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Previously, users scheduled infrastructure firmware updates per domain group. Cisco UCS Central has changed that feature. Now, you schedule infrastructure firmware updates for specific domains, or domains assigned to a domain group, using maintenance groups and tags.
You can trigger infrastructure firmware updates on one domain, multiple domains, or domains belonging to a domain group, based on the product family. For example, you could update the infrastructure firmware on all of the Cisco UCS Mini systems, and not update any of the blade servers. Another example is that you could update all maintenance groups on the west coast, but none on the east coast. The following is an overview of the initial steps needed.
Step 1 | Register UCS
domains with
Cisco UCS Central.
See the Cisco UCS Central Getting Started Guide for more information. | ||
Step 2 | During
registration, subscribe to the infrastructure and catalog firmware policy and
make it a global policy.
See the Cisco UCS Central Getting Started Guide for more information. | ||
Step 3 | Download the
appropriate infrastructure firmware image from the Image Library.
| ||
Step 4 | Create values
for maintenance group tags. Apply tags to individual domains, or all domains in
a domain group, to include them in a maintenance group.
See Creating Maintenance Groups and Adding Domains or Domain Groups for more information. | ||
Step 5 | Schedule an
infrastructure firmware update for a maintenance group tag.
See Scheduling an Infrastructure Firmware Update for more information. | ||
Step 6 | If you enabled
user acknowledgment, then acknowledge the update in the pending activities
section.
See Acknowledging an Infrastructure Firmware Update Policy for more information. |
The Infrastructure and Catalog firmware policy is set to local, by default, because it is so disruptive. Edit it and set it to global before scheduling a domain infrastructure firmware update. If the firmware policy is set to local, it does not affect any domain when run.
You can set the policy to global during registration, or from within Cisco UCS Central after registration. The following steps describe how to do it after registration.
A maintenance group contains a collection of selected domains, or all of the domains assigned to a domain group, for which you want to update the firmware simultaneously. You can upgrade the firmware immediately, or with a schedule. You can require a user to acknowledge the upgrade, or it can start automatically.
You can select one catalog per domain infrastructure update scheduled job. Each catalog version only applies to one product family. Therefore, it is a best practice, when updating the catalog, to create a maintenance group which contains only those domains with identical product families. Then, Cisco UCS domains included in that maintenance group are updated with the capability catalog defined for that product family. If you include other product families in that maintenance group, their catalog version is not updated.
Note | You can only tag domains, or a domain group, that are not already tagged with a maintenance group tag. |
If you want to create multiple Maintenance Group tags, create them in the Tag type page.
Step 1 | Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Tag Management. |
Step 2 | Click Tag Types. |
Step 3 | Click Maintenance Group to select it. |
Step 4 | Click Edit. |
Step 5 | In the Maintenance Group dialog box, click Values. |
Step 6 | Click Add and add a name for the maintenance group. |
Step 7 | Repeat the previous step to add all of the values that you need for the maintenance groups. |
Step 8 | Click Save. |
You can only apply one maintenance group tag to a domain. Currently, Cisco UCS Central does not support applying multiple maintenance group tags to a domain.
Step 1 | Click the Browse Tables icon and choose Domains. | ||
Step 2 | Select a domain,
or filter them based on domain group, to select all domains assigned to a
domain group.
| ||
Step 3 | Click Tag. | ||
Step 4 | In the Add Tag dialog box Type field, select Maintenance Group. | ||
Step 5 | In the Value field, select a value. | ||
Step 6 | Click Add. | ||
Step 7 | Repeat for all
of the domains that you want to include in this maintenance group.
To include all of the domains in the list in your maintenance group, select the domain option in the heading and click Tag. | ||
Step 8 | If you want to include multiple domain groups in a maintenance group, they must be sub-domains of the parent domain group. Filter based on the domain group and sub-domain group, and then tag all of the domains from that search result. |
Step 1 | Click the System Tools icon and choose Firmware Management. |
Step 2 | On the Firmware Management page, click the Tools icon and choose Schedule Infrastructure Firmware Update. |
Step 3 | In the Infrastructure Firmware Update dialog box, select a tag from the Maintenance Group drop-down menu. |
Step 4 | Select the UCS
fabric interconnects
product family and appropriate firmware versions to use for the update.
You do not need to update all of the available hardware systems. You can also update different hardware types with different firmware versions. |
Step 5 | (Optional)Select the catalog version in the Catalog version drop-down list for the product family. |
Step 6 | If you want to trigger a firmware update immediately, click Immediately in the Trigger firmware update field. |
Step 7 | If you want to schedule a firmware update, select the date and time for the update in the Schedule Infrastructure Firmware update field. |
Step 8 | Select whether the update requires user acknowledgment in the User acknowledgement required to install field. |
Step 9 | Click
Schedule.
You can monitor the firmware update on the Firmware Management page. The scheduled firmware updates display in the job list. |
The desktop Firmware Management widget displays all of the jobs scheduled for firmware updates.
If you set an infrastructure firmware update job to require user acknowledgment before starting, Cisco UCS Central does not start the upgrade until this acknowledgment occurs.
Step 1 | In the Domains Impacted table, when the Firmware Status column changes to Start Pending, click the Alerts icon and choose Pending Activities. |
Step 2 | Click Acknowledge to start the firmware update for the domain. |
Step 3 | When the Firmware Status column changes to Pending User Acknowledgment, this indicates that Cisco UCS Central requires a user acknowledgment to reboot the fabric interconnects. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to acknowledge the reboot. |
In Cisco UCS Central, you can manage all firmware components for all registered Cisco UCS domains. The status of all firmware updates displays on the Firmware Management page.
The Firmware Status Manager displays the product family, firmware version, and catalog version.
The graphical Impacted Domains table displays the domains impacted by the update. There are two levels of impact for the domains:
Not subscribed—Domain not subscribed to the infrastructure firmware update policy. After the job triggers, this status does not display.
The status of the domains impacted displays in the Firmware Status of Impacted Domains table:
Ready—Ready for update.
The Cisco UCS Central jobs list contains all scheduled infrastructure firmware update. The status displays for each job.
Note | You can edit a job that is in the 'waiting' state, however, you cannot create a new job. You must delete the 'waiting' job to create a new one. |
There are multiple methods for preventing an infrastructure firmware update:
If you wish to remove a domain from a maintenance group which affects multiple domains, then delete the maintenance tag assigned to the domain before you start the upgrade. This prevents the policy from impacting the domain. If the domain is untagged after the infrastructure firmware update starts, then the domain is updated.
This cancels the job for all of the included domains.
Before you delete a value, or tag, for a maintenance group, check that no jobs are associated with it.
If you delete a maintenance tag before the upgrade starts, then the upgrade process deletes after notifying the user.
If you delete a maintenance tag after the upgrade starts, the upgrade continues.
If you delete a maintenance tag and the job is scheduled for the future, and then you re-create the maintenance tag, the job runs on the domain.
When you delete a maintenance tag, the job does not delete. It is saved for historical purpose so that you can see what jobs were scheduled and which domains were impacted.
Cisco UCS Central performs two kinds of backups:
Backup for Cisco UCS Domain—Creates a binary file that includes a snapshot of an entire Cisco UCS Manager domain. The scheduled infrastructure firmware upgrade jobs are not contained in UCS domains. Therefore, restoring a domain does not affect scheduled infrastructure firmware upgrade jobs.
Scenario |
Impact |
---|---|
You restore a Cisco UCS Central backup that had jobs scheduled in the past. |
No impact: Updates are not affected. The backup file contains the maintenance tag and registered domains information. It does not contain the previous jobs so nothing is impacted. It does not run jobs scheduled for a previous date. |
You restore a Cisco UCS Central backup that had jobs scheduled in the future. |
No impact: The jobs execute as scheduled. |
Your Cisco UCS Central system crashes while it is running an infrastructure firmware update. |
Impact: Jobs do not run once you recover your Cisco UCS Central system. You must reschedule them. |
You restore a configuration backup. |
No impact: Configuration backups do not contain any job information, but they do contain maintenance tag information. If you restore from a configuration backup using the replace option, the restored system does not contain any job information. If you restore using the merge option, and had jobs scheduled for a future date, then any tagged domain, from the backup, are included in the future jobs. (This information displays in the impacted domains list) |
You merge a full state backup with a current system. |
Some Impact: Does not override what you currently have scheduled, but it doesn’t restore job descriptions so you must recreate the jobs. |
The Cisco UCS Manager domain loses visibility and becomes unregistered before or during an update. |
Impact: Update does not start again once the domain regains visibility. You must start it manually, (on-demand). |
You create a full state backup. You untag a domain. You restore from the backup. |
Impact: The domain was tagged in the backup, so it is still tagged when you restore that backup. If the job was scheduled for the future, the domain is included. To prevent this, untag the domain again. |
Job is running, you want to edit it. |
No impact: You cannot edit a job while it is in progress. However, you can remove the maintenance tag from a domain, or delete the job, before acknowledging the first pending-acknowledgment request. |
An HA failover occurs. |
No impact: Scheduled jobs occur normally. |
Upgrade from a previous release of Cisco UCS Central. |
Impact: Prior versions performed firmware updates per domain group. The current version performs updates per maintenance group. No domain group or scheduled jobs information is saved or transferred during the upgrade. You must create the maintenance groups and tag domains for inclusion. You must also recreate and reschedule all infrastructure firmware update jobs. |