More information can be found in Update for BIOS Firmware for C160, M160 and S160 Cisco Content Security Appliances.

Note: After you run the firmware upgrade, the firmware upgrade package displays in the list of available upgrades even after a successful installation. The presence of this package does not indicate a failed upgrade.

How To Identify Hardware Levels

If the output of the version command contains this information your appliance is affected by this issue:
BIOS: 1.4.3I

For More Information

If you require further assistance, or if you have any further questions regarding this field notice, please contact the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC) by one of the following methods:

• Open a service request on Cisco.com
• By email
• By telephone

Receive Email Notification For New Field Notices

Cisco Notification Service—Set up a profile to receive email updates about reliability, safety, network security, and end-of-sale issues for the Cisco products you specify.