Business Edition 6000 appliance hardware is loaded with the latest supported BIOS, firmware, and drivers from Cisco’s UCS Hardware and Software Compatibility Tool at the time of factory build. At time of installation, consult this tool to see if any items must be refreshed.

Business Edition 6000 appliances are loaded with a variety of files for virtualization software and application software to assist you with expediting installation and first-time-setup. At the time of install, check myvmware.com, Cisco Software Center, and Cisco Electronic Software Delivery to see if newer maintenance updates are available.

For normal installations, do not erase the factory-loaded software. If you do erase you will lose all the files and any factory-loaded embedded virtualization software license.

• Files need to be manually re-downloaded from myvmware.com and cisco.com, and any embedded virtualization licenses to be applied manually.

• If the factory-loaded software is erased (example due to hardware replacement/migration, disks reformat, RAID rebuild, virtualization software reinstall, or upgrade, so on), see the Business Edition 6000 12.5 or 14 Installation Guide for appliance rebuild instructions.

See below for a summary of factory-loaded file types for virtualization software and applications. Table 1 contains a detailed list of what specific files are factory-loaded. These files are stored in the virtualization software’s datastore.

• Cisco custom image for VMware vSphere ESXi Install CD: The installation media from vmware.com for the indicated version used to factory-install ESXi. Factory-install will also be factory-licensed if you ordered the appliance with an embedded virtualization license. If you overwrite this factory install with your reinstall or upgrade, the embedded virtualization license will be erased and must be manually re-applied.

• Deployed OVA containing preinstalled application: Open Virtual Archive file containing a fully installed, ready-to-run application. Deploy to the appliance, then power on to enter application first-time-setup.

• Partial (skip) installed OVA: Open Virtual Archive file containing an application that is installed up to the “skip” configuration point, where the application is ready to accept the configuration and complete installation. Deploy to the appliance, then power on to complete application install and enter first-time-setup through either the system wizard through the virtual machine console or through unattended/touchless install with a platformConfig.xml configuration file. Refer to the Business Edition 6000 12.5 or 14 Installation Guide for further information.

• Base OVA: Open Virtual Archive file containing “empty” virtual machine (VM) configurations using specs and settings that are supported by the applications.

• Bootable installer image for base release: ISO application installer for indicated base release (example 12.5 base release) that must be used along with an “empty” virtual machine that is deployed from the Base OVA.

  Non-bootable upgrade-only image for Service Update: ISO application file that applies maintenance updates (example SU2) on top of an existing install of a base release (example applying SU2 on top of 12.5 base release). Follow application upgrade guides for how to use these files.

  Cisco Options Pack (COP): various patches and updates, such as Locale files, that are distributed in ISO installer format. Follow application install/upgrade guides for how to use these files.

• Recovery software image: ISO file used with Cisco TAC when an application virtual machine has suffered data corruption or is unable to start.