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

SUMMARY STEPS

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

DETAILED STEPS

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.

Graceful Timeout check box

Check this check box to specify a time period within which the host system must shutdown to initiate the firmware upgrade process.

Note 

You can configure graceful timeout for systems running Cisco IMC 3.1(3a) or higher.

If you do not provide a timeout period, then the system is forcibly shut down after 120 seconds.

Timeout (in mins) field

Specify a time period, in minutes, within which the host system must shutdown to initiate the firmware upgrade process.

You can specify a value between 0 and 60.

Force Shutdown Server check box

Check this check box to forcibly shut down the host system if it did not shut down within the time specified in the Graceful Timeout (in mins) field.

This option is enabled by default.

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.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
  2. On the Physical Accounts page, click Images - Local.
  3. Click Upload to add an image.
  4. In the Upload Firmware Image - Local screen, complete the required fields, including the following:
  5. Click Upload.
  6. Click OK in the File Upload confirmation screen, once the upload is complete.
  7. Click Close.

DETAILED STEPS

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

SUMMARY STEPS

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

DETAILED STEPS

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.

Mount 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.

Graceful Timeout check box

Check this check box to specify a time period within which the host system must shutdown to initiate the firmware upgrade process.

Timeout (in mins) field

Specify a time period, in minutes, within which the host system must shutdown to initiate the firmware upgrade process.

Force Shutdown Server check box

Check this check box to forcibly shut down the host system if it did not shut down within the time specified in the Graceful Timeout (in mins) field.

This option is enabled by default.
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.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
  2. On the Physical Accounts page, click Firmware Upgrades.
  3. Click Run Upgrade.
  4. Click OK to confirm.
  5. In the Upgrade Firmware screen, complete the following:
  6. Click Submit.

DETAILED STEPS

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.

SUMMARY STEPS

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

DETAILED STEPS

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.

SUMMARY STEPS

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

DETAILED STEPS

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.