Upgrading Firmware through Auto Install

This chapter includes the following sections:

Firmware Upgrades through Auto Install

Auto Install enables you to upgrade a Cisco UCS domain to the firmware versions contained in a single package in the following two stages:

  • Install Infrastructure Firmware—Uses the Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle to upgrade the infrastructure components, such as the fabric interconnects, and Cisco UCS Manager.

  • Install Server Firmware—Uses the Cisco UCS M-Series Server Software Bundle to upgrade all servers in the Cisco UCS domain.

These two stages are independent and can be run or scheduled to run at different times.

You can use Auto Install to upgrade the infrastructure components to one version of Cisco UCS and server components to a different version.

Install Infrastructure Firmware

Install Infrastructure Firmware upgrades all infrastructure components in a Cisco UCS domain, including Cisco UCS Manager, and all fabric interconnects. All components are upgraded to the firmware version included in the selected Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle.

Install Infrastructure Firmware does not support a partial upgrade to only some infrastructure components in a Cisco UCS domain domain.

You can schedule an infrastructure upgrade for a specific time to accommodate a maintenance window. However, if an infrastructure upgrade is already in progress, you cannot schedule another infrastructure upgrade. You must wait until the current upgrade is complete before scheduling the next one.


Note

You can cancel an infrastructure firmware upgrade if it is scheduled to occur at a future time. However, you cannot cancel an infrastructure firmware upgrade after the upgrade has begun.

Install Server Firmware

Install Server Firmware uses host firmware packages to upgrade all servers and their components in a Cisco UCS domain. All servers whose service profiles include the selected host firmware packages are upgraded to the firmware versions in the selected software bundles, as follows:

  • Cisco UCS M-Series Server Software Bundle for all servers.


Note

You cannot cancel a server firmware upgrade process after you complete the configuration in the Install Server Firmware wizard. Cisco UCS Manager applies the changes immediately. However, when the actual reboot of servers occurs depends upon the maintenance policy in the service profile associated with the server.

Required Order of Steps for Auto Install

If you want to upgrade all components in a Cisco UCS domain to the same package version, you must run the stages of Auto Install in the following order:

  1. Install Infrastructure Firmware

  2. Install Server Firmware

This order enables you to schedule the server firmware upgrades during a different maintenance window than the infrastructure firmware upgrade.

Cautions, Guidelines, and Limitations for Upgrading with Auto Install

Before you use Auto Install to upgrade the firmware for any endpoint in a Cisco UCS domain, consider the following cautions, guidelines, and limitations:


Note

These guidelines are specific to Auto Install and are in addition to those listed in Cautions, Guidelines, and Limitations for Firmware Upgrades.

State of the Endpoints

Before you begin an upgrade, all affected endpoints must be in the following state:

  • For a cluster configuration, verify that the high availability status of the fabric interconnects shows that both are up and running.

  • For a standalone configuration, verify that the Overall Status of the fabric interconnect is Operable.

  • For all endpoints to be upgraded, verify that they are in an Operable state.

  • For all servers to be upgraded, verify that all the servers have been discovered and that discovery did not fail. Install Server Firmware will fail if any server endpoints cannot be upgraded.

Recommendations for the Default Host Firmware Policy

After you upgrade Cisco UCS Manager, a new host firmware policy named "default" is created, and assigned to all service profiles that did not already include a host firmware policy. The default host firmware policy is blank. It does not contain any firmware entries for any components. This default policy is also configured for an immediate reboot rather than waiting for user acknowledgment before rebooting the servers.

During the upgrade of server firmware, you can add firmware for the servers in the Cisco UCS domain to the default host firmware policy. To complete the upgrade, all servers must be rebooted.

Every service profile that is assigned the default host firmware policy reboots the associated server according to the maintenance policy included in the service profile. If the maintenance policy is set to immediate reboot, you cannot cancel the upgrade or prevent the servers from rebooting after you complete the configuration in the Install Server Firmware wizard. We recommend that you verify the maintenance policy associated with these service profiles to ensure that they are set for a timed reboot or for user acknowledgment.

Time, Date, and Time Zone on Fabric Interconnects Must Be Identical

To ensure that the fabric interconnects in a cluster configuration are in sync, you must ensure that they are configured for the same date, time, and time zone. We recommend that you configure an NTP server and the correct time zone in both fabric interconnects. If the date, time or time zone in the fabric interconnects are out of sync, the Auto Install might fail.

Cannot Upgrade Infrastructure and Server Firmware Simultaneously

You cannot upgrade the infrastructure firmware at the same time as you upgrade server firmware. We recommend that you upgrade the infrastructure firmware first and then upgrade the server firmware. Do not begin the server firmware upgrade until the infrastructure firmware upgrade is completed.

Required Privileges

Users must have the following privileges to upgrade endpoints with Auto Install:

Privileges Upgrade Tasks User Can Perform

admin

  • Run Install Infrastructure Firmware

  • Run Install Server Firmware

  • Add, delete, and modify host firmware packages

Service profile compute (ls-compute)

Run Install Server Firmware

Service profile server policy (ls-server-policy)

Add, delete, and modify host firmware packages

Service profile config policy (ls-config-policy)

Add, delete, and modify host firmware packages

Impact of Host Firmware Packages and Management Firmware Packages on Install Server Firmware

Because Install Server Firmware uses host firmware packages to upgrade the servers, you do not have to upgrade all servers in a Cisco UCS domain to the same firmware versions. However, all servers which have associated service profiles that include the host firmware packages you selected when you configured Install Server Firmware are upgraded to the firmware versions in the specified software bundles.

If the service profiles associated with servers include a management firmware package as well as a host firmware package, Install Server Firmware uses the firmware version in the management firmware package to upgrade the CIMC on the servers. The CIMC is not upgraded to the firmware version in the host firmware package, even if it is a more recent version of the CIMC than the one in the management firmware package. If you want to use the host firmware packages to upgrade the CIMC in the servers, you must remove the management firmware packages from the associated service profiles.

Effect of Using Install Server Firmware on Servers Whose Service Profiles Do Not Include a Host Firmware Package

If you use Install Server Firmware to upgrade server endpoints on servers that have associated service profiles without host firmware packages, Install Server Firmware uses the default host firmware package to upgrade the servers. You can only update the default host firmware package through Install Server Firmware.

If you want to upgrade the CIMC or BIOS in a server with an associated service profile that has previously been updated through the default host firmware package in Install Server Firmware, you must use one of the following methods:

  • Use Install Server Firmware to modify the default host firmware package and then upgrade the server through Install Server Firmware.

  • Create a new host firmware package policy, assign it to the service profile associated with the server, and then upgrade the server through that host firmware package policy.

  • Disassociate the service profile from the service profile and then directly upgrade the server endpoints.

Upgrading Server Firmware on Newly Added Servers

If you add a server to a Cisco UCS domain after you run Install Server Firmware, the firmware on the new server is not automatically upgraded by Install Server Firmware. If you want to upgrade the firmware on a newly added server to the firmware version used when you last ran Install Server Firmware, you must manually upgrade the endpoints to upgrade the firmware on that server. Install Server Firmware requires a change in firmware version each time. You cannot rerun Install Server Firmware to upgrade servers to the same firmware version.


Note

After you finish the upgrade to Release 2.2, you can use the Firmware Auto Sync Server policy in Cisco UCS Manager to automatically update newly discovered servers.

Upgrading the Infrastructure Firmware

The auto-install scope is not available if the Cisco UCS Manager CLI is at a release lower than 2.1(1).

Before You Begin

If your Cisco UCS domain does not use an NTP server to set the time, make sure that the clocks on the primary and secondary fabric interconnects are in sync. You can do this by configuring an NTP server in Cisco UCS Manager or by syncing the time manually.

Procedure
     Command or ActionPurpose
    Step 1UCS-A# scope firmware  

    Enters firmware mode.

     
    Step 2UCS-A /firmware # scope auto-install  

    Enters auto-install mode for infrastructure firmware upgrades.

     
    Step 3UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # install infra infra-vers infrastructure-bundle-version [starttime mon dd yyyy hh min sec] [force]  

    Updates and activates the infrastructure firmware.

    You must use starttime to schedule the infrastructure firmware upgrade, if you do not want the upgrade to start as soon as you commit the transaction. If you use starttime, enter the following information to specify when you want to schedule the upgrade:

    • mon—The first three letters of the desired month, such as jan or feb.

    • dd—The number of the desired day of the month, from 1 to 31.

    • yyyy—The four numbers of the desired year, such as 2012.

    • hh—The hour when you want the upgrade to start, from 0 to 23.

    • min—The minute when you want the upgrade to start, from 0 to 60.

    • sec—The second when you want the upgrade to start, from 0 to 60.

    Use the force keyword to activate the firmware regardless of any possible incompatibilities or currently executing tasks.

    Caution   

    Review the checklist that displays and ensure you have met all the requirements before you continue with the upgrade.

     
    Step 4 UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # commit-buffer  

    Commits the transaction to the system configuration.

    Note   

    If there is not enough space under bootflash, a warning will display and the upgrade process will stop.

     

    This example shows how to upgrade the infrastructure to the firmware in the Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle and commit the transaction: 

    UCS-A# scope firmware
UCS-A /firmware # scope auto-install
UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # install infra infra-vers ucs-k9-bundle-infra.2.5.0.225.A.bin
This operation upgrades firmware on UCS Infrastructure Components
(UCS manager, Fabric Interconnects and IOMs).
Here is the checklist of things that are recommended before starting Auto-Install
(1) Review current critical/major faults
(2) Initiate a configuration backup
(3) Check if Management Interface Monitoring Policy is enabled
(4) Check if there is a pending Fabric Interconnect Reboot activitiy
(5) Ensure NTP is configured
Do you want to proceed? (yes/no): yes
UCS-A /firmware/auto-install* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /firmware/auto-install #
    What to Do Next

    Acknowledge the reboot of the primary fabric interconnect. If you do not acknowledge that reboot, Cisco UCS Manager cannot complete the infrastructure upgrade and the upgrade remains pending indefinitely.

    Acknowledging the Reboot of the Primary Fabric Interconnect

    Before You Begin

    Caution

    To upgrade with minimal disruption, you must confirm the following:

    • Ensure that all the IOMs that are attached to the Fabric Interconnect are up before you acknowledge the reboot of the Fabric Interconnect. If all IOMs are not up, all the servers connected to the Fabric Interconnect will immediately be re-discovered and cause a major disruption.

    • Ensure that both of the Fabric Interconnects and the service profiles are configured for failover.

    • Verify that the data path has been successfully restored from the secondary Fabric Interconnect before you acknowledge the reboot of the primary Fabric Interconnect. For more information, see Verifying that the Data Path is Ready.

    After you upgrade the infrastructure firmware, Install Infrastructure Firmware automatically reboots the secondary fabric interconnect in a cluster configuration. However, you must acknowledge the reboot of the primary fabric interconnect. If you do not acknowledge the reboot, Install Infrastructure Firmware waits indefinitely for that acknowledgment rather than completing the upgrade.

    Procedure
       Command or ActionPurpose
      Step 1UCS-A# scope firmware  

      Enters firmware mode.

       
      Step 2UCS-A /firmware # scope auto-install  

      Enters auto-install mode for infrastructure firmware upgrades.

       
      Step 3UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # acknowledge primary fabric-interconnect reboot  

      Acknowledges the pending reboot of the primary fabric interconnect.

       
      Step 4 UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # commit-buffer  

      Commits the transaction to the system configuration.

      Cisco UCS Manager immediately reboots the primary fabric interconnect. You cannot stop this reboot after you commit the transaction.

       

      This example shows how to acknowledge the reboot of the primary fabric interconnect and commit the transaction: 

      UCS-A# scope firmware
UCS-A /firmware # scope auto-install
UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # acknowledge primary fabric-interconnect reboot
UCS-A /firmware/auto-install* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /firmware/auto-install #

      Canceling an Infrastructure Firmware Upgrade


      Note

      You can cancel an infrastructure firmware upgrade if it is scheduled to occur at a future time. However, you cannot cancel an infrastructure firmware upgrade after the upgrade has begun.

      Procedure
         Command or ActionPurpose
        Step 1UCS-A# scope firmware  

        Enters firmware mode.

         
        Step 2UCS-A /firmware # scope auto-install  

        Enters auto-install mode for infrastructure firmware upgrades.

         
        Step 3UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # cancel install infra  

        Cancels the scheduled infrastructure firmware upgrade.

         
        Step 4 UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # commit-buffer  

        Commits the transaction to the system configuration.

         

        The following example cancels a scheduled infrastructure firmware upgrade and commits the transaction: 

        UCS-A# scope firmware
UCS-A /firmware # scope auto-install
UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # cancel install infra
UCS-A /firmware/auto-install* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /firmware/auto-install #