Managing Firmware Upgrades

This chapter discusses the following topics:

About Upgrading Firmware on Rack Servers

In Cisco UCS Director, you can create firmware upgrade profiles and then use these profiles to upgrade the firmware on rack servers. You can create the following types of firmware upgrade profiles:

Adding Images to a Local Cisco UCS Director System

Procedure
    Step 1   Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
    Step 2   On the Physical Accounts page, click Images - Local.
    Step 3   Click Add.
    Step 4   In the Add Firmware Image - Local screen, complete the required fields, including the following:

    Field

    Description

    Profile Name field

    Enter a descriptive and unique profile name.

    The profile name must be unique across both Local and Network image profiles.

    Proxy Configuration check box

    (Optional) Check this check box to enable proxy configuration and complete the following:

    • Host Name field - Enter a host name for the proxy configuration.

    • Port field - Enter the port for the proxy configuration.

    Platform drop-down list

    Choose a platform from the drop-down list.

    This list displays only those platforms that have at least one server being managed.

    Available Image drop-down list

    Choose the .iso image from the drop-down list.

    Download Now check box

    Check this check box to download the .iso image immediately after adding a profile.

    Accept License Agreement check box

    Check this check box to accept the license agreement.

    Click on the Terms and Conditions link to read the End User License Agreement.

    Note   

    You must accept the license agreement to create a firmware profile, irrespective of the time you choose to download the image.

    Step 5   Click Submit.
    Note   

    • You can click View Location Details to view profile configuration details, click Modify to modify the firmware image details, and click Delete Profile to delete the image profile. You can select multiple profiles concurrently and delete them.

    • For downloading the E-Series firmware images, you must associate a contract access to the cisco.com account.

    Uploading Images from a Local File System

    Perform this procedure to upload iso images from your local file system to the system.

    Procedure
      Step 1   Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
      Step 2   On the Physical Accounts page, click Images - Local.
      Step 3   Click Upload to add an image.
      Step 4   In the Upload Firmware Image - Local screen, complete the required fields, including the following:

      Field

      Description

      Profile Name field

      Enter a descriptive and unique profile name.

      Platform drop-down list

      Select the C-Series or E-Series platform.

      File Name field

      Choose Browse to search and select a file to upload on your local file system.

      Step 5   Click Upload.
      Step 6   Click OK in the File Upload confirmation screen, once the upload is complete.
      Step 7   Click Close.
      Note   

      • You can view profile configuration details, modify the firmware image details, and delete the image profile. You can also select multiple profiles concurrently and delete them.

      • The Delete Profile option removes the image associated with the profile. If you uploaded a wrong image or if a file is no longer associated with a profile, a purge system task which runs periodically (once a month) will delete the files from the system.

      Adding Images from a Network Server

      Procedure
        Step 1   Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
        Step 2   On the Physical Accounts page, click Images - Network.
        Step 3   Click Add.
        Step 4   In the Add Firmware Image - Network screen, complete the required fields, including the following:

        Field

        Description

        Profile Name field

        A descriptive and unique name for the profile.

        The profile name must be unique across both Local and Network image profiles.

        Platform drop-down list

        Choose a platform from the drop-down list.

        Server Type drop-down list

        Choose either Network File System (NFS) or Common Internet File System (CIFS) server types.

        Remote IP field

        Enter remote IP address.

        Remote Share field

        Enter remote share path.

        Remote File Name field

        Enter a remote filename.

        Note   

        The remote filename is the Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Configuration Utility ISO file.

        User Name field

        Enter a network path user name.

        Password field

        Enter a network path password.

        Step 5   Click Submit.
        Note   

        You can click View Location Details to view profile configuration details, click Modify to modify the firmware image details, and click Delete Profile to delete the image profile. You can also select multiple profiles concurrently and delete them.

        Upgrading the Firmware Image

        Perform this procedure when you want to upgrade firmware on a rack server.

        Procedure
          Step 1   Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
          Step 2   On the Physical Accounts page, click Firmware Upgrades.
          Step 3   Click Run Upgrade.

          A warning message stating that the firmware upgrade process will result in downtime of the hosts is displayed.

          Step 4   Click OK to confirm.
          Step 5   In the Upgrade Firmware screen, complete the following:

          Field

          Description

          Select Profile drop-down list

          Choose a profile from the drop-down list.

          Server(s) list

          Check the check boxes of the servers.

          The list displays only those servers whose platform matches the one configured in the selected profile.

          Schedule later check box

          Check this check box and select an existing schedule to run an upgrade.

          You can also click on + icon to create a new schedule. For more information on creating schedules, see Creating Schedules. You can go to Policies > Manage Schedules, select a schedule and click View Scheduled Tasks to verify the scheduled task and its progress. You can also select a scheduled task and click Remove Scheduled Tasks to remove the associated scheduled task.

          Step 6   Click Submit.

          Deleting the Firmware Image

          Perform this procedure when you want to delete only the firmware image and not the profile using which the firmware image was downloaded.

          Procedure
            Step 1   Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
            Step 2   On the Physical Accounts page, click Images - Local.
            Step 3   Select a profile from the table.
            Step 4   Click Delete Image.
            Step 5   In the Delete Image(s) screen, click Delete.

            The firmware image is deleted from the system. You can download this firmware image from later on by using the Download Image option.

            Deleting a Profile Created for Firmware Upgrade

            Perform this procedure when you want to delete a profile created for firmware upgrade.

            Procedure
              Step 1   Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
              Step 2   On the Physical Accounts page, click Images - Local or Images - Network.
              Step 3   Select a profile from the table.
              Step 4   Click Delete Profile.
              Step 5   In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete.

              Clearing Firmware Upgrade Status Messages

              Perform this procedure to clear all firmware-related status messages recorded in the Cisco UCS Director system.

              Procedure
                Step 1   Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
                Step 2   On the Physical Accounts page, click Firmware Upgrades.
                Step 3   Click Delete Upgrade Status.
                Step 4   Click Submit.