Cisco StadiumVision Director Software Installation and Upgrade Guide, Release 2.4

Upgrading the CIMC and BIOS Firmware on a Cisco StadiumVision Director Platform 2 Server

Platform 2 of the Cisco StadiumVision Director Server requires installation of the Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Firmware Version 1.4(2) to avoid problems powering off the server hardware.

This module describes how to verify and upgrade a Cisco StadiumVision Director Platform 2 server to the recommended version 1.4(2) of the UCS Cisco Integrated Management Interface (CIMC) firmware and version 1.4.1 of the BIOS firmware.

Caution Do not perform this upgrade on a Cisco ADE 2140 Series server. Be sure that you can confirm your server model before continuing. Figure 1 shows an example of a Platform 2 server.

This module includes the following topics:

•Best Practices

•Prerequisites

•Upgrade Tasks

•Verifying the Upgrade

Best Practices

Before you begin upgrading the CIMC and BIOS firmware, consider the following best practices:

•Choose an appropriate down time to perform the upgrade on the Cisco StadiumVision Director server when there is adequate time to complete and verify the upgrade before any scheduled events and to allow time to resolve any unexpected issues that might occur.

•Refer to the Release Notes for Cisco StadiumVision Director Release 2.4 for the latest information about hardware and software requirements, changes, important notes, and caveats for your software release.

Prerequisites

Before you upgrade the Cisco StadiumVision Director server firmware for Platform 2, be sure that the following requirements are met:

•You have installed a Platform 2 server. Figure 1 shows an example of a Platform 2 server applicable for this upgrade.

Figure 1 Front Panel of a Cisco StadiumVision Director Platform 2 Server

•You have configured the CIMC interface on your server. You will need another available IP address for the server and should be prepared to change the default login and password. For more information, see the "Initial Server Setup" section of the "Installing the Server" chapter in the Cisco UCS C200 Installation and Service Guide.

•Your current CIMC firmware version is any version earlier than 1.4(2), and your BIOS firmware version is earlier than 1.4.1.

•You have access to Cisco.com to download the firmware.

•You have access to a TFTP server from which you can install the downloaded firmware, and the Platform 2 server has read permission for the destination folder on the TFTP server.

•You are performing the firmware installation with local access to the Cisco StadiumVision Director Platform 2 server.

•You have a monitor and keyboard that you can connect to the server.

•You have a blank DVD that you can use to burn the BIOS ISO software.

•You have a tool (such as "7-zip") to extract the contents of the ZIP file to obtain the CIMC installation BIN file contained within the ISO software file that you will download.

Upgrade Tasks

To upgrade your CIMC and BIOS firmware, complete the following tasks:

•Verifying the BIOS Firmware Version (required)

•Downloading the ISO Firmware Upgrade Files From Cisco.com (required)

•Installing the CIMC Firmware from a TFTP Server (required)

•Burn the BIOS ISO File (required)

•Upgrading the BIOS Firmware (required)

Verifying the BIOS Firmware Version

You can verify the firmware version installed on Platform 2 of the Cisco StadiumVision Director server by running a Basic System State Report. Once you have installed the Cisco StadiumVision Director server software and have logged in, you can run a System State Report from the Cisco StadiumVision Director main menu.

To verify the BIOS firmware version, complete the following tasks:

Step 1 Log into the Cisco StadiumVision Director server.

Step 2 From the main menu, click System State Reports:

Step 3 From the Cisco StadiumVision Director Status Report screen, select one or both report destination options, and be sure that the "Basic first level" option (default) is selected:

Step 4 Click Get System Status.

Step 5 Click the link to download the ZIP report file, or to view the report from the browser.

Step 6 Do one of the following:

•If you downloaded a ZIP report, extract the osinfo.html file and open it.

•From your browser, click the OS information link in the report window.

Step 7 Look for "BIOS Information" and "Version" below "Handle 0x00005, DMI type 0, 24 bytes" line, as shown in the following example. If your version number is less than "1.4.1," then an upgrade is needed:

Handle 0x0005, DMI type 0, 24 bytes.

BIOS Information

Vendor: Cisco Systems, Inc.

Version: C200.1.1.1a.0.032920100525

Release Date: 03/29/2010

Tip If the vendor information in this section is Intel Corporation, and the version begins with "S5000," then this is not a Platform 2 server, but rather a Cisco ADE 2140 Series server. This BIOS upgrade process does not apply to the Cisco ADE 2140 Series server.

Downloading the ISO Firmware Upgrade Files From Cisco.com

Be sure to download the upgrade files to a location, such as a laptop computer, where you can access them for installation onto the Cisco StadiumVision Director server.

To download the BIOS ISO upgrade file, complete the following steps:

Step 1 Go to the Cisco UCS C200 M2 Rack-Mount Server Software software download site at:

http://www.cisco.com/cisco/software/release.html?mdfid=283860950&flowid=25801&softwareid=283850974&release=1.4(2)

Note This site page is also available from the Download Software for Cisco products site page by clicking Products > Unified Computing and Servers > Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Standalone Server Software > Cisco UCS C200 M2 Rack-Mount Server Software > Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Firmware. Be sure that the 1.4 release is selected.

Step 2 Click Download Now beside the ucs-c200-huu-1.4.2.iso file.

The Download Cart dialog box appears.

Step 3 Review the information in the Download Cart dialog box, and then click Proceed with Download.

The Software Download Rules page appears.

Step 4 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 5 Select a location in the Select Location dialog box, and then click Open.

The download begins.

Note The ISO file contains a ZIP file named C200M1_1.4.2.zip.

Step 6 Extract the contents of the C200M1_1.4.2.zip file to your computer, which includes the following ZIP file location: 1.4.2\cimc\c200-m1-cimc.1.4.2.zip.

Step 7 From the c200-m1-cimc.1.4.2.zip file, extract the 1.4.2 CIMC BIN file (c200-m1-cimc.1.4.2\upd-pkg-c200-m1-cimc.full.1.4.2.bin) to be used in updating the CIMC firmware.

Installing the CIMC Firmware from a TFTP Server

Before you install the CIMC firmware, be sure that the following requirements are met:

•The CIMC interface has been configured. See the "Prerequisites" section.

•You have extracted the upd-pkg-c200-m1-cimc.full.1.4.2.bin file from the downloaded ISO package.

To install the CIMC firmware, follow the procedures to both install and activate the CIMC firmware using a TFTP server in the "CIMC Firmware Management" chapter of the Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Integrated Management Controller GUI Configuration Guide, Release 1.4 in the following sections:

•"Installing CIMC Firmware from a TFTP Server"

•"Activating Installed CIMC Firmware"

Note Certain Platform 2 servers cannot support a CIMC firmware upgrade using a web browser. For best results, be sure to install the CIMC firmware using the TFTP server method.

Figure 2 shows an example of the actions available from the Firmware Management screen, and identifies the two required actions for the Cisco StadiumVision Director Platform 2 Server.

Figure 2 Firmware Management Actions

Burn the BIOS ISO File

Note Only a local upgrade of the BIOS firmware is recommended. Do not perform a remote upgrade.

To prepare the BIOS ISO file for a local upgrade, create a bootable disk by burning the ucs-c200-huu-1.4.2.iso file to a writable CD or DVD.

Upgrading the BIOS Firmware

Caution Before you upgrade the BIOS firmware, be sure that you have completed installing the CIMC firmware.

To upgrade the BIOS firmware, complete the following steps:

Step 1 Insert the disk with the BIOS ISO file into the DVD drive of the server.

Step 2 Follow the instructions in the Cisco Host Upgrade Utility Release 1.4(x) Quick Start Guide:

•Begin at Step 4 of the "Using the Utility" section, to boot from the disk.

•At the Host Upgrade Menu, choose the option to Update BIOS and proceed with the installation instructions.

•After the BIOS upgrade is successful, choose the Reboot (Retains current settings of CIMC) option.

Verifying the Upgrade

Note The ucs-c200-huu-1.4.2.iso ISO package contains two different, but compatible firmware versions:

CIMC firmware version 1.4.2 and C200 BIOS version 1.4.1.

To verify the upgrade, run the Basic System State report again from Cisco StadiumVision Director and confirm that the BIOS version information shows "1.4.1."