Learn how to upgrade or downgrade the Cisco APIC CIMC from releases 6.2 or later using the integrated workflow in the APIC user interface. This procedure ensures compatibility and guides you through each step of the process.
Use this procedure to upgrade or downgrade the Cisco APIC CIMC from releases 6.2 or later using the APIC user interface workflow.
Starting with Cisco ACI release 6.2(1), the system includes an integrated, orchestrated CIMC upgrade workflow. This feature allows you to upgrade CIMCs of APICs in a cluster directly from the APIC user interface.
Prior to upgrading the Cisco APIC software in your Cisco ACI fabric, you may also need to update the CIMC version running on your fabric. To ensure compatibility, review the Cisco APIC Release Notes for a list of supported CIMC software versions for each release. The Cisco APIC Release Notes can be found on the APIC documentation page.
Before you begin
Ensure that you check and follow these guidelines:
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Review all pre-upgrade checklists and guidelines relevant to your environment. See Pre-Upgrade/Downgrade Checklists for more information.
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Review the Guidelines and limitations for upgrading or downgrading .
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Download the required CIMC HUU image to the APIC as described in the Download APIC, APIC CIMC, switch and additional rules for pre-upgrade validation on APICs section.
CIMC upgrades through APIC are supported only with specific CIMC HUU versions listed in the catalog object compatRsSuppHw . For example, when your APIC model is APIC-G5 (apicg5) and the APIC version is 6.2(1), the only CIMC HUU version supported by the APIC CIMC upgrade workflow is C225M8 6.0(1.250131). An example output of the catalog object is listed below. The APIC release notes may list additional supported CIMC HUU versions. If you need to use one of these other versions, you must upgrade CIMC through the CIMC user interface. admin@apic1:~> moquery -d 'uni/fabric/compcat-default/ctlrfw-apic-6.2(1)/rssuppHw-[uni/fabric/compcat-default/ctlrhw-apicg5]' | egrep '#|cimc|dn' # compat.RsSuppHw cimcFamily : C225M8 cimcVersion : 6.0(1.250131) dn : uni/fabric/compcat-default/ctlrfw-apic-6.2(1)/rssuppHw-[uni/fabric/compcat-default/ctlrhw-apicg5]
Procedure
| 1. | Go to the section in the APIC user interface. |
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| 2. | Select from the navigation pane.
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Controller & CIMC upgrade tab is pre-selected, which allows you to upgrade components based on your selection.
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| 3. | In the Upgrade Component area, choose CIMC . |
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| 4. | Your APIC nodes show up in the table below along with the current CIMC version and its Status . When the corresponding CIMC version is available in the APIC's firmware repository, the Status column shows Upgrade Available . Click Validate for each APIC with the Upgrade Available status. The Validate CIMC firmware slider appears. In the Validate CIMC firmware slider, provide the CIMC Username , Password and IP address along with the target CIMC HUU image version, then click Validate . This will validate whether the APIC has access to the CIMC to perform the CIMC upgrade with the provided image. |
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| 5. | Once all APIC nodes show Validated in the Status column, click Next . If some of your APIC nodes are already running the compatible CIMC version, the Status column shows Upgraded and you do not need to validate it to click Next . |
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| 6. | The Step 2 - Validation Results view appears. Wait for the pre-upgrade validations to complete. Make sure that all validations are passed. If there is a validation that failed with severity Catastrophic, you must fix it to proceed to the next step |
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| 7. | The Step 3 - Summary view appears. Review your selections then click Submit to start the CIMC upgrade. |
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| 8. | The Progress view appears. Monitor it and wait until it shows Completed for all steps. |