Cisco UCS Manager Firmware Management Using the CLI, Release

3.1
First Published: 2016-01-20
Last Modified: 2017-04-27

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 2016-2017 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
 CONTENTS

Preface Preface ix
Audience ix
Conventions ix
Related Cisco UCS Documentation xi
Documentation Feedback xi

CHAPTER 1 New and Changed Information 1

New and Changed Information for This Release 1

CHAPTER 2 Overview 3
Overview 3
What is New in Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1 8
Cisco UCS Manager User CLI Documentation 9
Components That Support Firmware Upgrade 9
Firmware Version Terminology 11
Cross-Version Firmware Support 11
Server Pack 15
Light Weight Upgrades 16
Service Packs 16
Service Pack Versions 17
Service Pack Rollback 18
Guidelines and Restrictions for Service Packs 18
Firmware Auto Sync for FI Cluster 19
Options for Firmware Upgrades 19
Options for Service Pack Updates 21
Firmware Upgrades through Auto Install 21
Firmware Upgrades through Firmware Packages in Service Profiles 23

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Direct Firmware Upgrade at Endpoints 23

Firmware Upgrade While Migrating from Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects to
Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnects 25
Firmware Upgrade to Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1 25
Firmware Upgrade to a Minor or a Patch Release 27
Firmware Downgrades 28
Firmware Management in Cisco UCS Central 29

CHAPTER 3 Firmware Upgrade Scenarios 31

Scenario A: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnect with a Blade Server
Chassis 31
Scenario B: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnect with a Blade Server Chassis
from Release 2.2 to Release 3.1 32
Scenario C: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6324 Series Fabric Interconnect from Release 3.0 to Release
3.1 32
Scenario D: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6324 Series Fabric Interconnect with a Secondary Chassis
from Release 3.0 to Release 3.1 33

CHAPTER 4 Guidelines and Prerequisites 35

Guidelines, and Best Practices for Firmware Upgrades 35
Configuration Changes and Settings that Can Impact Upgrades 35
Hardware-Related Guidelines for Firmware Upgrades 36
Firmware- and Software-Related Guidelines for Upgrades 37
Fabric Interconnect Traffic Evacuation 38
Stopping Traffic on a Fabric Interconnect 40
Restarting Traffic on a Fabric Interconnect 40
Verifying Fabric Evacuation 41
Displaying the Status of Evacuation at a Fabric Interconnect 42
Secure Firmware Update 43
Secure Firmware Update Supported Network Adapters and Storage Disks 43
Guidelines for Secure Firmware Support on Cisco UCS Servers 44
Cautions, and Guidelines for Upgrading with Auto Install 45
Cautions, and Guidelines Limitations for Managing Firmware in Cisco UCS Central 47
Prerequisites for Upgrading and Downgrading Firmware 48
Pre-Upgrade Validation Checks 49

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Create Backup Files 49

Creating an All Configuration Backup File 49
Configuring the Full State Backup Policy 50
Configure Cisco Smart Call Home for Firmware Upgrade 52
Disabling Smart Call Home 52
Fault Suppression During Firmware Upgrade 52
Faults Generated Due to Reboot During the Upgrade of a Fabric Interconnect 53
Modifying Baseline Expiration Interval for Faults 53
Viewing Faults Generated During the Upgrade of a Fabric Interconnect 54
Verifying the Operability of a Fabric Interconnect 56
Verifying the High Availability Status and Roles of a Cluster Configuration 56
Configuring the Default Maintenance Policy 57
Disabling the Management Interface 58
Verifying the Status of an I/O Module 59
Verifying the Status of a Server 60
Verifying the Status of Adapters on Servers in a Chassis 61
Verification that the Data Path is Ready 61
Verifying that Dynamic vNICs Are Up and Running 61
Verifying the Ethernet Data Path 62
Verifying the Data Path for Fibre Channel End-Host Mode 62
Verifying the Data Path for Fibre Channel Switch Mode 63

CHAPTER 5 Manage Firmware through Cisco UCS Manager 65

Download and Manage Firmware in Cisco UCS Manager 65
Firmware Image Management 65
Firmware Image Headers 67
Firmware Image Catalog 67
Obtaining Software Bundles from Cisco 68
Downloading Firmware Images to the Fabric Interconnect from a Remote Location 69
Displaying the Firmware Package Download Status 70
Canceling an Image Download 71
Displaying All Available Software Images on the Fabric Interconnect 71
Displaying All Available Packages on the Fabric Interconnect 72
Determining the Contents of a Firmware Package 72
Checking the Available Space on a Fabric Interconnect 73

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Firmware Upgrades through Auto Install 73

Direct Upgrade After Auto Install 74
Automatic Internal Backup 74
Install Infrastructure Firmware 75
Install Server Firmware 75
Required Order of Steps for Auto Install 75
Recommended Process for Upgrading Infrastructure Firmware Through Auto Install 76
Upgrade the Infrastructure Firmware with Auto Install 76
Acknowledging the Reboot of the Primary Fabric Interconnect 79
Canceling an Infrastructure Firmware Upgrade 80
Clearing the Startup Version of the Default Infrastructure Pack and the Service Pack 80
Viewing the Status of the FSM During An Infrastructure Firmware Upgrade 81
Firmware Upgrades through Firmware Packages in Service Profiles 82
Host Firmware Package 82
Stages of a Firmware Upgrade through Firmware Packages in Service Profiles 84
Effect of Updates to Firmware Packages in Service Profiles 84
Creating or Updating a Host Firmware Package 87
Firmware Automatic Synchronization 90
Setting the Firmware Auto-Sync Server Policy 91
Acknowledging the Firmware Auto Synchronization for a Server 92
Direct Firmware Upgrade at Endpoints 93
Stages of a Direct Firmware Upgrade 93
Outage Impacts of Direct Firmware Upgrades 95
Outage Impacts of Direct Firmware Upgrades on M-Series Chassis and Server
Endpoints 96
Recommended Process for Directly Upgrading Infrastructure Firmware at Endpoints 97
Cisco UCS Manager Firmware 99
Activating the Cisco UCS Manager Software 99
Activating a Service Pack for the Cisco UCS Manager Software 100
Removing a Service Pack from the Cisco UCS Manager Software 101
IOM Firmware 101
Updating and Activating the Firmware on an IOM 102
Fabric Interconnect Firmware 104
Activating the Firmware on a Fabric Interconnect 104
Switching Over Fabric Interconnect Cluster Lead 105

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Activating a Service Pack on a Fabric Interconnect 106

Removing a Service Pack from a Fabric Interconnect 106
Adapter Firmware 107
Updating and Activating the Firmware on an Adapter 107
BIOS Firmware 109
Updating and Activating the BIOS Firmware on a Server 109
CIMC Firmware 111
Updating and Activating the CIMC Firmware on a Server 111
PSU Firmware 113
Updating the Firmware on a PSU 113
Activating the Firmware on a PSU 114
Board Controller Firmware 115
Activating the Board Controller Firmware on Cisco UCS B-Series M3 and Higher Blade
Servers 116
Activating the Board Controller Firmware on a Cisco UCS C-Series M3 and Higher Rack
Servers 117

CHAPTER 6 Manage the Capability Catalog in Cisco UCS Manager 119

Capability Catalog 119
Contents of the Capability Catalog 119
Updates to the Capability Catalog 120
Activating a Capability Catalog Update 121
Verifying that the Capability Catalog is Current 121
Restarting a Capability Catalog Update 121
Viewing a Capability Catalog Provider 122
Obtaining Capability Catalog Updates from Cisco 124
Updating the Capability Catalog from a Remote Location 124

CHAPTER 7 Troubleshoot Firmware 127

Recovering Fabric Interconnect During Upgrade 127
Recovering Fabric Interconnects When You Do Not Have Working Images on The Fabric
Interconnect or The Bootflash 127
Recovering Fabric Interconnect During Upgrade When You have Working Images on the
Bootflash 131
Recovering Unresponsive Fabric Interconnects During Upgrade or Failover 132

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Recovering Fabric Interconnects From a Failed FSM During Upgrade With Auto
Install 133
Recovering IO Modules During Firmware Upgrade 134
Resetting an I/O Module from a Peer I/O Module 134

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 Preface
Audience, page ix
Conventions, page ix
Related Cisco UCS Documentation, page xi
Documentation Feedback, page xi

Audience
This guide is intended primarily for data center administrators with responsibilities and expertise in one or
more of the following:
Server administration
Storage administration
Network administration
Network security

Conventions
Text Type Indication
GUI elements GUI elements such as tab titles, area names, and field labels appear in this font.
Main titles such as window, dialog box, and wizard titles appear in this font.

Document titles Document titles appear in this font.

TUI elements In a Text-based User Interface, text the system displays appears in this font.

System output Terminal sessions and information that the system displays appear in this
font.

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 Preface
Conventions

Text Type Indication

CLI commands CLI command keywords appear in this font.
Variables in a CLI command appear in this font.

[] Elements in square brackets are optional.

{x | y | z} Required alternative keywords are grouped in braces and separated by vertical

bars.

[x | y | z] Optional alternative keywords are grouped in brackets and separated by vertical

bars.

string A nonquoted set of characters. Do not use quotation marks around the string or
the string will include the quotation marks.

<> Nonprinting characters such as passwords are in angle brackets.

[] Default responses to system prompts are in square brackets.

!, # An exclamation point (!) or a pound sign (#) at the beginning of a line of code
indicates a comment line.

Note Means reader take note. Notes contain helpful suggestions or references to material not covered in the
document.

Tip Means the following information will help you solve a problem. The tips information might not be
troubleshooting or even an action, but could be useful information, similar to a Timesaver.

Timesaver Means the described action saves time. You can save time by performing the action described in the
paragraph.

Caution Means reader be careful. In this situation, you might perform an action that could result in equipment
damage or loss of data.

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 Preface
Related Cisco UCS Documentation

Warning IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

This warning symbol means danger. You are in a situation that could cause bodily injury. Before you
work on any equipment, be aware of the hazards involved with electrical circuitry and be familiar with
standard practices for preventing accidents. Use the statement number provided at the end of each warning
to locate its translation in the translated safety warnings that accompanied this device.
SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS

Related Cisco UCS Documentation

Documentation Roadmaps
For a complete list of all B-Series documentation, see the Cisco UCS B-Series Servers Documentation Roadmap
available at the following URL: http://www.cisco.com/go/unifiedcomputing/b-series-doc.
For a complete list of all C-Series documentation, see the Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Documentation Roadmap
available at the following URL: http://www.cisco.com/go/unifiedcomputing/c-series-doc.
For information on supported firmware versions and supported UCS Manager versions for the rack servers
that are integrated with the UCS Manager for management, refer to Release Bundle Contents for Cisco UCS
Software.

Other Documentation Resources

Follow Cisco UCS Docs on Twitter to receive document update notifications.

Documentation Feedback
To provide technical feedback on this document, or to report an error or omission, please send your comments
to [email protected]. We appreciate your feedback.

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Documentation Feedback

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 CHAPTER 1
New and Changed Information
New and Changed Information for This Release, page 1

New and Changed Information for This Release

The following table provides an overview of the significant changes to this guide for this current release. The
table does not provide an exhaustive list of all changes made to this guide or of all new features in this release.

Table 1: New Features and Changed Behavior in Cisco UCS Manager, Release 3.1(3)

Feature Description Where Documented

Light Weight Upgrades Light weight patching, which delivers Light Weight Upgrades, on
security updates for infrastructure and page 16
server components through a common
service pack bundle. In most cases,
security patches can be applied to the
infrastructure bundle without involving
application downtime.

Fabric Evacuation with Auto You can now use fabric evacuation Fabric Interconnect Traffic
Install during Auto Install. If you use fabric Evacuation, on page 38
evacuation with Auto Install, and fabric
evacuation was enabled on the fabric
interconnect before Auto Install, fabric
evacuation is disabled after Auto Install
is complete.

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New and Changed Information for This Release

Table 2: New Features and Changed Behavior in Cisco UCS Manager, Release 3.1(2)

Feature Description Where Documented

Secure Firmware Update This enables you to securely update Secure Firmware Update, on
third-party Intel network and storage page 43
adapter firmware.

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 CHAPTER 2
Overview
This chapter includes the following sections:

Overview, page 3
Components That Support Firmware Upgrade, page 9
Firmware Version Terminology, page 11
Cross-Version Firmware Support, page 11
Server Pack, page 15
Light Weight Upgrades, page 16
Firmware Auto Sync for FI Cluster, page 19
Options for Firmware Upgrades, page 19
Firmware Upgrade While Migrating from Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects to Cisco UCS
6300 Series Fabric Interconnects , page 25
Firmware Upgrade to Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1, page 25
Firmware Upgrade to a Minor or a Patch Release, page 27
Firmware Downgrades, page 28
Firmware Management in Cisco UCS Central , page 29

Overview
Cisco UCS uses firmware obtained from and certified by Cisco to support the endpoints in a Cisco UCS
domain. Each endpoint is a component in the Cisco UCS domain, and requires firmware to function.
This guide explains how to obtain firmware and upgrade the endpoints in a Cisco UCS domain by using Cisco
UCS Manager. It also details the best practices to be followed while upgrading these endpoints.
Beginning with Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(1), Cisco is releasing unified Cisco UCS Manager software
and firmware upgrades for each of the following platforms with every release of Cisco UCS Manager:
Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnect with Cisco UCS B-Series, and C-Series Servers

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Overview

Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnect with Cisco UCS B-Series, and C-Series Servers

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Overview

Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect with Cisco UCS B-Series Servers and C-Series Servers, which is
also known as UCS Mini

Figure 1: Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnect with Cisco UCS B-Series and C-Series Servers

Figure 2: Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnect with Cisco UCS B-Series, and C-Series Servers

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Overview

Figure 3: Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect with Cisco UCS B-Series Servers and C-Series Servers

These figures illustrate the various platforms and the firmware bundles supported by Cisco UCS Manager
Release 3.1.
Each release has the following firmware bundles:

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Overview
Overview

Infrastructure software bundleThis bundle is also called the A bundle. It contains the firmware images
that the fabric interconnects, IO Modules, and Cisco UCS Manager require to function.
Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1 and later releases will contain three separate infrastructure bundles:
Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnectucs-k9-bundle-infra.3.1.x.xxx.A.bin
Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnectucs-6300-k9-bundle-infra.3.1.x.xxx.A.bin
Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnectucs-mini-k9-bundle-infra.3.1.x.xxx.A.bin

B-Series server software bundleAlso called the B bundle, this bundle contains the firmware images
that the B-Series blade servers require to function, such as adapter, BIOS, CIMC, and board controller
firmware. Release Bundle Contents for Cisco UCS Manager, Release 3.1 provides details about the
contents of the B-Series server software bundle.

Note Starting with Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(2), the firmware for endpoints that are
common to both the B-Series and C-Series server software bundles, such as local disk,
is available in both the B-Series and C-Series server software bundles.

C-Series server software bundleAlso called the C bundle, this bundle contains the firmware images
that the C-Series rack-mount servers require to function, such as adapter, BIOS, CIMC, and board
controller firmware. The C bundle also contains the firmware images for Cisco UCS S3260 storage
servers. Release Bundle Contents for Cisco UCS Manager, Release 3.1 provides details about the contents
of the C-Series server software bundle.

Note Starting with Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(2), the firmware for endpoints that are
common to both the B-Series and C-Series server software bundles, such as local disk,
is available in both the B-Series and C-Series server software bundles.

Capability catalog software bundleAlso called the T bundle, this bundle specifies
implementation-specific tunable parameters, hardware specifics. and feature limits.
Cisco UCS Manager uses the capability catalog to update the display and configurability of server
components such as newly qualified DIMMs and disk drives. The Cisco UCS Manager Capability
Catalog is a single image, but it is also embedded in Cisco UCS Manager software. Cisco UCS Manager
Release 3.1 and later releases work with any 3.1 catalog file, but not with 2.2 catalog versions. If a server
component is not dependent on a specific BIOS version, using it and having it recognized by Cisco UCS
Manager is primarily a function of the catalog version. In addition to the catalog being bundled with
UCS infrastructure releases, it can, sometimes, also be released as a standalone image.

The upgrade order for the endpoints in a Cisco UCS domain depends upon the upgrade path.
See the required order of steps for your upgrade path to determine the appropriate order in which to upgrade
the endpoints in your Cisco UCS domain.
Cisco maintains a set of best practices for managing firmware images and updates in this document and in
the following technical note: Unified Computing System Firmware Management Best Practices.
This document uses the following definitions for managing firmware:
UpdateCopies the firmware image to the backup partition on an endpoint.

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What is New in Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1

ActivateSets the firmware in the backup partition as the active firmware version on the endpoint.
Activation can require or cause the reboot of an endpoint.

Note For capability catalog upgrades, update and activate occur simultaneously. You only need to update or
activate those upgrades. You do not need to perform both steps.

What is New in Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1

Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(2) introduces support for Cisco UCS S3260 systems. Cisco UCS S3260
Server Integration with Cisco UCS Manager, Release 3.1 provides detailed information about firmware
management for Cisco UCS S3260 systems.
Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(1) introduces the following in various platforms:

Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnect with B-Series and C-Series Servers
This release introduces a new platform with support for the following:
Cisco UCS 6332 and Cisco UCS 6332-16 UP fabric interconnects with specific 40GbE ports that can
be broken out into groups of 4x10GbE ports. The Cisco UCS Manager Getting Started Guide provides
details about the specific ports and the breakout capability.
Cisco UCS-IOM-2304 with 40GbE per-port connectivity to the fabric interconnect.
Direct attached and FEX-based connectivity to C-Series servers.
Cisco N2K-C2348UPQ-10GE FEX with 40GbE uplink ports and 10GbE server ports.
Separate upgrade of power supply unit firmware for the chassis.
Display of outstanding data path faults when a firmware upgrade triggered FI reboot is acknowledged.

Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnect with B-Series and C-Series Servers
This release adds support for the following:
Separate upgrade of power-supply unit firmware for the chassis
Display of outstanding data path faults when a firmware upgrade-triggered FI reboot is acknowledged

Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect with B-Series and C-Series Servers (Cisco UCS Mini)
This release adds support for the following to Cisco UCS Mini:
A secondary chassis
IOM on the secondary UCS 5108 blade server chassis
Separate upgrade of power-supply unit firmware for the secondary blade server chassis
Display of outstanding data path faults when a firmware upgrade-triggered FI reboot is acknowledged

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Cisco UCS Manager User CLI Documentation

Cisco UCS Manager User CLI Documentation

Cisco UCS Manager offers you a new set of smaller, use-case based documentation described in the following
table:

Guide Description
Cisco UCS Manager Getting Started Guide Discusses Cisco UCS architecture and Day 0
operations, including Cisco UCS Manager initial
configuration, and configuration best practices.

Cisco UCS Manager Administration Guide Discusses password management, role-based access
configuration, remote authentication, communication
services, CIMC session management, organizations,
backup and restore, scheduling options, BIOS tokens
and deferred deployments.

Cisco UCS Manager Infrastructure Management Discusses physical and virtual infrastructure
Guide components used and managed by Cisco UCS
Manager.

Cisco UCS Manager Firmware Management Guide Discusses downloading and managing firmware,
upgrading through Auto Install, upgrading through
service profiles, directly upgrading at endpoints using
firmware auto sync, managing the capability catalog,
deployment scenarios, and troubleshooting.

Cisco UCS Manager Server Management Guide Discusses the new licenses, registering Cisco UCS
domains with Cisco UCS Central, power capping,
server boot, server profiles and server-related policies.

Cisco UCS Manager Storage Management Guide Discusses all aspects of storage management such as
SAN and VSAN in Cisco UCS Manager.

Cisco UCS Manager Network Management Guide Discusses all aspects of network management such
as LAN and VLAN connectivity in Cisco UCS
Manager.

Cisco UCS Manager System Monitoring Guide Discusses all aspects of system and health monitoring
including system statistics in Cisco UCS Manager.

Components That Support Firmware Upgrade

The various platforms that are supported by Cisco UCS Manager have different components that support
firmware upgrade.
Fabric Interconnects:

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Components That Support Firmware Upgrade

Cisco UCS 6332

Cisco UCS 6332-16 UP
Cisco UCS 6248 UP
Cisco UCS 6296 UP
Cisco UCS 6324

Chassis components:
Blade server chassis:
I/O Modules

Note I/O Modules are not supported on the primary Cisco UCS Mini chassis. However, they
are supported on the secondary Cisco UCS Mini chassis.

Power Supply Unit

Cisco UCS S3260 chassis:

Chassis Management Controller (CMC)
Chassis Adapter
SAS Expander
Board Controller

Server components:
Blade and Rack server:
Adapter
Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC)
BIOS
Storage Controller

Note Storage controller is not a supported server component in Cisco UCS Mini.

Board Controller

Cisco UCS S3260 storage server node:

Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC)
BIOS
Board Controller

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Firmware Version Terminology

Storage Controller

Firmware Version Terminology

The firmware version terminology used depends upon the type of endpoint, as follows:

Firmware Versions in CIMC, I/O Modules, BIOS, CIMC, and Adapters

Each CIMC, I/O module, BIOS, CIMC, and Cisco adapter has two slots for firmware in flash. Each slot holds
a version of firmware. One slot is active and the other is the backup slot. A component boots from whichever
slot is designated as active.
The following firmware version terminology is used in Cisco UCS Manager:
Running Version
The running version is the firmware that is active and in use by the endpoint.

Startup Version
The startup version is the firmware that will be used when the endpoint next boots up. Cisco UCS
Manager uses the activate operation to change the startup version.

Backup Version
The backup version is the firmware in the other slot and is not in use by the endpoint. This version can
be firmware that you have updated to the endpoint but have not yet activated, or it can be an older
firmware version that was replaced by a recently activated version. Cisco UCS Manager uses the update
operation to replace the image in the backup slot.

If the endpoint cannot boot from the startup version, it boots from the backup version.

Firmware Versions in the Fabric Interconnect and Cisco UCS Manager

You can only activate the fabric interconnect firmware and Cisco UCS Manager on the fabric interconnect.
The fabric interconnect and Cisco UCS Manager firmware do not have backup versions, because all the images
are stored on the fabric interconnect. As a result, the number of bootable fabric interconnect images is not
limited to two, like the server CIMC and adapters. Instead, the number of bootable fabric interconnect images
is limited by the available space in the memory of the fabric interconnect and the number of images stored
there.
The fabric interconnect and Cisco UCS Manager firmware have running and startup versions of the kernel
and system firmware. The kernel and system firmware must run the same versions of firmware.

Cross-Version Firmware Support

The Cisco UCS Manager A bundle software (Cisco UCS Manager, Cisco NX-OS, IOM and FEX firmware)
can be mixed with previous B or C bundle releases on the servers (host firmware [FW], BIOS, Cisco IMC,
adapter FW and drivers).

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Cross-Version Firmware Support

The following table lists the mixed A, B, and C bundle versions that are supported on Cisco UCS 6200 and
6300 fabric interconnects:

Table 3: Mixed Cisco UCS Releases Supported on Cisco UCS 6200 and 6300 Fabric Interconnects

Infrastructure Versions (A Bundles)

Host 2.2(1) 2.2(2) 2.2(3) 2.2(4) 2.2(5) 2.2(6) 2.2(7) 2.2(8) 3.1(1) 3.1(2) 3.1(3)
FW
Versions
(B or
C
Bundles)

2.2(1) 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200

2.2(2) 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200

2.2(3) 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200

2.2(4) 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200

2.2(5) 6200 1 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200

2.2(6) 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200

2.2(7) 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200,6332, 6200,6332, 6200,6332,

6332-16UP 6332-16UP 6332-16UP

2.2(8) 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200 6200,6332, 6200,6332, 6200,6332,

6332-16UP 6332-16UP 6332-16UP

3.1(1) 6200,6332, 6200,6332, 6200,6332,

6332-16UP 6332-16UP 6332-16UP

3.1(2) 6200,6332, 6200,6332, 6200,6332,

6332-16UP 6332-16UP 6332-16UP

3.1(3) 6200,6332, 6200,6332, 6200,6332,

6332-16UP 6332-16UP 6332-16UP

1 Beginning with Cisco UCS Manager Release 2.2(4), and for M4 servers, a lower version of the infrastructure A bundle will be compatible with the previous
version and higher version of B and C server bundles. For example, the Cisco UCS Manager Release 2.2(4)A bundle will be supported with any of the following
B bundles for B200-M4 servers: 2.1(1)B, 2.1(2)B, 2.1(3)B, 2.2(1)B, 2.2(2)B, 2.2(3)B, 2.2(4)B, 2.2(5)B, 2.2(6)B, 2.2(7)B.
Note For M1, M2, M3 servers, only N, N-1 cross-version firmware is supported. For example, for B200 M3 servers, the
2.2(4)A bundle will be supported with 2.1(1)B, 2.1(2)B, 2.1(3)B, 2.2(1)B, 2.2(2)B, 2.2(3)B, and 2.2(4)B bundles).

The following table lists the mixed A, B, and C bundle versions that are supported on Cisco UCS Mini fabric
interconnects:

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Cross-Version Firmware Support

Table 4: Mixed Cisco UCS Releases Supported on Cisco UCS Mini Fabric Interconnects

Infrastructure Versions (A Bundles)

Host FW 3.0(1) 3.0(2) 3.1(1) 3.1(2) 3.1(3)
Versions (B or C
Bundles)

3.0(1) 6324 6324 6324 6324 6324

3.0(2) 6324 6324 6324 6324

3.1(1) 6324 6324 6324

3.1(2) 6324 6324 6324

3.1(3) 6324 6324 6324

The following table lists the mixed B, C bundles that are supported on all platforms with 3.1 bundle:

Table 5: Mixed B, C, M Bundles Supported on All Platforms with the 3.1(1)A Bundle

Infrastructure Versions (A Bundles)

Host FW 3.1(1)
Versions (B, C,
or M Bundles) 6200 6300 6324

ucs-k9-bundle-infra. ucs-6300-k9-bundle-infra. ucs-mini-k9-bundle-infra.

3.1.x.xxx.A.bin 3.1.x.xxx.A.bin 3.1.x.xxx.A.bin
2.2(1), 2.2(2), Yes
2.2(3), 2.2(4),
2.2(5), 2.2(6)
(B, C Bundles)

2.2(7), 2.2(8) Yes Yes

(B, C Bundles)

2.5(1), 2.5(2) Yes

(M Bundle)

3.0(1), 3.0(2) Yes

(B, C Bundles)

3.1(1) Yes Yes Yes

(B, C Bundles)

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Cross-Version Firmware Support

Infrastructure Versions (A Bundles)

3.1(1) (M Yes
Bundle)

Table 6: Mixed B, C Bundles Supported on All Platforms with the 3.1(2)A Bundle

Infrastructure Versions (A Bundles)

Host FW 3.1(2)
Versions (B, C
Bundles) 6200 6300 6324

ucs-k9-bundle-infra. ucs-6300-k9-bundle-infra. ucs-mini-k9-bundle-infra.

3.1.x.xxx.A.bin 3.1.x.xxx.A.bin 3.1.x.xxx.A.bin
2.2(1), 2.2(2), Yes
2.2(3), 2.2(4),
2.2(5), 2.2(6)
(B, C Bundles)

2.2(7), 2.2(8) Yes Yes

(B, C Bundles)

3.0(1), 3.0(2) Yes

(B, C Bundles)

3.1(1) Yes Yes Yes

(B, C Bundles)

3.1(2) Yes Yes Yes

(B, C Bundles)

Table 7: Mixed B, C Bundles Supported on All Platforms with the 3.1(3)A Bundle

Infrastructure Versions (A Bundles)

Host FW Versions (B, C 3.1(3)
Bundles)
6200 6300 6324

ucs-k9-bundle-infra. ucs-6300-k9-bundle-infra. ucs-mini-k9-bundle-infra.

3.1.x.xxx.A.bin 3.1.x.xxx.A.bin 3.1.x.xxx.A.bin

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Server Pack

Infrastructure Versions (A Bundles)

2.2(1), 2.2(2), 2.2(3), Yes
2.2(4), 2.2(5), 2.2(6)
(B, C Bundles)

2.2(7), 2.2(8) Yes Yes

(B, C Bundles)

3.0(1), 3.0(2) Yes

(B, C Bundles)

3.1(1) Yes Yes Yes

(B, C Bundles)

3.1(2) Yes Yes Yes

(B, C Bundles)

3.1(3) Yes Yes Yes

(B, C Bundles)

Important If you implement cross-version firmware, you must ensure that the configurations for the Cisco UCS
domain are supported by the firmware version on the server endpoints.

Server Pack
Server Pack allows you to dynamically support new server platforms2 on existing infrastructure without
requiring a complete firmware upgrade. This support is provided by a Cisco UCS Manager catalog image.
Through this model, new B-Series, or C-Series server bundles that enable the new servers are supported on
the previous infrastructure A bundle.
For example, in releases later than Release 3.1(1), B, or C server bundles will be supported with Release
3.1(1) infrastructure A bundle. However, B, or C server bundles in Release 3.1(1) and later releases are not
supported with the infrastructure A bundle of any release earlier than Release 3.1(1).
The Release Notes for Cisco UCS Manager for a particular release provides the complete matrix of cross-version
firmware support for that release. New features introduced in the B, or C server bundles may only become
available after upgrading the infrastructure A bundle to the respective version.
The following servers currently support Server Pack:
B-Series ServersUCS B200 M4, B260 M4, B420 M4, B460 M4
C-Series ServersUCS C220 M4, C240 M4, C460 M4

2 This feature will apply to select server platforms.

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 Overview
Light Weight Upgrades

If a peripheral is not supported by the existing infrastructure bundle, it will not be supported through the Server
Pack feature. You must upgrade the infrastructure bundle to support this peripheral. For example, if a server
is installed with new adapters that are not supported by the existing infrastructure bundle, support for these
adapters requires an upgrade to the infrastructure bundle. These adapters cannot be supported through the
Server Pack feature.
Because a new catalog image can be used without disrupting any hardware or software components, Server
Pack provides the additional flexibility of adding new server platforms to active UCS domains without incurring
the operational overhead of upgrading firmware across the whole domain.

Light Weight Upgrades

Until Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(3), upgrading the firmware to a patch release involved downloading
and activating the complete firmware bundle even when changes were made only to specific components.
The firmware versions of all components were modified even though there were no fixes made to some
components. This triggered unnecessary updates for that component firmware.
Security updates to the system were also delivered through patches and lead to rebooting of the fabric
interconnect and downtime.
Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(3) introduces light weight upgrades, which enhances firmware upgrade in
the following ways:
The firmware version of a component will be updated only if it has been modified.
Security updates will be provided through service packs. In Release 3.1(3), light weight upgrade supports
only security updates.
Within a service pack, updates may only apply to certain components. These components may, at times,
be upgraded without a fabric interconnect reboot.
Infrastructure and server components updates are delivered through a common service pack bundle. For
servers components, only the modified firmware images will be part of the service pack bundle. This
results in smaller-sized service pack bundles, compared to the traditional B-Series and C-Series bundles.

Service Packs
Service packs are patches that you can use to apply security updates to Cisco UCS Manager infrastructure
and server components. Service packs are specific to a base release. You can apply a service pack on a base
release, but you cannot install the service pack independently.
A service pack is provided as a single bundle for infrastructure and server components. You can update all
relevant infrastructure and server components by applying the service pack through Infrastructure and Server
Auto Install. In Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(3), the service pack bundle provides non-disruptive updates
only for infrastructure components. Among the infrastructure components, the fabric interconnect update to
a service pack may require fabric interconnect rebooting in some specific scenarios such as OpenSSL fixes.The
updates for server components are disruptive and will involve application downtime.
Service packs are cumulative for a maintenance release. The latest service pack will contain all the fixes from
the previous service packs released for the specific maintenance release.
You can remove or update a previously applied service pack through the Cisco UCS Manager GUI and the
Cisco UCS Manager CLI. Consequently, the component firmware version will be from the base release bundle.

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Service Pack Versions

Service packs are not applicable to maintenance releases earlier than Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(3).

Service Pack Versions

The following guidelines apply to service pack versions:
A service pack can be applied only on its base bundle. For example, service pack 3.1(3)SP2 can be
applied only on a 3.1(3) release. It is not compatible with a 3.1(4) release, and hence, cannot be applied
on it.
Service pack version numbering in separate maintenance releases are unrelated. For example, service
packs 3.1(3)SP2 and 3.1(4)SP2 are separate and unrelated.
The same fix can be made available for separate maintenance releases through separate service packs.
For example, the same fix can be made available in 3.1(3)SP2 and 3.1(4)SP3.
Service packs are cumulative. You can use the latest service pack version with any patch version within
the same maintenance release. For example, 3.1(3)SP3 will contain all the fixes that went into 3.1(3)SP2
and 3.1(3)SP1. You can apply 3.1(3)SP3 on any 3.1(3) release.
You cannot downgrade service packs to versions below the default service pack version for a maintenance
release.
When an upgrade or downgrade of a service pack fails, the default service pack version for that
maintenance release becomes the running service pack version. For example:
Base Bundle Version: 3.1(3b)
Default Service Pack Version: 3.1(3)SP2(Default)
Running Service Pack Version: 3.1(3)SP3
While upgrading from 3.1(3)SP3 to 3.1(3)SP4, if the upgrade fails, the running service pack version
displayed is 3.1(3)SP2(Default).

The following table illustrates the Release Version and Running Version Displayed in the different situations
that a service pack is applied.

Release Version Running Version Displayed

3.1(3a) Base Bundle Version: 3.1(3a)
Service Pack Version: 3.1(3)SP0(Default)

3.1(3)SP1 Base Bundle Version: 3.1(3a)

Service Pack Version: 3.1(3)SP1

3.1(3)SP2 Base Bundle Version: 3.1(3a)

Service Pack Version: 3.1(3)SP2

3.1(3b) Base Bundle Version: 3.1(3b)

Service Pack Version: 3.1(3)SP2(Default)

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Service Pack Rollback

Release Version Running Version Displayed

3.1(3)SP3 Base Bundle Version: 3.1(3b)
Service Pack Version: 3.1(3)SP3

Service Pack Rollback

You can roll back a service pack that was applied to a base release. The following sections describe the changes
made to the bundle version and the service pack version during various rollback scenarios.

Remove Service Pack

Bundle Version Service Pack Version

No change is made to the bundle version. Service pack is the default version that comes with
the bundle.

Downgrade Infrastructure Bundle to an Earlier Maintenance Release

Bundle Version Service Pack Version

Infrastructure bundle changes to the version of the Service pack is removed because it is not valid for
earlier maintenance release. the earlier maintenance release.

Downgrade Infrastructure Bundle Within the Same Maintenance Release, But with an Earlier Service Pack
Version

Bundle Version Service Pack Version

Infrastructure bundle changes to the version of the Service pack is removed during any infrastructure
maintenance release patch. upgrade or downgrade, if a corresponding service
pack version is not specified during Auto-Install.

Guidelines and Restrictions for Service Packs

When you upgrade from one service pack that requires FI reboot to another service pack that requires
FI reboot, the FI is rebooted twice.
Server Auto Sync Policy is not supported for service packs.
Auto sync of a service pack is not supported if the subordinate FI is running on a release earlier than
Release 3.1(3).

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 Overview
Firmware Auto Sync for FI Cluster

Firmware Auto Sync for FI Cluster

Addition of a secondary Fabric Interconnect to form a cluster either as a replacement or a conversion from
standby to HA requires the infrastructure bundle firmware versions to match. Administrators today manually
upgrade/downgrade the replacement FI to the correct version before they connect it to the cluster. Firmware
Auto Sync allows the users to automatically upgrade/downgrade the infrastructure bundle to the same version
as the survivor FI when the replacement is added as standby to HA. The software package is the UCS
software/firmware that resides on the FI.

Software and Hardware Requirements

The software package on the survivor FI should be greater than or equal to Cisco UCS Release 1.4. The model
numbers of the Fabric Interconnects should be same. For example, firmware Auto Sync will not trigger for a
combination of 62XX and 63XX FI models that are being set up for HA.

Implementation
With the earlier implementation, the user would compulsorily configure the replacement FI as standalone
mode if there was a mismatch in the version of software packages. The replacement FI is manually
upgraded/downgraded to the same version of software package on survivor FI through the usual
upgrade/downgrade process. Then the replacement FI is added to the cluster, since the upgrade/downgrade
of the replacement FI is a manual process.
You are now given an additional option of synchronization of the software packages of the replacement FI
with the survivor FI along with the current option. If the user decides to Auto Sync the firmware, the software
packages of the survivor FI are copied to the replacement FI. The software packages on the replacement FI
are then activated and the FI is added to the cluster. The sync-up of the Cisco UCSM database and the
configuration happens via the usual mechanisms once the HA cluster is formed successfully.

Firmware Auto Sync Benefits

In a UCS cluster where one Fabric Interconnect has failed, the Auto Sync feature ensures that the software
package of the replacement FI is brought up to the same revision as the survivor. The whole process requires
minimal end user interaction while providing clear and concise feedback.

Options for Firmware Upgrades

You can upgrade Cisco UCS firmware through one or more of the following methods:

Note For the steps required to upgrade one or more Cisco UCS domains to a later release, see the appropriate
Cisco UCS upgrade guide. If no upgrade guide is provided, contact Cisco Technical Assistance Center.
A direct upgrade from that release may not be supported.

Upgrading a Cisco UCS domain through Cisco UCS Manager

If you want to upgrade a Cisco UCS domain through the Cisco UCS Manager in that domain, you can choose
one of the following upgrade options:

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 Overview
Options for Firmware Upgrades

Upgrade infrastructure and servers with Auto InstallThis option enables you to upgrade all infrastructure
components in the first stage of upgrade by using Auto Install. Then you can upgrade all server endpoints
through host firmware packages in the second stage.
Upgrade servers through firmware packages in service profilesThis option enables you to upgrade all
server endpoints in a single step, reducing the amount of disruption caused by a server reboot. You can
combine this option with the deferred deployment of service profile updates to ensure that server reboots
occur during scheduled maintenance windows.
Direct upgrades of infrastructure and server endpointsThis option enables you to upgrade many
infrastructure and server endpoints directly, including the fabric interconnects, I/O modules, adapters,
and board controllers. However, direct upgrade is not available for all endpoints, including the storage
controller, HBA firmware, HBA option ROM and local disk. You must upgrade those endpoints through
the host firmware package included in the service profile associated with the server.
Upgrade chassis through chassis firmware packages in chassis profilesThis option enables you to
upgrade all S3260 Chassis endpoints in a single step.

Note Chassis profiles and chassis firmware packages are applicable only to S3260 Chassis.

Upgrading S3X60 Server Nodes in a Cisco UCS domain through Cisco UCS Manager
You can upgrade a Cisco UCS domain with a S3260 Chassis and servers through Cisco UCS Manager in the
following ways:
Upgrade infrastructure components through Auto InstallYou can upgrade the infrastructure components,
such as the Cisco UCS Manager software and the fabric interconnects, in a single step by using Auto
Install.
Upgrade chassis through chassis firmware packages in chassis profilesThis option enables you to
upgrade all chassis endpoints in a single step.
Cisco UCS S3260 Server Integration with Cisco UCS Manager provides detailed information about
chassis profiles and chassis firmware packages.
Upgrade servers through firmware packages in service profilesThis option enables you to upgrade all
server endpoints in a single step, reducing the amount of disruption caused by a server reboot. You can
combine this option with the deferred deployment of service profile updates to ensure that server reboots
occur during scheduled maintenance windows.

You can also directly upgrade the firmware at each infrastructure, chassis, and server endpoint. This option
enables you to upgrade many infrastructure, chassis, and server endpoints directly, including the fabric
interconnects, SAS expanders, CMCs, chassis adapters, storage controllers, and board controllers. However,
direct upgrade is not available for all endpoints, including the storage controller, HBA firmware, HBA option
ROM and local disk.
Cisco UCS S3260 Server Integration with Cisco UCS Manager provides detailed information about firmware
management for S3X60 Server Nodes

Upgrading a Cisco UCS domain through Cisco UCS Central

If you have registered one or more Cisco UCS domains with Cisco UCS Central, you can manage and upgrade
all firmware components in those domain through Cisco UCS Central. This option allows you to centralize

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 Overview
Options for Service Pack Updates

the control of firmware upgrades and ensure that all Cisco UCS domains in your data center are at the required
levels.
You can use Cisco UCS Central to upgrade the capability catalog, infrastructure, and server endpoints in all
registered Cisco UCS domains that are configured for global firmware management.

Options for Service Pack Updates

You can upgrade Cisco UCS firmware to a service pack through one of the following methods:
Upgrade to an service pack through Infrastructure AutoInstall
Upgrade to a service pack through Server AutoInstall
Upgrade to a service pack through firmware packages in service profiles
Upgrade to a service pack through chassis firmware packages in chassis profiles
Directly activate a Cisco UCS Manager service pack on a base maintenance release
Directly activate a fabric interconnect service pack on a base maintenance release

Firmware Upgrades through Auto Install

Auto Install enables you to automatically upgrade a Cisco UCS domain to the firmware versions contained
in a single package, in the following two stages:
Install Infrastructure FirmwareUses the Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle to upgrade the
infrastructure components, such as the fabric interconnects, the I/O modules, and Cisco UCS Manager.

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 Overview
Firmware Upgrades through Auto Install

Figure 4: Process Flow for Automatically Installing Infrastructure Firmware , on page 22, illustrates
the recommended process flow to automatically install infrastructure firmware.

Figure 4: Process Flow for Automatically Installing Infrastructure Firmware

Install Server FirmwareAs necessary, uses the Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Server Software Bundle to
upgrade all blade servers in the Cisco UCS domain; the Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount UCS-Managed
Server Software Bundle to upgrade all rack servers.

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 upgrade
the server components to a different version.
Cisco strongly recommends that you use Auto Install to upgrade a Cisco UCS domain.

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 Overview
Firmware Upgrades through Firmware Packages in Service Profiles

Firmware Upgrades through Firmware Packages in Service Profiles

Server firmware and BIOS versions need periodic updating across multiple servers. If this is done manually,
it must be done serially and involves many hours of downtime.
You can use host firmware packages by defining a host firmware policy as an attribute of a service profile
template, which is an updating template. Any change made to the service profile template is automatically
made to its instantiated service profiles. Subsequently, the servers associated with the service profiles are also
upgraded in parallel with the firmware version.
You cannot upgrade the firmware on an I/O module, fabric interconnect, or Cisco UCS Manager through
service profiles. You must upgrade the firmware on those endpoints directly.

Direct Firmware Upgrade at Endpoints

If you follow the correct procedure and apply the upgrades in the correct order, a direct firmware upgrade and
the activation of the new firmware version on the endpoints is minimally disruptive to traffic in a Cisco UCS
domain.
Depending on the target chassis that you use, you can directly upgrade the firmware on various components:

Infrastructure UCS 5108 Chassis UCS Rack Server Cisco UCS S3260 Chassis

Fabric I/O modules Adapter CMC

interconnects
Power supply unit CIMC Chassis adapter
Cisco UCS
Server: BIOS SAS expander
Manager
Adapter Storage controller Chassis board controller
CIMC Board controller Server:
BIOS CIMC
Storage BIOS
controller
Board controller
Board
Storage controller
controller

Note Directly upgrading firmware on server endpoints is possible only on discovered, unassociated servers and
Cisco adapters.

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 Overview
Direct Firmware Upgrade at Endpoints

Figure 5: Process Flow for Manually Installing Infrastructure Firmware, on page 24, illustrates the
recommended process flow.

Figure 5: Process Flow for Manually Installing Infrastructure Firmware

The adapter and board controller firmware can also be upgraded through the host firmware package in the
service profile. If you use a host firmware package to upgrade this firmware, you can reduce the number of
times a server needs to be rebooted during the firmware upgrade process.

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 Overview
Firmware Upgrade While Migrating from Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects to Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric
Interconnects

Note Upgrades of an adapter through a firmware package in the service profile associated with the server take
precedence over direct firmware upgrades. You cannot directly upgrade an endpoint if the service profile
associated with the server includes a firmware package. To perform a direct upgrade, you must remove
the firmware package from the service profile.

Firmware Upgrade While Migrating from Cisco UCS 6200 Series

Fabric Interconnects to Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric
Interconnects
These upgrade guidelines must be followed while migrating:
The Cisco UCS 6200 Series fabric interconnect should be upgraded to Cisco UCS Manager Release
3.1(1) or later releases.
The Cisco UCS 6300 Series fabric interconnect must be loaded with the same build version that is on
the Cisco UCS 6200 Series fabric interconnect that it will replace.
You can migrate only between Cisco UCS 6200 Series fabric interconnects and Cisco UCS 6300 Series
fabric interconnects. You cannot migrate between Cisco UCS 6248 UP and Cisco UCS 6296 UP or
between Cisco UCS 6332 and Cisco UCS 6332 16UP fabric interconnects.
All fabric interconnects should have the same versions of kickstart, system, and UCSM images.
Upgrading the fabric interconnect should be done before upgrading to a new FEX or virtual interface
card.
For a cluster configuration, both fabric interconnects must have symmetrical connection topologies
between the fabric interconnects and FEXes.
Standalone installations should expect down time. Upgrading a fabric interconnect is inherently traffic
disruptive.
A best practice would be to perform a full configuration and software backup before performing this
hardware upgrade.

Firmware Upgrade to Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1

Prerequisite for Upgrade to Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1
Before upgrading to Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1, ensure that the existing infrastructure and server
bundles are on a Cisco UCS Manager 2.2(x) release, or later releases.

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 Overview
Firmware Upgrade to Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1

Important Upgrading from infrastructure bundles earlier than Cisco UCS Manager Release 2.2(1a)
is not supported. However, you can replace an FI in a cluster with an FI that runs on
Cisco UCS Manager Release 2.1(2) or later releases and upgrade this FI directly to a
3.x(x) release by using the Auto Sync feature. In such a scenario, you do not need to
first upgrade to a 2.2(x) release before upgrading to a 3.x(x) release.

Before upgrading to Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1, ensure that the key ring in use has a modulus size
of 2048 bits or more by doing the following:
1 Verify the modulus size of the key ring in use by using the following commands:
UCS-A# scope security
UCS-A /security # scope keyring keyring-name
UCS-A /security/keyring # show detail

2 If the default key ring is in use, and has a modulus size less than 2048 bits, reconfigure the modulus
size to 2048 bit or more, and regenerate the certificate by using the following commands:
UCS-A# scope security
UCS-A /security # scope keyring default
UCS-A /security/keyring # set modulus mod2048
UCS-A /security/keyring # set regenerate yes
UCS-A /security/keyring # commit-buffer
UCS-A /security/keyring # show detail

3 If the key ring in use is not the default key ring, and has a modulus size less than 2048 bits, delete
the existing key ring and create a new one with a modulus value equal to or more than 2048 bits.

Note A key ring in use cannot be deleted. To delete a key ring that is in use, first configure
HTTPS to use another key ring.

Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1 does not support key rings that have modulus size less than 2048 bits.

Conditions Under Which Upgrade to Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1 Fails
Upgrading to Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1 from an earlier release will fail in the following scenarios, and
Cisco UCS Manager will roll back to the earlier release:
Upgrade with deprecated hardware (Release Notes and Getting Started Guide provide a list of hardware
not supported in Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1)
Upgrade with insufficient free space in fabric interconnect partitions:
Less than 20 percent free space in /var/sysmgr
Less than 30 percent free space in /mnt/pss
Less than 20 percent free space in /bootflash

Cisco UCS Manager validation failures because of misconfiguration

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 Overview
Firmware Upgrade to a Minor or a Patch Release

Single IOM Issues During Upgrade to Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(2b)
If you have only a single IOM in your chassis from day one, the IOM will reboot in a loop when you perform
one of the following upgrades:
Upgrade from Cisco UCS Manager Release 2.2(8b) or earlier releases to Cisco UCS Manager Release
3.1(2b).
Upgrade from Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(1h) to Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(2b).

If this issue occurs, move the IOM to the other slot. https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/bug/CSCvb44879
provides detailed information.

Upgrade Constraints and Limitations

If the firmware of C-Series servers is upgraded from Cisco UCSM release 2.2(6) to 3.1(2), the Platform
Controller Hub (PCH) storage controller (along with the SSD boot drives) does not appear in UCSM GUI.

SNMP is Automatically Disabled During Upgrade

When upgrading from an earlier release to Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1, SNMP, if previously enabled,
is automatically disabled. The SNMP state will be restored after the upgrade of both fabric interconnects is
complete. During upgrade, when SNMP is automatically disabled, all SNMP operations will be suspended.
Cisco recommends that you restart SNMP operations only after the upgrade of both fabric interconnects is
complete.

Important Although the SNMP state is restored after Cisco UCS Manager is upgraded, you can run SNMP operations
only after both the fabric interconnects are upgraded.

VSAN ID Limit While Migrating from a Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnect Cluster to a Cisco UCS
6332-16UP Fabric Interconnect Cluster
Before migrating from a Cisco UCS 6200 Series fabric interconnect cluster to a Cisco UCS 6332-16UP fabric
interconnect cluster, ensure that the VSAN IDs do not exceed 15. If the VSAN IDs during migration exceed
15, you cannot correctly configure FC or FCoE ports on the UCS 6332-16UP fabric interconnect. If such a
situation occurs, reduce the number of VSAN IDs to 15 and then continue with the FC or FCoE port
configuration.

Note This VSAN ID limit is not relevant for the Cisco UCS 6324 fabric interconnect.

Firmware Upgrade to a Minor or a Patch Release

The release number of Cisco UCS Manager software consists of a major release identifier, minor release
identifier, and patch release identifier. The minor release identifier and patch release identifier are listed
together in parentheses. For example, if the software version number is 3.1(2a):
3.1 is the major release identifier
2 is the minor release identifier

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 Overview
Firmware Downgrades

a is the patch release identifier

Read together, it indicates the a patch of the first minor release of the 3.1 release train.
Firmware upgrade to maintenance releases and patches within a major release are done in exactly the same
way as for the major release.
For more information about what is in each maintenance release and patch, see the latest version of the Release
Notes.

Firmware Downgrades
You downgrade firmware in a Cisco UCS domain in the same way that you upgrade firmware. The package
or version that you select when you update the firmware determines whether you are performing an upgrade
or a downgrade.

Note The Cisco UCS Manager CLI does not allow you to downgrade hardware that is not supported in the
release to which you are downgrading, Cisco UCS Manager CLI displays an error message if you attempt
to downgrade hardware to an unsupported release.

Cisco UCS Domain with a Cisco UCS S3260 Chassis

In a Cisco UCS domain with a Cisco UCS 3260 chassis, when you downgrade from Cisco UCS Manager
Release 3.1(2) to earlier releases, ensure that you decommission the Cisco UCS S3260 chassis. This is because
the Cisco UCS S3260 chassis is supported only by Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(2) and later releases.
If you downgrade from Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(2) to earlier releases without decommissioning the
chassis, upgrade validation will fail and Cisco UCS Manager will prompt you to decommission the chassis
before continuing with the downgrade operation.

Board Controller Firmware for Blade Servers

Important You never need to downgrade the board controller firmware.

The board controller firmware in Cisco UCS B-Series blade servers is not designed to be downgraded.
When you are performing a full system firmware downgrade operation, if the system displays this
error message Error: Update failed: Server does not support board controller downgrade, it is safe
to ignore the error message and continue with downgrading system firmware. UCS Manager will
automatically skip over the board controller firmware and continue with the downgrade of the other
firmware components.
The board controller firmware version of the blade server should be the same as or later than the
installed software bundle version. Leaving the board controller firmware at a later version than the
version that is currently running in your existing Cisco UCS environment does not violate the software
matrix or TAC supportability.

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 Overview
Firmware Management in Cisco UCS Central

Unsupported Features Must Be Unconfigured Before Downgrade

If you plan to downgrade a Cisco UCS domain to an earlier release, you must first unconfigure all features
from the current release that are not supported in the earlier release and correct all failed configurations. If
you downgrade B, C, or M server bundles without unconfiguring unsupported features, the feature may not
work in the downgraded release. For example, the On Next Reboot maintenance policy is supported by the
3.1 B, C, M bundles. If you downgrade any server bundle, this maintenance policy option will not work for
the corresponding server.
If you attempt to downgrade the infrastructure bundle without unconfiguring all features that are not supported
in the earlier release, the downgrade may fail.

Important Before downgrading from Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1 to Release 2.5, Cisco recommends that
you decommission and remove any connected blade chassis, FEX, or rack server. Do not downgrade
from Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1 to Release 2.5 with blade chassis, FEX or rack servers
connected.
Before downgrading from Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1 to Release 3.0, Cisco recommends that
you decommission and remove the extended blade chassis. Do not downgrade from Cisco UCS
Manager Release 3.1 to Release 2.2 with an extended blade chassis connected.

SNMP Must be Disabled Before Downgrade

You must disable SNMP before downgrading from Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1 to an earlier release. The
downgrade process does not begin until SNMP is disabled.

Recommended Order of Steps for Firmware Downgrades

If you need to downgrade the firmware to an earlier release, we recommend that you do it in the following
order:
1 Retrieve the configuration backup from the release to which you want to downgrade. This is the backup
you created when you upgraded to the current release.
2 Unconfigure the features that are not supported in the release to which you want to downgrade.
3 Create Full State and All Configuration backup files.
4 Downgrade Cisco UCS Manager.
5 Perform an erase-config.
6 Import the configuration backup from the release to which you downgraded.

Note Steps 5 and 6 are optional. Perform these steps only if the existing configuration becomes unusable. In
this case, import the configuration backup either from Step 1 or Step 3.

Firmware Management in Cisco UCS Central

Cisco UCS Central enables you to manage all firmware components for all registered Cisco UCS domains.

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 Overview
Firmware Management in Cisco UCS Central

Note To manage Cisco UCS domains firmware from Cisco UCS Central, you must enable the global firmware
management option in Cisco UCS Manager. You can enable the global firmware management option
when you register Cisco UCS Manager with Cisco UCS Central. You can also turn the global management
option on or off, based on your management requirements.

Important Do not unregister a Cisco UCS domain from Cisco UCS Central.

The Cisco UCS domains are categorized into domain groups in Cisco UCS Central for management purposes.
You can manage firmware for each domain group separately at the domain group level or for all domain
groups from the domain group root. Cisco UCS Central provides you the option to manage the following
Cisco UCS domain firmware packages:
Capability Catalog One capability catalog per domain group. All Cisco UCS domains registered to
a particular domain group will use the capability catalog defined in the domain group.
Infrastructure Firmware One infrastructure firmware policy per domain group . All Cisco UCS
domains registered to a particular domain group will use the same Infrastructure firmware version defined
in the domain group.
Host Firmware You can have more than one host firmware policy for the different host firmware
components in a domain group. The Cisco UCS domains registered in the domain group will be able to
choose any defined host firmware policy in the group. Cisco UCS Central provides you the option to
upgrade the host firmware globally to all Cisco UCS domains in a domain group at the same time.

Note For more information on managing firmware in Cisco UCS Central, see the Firmware Management
chapters in the Cisco UCS Central Administration Guide and Cisco UCS Central CLI Reference Manual.

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 CHAPTER 3
Firmware Upgrade Scenarios
Scenario A: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnect with a Blade Server Chassis, page
31
Scenario B: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnect with a Blade Server Chassis from
Release 2.2 to Release 3.1, page 32
Scenario C: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6324 Series Fabric Interconnect from Release 3.0 to Release 3.1,
page 32
Scenario D: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6324 Series Fabric Interconnect with a Secondary Chassis from
Release 3.0 to Release 3.1, page 33

Scenario A: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric

Interconnect with a Blade Server Chassis
Procedure

Step 1 Install the Infrastructure firmware.

Recommended Process for Upgrading Infrastructure Firmware Through Auto Install, on page 76 provides
detailed information about installing infrastructure firmware.

Step 2 Connect the chassis.

Step 3 Configure the chassis discovery policy. The Configuring the Chassis/FEX Discovery Policy section in the
Cisco UCS Manager Infrastructure Management Guide, Release 3.1 provides detailed steps for configuring
the chassis discovery policy.
Step 4 Configure the server ports and wait for the chassis to be discovered.
The IOM is upgraded automatically.

Step 5 Install server firmware:

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 Firmware Upgrade Scenarios
Scenario B: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnect with a Blade Server Chassis from Release 2.2 to
Release 3.1

Option Description
Automatic Synchronization Firmware Automatic Synchronization, on page 90 provides more
Server Policy information about using the firmware auto sync server policy available in
Cisco UCS manager to install server firmware.
If Firmware Auto-Sync Server Policy is set to No Action, use Auto Install
to install server firmware.

Auto Install Server Firmware You can install server firmware for B-Series servers, and C-Series servers
in parallel.

Scenario B: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric

Interconnect with a Blade Server Chassis from Release 2.2 to
Release 3.1
Procedure

Step 1 Install the Infrastructure firmware.

Recommended Process for Upgrading Infrastructure Firmware Through Auto Install, on page 76, provides
detailed information about installing infrastructure firmware.

Step 2 Install server firmware.

Scenario C: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6324 Series Fabric

Interconnect from Release 3.0 to Release 3.1
Procedure

Step 1 Install the infrastructure firmware.

Recommended Process for Upgrading Infrastructure Firmware Through Auto Install, on page 76, provides
detailed information about installing infrastructure firmware.

Step 2 Install server firmware.

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 Firmware Upgrade Scenarios
Scenario D: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6324 Series Fabric Interconnect with a Secondary Chassis from Release 3.0 to
Release 3.1

Scenario D: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6324 Series Fabric

Interconnect with a Secondary Chassis from Release 3.0 to
Release 3.1
Procedure

Step 1 Install the infrastructure firmware without connecting the second chassis.
Recommended Process for Upgrading Infrastructure Firmware Through Auto Install, on page 76, provides
detailed information about installing infrastructure firmware.

Step 2 Connect the second Cisco UCS 5108 chassis.

Step 3 Configure the chassis discovery policy.
Step 4 Configure the server ports and wait for the second chassis to be discovered.
The IOM of the second chassis is upgraded automatically.

Step 5 Install server firmware.

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 Firmware Upgrade Scenarios
Scenario D: Upgrading Cisco UCS 6324 Series Fabric Interconnect with a Secondary Chassis from Release 3.0 to
Release 3.1

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 CHAPTER 4
Guidelines and Prerequisites
Guidelines, and Best Practices for Firmware Upgrades, page 35
Cautions, and Guidelines Limitations for Managing Firmware in Cisco UCS Central, page 47
Prerequisites for Upgrading and Downgrading Firmware, page 48
Pre-Upgrade Validation Checks, page 49
Verification that the Data Path is Ready, page 61

Guidelines, and Best Practices for Firmware Upgrades

Before you upgrade the firmware for any endpoint in a Cisco UCS domain, consider the following guidelines,
best practices, and limitations:

Configuration Changes and Settings that Can Impact Upgrades

Depending on the configuration of your Cisco UCS domain, the upgrade process may require you to make
additional changes.

Default Maintenance Policy Should be Configured for User Acknowledgment

The default maintenance policy is configured to immediately reboot the server when disruptive changes are
made to the service profile, such as server firmware upgrades through a host maintenance policy. We
recommend that you change the reboot policy setting in the default maintenance policy to user
acknowledgment to avoid unexpected disruption of server traffic.
When you configure the reboot policy in the default maintenance policy to user acknowledgment, the list
of disruptive changes are listed with the pending activities. You can then control when the servers are rebooted.

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Hardware-Related Guidelines for Firmware Upgrades

Overlapping FCoE VLAN IDs and Ethernet VLAN IDs Are No Longer Allowed with Cisco UCS Release 2.0 and
Higher

Caution In Cisco UCS 1.4 and earlier releases, Ethernet VLANs and FCoE VLANs could have overlapping VLAN
IDs. However, starting with Cisco UCS release 2.0, overlapping VLAN IDs are not allowed. If Cisco UCS
Manager detects overlapping VLAN IDs during an upgrade, it raises a critical fault. If you do not reconfigure
your VLAN IDs, Cisco UCS Manager raises a critical fault and drops Ethernet traffic from the overlapped
VLANs. Therefore, we recommend that you ensure there are no overlapping Ethernet and FCoE VLAN
IDs before you upgrade to Cisco UCS Release 3.1 and later releases.
Be aware that when an uplink trunk is configured with VLAN ID 1 defined and set as the native VLAN,
changing the Ethernet VLAN 1 ID to another value can cause network disruption and flapping on the
fabric interconnects, resulting in an HA event that introduces a large amount of traffic and makes services
temporarily unavailable.

For a new installation of Cisco UCS Release 3.1 and later releases, the default VLAN IDs are as follows:
The default Ethernet VLAN ID is 1.
The default FCoE VLAN ID is 4048.

Note If a Cisco UCS domain uses one of the default VLAN IDs, which results in overlapping VLANs, you can
change one or more of the default VLAN IDs to any VLAN ID that is not used or reserved. From release
2.0 and higher, VLANs with IDs from 4030 to 4047 are reserved.

VSANs with IDs in the Reserved Range are not Operational

A VSAN with an ID in the reserved range is not operational after an upgrade. Make sure that none of the
VSANs configured in Cisco UCS Manager are in these reserved ranges:
If you plan to use FC switch mode in a Cisco UCS domain, do not configure VSANs with an ID in the
range from 3040 to 4078.
If you plan to use FC end-host mode in a Cisco UCS domain, do not configure VSANs with an ID in
the range from 3840 to 4079.

If a VSAN has an ID in the reserved range, change that VSAN ID to any VSAN ID that is not used or reserved.

Hardware-Related Guidelines for Firmware Upgrades

The hardware in a Cisco UCS domain can impact how you upgrade. Before you upgrade any endpoint, consider
the following guidelines and limitations:

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Firmware- and Software-Related Guidelines for Upgrades

No Server or Chassis Maintenance

Caution Do not remove the hardware that contains the endpoint or perform any maintenance on it until the update
process completes. If the hardware is removed or otherwise unavailable due to maintenance, the firmware
update fails. This failure might corrupt the backup partition. You cannot update the firmware on an endpoint
with a corrupted backup partition.

Avoid Replacing RAID-Configured Hard Disks During or Prior to Upgrade

During or prior to Cisco UCS infrastructure and server firmware upgrades:
Do not remove, insert or replace any local storage hard disks or SSDs in the servers.
Ensure that no storage operations are running, including Rebuild, Association, Copyback, BGI, and so
on.

Always Upgrade Third-Party Adapters through a Host Firmware Package

You cannot upgrade third-party adapters directly at the endpoints. You must upgrade the firmware on those
adapters through a host firmware package.

Configure the Fabric Interconnects

The clustered fabric interconnects provide data path redundancy by design. However, to ensure that data traffic
is not disrupted, you must configure redundant Ethernet and storage (FC/FCoE) interfaces within the service
profile. You must also ensure that the corresponding Operating System is configured correctly to handle one
fabric path outage.
For a standalone configuration with a single fabric interconnect, you can minimize the disruption to data traffic
when you perform a direct firmware upgrade of the endpoints. However, you must reboot the fabric interconnect
to complete the upgrade and, therefore, cannot avoid disrupting traffic.

Firmware- and Software-Related Guidelines for Upgrades

Before you upgrade any endpoint, consider the following guidelines and limitations:

Determine the Appropriate Type of Firmware Upgrade for Each Endpoint

Some endpoints, such as Cisco adapters and the server CIMC, can be upgraded through either a direct firmware
upgrade or a firmware package included in a service profile. The configuration of a Cisco UCS domain
determines how you upgrade these endpoints. If the service profiles associated with the servers include a host
firmware package, upgrade the adapters for those servers through the firmware package.
Upgrades of an adapter through a firmware package in the service profile associated with the server take
precedence over direct firmware upgrades. You cannot directly upgrade an endpoint if the service profile
associated with the server includes a firmware package. To perform a direct upgrade, you must remove the
firmware package from the service profile.

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Firmware- and Software-Related Guidelines for Upgrades

Do Not Activate All Endpoints Simultaneously in Cisco UCS Manager GUI

If you use Cisco UCS Manager GUI to update the firmware, do not select ALL from the Filter drop-down
list in the Activate Firmware dialog box to activate all endpoints simultaneously. Many firmware releases
and patches have dependencies that require the endpoints to be activated in a specific order for the firmware
update to succeed. This order can change depending upon the contents of the release or patch. Activating all
endpoints does not guarantee that the updates occur in the required order, and can disrupt communications
between the endpoints and the fabric interconnects and Cisco UCS Manager. For information about the
dependencies in a specific release or patch, see the release notes provided with that release or patch.

Determine Available Bootflash and Workspace Partition

The bootflash partition is dedicated solely to firmware images managed by Cisco UCS Manager. To initiate
upgrade or downgrade, at least 20 percent of the bootflash partition must be available. When the bootflash
partition exceeds 70 percent, faults are raised, but Auto Install proceeds. When the bootflash partition exceeds
80 percent, faults are raised and Auto Install does not proceed.
The workspace partition on the fabric interconnect stores tech support files, core files, and the debug plugin.
To initiate upgrade or downgrade, at least 20 percent of the workspace partition must be available.
Checking the Available Space on a Fabric Interconnect, on page 73 provides detailed information about
monitoring the available storage on these partitions.

Determine the Impact of Activation for Adapters and I/O Modules

During a direct upgrade, you should configure Set Startup Version Only for an adapter. With this setting,
the activated firmware moves into the pending-next-boot state, and the server is not immediately rebooted.
The activated firmware does not become the running version of firmware on the adapter until the server is
rebooted. You cannot configure Set Startup Version Only for an adapter in the host firmware package.
If a server is not associated with a service profile, the activated firmware remains in the pending-next-boot
state. Cisco UCS Manager does not reboot the endpoints or activate the firmware until the server is associated
with a service profile. If necessary, you can manually reboot or reset an unassociated server to activate the
firmware.
When you configure Set Startup Version Only for an I/O module, the I/O module is rebooted when the
fabric interconnect in its data patch is rebooted. If you do not configure Set Startup Version Only for an I/O
module, the I/O module reboots and disrupts traffic. In addition, if Cisco UCS Manager detects a protocol
and firmware version mismatch between the fabric interconnect and the I/O module, Cisco UCS Manager
automatically updates the I/O module with the firmware version that matches the firmware in the fabric
interconnect and then activates the firmware and reboots the I/O module again.

Disable Call Home before Upgrading to Avoid Unnecessary Alerts (Optional)

When you upgrade a Cisco UCS domain, Cisco UCS Manager restarts the components to complete the upgrade
process. This restart causes events that are identical to the service disruptions and component failures that
trigger Call Home alerts to be sent. If you do not disable Call Home before you begin the upgrade, alerts will
be generated by the upgrade-related component, restarts and notifications will be sent out based on your Call
Home configuration.

Fabric Interconnect Traffic Evacuation

Fabric interconnect traffic evacuation, introduced in Release 2.2(4), is the ability to evacuate all traffic that
flows through a fabric interconnect from all servers attached to it through an IOM or FEX, while upgrading
a system.

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Firmware- and Software-Related Guidelines for Upgrades

Upgrading the subordinate fabric interconnect in a system disrupts the traffic that is active on the fabric
interconnect. This traffic fails over to the primary fabric interconnect. You can use fabric evacuation as follows
during the manual upgrade process:
1 Stop all the traffic that is active through a fabric interconnect by configuring Admin Evac Mode as On.
2 For vNICs configured with failover, verify that the traffic has failed over by using Cisco UCS Manager
or tools such as vCenter.
3 Upgrade the subordinate fabric interconnect.
4 Restart all the stopped traffic flows by configuring Admin Evac Mode as Off.
5 Change the cluster lead to the subordinate fabric interconnect.
6 Repeat steps 1 to 4 and upgrade the other fabric interconnect.

Note Fabric interconnect traffic evacuation is supported only in a cluster configuration.

You can evacuate traffic only from the subordinate fabric interconnect.
The IOM or FEX backplane ports of the fabric interconnect on which evacuation is configured will
go down, and their state will appear as Admin down. During the manual upgrade process, to move
these backplane ports back to the Up state and resume traffic flow, you must explicitly configure
Admin Evac Mode as Off.

Fabric Evacuation with Auto Install

Starting with Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(3), you can use fabric evacuation during Auto Install. While
initiating Auto Install, when you enable fabric evacuation and then begin Auto Install, the following sequence
of events occur:
1 The subordinate fabric interconnect (FI-B) is evacuated and activated.
2 Failover occurs and the primary fabric interconnect (FI-A) becomes the subordinate fabric interconnect.
FI-B now becomes the cluster lead.
3 FI-A is now evacuated and activated.

If you use fabric evacuation with Auto Install, and fabric evacuation was enabled on the fabric interconnect
before Auto Install, fabric evacuation is disabled after Auto Install is complete.
Ensure that you do not initiate Auto Install with fabric evacuation enabled on the primary fabric interconnect.
If fabric evacuation was manually enabled on the primary fabric interconnect before Auto Install, it must be
manually disabled before initiating Auto Install.

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Firmware- and Software-Related Guidelines for Upgrades

Note Fabric interconnect traffic evacuation is supported only in a cluster configuration.

You can evacuate traffic only from the subordinate fabric interconnect.
The IOM or FEX backplane ports of the fabric interconnect on which evacuation is configured will
go down, and their state will appear as Admin down. These backplane ports will move back to Up
state after Auto Install is complete.

Stopping Traffic on a Fabric Interconnect

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A # scope fabric-interconnect {a Enters fabric interconnect mode for the specified Fabric
| b} Interconnect.

Step 2 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # stop Stops all the traffic that is active through the specified
server traffic [force] Fabric Interconnect.
Use the force option to evacuate a Fabric Interconnect
irrespective of its current evacuation state.

Step 3 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # Commits the transaction to the system configuration.

commit-buffer

This example shows how to stop all traffic that is active through Fabric Interconnect B:
UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect b
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # stop server traffic
Warning: Enabling fabric evacuation will stop all traffic through this Fabric Interconnect
from servers attached through IOM/FEX. The traffic will fail over to the Primary Fabric
Interconnect for fail over vnics.
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # commit-buffer

Restarting Traffic on a Fabric Interconnect

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A # scope fabric-interconnect {a | Enters fabric interconnect mode for the specified
b} Fabric Interconnect.

Step 2 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # start server Restarts traffic through the specified Fabric
traffic Interconnect.

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Firmware- and Software-Related Guidelines for Upgrades

Command or Action Purpose

Step 3 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # Commits the transaction to the system
commit-buffer configuration.

This example shows how to restart traffic through Fabric Interconnect B:

UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect b
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # start server traffic
Warning: Resetting fabric evacuation will cause server traffic that failed over to the
Primary Fabric Interconnect to fail back to this Fabric Interconnect.
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # commit-buffer

Verifying Fabric Evacuation

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# show service-profile circuit Shows the network circuit information for the service
server server-id profile associated with the specified server.

This example shows the VIF paths before fabric evacuation.

Note VIF at Fabric Interconnect A shows that traffic is initially active through the Fabric interconnect.
VIF at Fabric Interconnect B is passive before evacuation.

UCS-A# show service-profile circuit server 1/6

Service Profile: test1
Server: 1/6
Fabric ID: A
Path ID: 1
VIF vNIC Link State Oper State Prot State Prot Role Admin
Pin Oper Pin Transport
---------- --------------- ----------- ---------- ------------- ----------- ----------
---------- ---------
692 eth0 Up Active Active Primary 0/0
1/15 Ether
Fabric ID: B
Path ID: 1
VIF vNIC Link State Oper State Prot State Prot Role Admin
Pin Oper Pin Transport
---------- --------------- ----------- ---------- ------------- ----------- ----------
---------- ---------
693 eth0 Up Active Passive Backup 0/0
1/15 Ether
UCS-A#

This example shows the VIF paths after Fabric Interconnect A is evacuated.

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 Guidelines and Prerequisites
Firmware- and Software-Related Guidelines for Upgrades

Note After fail over, the VIF state at Fabric Interconnect A goes into error.
VIF at Fabric Interconnect B takes over as active.

UCS-A# show service-profile circuit server 1/6

Service Profile: test1
Server: 1/6
Fabric ID: A
Path ID: 1
VIF vNIC Link State Oper State Prot State Prot Role Admin
Pin Oper Pin Transport
---------- --------------- ----------- ---------- ------------- ----------- ----------
---------- ---------
692 eth0 Error Error Active Primary 0/0
0/0 Ether
Fabric ID: B
Path ID: 1
VIF vNIC Link State Oper State Prot State Prot Role Admin
Pin Oper Pin Transport
---------- --------------- ----------- ---------- ------------- ----------- ----------
---------- ---------
693 eth0 Up Active Passive Backup 0/0
1/15 Ether
UCS-A#

Displaying the Status of Evacuation at a Fabric Interconnect

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A # scope fabric-interconnect {a | Enters fabric interconnect mode for the specified
b} Fabric Interconnect.

Step 2 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # show detail Displays details about the specified Fabric
Interconnect.

This example shows how to display the detailed status of a Fabric Interconnect.

Note Admin Evacuation and Oper Evacuation show the status of evacuation at the Fabric Interconnect.

UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # show detail

Fabric Interconnect:
ID: B
Product Name: Cisco UCS 6248UP
PID: UCS-FI-6248UP
VID: V01
Vendor: Cisco Systems, Inc.
Serial (SN): SSI171400HG
HW Revision: 0
Total Memory (MB): 16165
OOB IP Addr: 10.193.32.172
OOB Gateway: 10.193.32.1
OOB Netmask: 255.255.255.0

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Guidelines and Prerequisites
Firmware- and Software-Related Guidelines for Upgrades

OOB IPv6 Address: ::

OOB IPv6 Gateway: ::
Prefix: 64
Operability: Operable
Thermal Status: Ok
Admin Evacuation: On
Oper Evacuation: On
Current Task 1:
Current Task 2:
Current Task 3:

Secure Firmware Update

Cisco UCS Manager, Release 3.1(2) introduces secure firmware update, which enables you to update the
adapter firmware securely for third-party Intel network and storage adapters. Only server administrators can
upgrade or downgrade firmware for the adapters. OS administrators with root privileges are not allowed to
downgrade the adapter firmware.
The following Cisco UCS servers support secure firmware update:

Secure Firmware Update Supported Network Adapters and Storage Disks

Supported Storage Disks on Cisco Blade Servers

The following Intel NVMe storage disks support secure firmware update on a Cisco UCS B200 M4 server
that has the UCSB-LSTOR-PT storage controller.

Storage Disks
UCS-PCI25-8003

UCS-PCI25-16003

UCS-PCI25-40010

UCS-PCI25-80010

Note Secure firmware update is not supported on a Cisco UCS B200 M4 server for the following:
NVMe disks with SAS storage controllers.
A combination of NVMe disks and HDDs present on a Cisco UCS B200 M4 server.
Network adapters.

Supported Network Adapters and Storage Disks on Cisco Rack Servers

The following Intel network adapters support secure firmware update on Cisco UCS C460, C240, and C220
M4 servers:

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Firmware- and Software-Related Guidelines for Upgrades

Table 8: Supported Network Adapters

Network Adapters
UCSC-PCIE-IQ10GF

UCSC-PCIE-ID10GF

UCSC-PCIE-ID40GF

The following Intel NVMe storage disks support secure firmware update on the Cisco UCS C460 M4 server,
Cisco UCS C240 M4 Server, and Cisco UCS C220 M4 Server:

Table 9: Supported NVMe Storage Disks

NVMe Storage Disks Description

UCS-PCI25-8003 P3600 2.5"

UCS-PCI25-16003 P3600 2.5"

UCS-PCI25-40010 P3700 2.5"

UCS-PCI25-80010 P3700 2.5"

UCSC-F-I80010 P3700 HHHL

UCSC-F-I160010 P3700 HHHL

UCSC-F-I20003 P3600 HHHL

Guidelines for Secure Firmware Support on Cisco UCS Servers

Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(2) introduces support for secure firmware update.

Important Ensure that CIMC is running Version 2.0(13) or later and Cisco UCS Manager is running Release 3.1(2)
or later releases. Secure firmware update cannot be done when the CIMC is running a version earlier than
2.0(13) and Cisco UCS Manager is running a release earlier than Release 3.1(2).

Guidelines for Blade Servers

For secure firmware update on the Cisco UCS B200 M4 server , do the following:
Upgrade the Cisco UCS Manager infrastructure software bundle and B-Series server software bundle
to Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(2), if you are running an earlier release of Cisco UCS Manager. For
more information, refer to the Cisco UCS Manager Firmware Management Guide, Release .

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Cautions, and Guidelines for Upgrading with Auto Install

Install the UCSB-LSTOR-PT storage controller and insert the NVMe disks on a Cisco UCS B200 M4
server .
Reacknowledge the Cisco UCS B200 M4 server . Refer to the Reacknowledging a Blade Server section
in the Cisco UCS Manager Infrastructure Management Guide, Release .

Guidelines for Rack Servers

For secure firmware update on Cisco UCS C460, C240, and C220 M4 servers, do the following:
Upgrade the Cisco UCS Manager infrastructure software bundle and C-Series server software bundle
to Cisco UCS Manager, , if you are running an earlier release of Cisco UCS Manager. For more
information, refer to the Cisco UCS Manager Firmware Management Guide, Release .
Reacknowledge the Cisco UCS servers. Refer to the Reacknowledging a Rack Server section in the
Cisco UCS Manager Infrastructure Management Guide, Release .

Cautions, and Guidelines 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 Guidelines, and Best
Practices for Firmware Upgrades, on page 35.

State of the Endpoints

Before you begin an upgrade, all affected endpoints must be as follows:
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.
For each server to be upgraded, check the running firmware version on the storage controller and local
disks, and verify that they are in the Ready state.

Recommendations for the Default Host Firmware Policy

After you upgrade Cisco UCS Manager, a new host firmware policy named "default" is created, and is 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 modify the default host firmware policy to add firmware for
the blade and rack-mount servers in the Cisco UCS domain. To complete the upgrade, all servers must be
rebooted.

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Cautions, and Guidelines for Upgrading with Auto Install

Every service profile that is assigned to 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.

Note If you are upgrading from a release prior to 2.1(2a), you may be impacted by CSCup57496. After manually
upgrading the CIMC and associating a service profile, remove the Management Firmware pack to activate
the firmware of CIMC. For more information, please refer to https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/bug/
CSCup57496. This is not applicable to Cisco UCS Mini.

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 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.

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 Guidelines and Prerequisites
Cautions, and Guidelines Limitations for Managing Firmware in Cisco UCS Central

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 adapters 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 server 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, you can use the Firmware Auto Sync Server policy in Cisco UCS Manager
to automatically update newly discovered servers.

Cautions, and Guidelines Limitations for Managing Firmware

in Cisco UCS Central
Before you start managing Cisco UCS Manager firmware from Cisco UCS Central, consider the following
cautions, guidelines and limitations:
The firmware policies you define for a domain group will be applied to any new Cisco UCS Domain
added to this domain group. If a firmware policy is not defined in the domain group, Cisco UCS Domain
will inherit the policy from the parent domain group.
The global policies will remain global in Cisco UCS Manager even when Cisco UCS Manager loses
connection with Cisco UCS Central. If you want to apply any changes to any of the policies that are
global in Cisco UCS Manager, you must change the ownership to local from global.
When you create a host firmware package from Cisco UCS Central, it must be associated to a service
profile to deploy updates in Cisco UCS domains.
When you modify a host firmware package in Cisco UCS Central, the changes are applied to Cisco UCS
domains during the next maintenance schedule associated with the host firmware update.

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 Guidelines and Prerequisites
Prerequisites for Upgrading and Downgrading Firmware

The host firmware maintenance policies you define in Cisco UCS Central apply to the org-root in Cisco
UCS domains. You cannot define separate host maintenance policies for sub organizations in a Cisco
UCS Domain from Cisco UCS Central.
Any server with no service profile association will get upgraded to the default version of the host firmware
pack. Since these servers do not have a maintenance policy, they will reboot immediately.
If you specify a maintenance policy in Cisco UCS Central and enable user acknowledgment and do not
specify a schedule, you can acknowledge the pending task only from Cisco UCS Manager. To
acknowledge pending activities from Cisco UCS Central, you must schedule maintenance using global
schedulers and enable user acknowledgment.
When you schedule a maintenance policy in Cisco UCS Central and enable user acknowledgment, that
task will be displayed on the pending activities tab at the time specified in the schedule.
You can view the pending activity for a maintenance policy only from the domain group section.
Make sure to enable user acknowledgment for any firmware schedule to avoid any unexpected reboot
in the Cisco UCS domains.

Note For more information on managing firmware in Cisco UCS Central, see the Firmware Management
chapters in the Cisco UCS Central Administration Guide and Cisco UCS Central CLI Reference Manual.

Prerequisites for Upgrading and Downgrading Firmware

All endpoints in a Cisco UCS domain must be fully functional and all processes must be complete before you
begin a firmware upgrade or downgrade on those endpoints. You cannot upgrade or downgrade an endpoint
that is not in a functional state.
For example, the firmware on a server that has not been discovered cannot be upgraded or downgraded. An
incomplete process, such as an FSM that has failed after the maximum number of retries, can cause the upgrade
or downgrade on an endpoint to fail. If an FSM is in progress, Cisco UCS Manager queues up the update and
activation and runs them when the FSM has completed successfully.
Before you upgrade or downgrade firmware in a Cisco UCS domain, complete the following tasks:
Review the Release Notes.
Review the relevant Hardware and Software Interoperability Matrix to ensure that the operating systems
on all servers have the right driver levels for the release of Cisco UCS to which you plan to upgrade.
Back up the configuration into an All Configuration backup file.
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.
Verify that the data path is up and running. For more information, see the Verification that the Data Path
is Ready, on page 61 section.
Verify that all servers, I/O modules, and adapters are fully functional. An inoperable server cannot be
upgraded.

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 Guidelines and Prerequisites
Pre-Upgrade Validation Checks

Verify that the Cisco UCS domain does not include any critical or major faults. If such faults exist, you
must resolve them before you upgrade the system. A critical or major fault may cause the upgrade to
fail.
Verify that all servers have been discovered. They do not need to be powered on or associated with a
service profile.
If you want to integrate a rack-mount server into the Cisco UCS domain, follow the instructions in the
appropriate C-Series Rack-Mount Server Integration Guide for installing and integrating a rack-mount
server in a system managed by Cisco UCS Manager.
For Cisco UCS domains that are configured for iSCSI boot, do the following before you upgrade to
Cisco UCS, Release 3.1(1) or higher:
Ensure that all iSCSI vNICs used across multiple service profiles have unique initiator names.
If any iSCSI vNICs have the same initiator name within a service profile, Cisco UCS reconfigures
the service profile to have a single unique initiator name.
Make the corresponding IQN initiator name changes on any network storage devices to ensure that
the boot LUNs are visible to the new IQN.

Pre-Upgrade Validation Checks

Ensure that you complete the following pre-upgrade validation checks before installing firmware:

Create Backup Files

When you perform a backup through Cisco UCS Manager, you take a snapshot of all or part of the system
configuration and export the file to a location on your network. You can perform a backup while the system
is up and running. The backup operation only saves information from the management plane. It does not have
any impact on the server on network traffic.
Cisco recommends that you create the following backup files before beginning a Cisco UCS firmware upgrade:
All Configuration backup fileAn XML backup of all the system and logical configuration
Full State backup fileA binary snapshot of the entire system

Creating an All Configuration Backup File

This procedure assumes that you do not have an existing backup operation for an All Configuration backup
file.

Before You Begin

Obtain the backup server IPv4 or IPv6 address and authentication credentials.

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 Guidelines and Prerequisites
Create Backup Files

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope system Enters system mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /system # create backup Creates an enabled All Configuration backup operation that
URL all-configuration enabled runs as soon as you enter the commit-buffer command. The
all-configuration option backs up the server, fabric, and
system related configuration. Specify the URL for the backup
file using one of the following syntax:
ftp:// username@hostname / path
scp:// username@hostname / path
sftp:// username@hostname / path
tftp:// hostname : port-num / path

Step 3 UCS-A /system # Commits the transaction.

commit-buffer

The following example uses SCP to create an All Configuration backup file on the host named host35 and
commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope system
UCS-A /system* # create backup scp://user@host35/backups/all-config.bak all-configuration
enabled
Password:
UCS-A /system* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /system #

Configuring the Full State Backup Policy

Before You Begin
Obtain the backup server IPv4 or IPv6 address and authentication credentials.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope org org-name Enters the organization mode for the specified organization.
To enter the root organization mode, enter / as the org-name.

Step 2 UCS-A /org # scope Enters the all configuration export policy mode.
backup-policy default
Step 3 UCS-A /org/backup-policy # set Specifies the hostname, IPv4 or IPv6 address of the location
hostname {hostname | ip-addr | where the backup policy is stored. This can be a server, storage
ip6-addr} array, local drive, or any read/write media that the fabric
interconnect can access through the network.

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Guidelines and Prerequisites
Create Backup Files

Command or Action Purpose

Note If you use a hostname rather than an IPv4 or IPv6
address, you must configure a DNS server. If the
Cisco UCS domain is not registered with Cisco UCS
Central or DNS management is set to local, configure
a DNS server in Cisco UCS Manager. If the Cisco
UCS domain is registered with Cisco UCS Central
and DNS management is set to global, configure a
DNS server in Cisco UCS Central.
Step 4 UCS-A /org/backup-policy # set Specifies the protocol to use when communicating with the
protocol {ftp | scp | sftp | tftp} remote server.

Step 5 UCS-A /org/backup-policy # set Specifies the username the system should use to log in to the
user username remote server. This step does not apply if the TFTP protocol
is used.

Step 6 UCS-A /org/backup-policy # set After you press Enter, you are prompted to enter the password.
password Specifies the password for the remote server username. This
step does not apply if the TFTP protocol is used.

Step 7 UCS-A /org/backup-policy # set Specifies the full path to the backup file. This field can contain
remote-file filename the filename as well as the path. If you omit the filename, the
backup procedure assigns a name to the file.

Step 8 UCS-A /org/backup-policy # set Specifies the admin state for the policy. This can be one of
adminstate {disable | enable} the following:
enableCisco UCS Manager exports the backup file
using the schedule specified in the Schedule field.
disableCisco UCS Manager does not export the file.

Step 9 UCS-A /org/backup-policy # set Specifies the frequency with which Cisco UCS Manager
schedule {daily | weekly | exports the backup file.
bi-weekly}
Step 10 UCS-A /org/backup-policy # set Specifies a description for the backup policy.
descr description Enter up to 256 characters. You can use any characters or
spaces except ` (accent mark), \ (backslash), ^ (carat), "
(double quote), = (equal sign), > (greater than), < (less than),
or ' (single quote).

Step 11 UCS-A /org/backup-policy # Commits the transaction.

commit-buffer

The following example shows how to configure the full state backup policy for a weekly backup and commit
the transaction:
UCS-A# scope org /
UCS-A /org # scope backup-policy default
UCS-A /org/backup-policy # set hostname host35

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 Guidelines and Prerequisites
Configure Cisco Smart Call Home for Firmware Upgrade

UCS-A /org/backup-policy* # set protocol scp

UCS-A /org/backup-policy* # set user UserName32
UCS-A /org/backup-policy* # set password
Password:
UCS-A /org/backup-policy* # set remote-file /backups/full-state1.bak
UCS-A /org/backup-policy* # set adminstate enable
UCS-A /org/backup-policy* # set schedule weekly
UCS-A /org/backup-policy* # set descr "This is a full state weekly backup."
UCS-A /org/backup-policy* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /org/backup-policy #

Configure Cisco Smart Call Home for Firmware Upgrade

Cisco Smart Call Home is a web application that leverages the Call Home feature of Cisco UCS. Smart Call
Home offers proactive diagnostics and real-time email alerts of critical system events, which results in higher
network availability and increased operational efficiency. Smart Call Home is a secure connected service
offered by Cisco Unified Computing Support Service and Cisco Unified Computing Mission Critical Support
Service for Cisco UCS. The Cisco UCS Manager Administration Management Guide provides detailed
information about configuring Smart Call Home.
When you upgrade firmware, Cisco UCS Manager restarts the components to complete the upgrade process.
This restart can trigger email alerts. Disabling Smart Call Home will avoid creating such alerts and automatic
support cases with TAC during the firmware upgrade process.

Disabling Smart Call Home

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope monitoring Enters monitoring mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /monitoring # scope callhome Enters monitoring call home mode.

Step 3 UCS-A /monitoring/callhome # disable Enables Call Home.

Step 4 UCS-A /monitoring/callhome # Commits the transaction to the system

commit-buffer configuration.

The following example disables Smart Call Home and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope monitoring
UCS-A /monitoring # scope callhome
UCS-A /monitoring/callhome # disable
UCS-A /monitoring/callhome* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /monitoring/callhome #

Fault Suppression During Firmware Upgrade

Fault suppression allows you to suppress SNMP trap and Call Home notifications during a planned maintenance
time. You can create a fault suppression task to prevent notifications from being sent whenever a transient
fault is raised or cleared.

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 Guidelines and Prerequisites
Faults Generated Due to Reboot During the Upgrade of a Fabric Interconnect

Faults remain suppressed until the time duration has expired, or the fault suppression tasks have been manually
stopped by the user. After the fault suppression has ended, Cisco UCS Manager will send notifications for
any outstanding suppressed faults that have not been cleared.
Enabling fault suppression for any component during firmware upgrade suppresses the faults related to that
component until the time duration has expired, or until the component comes back up after upgrade. For
example, if fabric interconnect faults are configured to be suppressed during firmware upgrade, no faults
triggered by the fabric interconnect going down during upgrade will be displayed.

Faults Generated Due to Reboot During the Upgrade of a Fabric Interconnect

It is essential to ensure that port configurations and services that go down when the fabric interconnect reboots
are re-established after the fabric interconnect comes back up.
Starting with Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1, Cisco UCS Manager displays any service that is not
re-established after the last reboot of a fabric interconnect. Cisco UCS Manager creates a baseline of the
outstanding faults before a fabric interconnect is to be rebooted. After the fabric interconnect reboots and
comes up, you can view the new faults generated since the last baseline to identify the services that went down
because of the fabric reboot.
When a specific interval of time has passed after Cisco UCS Manager created a baseline of the outstanding
faults, baselining is cleared and all faults show up as new faults. This interval is called "baseline expiration
interval". Modifying Baseline Expiration Interval for Faults, on page 53, provides detailed information about
modifying a baseline expiration interval in Cisco UCS Manager.
Cisco recommends that you resolve service-impacting faults before you continue with the fabric interconnect
reboot or evacuation.

Modifying Baseline Expiration Interval for Faults

You can modify a baseline expiration interval in Cisco UCS Manager.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope monitoring Enters monitoring mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /monitoring # scope fault policy Enters monitoring fault policy mode.

Step 3 UCS-A /monitoring/fault-policy # show Displays the details of the fault policy.

Step 4 UCS-A /monitoring/fault-policy # set Modifies the baseline expiration interval.

baseline-expiration-interval {days hours The default baseline expiration interval is 24
minutes seconds} hours.
Note After the baseline-expiration-interval
expires, all faults are shown as new
faults.
Step 5 UCS-A /monitoring/fault-policy* # commit Commits the transaction.

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 Guidelines and Prerequisites
Faults Generated Due to Reboot During the Upgrade of a Fabric Interconnect

Command or Action Purpose

Step 6 UCS-A /monitoring/fault-policy # show Displays the details of the fault policy.

This example shows how to modify the baseline expiration interval for faults:
UCS-A# scope monitoring
UCS-A /monitoring # scope fault policy
UCS-A /monitoring/fault-policy # show

Fault Policy:
Clear Action Clear Interval Retention Interval (dd:hh:mm:ss) Flap Interval (sec)
Baseline Expiration Interval (dd:hh:mm:ss)
------------ -------------- -------------------------------- -----------------------
------------------------------------------
Retain 00:00:20:00 00:01:00:00 10
10:00:00:12

UCS-A /monitoring/fault-policy # set baseline-expiration-interval 0 2 24 0

UCS-A /monitoring/fault-policy* # commit
UCS-A /monitoring/fault-policy # show

Fault Policy:
Clear Action Clear Interval Retention Interval (dd:hh:mm:ss) Flap Interval (sec)
Baseline Expiration Interval (dd:hh:mm:ss)
------------ -------------- -------------------------------- -----------------------
------------------------------------------
Retain 10:00:00:00 01:01:01:01 10
00:02:24:00
UCS-A /monitoring/fault-policy #

Viewing Faults Generated During the Upgrade of a Fabric Interconnect

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope monitoring Enters monitoring mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /monitoring # show new-faults Shows the faults generated after baselining and
because of the reboot of the fabric interconnect during
upgrade.

Step 3 UCS-A /monitoring # show Shows the faults baselined before the reboot of the
baseline-faults fabric interconnect during upgrade.

This example shows how to view faults generated at various stages of the upgrade process:
Faults before reboot of the primary fabric interconnect:
UCS-A# show fault
Severity Code Last Transition Time ID Description
--------- -------- ------------------------ -------- -----------
Major F0283 2015-06-17T21:08:09.301 57360 fc VIF 687 on server 1 / 6 of switch
A down, reason: NPV upstream port not available
Warning F0156 2015-06-17T21:07:44.114 53557 Server, vendor(Cisco Systems Inc),
model(N20-B6620-1), serial(QCI133400WR) in slot 1/3 presence: mismatch
Major F0283 2015-06-16T21:02:33.014 72467 fc VIF 688 on server 1 / 6 of switch

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Guidelines and Prerequisites
Faults Generated Due to Reboot During the Upgrade of a Fabric Interconnect

B down, reason: NPV upstream port not available

Major F0207 2015-06-15T22:40:11.636 57312 Adapter host interface 1/6/1/1 link
state: down
Major F0479 2015-06-15T22:40:11.635 57311 Virtual interface 687 link state is
down
Major F0207 2015-06-15T22:40:11.633 57310 Adapter host interface 1/6/1/2 link
state: down
Major F0479 2015-06-15T22:40:11.632 57309 Virtual interface 688 link state is
down

Faults after reboot of the primary fabric interconnect:

UCS-A# show fault
Severity Code Last Transition Time ID Description
--------- -------- ------------------------ -------- -----------
Major F0209 2015-06-17T21:40:49.301 57760 Adapter uplink interface on server 1
/ 6 of switch A down, Please verify the connectivity to Fabric Interconnect.
Major F0207 2015-06-17T21:40:11.636 57712 Adapter host interface 1/6/1/1 link
state: down
Major F0479 2015-06-17T21:40:11.635 57711 Virtual interface 685 link state is
down
Major F0283 2015-06-17T21:08:09.301 57360 fc VIF 687 on server 1 / 6 of switch
A down, reason: NPV upstream port not available
Warning F0156 2015-06-17T21:07:44.114 53557 Server, vendor(Cisco Systems Inc),
model(N20-B6620-1), serial(QCI133400WR) in slot 1/3 presence: mismatch
Major F0283 2015-06-16T21:02:33.014 72467 fc VIF 688 on server 1 / 6 of switch
B down, reason: NPV upstream port not available
Major F0207 2015-06-15T22:40:11.636 57312 Adapter host interface 1/6/1/1 link
state: down
Major F0479 2015-06-15T22:40:11.635 57311 Virtual interface 687 link state is
down
Major F0207 2015-06-15T22:40:11.633 57310 Adapter host interface 1/6/1/2 link
state: down
Major F0479 2015-06-15T22:40:11.632 57309 Virtual interface 688 link state is
down

To view faults generated because of reboot of the primary fabric interconnect:

UCS-A /monitoring # show new-faults
Severity Code Last Transition Time ID Description
--------- -------- ------------------------ -------- -----------
Major F0209 2015-06-17T21:40:49.301 57760 Adapter uplink interface on server 1
/ 6 of switch A down, Please verify the connectivity to Fabric Interconnect.
Major F0207 2015-06-17T21:40:11.636 57712 Adapter host interface 1/6/1/1 link
state: down
Major F0479 2015-06-17T21:40:11.635 57711 Virtual interface 685 link state is
down

To view faults before reboot of the primary fabric interconnect:

UCS-A# show baseline-faults
Severity Code Last Transition Time ID Description
--------- -------- ------------------------ -------- -----------
Major F0283 2015-06-17T21:08:09.301 57360 fc VIF 687 on server 1 / 6 of switch
A down, reason: NPV upstream port not available
Warning F0156 2015-06-17T21:07:44.114 53557 Server, vendor(Cisco Systems Inc),
model(N20-B6620-1), serial(QCI133400WR) in slot 1/3 presence: mismatch
Major F0283 2015-06-16T21:02:33.014 72467 fc VIF 688 on server 1 / 6 of switch
B down, reason: NPV upstream port not available
Major F0207 2015-06-15T22:40:11.636 57312 Adapter host interface 1/6/1/1 link
state: down
Major F0479 2015-06-15T22:40:11.635 57311 Virtual interface 687 link state is
down
Major F0207 2015-06-15T22:40:11.633 57310 Adapter host interface 1/6/1/2 link
state: down
Major F0479 2015-06-15T22:40:11.632 57309 Virtual interface 688 link state is
down

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 Guidelines and Prerequisites
Verifying the Operability of a Fabric Interconnect

Verifying the Operability of a Fabric Interconnect

If your Cisco UCS domain is running in a high availability cluster configuration, you must verify the operability
of both fabric interconnects.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope Enters fabric interconnect mode for the specified fabric interconnect.
fabric-interconnect {a | b}
Step 2 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect Displays information about the fabric interconnect.
#show Verify that the operability of the fabric interconnects is in the
Operable state. If the operability is not in the Operable state, run a
show tech-support command and contact Cisco Technical Support.
Do not proceed with the firmware upgrade. For more information
about the show tech-support command, see the Cisco UCS Manager
B-Series Troubleshooting Guide.

The following example displays that the operability for both fabric interconnects is in the Operable state:
UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect a
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # show
Fabric Interconnect:
ID OOB IP Addr OOB Gateway OOB Netmask Operability
-- --------------- --------------- --------------- -----------
A 192.168.100.10 192.168.100.20 255.255.255.0 Operable

UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # exit

UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect b
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # show
Fabric Interconnect:
ID OOB IP Addr OOB Gateway OOB Netmask Operability
-- --------------- --------------- --------------- -----------
B 192.168.100.11 192.168.100.20 255.255.255.0 Operable

Verifying the High Availability Status and Roles of a Cluster Configuration

The high availability status is the same for both fabric interconnects in a cluster configuration.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# show Displays the operational state and leadership role for both fabric interconnects
cluster state in a high availability cluster.
Verify that both fabric interconnects (A and B) are in the Up state and HA is in
the Ready state. If the fabric interconnects are not in the Up state or HA is not
in the Ready state, run a show tech-support command and contact Cisco
Technical Support. Do not proceed with the firmware upgrade. For more

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 Guidelines and Prerequisites
Configuring the Default Maintenance Policy

Command or Action Purpose

information about the show tech-support command, see the Cisco UCS
Troubleshooting Guide.
Also note which fabric interconnect has the primary role and which has the
subordinate role; you will need to know this information to upgrade the firmware
on the fabric interconnects.

The following example displays that both fabric interconnects are in the Up state, HA is in the Ready state,
fabric interconnect A has the primary role, and fabric interconnect B has the subordinate role:
UCS-A# show cluster state
Cluster Id: 0x4432f72a371511de-0xb97c000de1b1ada4

A: UP, PRIMARY
B: UP, SUBORDINATE

HA READY

Configuring the Default Maintenance Policy

Some modifications to a service profile or to an updating service profile template can be disruptive and require
a reboot of the server. A maintenance policy determines how Cisco UCS Manager reacts when a change that
requires a server reboot is made to a service profile associated with a server or to an updating service profile
bound to one or more service profiles.
The maintenance policy specifies how Cisco UCS Manager deploys the service profile changes. The deployment
can occur in one of the following ways:
Immediately
When acknowledged by a user with admin privileges
Automatically at the time specified in a schedule
When the server boots again

Before You Begin

If you plan to configure this maintenance policy for deferred deployment, create a schedule.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope org org-name Enters organization mode for the specified organization. To enter
the root organization mode, type / as the org-name .

Step 2 UCS-A /org # scope Enters the maintenance policy mode for the default maintenance
maint-policy default policy.

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 Guidelines and Prerequisites
Disabling the Management Interface

Command or Action Purpose

Step 3 UCS-A /org/maint-policy # When a service profile is associated with a server, the server needs
set reboot-policy {immediate to be rebooted to complete the association. Specifying the
| timer-automatic | user-ack} reboot-policy command determines when the reboot occurs for all
service profiles that include this maintenance policy. Possible values
include:
immediate--The server reboots as soon as the change is made
to the service profile.
timer-automatic --You select the schedule that specifies when
maintenance operations can be applied to the server using the
set scheduler command. Cisco UCS reboots the server and
completes the service profile changes at the scheduled time.
user-ack --The user must explicitly acknowledge the changes
by using the apply pending-changes command before
changes are applied.
Cisco recommends that you set the reboot policy of the default
maintenance policy to user-ack.

Step 4 UCS-A /org/maint-policy # (Optional)

set scheduler scheduler-name If the reboot-policy property is set to timer-automatic, you must
select the schedule that specifies when maintenance operations can
be applied to the server. Cisco UCS reboots the server and completes
the service profile changes at the scheduled time.

Step 5 UCS-A /org/maint-policy # Commits the transaction to the system configuration.

commit-buffer

The following example modifies the reboot policy of the default maintenance policy, and commits the
transaction:
UCS-A# scope org /
UCS-A /org # scope maint-policy default
UCS-A /org/maint-policy* # set reboot-policy user-ack
UCS-A /org/maint-policy* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /org/maint-policy #

Disabling the Management Interface

Before firmware upgrade, you could shut down the management interface of the secondary fabric interconnect.
This ensures that any active KVM connections between any server and the management interface will reset.
The GUI flow fails over to the primary fabric interconnect and reduces the time that you are disconnected
from the GUI.
If Cisco UCS Manager detects a management interface failure, a failure report is generated. If the configured
number of failure reports is reached, the system assumes that the management interface is unavailable and
generates a fault. By default, the management interfaces monitoring policy is enabled. The Cisco UCS Manager
System Monitoring Guide provides more details about the Management Interfaces Monitoring Policy.

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 Guidelines and Prerequisites
Verifying the Status of an I/O Module

Procedure

Step 1 Enter monitoring mode.

UCS-A# scope monitoring

Step 2 Enable or disable the management interfaces monitoring policy.

UCS-A /monitoring # set mgmt-if-mon-policy admin-state {enabled | disabled}

Step 3 UCS-A /monitoring # commit-buffer

Commits the transaction to the system configuration.

Step 4 Open a Telnet session to the upstream switch connected to the fabric interconnect.
Step 5 Verify the configuration of the interface to which the fabric interconnect management port is connected, and
disable it using the shut command on the switch.
Any KVM session that is open through this interface terminates.

Step 6 Reconnect KVM sessions to ensure that these sessions are not impacted by upgrade of the secondary fabric
interconnect.

The following example disables the monitoring interface management policy and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope monitoring
UCS-A /monitoring # set mgmt-if-mon-policy admin-state enabled
UCS-A /monitoring* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /monitoring #

Verifying the Status of an I/O Module

If your Cisco UCS is running in a high availability cluster configuration, you must verify the status for both
I/O modules in all chassis.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope chassis Enters chassis mode for the specified chassis.
chassis-id
Step 2 UCS-A /chassis # scope iom Enters chassis I/O module mode for the selected I/O module.
iom-id
Step 3 UCS-A # show Shows the status of the specified I/O module on the specified
chassis.
Verify that the overall status of the I/O module is in the Operable
state. If the overall status is not in the Operable state, run a show
tech-support command and contact Cisco Technical Support.
Do not proceed with the firmware upgrade. For more information
about the show tech-support command, see the Cisco UCS
Troubleshooting Guide.

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Verifying the Status of a Server

The following example displays that the overall status for both I/O modules on chassis 1 is in the Operable
state:
UCS-A# scope chassis 1
UCS-A /chassis # scope iom 1
UCS-A /chassis/iom # show
IOM:
ID Side Fabric ID Overall Status
---------- ----- --------- --------------
1 Left A Operable

UCS-A /chassis/iom # exit

UCS-A /chassis # scope iom 2
UCS-A /chassis/iom # show
IOM:
ID Side Fabric ID Overall Status
---------- ----- --------- --------------
2 Right B Operable

Verifying the Status of a Server

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope server chassis-id Enters chassis server mode for the specified server in the
/ server-id specified chassis.

Step 2 UCS-A /chassis/server # show Shows the status detail of the server.
status detail Verify that the overall status of the server is Ok, Unavailable,
or any value that does not indicate a failure. If the overall status
is in a state that indicates a failure, such as Discovery Failed,
the endpoints on that server cannot be upgraded.

The following example displays that the overall status for server 7 on chassis 1 is in the Ok state:
UCS-A# scope server 1/7
UCS-A /chassis/server # show status detail
Server 1/7:
Slot Status: Equipped
Conn Path: A,B
Conn Status: A,B
Managing Instance: B
Availability: Unavailable
Admin State: In Service
Overall Status: Ok
Oper Qualifier: N/A
Discovery: Complete
Current Task:

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Verifying the Status of Adapters on Servers in a Chassis

Verifying the Status of Adapters on Servers in a Chassis

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope server chassis-id Enters chassis server mode for the specified server in the
/ server-id specified chassis

Step 2 UCS-A /chassis/server # show Displays the status of the adapter.

adapter status Verify that the overall status of the adapter is in the Operable
state. If the overall status of the adapter is in any state other
than Operable, you cannot upgrade it. However, you can
proceed with the upgrade for the other adapters in the Cisco
UCS domain.

The following example displays that the overall status for the adapter in server 7 on chassis 1 is in the Operable
state:
UCS-A# scope server 1/7
UCS-A /chassis/server # show adapter status
Server 1/1:
Overall Status
--------------
Operable

Verification that the Data Path is Ready

The following sections detail the steps to verify that the data path is ready.

Verifying that Dynamic vNICs Are Up and Running

When you upgrade a Cisco UCS that includes dynamic vNICs and an integration with VMware vCenter, you
must verify that all dynamic vNICs are up and running on the new primary fabric interconnect. Ensure that
the vNICs are up and running before you activate the new software on the former primary fabric interconnect
to avoid data path disruption.
Perform this step in the Cisco UCS Manager GUI.

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Verifying the Ethernet Data Path

Procedure

Step 1 In the Navigation pane, click VM.

Step 2 Expand All > VMware > Virtual Machines.
Step 3 Expand the virtual machine for which you want to verify the dynamic vNICs and choose a dynamic vNIC.
Step 4 In the Work pane, click the VIF tab.
Step 5 On the VIF tab, verify that the Status column for each VIF is Online.
Step 6 Repeat Steps 3 through 5 until you have verified that the VIFs for all dynamic vNICs on all virtual machines
have a status of Online.

Verifying the Ethernet Data Path

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # connect Enters NX-OS mode for the fabric interconnect.
nxos {a | b}
Step 2 UCS-A(nxos)# show int br | grep -v Returns the number of active Ethernet interfaces.
down | wc l Verify that this number matches the number of Ethernet
interfaces that were up prior to the upgrade.

Step 3 UCS-A(nxos)# show platform fwm Returns the total number of MAC addresses.
info hw-stm | grep '1.' | wc l Verify that this number matches the number of MAC
addresses prior to the upgrade.

The following example returns the number of active Ethernet interfaces and MAC addresses for subordinate
fabric interconnect A so that you can verify that the Ethernet data path for that fabric interconnect is up and
running:

UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # connect nxos a

UCS-A(nxos)# show int br | grep -v down | wc -l
86
UCS-A(nxos)# show platform fwm info hw-stm | grep '1.' | wc -l
80

Verifying the Data Path for Fibre Channel End-Host Mode

For best results when upgrading a Cisco UCS domain, we recommend that you perform this task before you
begin the upgrade and after you activate the subordinate fabric interconnect, and then compare the two results.

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Verifying the Data Path for Fibre Channel Switch Mode

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # connect Enters NX-OS mode for the fabric interconnect.
nxos {a | b}
Step 2 UCS-A(nxos)# show npv flogi-table Displays a table of flogi sessions.

Step 3 UCS-A(nxos)# show npv flogi-table | Returns the number of servers logged into the fabric
grep fc | wc -l interconnect.
The output should match the output you received when
you performed this verification prior to beginning the
upgrade.

The following example displays the flogi-table and number of servers logged into subordinate fabric interconnect
A so that you can verify that the Fibre Channel data path for that fabric interconnect in Fibre Channel End-Host
mode is up and running:

UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # connect nxos a

UCS-A(nxos)# show npv flogi-table
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SERVER EXTERNAL
INTERFACE VSAN FCID PORT NAME NODE NAME INTERFACE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
vfc705 700 0x69000a 20:00:00:25:b5:27:03:01 20:00:00:25:b5:27:03:00 fc3/1
vfc713 700 0x690009 20:00:00:25:b5:27:07:01 20:00:00:25:b5:27:07:00 fc3/1
vfc717 700 0x690001 20:00:00:25:b5:27:08:01 20:00:00:25:b5:27:08:00 fc3/1

Total number of flogi = 3.

UCS-A(nxos)# show npv flogi-table | grep fc | wc -l

3

Verifying the Data Path for Fibre Channel Switch Mode

For best results when upgrading a Cisco UCS domain, we recommend that you perform this task before you
begin the upgrade and after you activate the subordinate fabric interconnect, and then compare the two results.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # connect Enters NX-OS mode for the fabric interconnect.
nxos {a | b}
Step 2 UCS-A(nxos)# show flogi database Displays a table of flogi sessions.

Step 3 UCS-A(nxos)# show flogi database | Returns the number of servers logged into the fabric
grep I fc | wc 1 interconnect.

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Verifying the Data Path for Fibre Channel Switch Mode

Command or Action Purpose

The output should match the output you received
when you performed this verification prior to
beginning the upgrade.

The following example displays the flogi-table and number of servers logged into subordinate fabric interconnect
A so that you can verify that the Fibre Channel data path for that fabric interconnect in Fibre Channel End-Host
mode is up and running:

UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # connect nxos a

UCS-A(nxos)# show flogi database
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTERFACE VSAN FCID PORT NAME NODE NAME
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
vfc726 800 0xef0003 20:00:00:25:b5:26:07:02 20:00:00:25:b5:26:07:00
vfc728 800 0xef0007 20:00:00:25:b5:26:07:04 20:00:00:25:b5:26:07:00
vfc744 800 0xef0004 20:00:00:25:b5:26:03:02 20:00:00:25:b5:26:03:00
vfc748 800 0xef0005 20:00:00:25:b5:26:04:02 20:00:00:25:b5:26:04:00
vfc764 800 0xef0006 20:00:00:25:b5:26:05:02 20:00:00:25:b5:26:05:00
vfc768 800 0xef0002 20:00:00:25:b5:26:02:02 20:00:00:25:b5:26:02:00
vfc772 800 0xef0000 20:00:00:25:b5:26:06:02 20:00:00:25:b5:26:06:00
vfc778 800 0xef0001 20:00:00:25:b5:26:01:02 20:00:00:25:b5:26:01:00

Total number of flogi = 8.

UCS-A(nxos)# show flogi database | grep fc | wc -l
8

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Manage Firmware through Cisco UCS Manager
Download and Manage Firmware in Cisco UCS Manager, page 65
Firmware Upgrades through Auto Install, page 73
Firmware Upgrades through Firmware Packages in Service Profiles , page 82
Firmware Automatic Synchronization, page 90
Direct Firmware Upgrade at Endpoints, page 93

Download and Manage Firmware in Cisco UCS Manager

Firmware Image Management

Cisco delivers all firmware updates to Cisco UCS components in bundles of images. Each image represents
an individual firmware package specific to one hardware component. For example: IOM image, Cisco UCS
Manager image, and so on.Cisco UCS firmware updates are available to be downloaded to fabric interconnects
in a Cisco UCS domain in the following bundles:

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Firmware Image Management

Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle

Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1 and later releases will contain three separate infrastructure bundles:
These bundles include firmware images that are required to update the following components:
Cisco UCS Manager software
Kernel and system firmware for the fabric interconnects
I/O module firmware

Note The UCS infrastructure bundle for one platform cannot be used to activate
another platform. For example, the infrastructure bundle for the UCS 6200
Series fabric interconnect cannot be used to activate the UCS 6300 Series fabric
interconnect.

Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Server Software Bundle

This bundle includes the following firmware images that are required to update the firmware for the
blade servers in a Cisco UCS domain. In addition to the bundles created for a release, these bundles
can also be released between infrastructure bundles to enable Cisco UCS Manager to support a blade
server that is not included in the most recent infrastructure bundle.
CIMC firmware
BIOS firmware
Adapter firmware
Board controller firmware
Third-party firmware images required by the new server

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount UCS-Managed Server Software Bundle

This bundle includes the following firmware images that are required to update components on
rack-mount servers that have been integrated with and are managed by Cisco UCS Manager:
CIMC firmware
BIOS firmware
Adapter firmware
Storage controller firmware

Note You cannot use this bundle for standalone C-series servers. The firmware
management system in those servers cannot interpret the header required by
Cisco UCS Manager. For information on how to upgrade standalone C-series
servers, see the C-series configuration guides.

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Firmware Image Management

Cisco also provides release notes, which you can obtain on the same website from which you obtained the
bundles.

Firmware Image Headers

Every firmware image has a header, which includes the following:
Checksum
Version information
Compatibility information that the system can use to verify the compatibility of component images and
any dependencies

Firmware Image Catalog

Cisco UCS Manager maintains an inventory of all available images. The image catalog contains a list of
images and packages. A package is a read-only object that is created when it is downloaded. It does not occupy
disk space and represents a list or collection of images that were unpacked as part of the package download.
When an individual image is downloaded, the package name remains the same as the image name.
Cisco UCS Manager provides you with two views of the catalog of firmware images and their contents that
have been downloaded to the fabric interconnect:
Packages
This view provides you with a read-only representation of the firmware bundles that have been
downloaded onto the fabric interconnect. This view is sorted by image, not by the contents of the image.
For packages, you can use this view to see which component images are in each downloaded firmware
bundle.

Images
The images view lists the component images available on the system. You cannot use this view to see
complete firmware bundles or to group the images by bundle. The information available about each
component image includes the name of the component, the image size, the image version, and the
vendor and model of the component.
You can use this view to identify the firmware updates available for each component. You can also use
this view to delete obsolete and unneeded images. After all the images in the package have been deleted,
Cisco UCS Manager deletes the package itself.

Tip Cisco UCS Manager stores the images in bootflash on the fabric interconnect. In a cluster system, space
usage in bootflash on both fabric interconnects is the same, because all images are synchronized between
them. Faults are raised when the bootflash partition exceeds 70 percent and total used space exceeds 90
percent. If Cisco UCS Manager generates such a fault, delete obsolete images to free up space.

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Obtaining Software Bundles from Cisco

Obtaining Software Bundles from Cisco

Before You Begin
Determine which of the following software bundles you need in order to update the Cisco UCS domain:
Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle for Cisco UCS 6300 Series, 6200 Series, and 6324 fabric
interconnectsRequired for all Cisco UCS domains.
Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Server Software BundleRequired for all Cisco UCS domains that include
blade servers.
Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount UCS-Managed Server Software BundleOnly required for Cisco
UCS domains that include integrated rack-mount servers. This bundle contains firmware to enable Cisco
UCS Manager to manage those servers and is not applicable to standalone C-Series rack-mount servers.

Procedure

Step 1 In a web browser, navigate to Cisco.com.

Step 2 Under Support, click All Downloads.
Step 3 In the center pane, click Servers - Unified Computing.
Step 4 If prompted, enter your Cisco.com username and password to log in.
Step 5 In the right pane, click the link for the software bundles you require, as follows:
Bundle Navigation Path
Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle for Click UCS Infrastructure and UCS Manager Software
Cisco UCS 6300 Series, 6200 Series, and 6324 > Unified Computing System (UCS) Infrastructure
fabric interconnects Software Bundle.

Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Server Software Click UCS B-Series Blade Server Software > Unified
Bundle Computing System (UCS) Server Software Bundle.

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Click UCS C-Series Rack-Mount UCS-Managed Server
UCS-Managed Server Software Bundle Software > Unified Computing System (UCS) Server
Software Bundle.

Tip The Unified Computing System (UCS) Documentation Roadmap Bundle, which is accessible through
these paths, is a downloadable ISO image of all Cisco UCS documentation.
Step 6 On the first page from which you download a software bundle, click the Release Notes link to download the
latest version of the Release Notes.
Step 7 For each software bundle that you want to download, do the following:
a) Click the link for the latest release software bundle.
The release number is followed by a number and a letter in parentheses. The number identifies the
maintenance release level, and the letter differentiates between patches of that maintenance release. For
more information about what is in each maintenance release and patch, see the latest version of the Release
Notes.
b) Click one of the following buttons and follow the instructions provided:

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Downloading Firmware Images to the Fabric Interconnect from a Remote Location

Download NowAllows you to download the software bundle immediately.

Add to CartAdds the software bundle to your cart to be downloaded at a later time.

c) Follow the prompts to complete your download of the software bundle(s).

Step 8 Read the Release Notes before upgrading your Cisco UCS domain.

What to Do Next
Download the software bundles to the fabric interconnect.

Downloading Firmware Images to the Fabric Interconnect from a Remote

Location

Note In a cluster setup, the image file for the firmware bundle is downloaded to both fabric interconnects,
regardless of which fabric interconnect is used to initiate the download. Cisco UCS Manager maintains
all firmware packages and images in both fabric interconnects in sync. If one fabric interconnect is down,
the download finishes successfully. The images are synced to the other fabric interconnect when it comes
back online.

Before You Begin

Obtain the required firmware bundles from Cisco.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope firmware Enters firmware mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /firmware # Downloads the firmware bundle. Using the download path provided
download image URL by Cisco, specify the URL with one of the following syntax:
ftp:// server-ip-addr / path
scp:// username@server-ip-addr / path
sftp:// username@server-ip-addr / path
tftp:// server-ip-addr : port-num / path
Note TFTP has a file size limitation of 32 MB. Because
firmware bundles can be much larger than that, we
recommend that you do not select TFTP for firmware
downloads.
usbA:/ path
usbB:/ path

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Displaying the Firmware Package Download Status

Command or Action Purpose

Note USB A and USB B are applicable only for Cisco UCS
6324 (UCS Mini) and Cisco UCS 6300 Series fabric
interconnects.
For Cisco UCS 6300 Series fabric interconnects, only the
first of the two ports is detected.
Note If you use a hostname rather than an IP address, configure
a DNS server in Cisco UCS Manager.
Step 3 Enter the password for the The password for the remote server username. This field does not
remote server. apply if the protocol is tftp.

Step 4 UCS-A /firmware # show Displays the status for your download task. When your image is
download-task completely downloaded, the task state changes from Downloading
to Downloaded. The CLI does not automatically refresh, so you
may have to enter the show download-task command multiple
times until the task state displays Downloaded.

Step 5 Repeat this task until all of the

firmware bundles have been
downloaded to the fabric
interconnect.

The following example uses SCP to download the firmware package.

UCS-A# scope firmware
UCS-A /firmware # download image scp://[email protected]/images/ucs-k9-bundle.1.0.0.988.bin
OR
download image usbB:/username/ucs-k9-bundle-b-series.3.0.1a.B.bin
UCS-A /firmware # show download-task
UCS-A /firmware #

What to Do Next
After the image file for the firmware bundles download completes, update the firmware on the endpoints.

Displaying the Firmware Package Download Status

After a firmware download operation has been started, you can check the download status to see if the package
is still downloading or if it has completely downloaded.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope firmware Enters firmware mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /firmware # show Displays the status for your download task. When your image
download-task is completely downloaded, the task state changes from
Downloading to Downloaded. The CLI does not automatically
refresh, so you may have to enter the show download-task

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Canceling an Image Download

Command or Action Purpose

command multiple times until the task state displays
Downloaded.

The following example displays the download status for the firmware package. The show download-task
command is entered multiple times until the download state indicates that the firmware package has been
downloaded:

Canceling an Image Download

You can cancel the download task for an image only while it is in progress. After the image has downloaded,
deleting the download task does not delete the image that was downloaded. You cannot cancel the FSM related
to the image download task.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope firmware Enters firmware mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /firmware # delete download-task Deletes the specified image file.
image_filename
Step 3 UCS-A /firmware # commit-buffer Commits the transaction to the system
configuration.

The following example cancels an image download:

Displaying All Available Software Images on the Fabric Interconnect

This procedure is optional and displays the available software images on the fabric interconnect for all
endpoints. You can also use the show image command in each endpoint mode to display the available
software images for that endpoint.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope firmware Enters firmware mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /firmware # show Displays all software images downloaded onto the fabric
image interconnect.

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Displaying All Available Packages on the Fabric Interconnect

Command or Action Purpose

Note You must provide the software version number when
directly updating an endpoint. If you intend to directly
update firmware at an endpoint, note its version
number in the right column.

The following example displays all available software images on the fabric interconnect:

Displaying All Available Packages on the Fabric Interconnect

This procedure is optional and displays the available software packages on the fabric interconnect for all
endpoints.. You can also use the show package command in each endpoint mode to display the available
software images for that endpoint.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope firmware Enters firmware mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /firmware # show Displays all software packages downloaded onto the fabric
package interconnect.
Note You must provide the software version number when
directly updating an endpoint. If you intend to directly
update firmware at an endpoint, note its version
number in the right column.

The following example displays all available software packages on the fabric interconnect:

Determining the Contents of a Firmware Package

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope firmware Enters firmware mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /firmware # show package Displays the contents of the specified
package-name expand firmware package.

The following example displays the contents of a firmware package:

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Checking the Available Space on a Fabric Interconnect

Checking the Available Space on a Fabric Interconnect

If an image download fails, check whether the bootflash on the fabric interconnect or fabric interconnects in
the Cisco UCS has sufficient available space.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope Enters fabric interconnect mode for the specified fabric.
fabric-interconnect {a | b}
Step 2 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # Displays the available space for the specified fabric.
show storage [detail | expand} Note When you download a firmware image bundle, a fabric
interconnect needs at least twice as much available
space as the size of the firmware image bundle. If the
bootflash does not have sufficient space, delete the
obsolete firmware, core files, and other unneeded
objects from the fabric interconnect.

The following example displays the available space for a fabric interconnect:
UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect a
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # show storage
Storage on local flash drive of fabric interconnect:
Partition Size (MBytes) Used Percentage
---------------- ---------------- ---------------
bootflash 8658 50
opt 1917 2
workspace 277 4
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect #

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 FirmwareUses the Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle to upgrade the
infrastructure components, such as the fabric interconnects, the I/O modules, and Cisco UCS Manager.
Firmware Image Management, on page 65, provides details about the available infrastructure software
bundles in Cisco UCS Manager Release . Recommended Process for Upgrading Infrastructure Firmware
Through Auto Install, on page 76, details the process that Cisco recommends for automatically installing
infrastructure firmware.
Install Server FirmwareUses the Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Server Software Bundle to upgrade all
blade servers in the Cisco UCS domain; the Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount UCS-Managed Server
Software Bundle to upgrade all rack servers.

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 upgrade
the server components to a different version.

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Direct Upgrade After Auto Install

Note You cannot use Auto Install to upgrade either the infrastructure or the servers in a Cisco UCS domain if
Cisco UCS Manager in that domain is at a release prior to Cisco UCS 2.1(1). However, after you upgrade
Cisco UCS Manager to Release 2.1(1) or greater, you can use Auto Install to upgrade the remaining
components in a Cisco UCS domain that is at the minimum required firmware level. For more information,
see Cautions, and Guidelines for Upgrading with Auto Install, on page 45.

In Cisco UCS Manager Releases 3.1(1l), 3.1(2b), 3.1(2c), and 3.1(2e), activating the Cisco UCS Manager
software through Auto Install fails if the power policy is configured with Redundancy set to Grid and Power
Capping set to No Cap. In Cisco UCS Manager releases earlier than Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(2b)
and later than 3.1(2e), activating the Cisco UCS Manager software through Auto Install no longer fails based
on the configured power policy.

Direct Upgrade After Auto Install

During Auto Install, the startup version of the default infrastructure pack is configured. To successfully
complete a direct upgrade or activation of Cisco UCS Manager, Fabric Interconnects, and IOMs after Auto
Install, ensure that the startup version is cleared before starting direct upgrade or activation. If the startup
version of the default infrastructure pack is configured, you cannot directly upgrade or activate Cisco UCS
Manager, Fabric Interconnects, and IOMs. Clearing the Startup Version of the Default Infrastructure Pack
and the Service Pack, on page 80, provides detailed steps for clearing the startup version.

Automatic Internal Backup

While the Infrastructure firmware is being upgraded, an automatic full state backup file is created. Cisco UCS
Manager Release 2.2(4) introduced two new backup stages that are visible in the FSM status. These are:
1 InternalBackupBacks up the configuration.
2 PollInternalBackupWaits for the backup to complete.

After the backup is successfully completed, the backup file, named as "bkp.timestamp.tgz", is stored within
the /workspace/backup directory of both the fabric interconnects. This location contains only the latest
backup file.
If the backup fails, a minor fault stating "internal backup failed" is logged. This fault is not logged in case
of downgrade to a release prior to Cisco UCS Manager Release 2.2(4).
Before restoring the configuration for a fabric interconnect from this backup file, copy it from the fabric
interconnect to a file server by using the copy command from local-mgmt.
This example shows how to copy the automatic internal backup file to a file server:
UCS-A# connect local-mgmt
UCS-A (local-mgmt) # copy workspace:/backup/bkp.1429690478.tgz
scp://[email protected]://home/builds/

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Install Infrastructure Firmware

Install Infrastructure Firmware

Install Infrastructure Firmware upgrades all infrastructure components in a Cisco UCS domain, including
Cisco UCS Manager, and all fabric interconnects and I/O modules. 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 B-Series Blade Server Software Bundle for all blade servers in the chassis.
Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount UCS-Managed Server Software Bundle for all rack-mount servers
that are integrated into the Cisco UCS domain.

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, the timing
of 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.

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Recommended Process for Upgrading Infrastructure Firmware Through Auto Install

Recommended Process for Upgrading Infrastructure Firmware Through Auto

Install
Cisco recommends the following process for upgrading infrastructure firmware through Auto Install:
1 Stage the software and prepare for upgrade:
a Create All Configuration and Full-State backup files. Creating an All Configuration Backup File, on
page 49 and Configuring the Full State Backup Policy, on page 50 provide detailed information.
b Download firmware packages. Downloading Firmware Images to the Fabric Interconnect from a
Remote Location, on page 69 provides detailed information.
c Disable Smart Call Home. Disabling Smart Call Home, on page 52 provides detailed information
about disabling Smart Call Home.

2 Prepare for fabric upgrade:

a Verify Cisco UCS Manager faults and resolve the service -impacting faults.
b Verify High Availability status and identify the secondary fabric interconnect. Verifying the High
Availability Status and Roles of a Cluster Configuration, on page 56 provides detailed information.
c Configure the default maintenance policy. Configuring the Default Maintenance Policy, on page 57
provides detailed information about maintenance policies and configuring the default maintenance
policy to User Ack.
d Verify that VLAN and FCOE IDs do not overlap.
e Disable the management interface. Disabling the Management Interface, on page 58 provides detailed
information about disabling the management interface for the secondary fabric interconnect.
f Verify that all paths are working. Verification that the Data Path is Ready, on page 61 provides detailed
information.

3 Upgrade the Infrastructure Firmware with Auto Install, on page 76

4 Verify High Availability status in cluster.
5 Verify that all paths are working.
6 Verify new faults. Viewing Faults Generated During the Upgrade of a Fabric Interconnect, on page 54
provides detailed information.
7 Acknowledge activation of the primary fabric. Acknowledging the Reboot of the Primary Fabric
Interconnect, on page 79 provides detailed information.
8 Verify new faults.

Upgrade the Infrastructure Firmware with Auto Install

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

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Upgrade the Infrastructure Firmware with Auto Install

Note You cannot use Auto Install to upgrade either the infrastructure or the servers in a Cisco UCS domain if
Cisco UCS Manager in that domain is at a release prior to Cisco UCS Manager 2.1(1). However, after
you upgrade Cisco UCS Manager to Release 2.1(1) or greater, you can use Auto Install to upgrade the
remaining components in a Cisco UCS domain that is at the minimum required firmware level. For more
information, see Cautions, and Guidelines for Upgrading with Auto Install, on page 45 and the appropriate
Cisco UCS upgrade guide.

Beginning with Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(3), you can use Auto Install to install a service pack on
Cisco UCS Manager and both fabric interconnects. You can apply a service pack on a base infrastructure
pack, but you cannot install the service pack independently.
You can install a compatible service pack through Auto Install without upgrading the infrastructure pack.
This will trigger service pack installation on both fabric interconnects. Certain service pack installations may
require the fabric interconnects to be reloaded.
Auto Install of infrastructure firmware using a service pack is supported only when all the infrastructure
components are at Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(3) or later releases.

Before You Begin

Complete all prerequisites listed in Prerequisites for Upgrading and Downgrading Firmware, on page 48
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 Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope firmware Enters firmware mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /firmware # scope Enters auto-install mode for infrastructure firmware upgrades.
auto-install
Step 3 UCS-A /firmware/auto-install Updates and activates the infrastructure firmware and the service
# install infra infra-vers pack bundle.
infrastructure-bundle-version You must use starttime to schedule the infrastructure firmware
servicepack-vers upgrade, if you do not want the upgrade to start immediately. If you
servicepack-bundle-version use starttime, enter the following information to specify when you
[starttime mon dd yyyy hh min want to schedule the upgrade:
sec] [force] [evacuate]
[skipvalidation] monThe first three letters of the desired month, such as jan
or feb.
ddThe number of the desired day of the month, from 1 to
31.
yyyyThe four numbers of the desired year, such as 2012.
hhThe hour when you want the upgrade to start, from 0 to
23.

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Command or Action Purpose

minThe minute when you want the upgrade to start, from 0
to 60.
secThe 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.
If there is not enough space under bootflash, a warning
will display and the upgrade process will stop.
Use the evacuate keyword to enable fabric evacuation on each fabric
interconnect that is being upgraded through Auto Install. Both fabric
interconnects are evacuated, but not at the same time.
Note If you enable fabric evacuation during Auto Install, and
fabric evacuation was enabled manually on any of the fabric
interconnects before Auto Install, fabric evacuation is
disabled after Auto Install is complete.
Step 4 UCS-A /firmware/auto-install (Optional)
# install infra servicepack-vers Updates and activates the service pack bundle over the existing base
servicepack-bundle-version infrastructure pack.
[force]

This example shows how to upgrade the infrastructure to the firmware in the Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software
Bundle:
This example shows how to upgrade the infrastructure to the firmware in the Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software
Bundle with the evacuate option enabled:
This example shows how to upgrade the infrastructure to a service pack version:

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.
Certain service pack installations may require the fabric interconnects to be reloaded. In such scenarios, you
must acknowledge the reboot of the primary fabric interconnect to complete the service pack installation.

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Acknowledging the Reboot of the Primary Fabric Interconnect

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
Verification that the Data Path is Ready, on page 61.

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 Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope firmware Enters firmware mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /firmware # scope auto-install Enters auto-install mode for infrastructure firmware
upgrades.

Step 3 UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # Acknowledges the pending reboot of the primary

acknowledge primary fabric interconnect.
fabric-interconnect reboot
Step 4 UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
commit-buffer 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 #

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Canceling an Infrastructure Firmware Upgrade

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 Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope firmware Enters firmware mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /firmware # scope auto-install Enters auto-install mode for infrastructure
firmware upgrades.

Step 3 UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # cancel Cancels the scheduled infrastructure firmware

install infra upgrade.

Step 4 UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # Commits the transaction to the system

commit-buffer 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 #

Clearing the Startup Version of the Default Infrastructure Pack and the Service
Pack
You must clear the startup version of the default infrastructure pack and service pack before directly upgrading
or activating Cisco UCS Manager, Fabric Interconnects, and IOMs.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope org org-name Enters the organization mode for the specified
organization. To enter the root organization mode,
enter / as the org-name.

Step 2 UCS-A /org # scope fw-infra-pack name Enters the organization infrastructure firmware
policy mode.

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Command or Action Purpose

Step 3 UCS-A /org/fw-infra-pack # set Clears the startup version of the default
infra-bundle-version "" infrastructure pack and the service pack.

Step 4 UCS-A /org/fw-infra-pack # set (Optional)

servicepack-vers "" Clears the startup version of the service pack.

Step 5 UCS-A /org/fw-infra-pack* # Commits the transaction.

commit-buffer

This example shows how to clear the startup version of the default infrastructure pack.
UCS-A# scope org
UCS-A /org # scope fw-infra-pack default
UCS-A /org/fw-infra-pack # set infra-bundle-version ""
UCS-A /org/fw-infra-pack* # commit-buffer

Viewing the Status of the FSM During An Infrastructure Firmware Upgrade

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope firmware Enters firmware mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /firmware # scope auto-install Enters auto-install mode for infrastructure
firmware upgrades.

Step 3 UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # show fsm Displays the status of the FSM.
status expand

The following example displays the status of the FSM:

UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # show fsm status expand

FSM Status:

Affected Object: sys/fw-system/fsm

Current FSM: Deploy
Status: Success
Completion Time: 2017-02-03T18:02:13.699
Progress (%): 100

FSM Stage:

Order Stage Name Status Try

------ ---------------------------------------- ------------ ---
1 DeployWaitForDeploy Success 0
2 DeployResolveDistributableNames Skip 0
3 DeployResolveDistributable Skip 0
4 DeployResolveImages Skip 0
5 DeployDownloadImages Skip 0

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6 DeployCopyAllImagesToPeer Skip 0
7 DeployInternalBackup Skip 0
8 DeployPollInternalBackup Success 0
9 DeployActivateUCSM Skip 0
10 DeployPollActivateOfUCSM Success 0
11 DeployUpdateIOM Success 0
12 DeployPollUpdateOfIOM Success 0
13 DeployActivateIOM Success 0
14 DeployPollActivateOfIOM Success 0
15 DeployFabEvacOnRemoteFI Skip 0
16 DeployPollFabEvacOnRemoteFI Skip 0
17 DeployActivateRemoteFI Success 0
18 DeployPollActivateOfRemoteFI Success 0
19 DeployFabEvacOffRemoteFI Skip 0
20 DeployPollFabEvacOffRemoteFI Skip 0
21 DeployWaitForUserAck Skip 0
22 DeployPollWaitForUserAck Success 0
23 DeployFailOverToRemoteFI Skip 0
24 DeployPollFailOverToRemoteFI Skip 0
25 DeployActivateLocalFI Success 0
26 DeployPollActivateOfLocalFI Success 0
27 DeployActivateUCSMServicePack Skip 0
28 DeployPollActivateOfUCSMServicePack Success 0

Firmware Upgrades through Firmware Packages in Service

Profiles
You can use firmware packages in service profiles to upgrade the server and adapter firmware, including the
BIOS on the server, by defining a host firmware policy and including it in the service profile associated with
a server.
You cannot upgrade the firmware on an I/O module, fabric interconnect, or Cisco UCS Manager through
service profiles. You must upgrade the firmware on those endpoints directly.

Host Firmware Package

This policy enables you to specify a set of firmware versions that make up the host firmware package (also
known as the host firmware pack). The host firmware package includes the following firmware for server and
adapter endpoints:
Adapter
BIOS
CIMC

Note For rack mount servers, if you exclude CIMC from the host firmware pack, and upgrade
or downgrade the board controller, the upgrade or downgrade may fail. This is because
the CIMC firmware version and board controller firmware version may be incompatible.

Board Controller
Flex Flash Controller
GPUs

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Host Firmware Package

FC Adapters
HBA Option ROM
Host NIC
Host NIC Option ROM
Local Disk

Note Local Disk is excluded by default from the host firmware pack.
In Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(1), to update local disk firmware, always include
the Blade Package in the host firmware package. The blade package contains the local
disk firmware for blade and rack servers. Starting with Cisco UCS Manager Release
3.1(2), the firmware for local disk and other common endpoints is available in both the
blade and rack packages.

PSU
SAS Expander
Storage Controller
Storage Controller Onboard Device
Storage Controller Onboard Device Cpld
Storage Device Bridge

Tip You can include more than one type of firmware in the same host firmware package. For example, a host
firmware package can include both BIOS firmware and storage controller firmware or adapter firmware
for two different models of adapters. However, you can only have one firmware version with the same
type, vendor, and model number. The system recognizes which firmware version is required for an endpoint
and ignores all other firmware versions.

You can also exclude firmware of specific components from a host firmware package either when creating a
new host firmware package or when modifying an existing host firmware package. For example, if you do
not want to upgrade BIOS firmware through the host firmware package, you can exclude BIOS firmware
from the list of firmware package components.

Important Each host firmware package is associated with one list of excluded components, which is common across
all firmware packagesBlade, and Rack. To configure a separate exclusion list for each type of firmware
package, use separate host firmware packages.

The firmware package is pushed to all servers associated with service profiles that include this policy.
This policy ensures that the host firmware is identical on all servers associated with service profiles that use
the same policy. Therefore, if you move the service profile from one server to another, the firmware versions
are maintained. Also, if you change the firmware version for an endpoint in the firmware package, new versions
are applied to all the affected service profiles immediately. This could cause server reboots.

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Stages of a Firmware Upgrade through Firmware Packages in Service Profiles

You must include this policy in a service profile, and that service profile must be associated with a server for
it to take effect.
This policy is not dependent upon any other policies. However, you must ensure that the appropriate firmware
has been downloaded to the fabric interconnect. If the firmware image is not available when Cisco UCS
Manager is associating a server with a service profile, Cisco UCS Manager ignores the firmware upgrade and
completes the association.

Stages of a Firmware Upgrade through Firmware Packages in Service Profiles

You can use the host firmware package policies in service profiles to upgrade server and adapter firmware.

Caution Unless you have configured and scheduled a maintenance window, if you modify a host firmware package
by adding an endpoint or changing firmware versions for an existing endpoint, Cisco UCS Manager
upgrades the endpoints and reboots all servers associated with that firmware package as soon as the changes
are saved, disrupting data traffic to and from the servers.

New Service Profile

For a new service profile, this upgrade takes place over the following stages:
Firmware Package Policy Creation
During this stage, you create the host firmware packages.

Service Profile Association

During this stage, you include the firmware packages in a service profile, and then associate the service
profile with a server. The system pushes the selected firmware versions to the endpoints. The server
must be rebooted to ensure that the endpoints are running the versions specified in the firmware package.

Existing Service Profile

For service profiles that are associated with servers, Cisco UCS Manager upgrades the firmware and reboots
the server as soon as you save the changes to the firmware packages' unless you have configured and scheduled
a maintenance window. If you configure and schedule a maintenance window, Cisco UCS Manager defers
the upgrade and server reboot until then.

Effect of Updates to Firmware Packages in Service Profiles

To update firmware through a firmware package in a service profile, you need to update the firmware in the
package. What happens after you save the changes to a firmware package depends upon how the Cisco UCS
domain is configured.
The following table describes the most common options for upgrading servers with a firmware package in a
service profile.

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Effect of Updates to Firmware Packages in Service Profiles

Service Profile Maintenance Policy Upgrade Actions

Firmware package is not No maintenance After you update the firmware package, do one of
included in a service profile or policy the following:
an updating service profile
template. To reboot and upgrade some or all servers
simultaneously, add the firmware package to
OR one or more service profiles that are
You want to upgrade the associated with servers, or to an updating
firmware without making any service profile template.
changes to the existing service To reboot and upgrade one server at a time,
profile or updating service do the following for each server:
profile template.
1 Create a new service profile and include
the firmware package in that service
profile.
2 Disassociate the server from its service
profile.
3 Associate the server with the new service
profile.
4 After the server has been rebooted and the
firmware upgraded, disassociate the server
from the new service profile and associate
it with its original service profile.

Caution If the original service profile includes

a scrub policy, disassociating a service
profile may result in data loss when the
disk or the BIOS is scrubbed upon
association with the new service profile.
The firmware package is No maintenance The following occurs when you update the
included in one or more service policy firmware package:
profiles, and the service profiles
OR 1 The changes to the firmware package take effect
are associated with one or more
A maintenance policy as soon as you save them.
servers.
configured for 2 Cisco UCS verifies the model numbers and
OR immediate updates. vendor against all servers associated with
The firmware package is service profiles that include this policy. If the
included in an updating service model numbers and vendor match a firmware
profile template, and the service version in the policy, Cisco UCS reboots the
profiles created from that servers and updates the firmware.
template are associated with
one or more servers. All servers associated with service profiles that
include the firmware package are rebooted at the
same time.

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Effect of Updates to Firmware Packages in Service Profiles

Service Profile Maintenance Policy Upgrade Actions

The firmware package is Configured for user The following occurs when you update the
included in one or more service acknowledgment firmware package:
profiles, and the service profiles
1 Cisco UCS asks you to confirm your change
are associated with one or more
and advises that a user-acknowledged reboot
servers.
of the servers is required.
OR
2 Click the flashing Pending Activities button to
The firmware package is select the servers you want to reboot and to
included in an updating service apply the new firmware.
profile template, and the service
profiles created from that 3 Cisco UCS verifies the model numbers and
template are associated with vendor against all servers associated with
one or more servers. service profiles that include this policy. If the
model numbers and vendor match a firmware
version in the policy, Cisco UCS reboots the
server and updates the firmware.

A manual reboot of the servers does not cause Cisco

UCS to apply the firmware package, nor does it
cancel the pending activities. You must
acknowledge or cancel the pending activity through
the Pending Activities button.

The firmware package is Configured for user The following occurs when you update the
included in one or more service acknowledgment with firmware package:
profiles, and the service profiles On Next Boot option
1 Cisco UCS asks you to confirm your change
are associated with one or more
and advises that a user-acknowledged reboot
servers.
of the servers is required.
OR
2 To reboot and to apply the new firmware, do
The firmware package is one of the following:
included in an updating service
profile template, and the service Click the flashing Pending Activities
profiles created from that button to select the servers you want to
template are associated with reboot and apply the new firmware.
one or more servers.
Manually reboot the servers.

3 Cisco UCS verifies the model numbers and

vendor against all servers associated with
service profiles that include this policy. If the
model numbers and vendor match a firmware
version in the policy, Cisco UCS reboots the
server and updates the firmware.

A manual reboot of the servers causes Cisco UCS

to apply the firmware package. This is enabled by
the On Next Boot option.

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Creating or Updating a Host Firmware Package

Service Profile Maintenance Policy Upgrade Actions

The firmware package is Configured for The following occurs when you update the
included in one or more service changes to take effect firmware package:
profiles, and the service profiles during a specific
1 Cisco UCS asks you to confirm your change
are associated with one or more maintenance window.
and advises that a user-acknowledged reboot
servers.
of the servers is required.
OR
2 Click the flashing Pending Activities button to
The firmware package is select the servers you want to reboot and to
included in an updating service apply the new firmware.
profile template, and the service
profiles created from that 3 Cisco UCS verifies the model numbers and
template are associated with vendor against all servers associated with
one or more servers. service profiles that include this policy. If the
model numbers and vendor match a firmware
version in the policy, Cisco UCS reboots the
server and updates the firmware.

A manual reboot of the servers does not cause Cisco

UCS to apply the firmware package, nor does it
cancel the scheduled maintenance activities.

Creating or Updating a Host Firmware Package

If the policy is included in one or more service profiles, which do not include maintenance policies, Cisco
UCS Manager updates and activates the firmware in the server and adapter with the new versions. Cisco UCS
Manager reboots the server as soon as you save the host firmware package policy unless you have configured
and scheduled a maintenance window.

Tip You can include more than one type of firmware in the same host firmware package. For example, a host
firmware package can include both BIOS firmware and storage controller firmware or adapter firmware
for two different models of adapters. However, you can only have one firmware version with the same
type, vendor, and model number. The system recognizes which firmware version is required for an endpoint
and ignores all other firmware versions.

You can also exclude firmware of specific components from a host firmware package either when creating a
new host firmware package or when modifying an existing host firmware package.

Important Each host firmware package is associated with one list of excluded components, which is common across
all firmware packagesBlade, and Rack. To configure a separate exclusion list for each type of firmware
package, use separate host firmware packages.

Before You Begin

Ensure that the appropriate firmware was downloaded to the fabric interconnect.

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Creating or Updating a Host Firmware Package

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope org org-name Enters organization mode for the specified organization. To
enter the root organization mode, type / as the org-name .

Step 2 UCS-A org/ # create fw-host-pack Creates a host firmware package with the specified package
pack-name name and enters organization firmware host package mode.

Step 3 UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack # set descr (Optional)

description Provides a description for the host firmware package.
Note If your description includes spaces, special
characters, or punctuation, you must begin and end
your description with quotation marks. The quotation
marks will not appear in the description field of any
show command output.
Step 4 UCS-A org/fw-host-pack # create Creates a package image for the host firmware package and
pack-image "hw-vendor-name" enters organization firmware host package image mode. The
"hw-model" {adapter | hw-vendor-name must match the full name of the vendor,
board-controller | cimc | and must begin and end with quotation marks. The
graphics-card | host-hba | hw-vendor-name and hw-model values are labels that help
host-hba-optionrom | host-nic | you easily identify the package image when you enter the
local-disk | raid-controller | show image detail command. The version-num value
server-bios} "version-num" specifies the version number of the firmware being used for
the package image.
The model and model number (PID) must match the servers
that are associated with this firmware package. If you select
the wrong model or model number, Cisco UCS Manager
cannot install the firmware update.

Step 5 UCS-A org/fw-host-pack # create Excludes the specified component from the host firmware
exclude-server-component {adapter package.
| board-controller | cimc | Note By default, all components are included in the host
flexflash-controller | graphics-card firmware package.
| host-hba | host-hba-optionrom |
host-nic | host-nic-optionrom |
local-disk | psu | raid-controller |
sas-expander | server-bios |
unspecified}
Step 6 UCS-A org/fw-host-pack # delete Includes the specified component from the host firmware
exclude-server-component {adapter package.
| board-controller | cimc |
flexflash-controller | graphics-card
| host-hba | host-hba-optionrom |
host-nic | host-nic-optionrom |
local-disk | psu | raid-controller |
sas-expander | server-bios |
unspecified}

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Command or Action Purpose

Step 7 UCS-A org/fw-host-pack/pack-image (Optional)
# set blade-vers blade-version-num Specifies the B-Series server package image version number.
Changing this number triggers firmware updates on all
B-Series server components using the firmware through a
service profile. Use this step only when updating a host
firmware package, not when creating a package.
The host firmware package can contain multiple package
images. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to create additional package
images for other components.

Step 8 UCS-A org/fw-host-pack/pack-image (Optional)

# set rack-vers rack-version-num Specifies the C-Series server package image version number.
Changing this number triggers firmware updates on all
C-Series server components using the firmware through a
service profile. Use this step only when updating a host
firmware package, not when creating a package.
The host firmware package can contain multiple package
images. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to create additional package
images for other components.

Step 9 UCS-A org/fw-host-pack/pack-image (Optional)

# set servicepack-vers Specifies the service pack version number. You cannot
servicepack-version-num directly upgrade to a service pack without selecting a base
server pack.
To remove the service pack from the host firmware package,
use "" as the service pack version number.
The images from the service pack will take precedence over
the images from Blade Package or Rack Package.

Step 10 UCS-A org/fw-host-pack/pack-image Commits the transaction.

# commit-buffer Cisco UCS Manager verifies the model numbers and vendor
against all servers associated with service profiles that include
this policy. If the model numbers and vendor match a
firmware version in the policy, Cisco UCS Manager updates
the firmware according to the settings in the maintenance
policies included in the service profiles.

The following example creates the app1 host firmware package, creates an adapter package image with version
02.00.77 firmware, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope org
UCS-A /org # create fw-host-pack app1
UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack* # set descr "This is a host firmware package example."
UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack* # create pack-image "Cisco Systems Inc" "N20-AQ0102" adapter
"02.00.77"
UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack/pack-image* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack/pack-image #

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Firmware Automatic Synchronization

The following example excludes the server BIOS component from the app1 host firmware package, and
commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope org
UCS-A /org # enter fw-host-pack app1
UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack* # create exclude-server-component server-bios
UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack/exclude-server-component* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack/exclude-server-component #

The following example adds a service pack to the app1 host firmware package, and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope org
UCS-A /org # scope fw-host-pack app1
UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack # set servicepack-vers 3.1(3)SP1
UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack #

The following example removes a service pack from the app1 host firmware package, and commits the
transaction:
UCS-A# scope org
UCS-A /org # scope fw-host-pack app1
UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack # set servicepack-vers ""
UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /org/fw-host-pack #

What to Do Next
Include the policy in a service profile and/or template.

Firmware Automatic Synchronization

You can use the Firmware Auto Sync Server policy in Cisco UCS Manager to determine whether firmware
versions on recently discovered servers must be upgraded or not. With this policy, you can upgrade the
firmware versions of recently discovered unassociated servers to match the firmware version defined in the
default host firmware pack. In addition, you can determine if the firmware upgrade process should run
immediately after the server is discovered, or run at a later time.

Important The firmware automatic synchronization is dependent on the default host firmware pack. If you delete the
default host firmware pack, a major fault is raised in Cisco UCS Manager. If you have configured a default
host firmware pack, but not specified or configured a blade or rack server firmware in it, then a minor
fault is raised. Irrespective of the severity of the fault raised, you must resolve these faults prior to setting
the Firmware Auto Sync Server policy.

Following are the values for the Firmware Auto Sync Server policy:
No ActionNo firmware upgrade is initiated on the server.
This value is selected by default.
User AcknowledgeFirmware on the server is not synchronized until the administrator acknowledges
the upgrade in the Pending Activities dialog box.

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Setting the Firmware Auto-Sync Server Policy

You can set this policy either from the Cisco UCS Manager GUI or Cisco UCS Manager CLI. The firmware
for a server is automatically triggered when the following conditions occur:
The firmware version on a server or the endpoint on a server differs from the firmware version configured
in the default host firmware pack.
The value for the Firmware Auto Sync Server policy has been modified. For example, if you had
initially set it as User Ack and you change it to No Action.

Important If Cisco UCS Manager is registered as a Cisco UCS domain with Cisco UCS Central, then this policy
runs as a local policy. If the default host firmware pack is not defined in or is deleted from Cisco UCS
Manager, then this policy will not run.

Setting the Firmware Auto-Sync Server Policy

Use this policy to determine when and how the firmware version of a recently discovered unassociated server
must be updated to match with the firmware version of the default host firmware pack.
If the firmware version of a specific endpoint of a server differs from the version in the default host firmware
pack, the FSM state in Cisco UCS Manager displays the update status for that specific endpoint only. The
firmware version of the server is not updated.

Before You Begin

You should have created a default host firmware pack prior to setting this policy.
You should have logged in as an administrator to complete this task.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope org org name Enters organization mode for the specified organization.
To enter the root organization mode, type / as the
org-name.

Step 2 UCS-A /org # scope Enters the firmware auto synchronization policy mode.
fw-autosync-policy
Step 3 UCS-A /org/fw-autosync-policy # Set one of the following values to set the policy:
set auto-sync{user-acknowledge|
no-actions} user-acknowledgeFirmware on the server is not
synchronized until the administrator acknowledges
the discovered server in the server command mode.
no-actionNo firmware upgrade is initiated on the
server.
This value is selected by default.

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Acknowledging the Firmware Auto Synchronization for a Server

Command or Action Purpose

Step 4 UCS-A /org/fw-autosync-policy # Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
commit-buffer

This example shows how to set the Firmware Auto Sync Server policy and commit the transaction to the
system:
UCS-A # scope org
UCS-A /org # scope fw-autosync-policy
UCS-A /org/fw-autosync-policy # set auto-sync user-acknowledge
UCS-A /org/fw-autosync-policy* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /org/fw-autosync-policy #

What to Do Next
If you set the value to user-acknowledge, then you must acknowledge pending activity for the server for the
firmware synchronization to occur.

Acknowledging the Firmware Auto Synchronization for a Server

If you have set the Firmware Auto-Sync Server policy to User Acknowledge, then you will have to
acknowledge the pending activities for a server. If you do not acknowledge this pending activity for the server,
then the firmware version of the server or the endpoints in the server are not updated to match with the firmware
versions defined in the default host firmware pack.

Before You Begin

You should have logged in as an administrator to complete this task.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope chassis Enters the chassis command mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /chassis # scope server server ID Enters the server command mode.

Step 3 UCS-A /chassis/server # fw-sync Acknowledges or discards the pending

{acknowledge discard} firmware synchronization for the server.

Step 4 UCS-A /chassis/server # commit-buffer Commits the transaction to the server.

This example shows how to acknowledge the pending firmware update for a server and commit the transaction:
UCS-A # scope chassis
UCS-A /chassis # scope server 1
UCS-A /chassis/server # fw-sync acknowledge
UCS-A /chassis/server* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /chassis/server #

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Direct Firmware Upgrade at Endpoints

If you follow the correct procedure and apply the upgrades in the correct order, a direct firmware upgrade and
the activation of the new firmware version on the endpoints is minimally disruptive to traffic in a Cisco UCS
domain. Recommended Process for Directly Upgrading Infrastructure Firmware at Endpoints, on page 97,
details the process that Cisco recommends for upgrading infrastructure firmware on endpoints.
You can directly upgrade the firmware on the following components:

Infrastructure UCS 5108 Chassis UCS Rack Server Cisco UCS S3260 Chassis

Fabric I/O modules Adapter CMC

interconnects
Power supply unit CIMC Chassis adapter
Cisco UCS
Server: BIOS SAS expander
Manager
Adapter Storage controller Chassis board controller
CIMC Board controller Server:
BIOS CIMC
Storage BIOS
controller
Board controller
Board
Storage controller
controller

For the Cisco UCS S3260 chassis, you can upgrade the CMC, chassis adapter, chassis board controller, SAS
expander, and local disk firmware through the chassis firmware package in the chassis profile. Cisco UCS
S3260 Server Integration with Cisco UCS Manager, Release provides detailed information about chassis
profiles and chassis firmware packages.
You can upgrade the adapter, board controller, CIMC, and BIOS firmware through the host firmware package
in the service profile. If you use a host firmware package to upgrade this firmware, you can reduce the number
of times a server needs to be rebooted during the firmware upgrade process.

Important All server components must be kept at the same release level. These components are tested together for
each release and a version mismatch may cause unpredictable system operation.

Stages of a Direct Firmware Upgrade

Cisco UCS Manager separates the direct upgrade process into two stages, ensuring that you can push the
firmware to an endpoint while the system is running without affecting uptime on the server or other endpoints.

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Stages of a Direct Firmware Upgrade

Update
During this stage, the system copies the selected firmware version from the primary fabric interconnect to the
backup partition in the endpoint and verifies that the firmware image is not corrupt. The update process always
overwrites the firmware in the backup slot.
The update stage applies only to the following endpoints in a UCS 5108 chassis:
Adapters
CIMCs
I/O modules

On a Cisco UCS S3260 dense storage rack server chassis, the update stage applies only to the following
endpoints:
Chassis Management Controller (CMC)
Shared adapter
SAS expander
Server:
BIOS
CIMC
Adapter

Caution Do not remove the hardware that contains the endpoint or perform any maintenance on it until the update
process completes. If the hardware is removed or otherwise unavailable due to maintenance, the firmware
update fails. This failure might corrupt the backup partition. You cannot update the firmware on an endpoint
with a corrupted backup partition.

Activate
During this stage, the system sets the specified image version (normally the backup version) as the startup
version and, if you do not specify Set Startup Version Only, immediately reboots the endpoint. When the
endpoint is rebooted, the backup partition becomes the active partition, and the active partition becomes the
backup partition. The firmware in the new active partition becomes the startup version and the running version.
The following endpoints only require activation because the specified firmware image already exists on the
endpoint:
Cisco UCS Manager
Fabric interconnects
Board controllers on those servers that support them
On a Cisco UCS S3260 dense storage rack server chassis:
CMC
Shared adapter

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Board controllers for chassis and server

SAS expander
Storage controller
BIOS
CIMC

When the firmware is activated, the endpoint is rebooted and the new firmware becomes the active kernel
version and system version. If the endpoint cannot boot from the startup firmware, it defaults to the backup
version and raises a fault.

Caution When you configure Set Startup Version Only for an I/O module, the I/O module is rebooted when the
fabric interconnect in its data path is rebooted. If you do not configure Set Startup Version Only for an
I/O module, the I/O module reboots and disrupts traffic. In addition, if Cisco UCS Manager detects a
protocol and firmware version mismatch between the fabric interconnect and the I/O module, Cisco UCS
Manager automatically updates the I/O module with the firmware version that matches the firmware in
the fabric interconnect, and then activates the firmware and reboots the I/O module again.

Outage Impacts of Direct Firmware Upgrades

When you perform a direct firmware upgrade on an endpoint, you can disrupt traffic or cause an outage in
one or more of the endpoints in the Cisco UCS domain.

Outage Impact of a Fabric Interconnect Firmware Upgrade

When you upgrade the firmware for a fabric interconnect, you cause the following outage impacts and
disruptions:
The fabric interconnect reboots.
The corresponding I/O modules reboot.

Outage Impact of a Cisco UCS Manager Firmware Upgrade

A firmware upgrade to Cisco UCS Manager causes the following disruptions:
Cisco UCS Manager GUIAll users logged in to Cisco UCS Manager GUI are logged out and their
sessions ended.
Any unsaved work in progress is lost.
Cisco UCS Manager CLIAll users logged in through telnet are logged out and their sessions ended.

Outage Impact of an I/O Module Firmware Upgrade

When you upgrade the firmware for an I/O module, you cause the following outage impacts and disruptions:

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For a standalone configuration with a single fabric interconnect, data traffic is disrupted when the I/O
module reboots. For a cluster configuration with two fabric interconnects, data traffic fails over to the
other I/O module and the fabric interconnect in its data path.
If you activate the new firmware as the startup version only, the I/O module reboots when the
corresponding fabric interconnect is rebooted.
If you activate the new firmware as the running and startup version, the I/O module reboots immediately.
An I/O module can take up to 10 minutes to become available after a firmware upgrade.

Outage Impact of a CIMC Firmware Upgrade

When you upgrade the firmware for a CIMC in a server, you impact only the CIMC and internal processes.
You do not interrupt server traffic. This firmware upgrade causes the following outage impacts and disruptions
to the CIMC:
Any activities being performed on the server through the KVM console and vMedia are interrupted.
Any monitoring or IPMI polling is interrupted.

Outage Impact of an Adapter Firmware Upgrade

If you activate the firmware for an adapter and do not configure the Set Startup Version Only option, you
cause the following outage impacts and disruptions:
The server reboots.
Server traffic is disrupted.

Outage Impacts of Direct Firmware Upgrades on M-Series Chassis and Server Endpoints

Important Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.1(2) and later releases do not support Cisco UCS M-Series Servers.

Outage Impact of a CMC Firmware Upgrade

When you upgrade the firmware for CMC in a chassis you do not cause any outage.

Outage Impact of a Shared Adapter Firmware Upgrade

If you activate the firmware for a shared adapter, you cause the following outage impacts and disruptions:
The server reboots.
Server traffic is disrupted.
The storage controller reboots.

Outage Impact of a Storage Controller Firmware Upgrade

If you activate the firmware for a storage controller, you cause the following outage impacts and disruptions:
Servers with local boot policy reboot. Servers with iSCSI boot policy do not reboot.

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Server traffic is disrupted.

The storage controller reboots.

Outage Impact of a Board Controller Firmware Upgrade

If you activate the firmware for a board controller, you cause the following outage impacts and disruptions:
The shared adapter reboots.
The cartridge and server reboot.
Server traffic is disrupted.
The storage controller reboots.

Outage Impact of a BIOS Firmware Upgrade

A firmware upgrade to the BIOS causes the server to reboot.

Outage Impact of a CIMC Firmware Upgrade

When you upgrade the firmware for a CIMC in a server, you impact only the CIMC and internal processes.
You do not interrupt server traffic. This firmware upgrade causes the following outage impacts and disruptions
to the CIMC:
Any activities being performed on the server through the KVM console and vMedia are interrupted.
Any monitoring or IPMI polling is interrupted.

Outage Impact of a Board Controller Firmware Upgrade on a Server

If you activate the firmware for a board controller on a server, you cause the server to be powered off during
the upgrade and powered on after the upgrade is complete.
While activating the storage controller, board controller and shared adapter firmware, it is recommended that
you power down the servers. In case you do not power down the servers during activation, Cisco UCSM will
attempt to power down the servers and wait for a maximum of 16 minutes. During this time, if Cisco UCSM
still finds that the servers are not powered down, FSM will fail and Cisco UCSM will not power up the servers
that it powered down. FSM will try to come up after 8 minutes.
If UCSM successfully powers down the servers, it will power up the associated servers, based on their desired
power states, after activation is complete.

Recommended Process for Directly Upgrading Infrastructure Firmware at

Endpoints
Cisco recommends the following process for directly upgrading infrastructure firmware at endpoints:
1 Stage the software and prepare for upgrade:
a Create All Configuration and Full-State backup files. Creating an All Configuration Backup File, on
page 49 and Configuring the Full State Backup Policy, on page 50 provide detailed information.
b Download firmware packages. Downloading Firmware Images to the Fabric Interconnect from a
Remote Location, on page 69 provides detailed information.

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c Disable Smart Call Home. Disabling Smart Call Home, on page 52 provides detailed information.

2 Activating the Cisco UCS Manager Software, on page 99

3 Update IOM firmware. Updating and Activating the Firmware on an IOM, on page 102 provides detailed
information.
4 Prepare for fabric upgrade:
a Verify UCS Manager faults and resolve the service -impacting faults.
b Verify High Availability status and identify the secondary fabric interconnect. Verifying the High
Availability Status and Roles of a Cluster Configuration, on page 56 provides detailed information.
c Configure the default maintenance policy. Configuring the Default Maintenance Policy, on page 57
provides detailed information.
d Verify that VLAN and FCOE IDs do not overlap.
e Disable the management interface. Disabling the Management Interface, on page 58 provides detailed
information.
f Activate IOM firmware. Updating and Activating the Firmware on an IOM, on page 102 provides
detailed information.

5 Activate the subordinate fabric interconnect

a Evacuate subordinate fabric interconnect traffic. Stopping Traffic on a Fabric Interconnect, on page
40 provides detailed information.
b Activate the subordinate fabric interconnect (FI-B) and monitor FSM. Activating the Firmware on a
Fabric Interconnect, on page 104 provides detailed information.
c Verify that all paths are working. Verification that the Data Path is Ready, on page 61 provides detailed
information.
d Disable subordinate fabric interconnect traffic evacuation. Restarting Traffic on a Fabric Interconnect,
on page 40 provides detailed information.
e Verify new faults. Viewing Faults Generated During the Upgrade of a Fabric Interconnect, on page
54 provides detailed information.

6 Activate the primary fabric interconnect (FI-A)

a Migrate management services from the primary fabric interconnect to the secondary fabric interconnect,
and change the cluster lead to the secondary fabric interconnect. Switching Over Fabric Interconnect
Cluster Lead, on page 105 provides detailed information.
b Evacuate primary fabric interconnect traffic.
c Activate the primary fabric interconnect (FI-A) and monitor FSM. Acknowledging the Reboot of the
Primary Fabric Interconnect, on page 79 provides detailed information.
d Verify that all paths are working.
e Disable primary fabric interconnect traffic evacuation. Restarting Traffic on a Fabric Interconnect, on
page 40 provides detailed information.
f Verify new faults.

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Cisco UCS Manager Firmware

Consider the following guidelines and best practices while activating firmware on the Cisco UCS Manager
software:
In a cluster configuration, Cisco UCS Manager on both fabric interconnects must run the same version.
Cisco UCS Manager activation brings down management for a brief period. All virtual shell (VSH)
connections are disconnected.
In a cluster configuration, Cisco UCS Manager on both fabric interconnects is activated.
A Cisco UCS Manager update does not affect server application I/O because fabric interconnects do not
need to be reset.
If Cisco UCS Manager is updated while the subordinate fabric interconnect is down, the subordinate
fabric interconnect is automatically updated when it comes back up.

Upgrade Validation
Cisco UCS Manager validates the upgrade or downgrade process and displays all firmware upgrade validation
failures, such as deprecated hardware, in the Upgrade Validation tab. If there are upgrade validation failures,
the upgrade fails, and Cisco UCS Manager rolls back to the earlier version. You must resolve these faults and
then use the Force option to continue with the upgrade.
For example, because M1 and M2 blade servers are not supported on Release 3.1(1), if you have M1 or M2
blade servers in the configuration when upgrading from Release 2.2(x) to Release 3.1(1), these will be reported
as validation faults in the Upgrade Validation tab, and the upgrade will fail.
If you do not want Cisco UCS Manager to validate the upgrade or downgrade process, check the Skip
Validation check box.

Activating the Cisco UCS Manager Software

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope system Enters system mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /system # show image Displays the available software images for Cisco UCS
Manager (system).

Step 3 UCS-A /system # activate Activates the selected firmware version on the system.
firmware version-num Note Activating Cisco UCS Manager does not require
rebooting the fabric interconnect; however,
management services will briefly go down and all
VSH shells will be terminated as part of the
activation.
Step 4 UCS-A /system # Commits the transaction.
commit-buffer

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Command or Action Purpose

Cisco UCS Manager makes the selected version the startup
version and schedules the activation to occur when the fabric
interconnects are upgraded.

The following example upgrades Cisco UCS Manager and commits the transaction:

Activating a Service Pack for the Cisco UCS Manager Software

You can use the steps detailed here to activate a service pack for the Cisco UCS Manager software. This
process will not involve upgrading or rebooting the fabric interconnects.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope firmware
Step 2 UCS-A /firmware # show image Displays the available software images for Cisco UCS
type mgmt-service-pack Manager (system).

Step 3 UCS-A /firmware # exit

Step 4 UCS-A# scope system Enters system mode.

Step 5 UCS-A /system # activate Activates the selected service -pack version on the
service-pack version-num module system.
security Cisco UCS Manager disconnects all active sessions, logs
out all users, and activates the software. When the
upgrade is complete, you are prompted to log back in.
If you are prompted to re-login immediately after being
disconnected, the login will fail. You must wait until the
activation of Cisco UCS Manager is completed, which
takes a few minutes.

Step 6 UCS-A /system # commit-buffer Commits the transaction.

Step 7 UCS-A /system # show version (Optional)

Shows a summary of the firmware versions, including
the service pack version, on the system.

The following example upgrades Cisco UCS Manager to version 3.1(3)SP2 and commits the transaction:

UCS-A# scope firmware

UCS-A# /firmware # show image type mgmt-service-pack
Name Type Version
--------------------------------------------- -------------------- -------
ucs-manager-k9.service-pack.3.1.3.SP1.gbin Mgmt Service Pack 3.1(3)SP1
ucs-manager-k9.service-pack.3.1.3.SP2.gbin Mgmt Service Pack 3.1(3)SP2
ucs-manager-k9.service-pack.3.1.4.SP1.gbin Mgmt Service Pack 3.1(4)SP1

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UCS-A# /firmware # exit

UCS-A# scope system
UCS-A# /system # activate service-pack 3.1(3)SP2 module security
As part of activation, all cli sessions will be terminated.
Continue with activation? (yes/no) yes
UCS-A# /system* # commit-buffer
UCS-A# /system # show version
UCSM:
Running-Vers: 3.1(2.172a)
Package-Vers: 3.1(2.173)A
Activate-Status: Ready

UCSM Service Pack:

Running-Vers: 3.1(3)SP2
Running-Modules: security
Package-Vers:
Activate-Status: Ready

UCS-A# /system #

Removing a Service Pack from the Cisco UCS Manager Software

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope system Enters system mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /system # remove service-pack Removes the activated service pack from the
system.
All CLI sessions are terminated while removing the
service pack from the system.

Step 3 UCS-A /system # commit-buffer Commits the transaction.

The following example removes the service pack from Cisco UCS Manager and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope system
UCS-A# /system # remove service-pack
As part of activation, all cli sessions will be terminated.
Continue with activation? (yes/no)yes
UCS-A# /system* # commit-buffer

IOM Firmware
Cisco UCS I/O modules (IOMs) bring the unified fabric into the blade server enclosure, thus providing multiple
10 Gigabit Ethernet connections between blade servers and the fabric interconnect, simplifying diagnostics,
cabling, and management. IOMs extend the I/O fabric between the fabric interconnects and blade server
chassis, and enable a lossless and deterministic Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) fabric to connect all
blades and chassis together.
Because the IOM is similar to a distributed line card, it does not perform any switching, and is managed as
an extension of the fabric interconnects. This approach removes switching from the chassis, reducing overall
infrastructure complexity, and enables Cisco UCS to scale to many chassis without multiplying the number
of switches needed. It allows all chassis to be managed as a single, highly available management domain.

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The IOM also manages the chassis environment, which includes the power supply, fans, and blades, along
with the fabric interconnect. Therefore, separate chassis management modules are not required. It fits into the
back of the blade server chassis. Each blade chassis can support up to two IOMs, thus allowing increased
capacity and redundancy.

Guidelines for Updating and Activating IOM Firmware

Consider the following guidelines and best practices while updating and activating firmware on IOMs:
Each IOM stores two imagesa running image and a backup image.
The update operation replaces the backup image of an IOM with the new firmware version.
The activate operation demotes the current startup image to a backup image. A new startup image is put
in its place, and the system is configured to boot from this backup image.
Check the Set Startup Version Only checkbox to set only the active image; a reset does not occur. This
process can be used to upgrade multiple IOMs and then simultaneously reset them. If the fabric
interconnect is updated and then activated, the fabric interconnect reboots the corresponding IOM and
reduces the downtime.
The IOM and fabric interconnect must be compatible with each other.
If the software that runs on the fabric interconnect detects an IOM that runs an incompatible version, it
performs an automatic update of the IOM to bring it to the same version as the fabric interconnect system
software.
Cisco UCS Manager raises a fault to indicate this situation. Additionally, the discovery state of IOM
displays Auto updating while the automatic update is in progress.
Cisco UCS Manager enables you to view the IOM firmware at the chassis level on the Installed Firmware
tab.

Updating and Activating the Firmware on an IOM

If your system is running in a high availability cluster configuration, you must update and activate both I/O
modules.

Caution Do not remove the hardware that contains the endpoint or perform any maintenance on it until the update
process completes. If the hardware is removed or otherwise unavailable due to maintenance, the firmware
update fails. This failure might corrupt the backup partition. You cannot update the firmware on an endpoint
with a corrupted backup partition.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope chassis Enters chassis mode for the specified chassis.
chassis-id
Step 2 UCS-A /chassis # scope iom Enters chassis I/O module mode for the selected I/O module.
iom-id

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Command or Action Purpose

Step 3 UCS-A /chassis/iom # show Displays the available software images for the I/O module.
image
Step 4 UCS-A /chassis/iom # Updates the selected firmware version on the I/O module.
update firmware
version-num
Step 5 UCS-A /chassis/iom # (Optional)
commit-buffer Commits the transaction.
Use this step only if you intend to use the show firmware command
in Step 6 to verify that the firmware update completed successfully
before activating the firmware in Step 7. You can skip this step and
commit the update-firmware and activate-firmware commands
in the same transaction; however, if the firmware update does not
complete successfully, the firmware activation does not start.
Cisco UCS Manager copies the selected firmware image to the
backup memory partition and verifies that image is not corrupt. The
image remains as the backup version until you explicitly activate it.

Step 6 UCS-A /chassis/iom # show (Optional)

firmware Displays the status of the firmware update.
Use this step only if you want to verify that the firmware update
completed successfully. The firmware update is complete when the
update status is Ready. The CLI does not automatically refresh, so
you may have to enter the show firmware command multiple times
until the task state changes from Updating to Ready. Continue to
Step 7 when the update status is Ready.

Step 7 UCS-A /chassis/iom # Activates the selected firmware version on the I/O module.
activate firmware Use the set-startup-only keyword if you want to reboot the I/O
version-num module only when the fabric interconnect in its data path reboots.
[set-startup-only] If you do not use the set-startup-only keyword, the I/O module
reboots and disrupts traffic. In addition, if Cisco UCS Manager
detects a protocol and firmware version mismatch between it and
the I/O module, it updates the I/O module with the firmware version
that matches its own and then activates the firmware and reboots
the I/O module again.

Step 8 UCS-A /chassis/iom # Commits the transaction.

commit-buffer
Step 9 UCS-A /chassis/iom # show (Optional)
firmware Displays the status of the firmware activation.
Use this step only if you want to verify that the firmware activation
completed successfully. The CLI does not automatically refresh, so
you may have to enter the show firmware command multiple times
until the task state changes from Activating to Ready.

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The following example updates and activates the I/O module firmware in the same transaction, without
verifying that the firmware update and firmware activation completed successfully:
The following example updates the I/O module firmware, verifies that the firmware update completed
successfully before starting the firmware activation, activates the I/O module firmware, and verifies that the
firmware activation completed successfully:

Fabric Interconnect Firmware

Activating the Firmware on a Fabric Interconnect

When updating the firmware on two fabric interconnects in a high availability cluster configuration, you must
activate the subordinate fabric interconnect before activating the primary fabric interconnect. For more
information about determining the role for each fabric interconnect, see Verifying the High Availability Status
and Roles of a Cluster Configuration, on page 56.
For a standalone configuration with a single fabric interconnect, you can minimize the disruption to data traffic
when you perform a direct firmware upgrade of the endpoints. However, you must reboot the fabric interconnect
to complete the upgrade and, therefore, cannot avoid disrupting traffic.

Tip If you ever need to recover the password to the admin account that was created when you configured the
fabric interconnects for the Cisco UCS domain, you must know the running kernel version and the running
system version. If you do not plan to create additional accounts, Cisco recommends that you save the path
to these firmware versions in a text file so that you can access them if required.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect {a Enters fabric interconnect mode for the specified fabric
| b} interconnect.

Step 2 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # show Displays the available software images for the fabric
image interconnect.

Step 3 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # activate Activates the selected firmware version on the fabric
firmware {kernel-version interconnect.
kernel-ver-num | system-version
system-ver-num}
Step 4 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # Commits the transaction.
commit-buffer Cisco UCS Manager updates and activates the
firmware, and then reboots the fabric interconnect and
any I/O module in the data path to that fabric
interconnect, disrupting data traffic to and from that
fabric interconnect.

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The following example upgrades the fabric interconnect to version 5.0(3)N2(3.10.123) and commits the
transaction:

UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect a

UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # show image
Name Type Version
--------------------------------------------- -------------------- -------
ucs-6300-k9-kickstart.5.0.3.N2.3.10.123.bin Fabric Interconnect Kernel
5.0(3)N2(3.10.123)
ucs-6300-k9-system.5.0.3.N2.3.10.123.bin Fabric Interconnect System
5.0(3)N2(3.10.123)

UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # activate firmware kernel-version 5.0(3)N2(3.10.123)

system-version 5.0(3)N2(3.10.123)
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect #

Switching Over Fabric Interconnect Cluster Lead

This operation can only be performed in the Cisco UCS Manager CLI. You can use the steps detailed here,
or click Play on this video
(http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/ucs-manager/videos/3-1/switch_over_fabric_interconnect_cluster_lead.html)
to watch how to switch over the cluster lead from one fabric interconnect to another.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# show cluster state (Optional)
Displays the state of fabric interconnects in the cluster and
whether the cluster is HA ready.

Step 2 UCS-A# connect local-mgmt Enters local management mode for the cluster.

Step 3 UCS-A (local-mgmt) # cluster Changes the subordinate fabric interconnect to primary
{force primary | lead {a | b}} using one of the following commands:

force
Forces local fabric interconnect to become the
primary.

lead
Makes the specified subordinate fabric interconnect
the primary.

The following example changes fabric interconnect B from subordinate to primary:

UCS-A# show cluster state
Cluster Id: 0xfc436fa8b88511e0-0xa370000573cb6c04

A: UP, PRIMARY
B: UP, SUBORDINATE

HA READY
UCS-A# connect local-mgmt

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Cisco Nexus Operating System (NX-OS) Software

TAC support: http://www.cisco.com/tac
Copyright (c) 2002-2011, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
The copyrights to certain works contained in this software are
owned by other third parties and used and distributed under
license. Certain components of this software are licensed under
the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2.0 or the GNU
Lesser General Public License (LGPL) Version 2.1. A copy of each
such license is available at
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php and
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.php

UCS-A(local-mgmt)# cluster lead b

UCS-A(local-mgmt)#

Activating a Service Pack on a Fabric Interconnect

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope firmware
Step 2 UCS-A /firmware # show image type Displays the available service packs for the fabric
fabric-interconnect-service-pack interconnects.

Step 3 UCS-A /firmware # exit

Step 4 UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect {a | Enters fabric-interconnect mode.
b}
Step 5 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # activate Activates the selected service -pack version on the
service-pack version-num [security] system.
Note Cisco UCS Manager activates the
firmware. In some cases, Cisco UCS
Manager reboots the fabric interconnect,
disrupting data traffic to and from that
fabric interconnect.
Step 6 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # Commits the transaction.
commit-buffer
Step 7 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # show (Optional)
version Shows a summary of the firmware versions,
including the service pack version, on the fabric
interconnect.

The following example upgrades fabric interconnect a and commits the transaction:

Removing a Service Pack from a Fabric Interconnect

In some specific scenarios, such as Open SLL, removal of the service pack will lead to FI rebooting.

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Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect {a | b} Enters fabric-interconnect mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # remove Removes the activated service pack from
service-pack security the fabric interconnect.

Step 3 UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # commit-buffer Commits the transaction.

The following example removes the service pack from fabric interconnect a and commits the transaction:

UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect a

UCS-A# /fabric-interconnect # remove service-pack security
UCS-A# /fabric-interconnect* # commit-buffer

Adapter Firmware
The Cisco Unified Computing System supports a broad set of converged network adapters (CNAs). CNAs
eliminate the need for multiple network interface cards (NICs) and host bus adapters (HBAs) by converging
LAN and SAN traffic in a single interface.
All Cisco UCS network adapters:
Allow for the reduction of the number of required network interface cards and host bus adapters
Are managed using Cisco UCS Manager software
Can be used in a redundant configuration with two fabric extenders and two fabric interconnects
Enable a "wire-once" architecture that allows cabling to be configured once, with features enabled and
configured using software
Support fibre channel multipathing

The Cisco Virtual Interface Card (VIC) delivers 256 virtual interfaces and supports Cisco VM-FEX technology.
The Cisco VIC provides I/O policy coherency and visibility to enable true workload mobility in virtualized
environments. The Cisco VIC is available in form factors for B-Series blade servers, and C-Series rack servers.

Updating and Activating the Firmware on an Adapter

Caution Do not remove the hardware that contains the endpoint or perform any maintenance on it until the update
process completes. If the hardware is removed or otherwise unavailable due to maintenance, the firmware
update fails. This failure might corrupt the backup partition. You cannot update the firmware on an endpoint
with a corrupted backup partition.

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Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope adapter Enters chassis server adapter mode for the specified adapter.
chassis-id / blade-id /
adapter-id
Step 2 UCS-A Displays the available software images for the adapter.
/chassis/server/adapter #
show image
Step 3 UCS-A Updates the selected firmware version on the adapter.
/chassis/server/adapter #
update firmware
version-num
Step 4 UCS-A (Optional)
/chassis/server/adapter # Commits the transaction.
commit-buffer Use this step only if you intend to use the show firmware command
in Step 5 to verify that the firmware update completed successfully
before activating the firmware in Step 6. You can skip this step and
commit the update-firmware and activate-firmware commands
in the same transaction; however, if the firmware update does not
complete successfully, the firmware activation does not start.
Cisco UCS Manager copies the selected firmware image to the
backup memory partition and verifies that image is not corrupt. The
image remains as the backup version until you explicitly activate it.

Step 5 UCS-A (Optional)

/chassis/server/adapter # Displays the status of the firmware update.
show firmware Use this step only if you want to verify that the firmware update
completed successfully. The firmware update is complete when the
update status is Ready. The CLI does not automatically refresh, so
you may have to enter the show firmware command multiple times
until the task state changes from Updating to Ready. Continue to
Step 6 when the update status is Ready.

Step 6 UCS-A Activates the selected firmware version on the adapter.

/chassis/server/adapter # Use the set-startup-only keyword if you want to move the activated
activate firmware
firmware into the pending-next-boot state and not immediately reboot
version-num the server. The activated firmware does not become the running
[set-startup-only] version of firmware on the adapter until the server is rebooted. You
cannot use the set-startup-only keyword for an adapter in the host
firmware package.

Step 7 UCS-A Commits the transaction.

/chassis/server/adapter # If a server is not associated with a service profile, the activated
commit-buffer firmware remains in the pending-next-boot state. Cisco UCS
Manager does not reboot the endpoints or activate the firmware until
the server is associated with a service profile. If necessary, you can

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Command or Action Purpose

manually reboot or reset an unassociated server to activate the
firmware.

Step 8 UCS-A (Optional)

/chassis/server/adapter # Displays the status of the firmware activation.
show firmware Use this step only if you want to verify that the firmware activation
completed successfully. The CLI does not automatically refresh, so
you may have to enter the show firmware command multiple times
until the task state changes from Activating to Ready.

The following example updates and activates the adapter firmware to version 4.1(0.123) in the same transaction,
without verifying that the firmware update and firmware activation completed successfully:

UCS-A# scope adapter 1/1/1

UCS-A# /chassis/server/adapter # show image
Name Type Version
--------------------------------------------- -------------------- -------
ucs-m82-8p-vic.4.1.0.123.bin Adapter 4.1(0.123)

UCS-A# /chassis/server/adapter # update firmware 4.1(0.123)

UCS-A# /chassis/server/adapter* # activate firmware 4.1(0.123) set-startup-only
UCS-A# /chassis/server/adapter* # commit-buffer
UCS-A# /chassis/server/adapter #

The following example updates the adapter firmware to version 4.1(0.123), verifies that the firmware update
completed successfully before starting the firmware activation, activates the adapter firmware, and verifies
that the firmware activation completed successfully:

BIOS Firmware
The Basic Input Output System (BIOS) tests and initializes the hardware components of a system and boots
the operating system from a storage device. In Cisco UCS, there are several BIOS settings that control the
systems behavior. You can update the BIOS firmware directly from Cisco UCS Manager.

Updating and Activating the BIOS Firmware on a Server

Important You can update and activate BIOS firmware on a server using the Cisco UCS Manager CLI on all M3
generation servers. The earlier servers do not support BIOS firmware update using the Cisco UCS Manager
CLI.

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Caution Do not remove the hardware that contains the endpoint or perform any maintenance on it until the update
process completes. If the hardware is removed or otherwise unavailable due to maintenance, the firmware
update fails. This failure might corrupt the backup partition. You cannot update the firmware on an endpoint
with a corrupted backup partition.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope server Enters chassis server mode for the specified server.
chassis-id / blade-id
Step 2 UCS-A /chassis/server # scope Enters chassis server BIOS mode.
bios
Step 3 UCS-A /chassis/server/bios # Displays the available BIOS firmware images.
show image
Step 4 UCS-A /chassis/server/bios # Updates the selected BIOS firmware for the server.
update firmware version-num
Step 5 UCS-A /chassis/server/bios # (Optional)
commit-buffer Commits the transaction.
Use this step only if you intend to use the show firmware
command in Step 6 to verify that the firmware update completed
successfully before activating the firmware in Step 7. You can
skip this step and commit the update-firmware and
activate-firmware commands in the same transaction; however,
if the firmware update does not complete successfully, the
firmware activation does not start.
Cisco UCS Manager copies the selected firmware image to the
backup memory partition and verifies that image is not corrupt.
The image remains as the backup version until you explicitly
activate it.

Step 6 UCS-A /chassis/server/bios # (Optional)

show firmware Displays the status of the firmware update.
Use this step only if you want to verify that the firmware update
completed successfully. The firmware update is complete when
the update status is Ready. The CLI does not automatically
refresh, so you may have to enter the show firmware command
multiple times until the task state changes from Updating to
Ready. Continue to Step 7 when the update status is Ready.

Step 7 UCS-A /chassis/server/bios # Activates the selected server BIOS firmware version.
activate firmware version-num
Step 8 UCS-A /chassis/server/bios # Commits the transaction.
commit-buffer

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Command or Action Purpose

Step 9 UCS-A /chassis/bios # show (Optional)
firmware Displays the status of the firmware activation.
Use this step only if you want to verify that the firmware
activation completed successfully. The CLI does not
automatically refresh, so you may have to enter the show
firmware command multiple times until the task state changes
from Activating to Ready.

The following example updates and activates the BIOS firmware in the same transaction, without verifying
that the firmware update and activation completed successfully:

UCS-A# scope server 1/1

UCS-A# /chassis/server # scope bios
UCS-A# /chassis/server/bios # show image
Name Type Version
--------------------------------------------- -------------------- -------
ucs-b200-m2-bios.S5500.2.1.3c.0.081120151437.bin
Server BIOS S5500.2.1.3c.0.081120151437
ucs-b200-m3-bios.B200M3.2.2.6c.0.110420151250.bin
Server BIOS
B200M3.2.2.6c.0.110420151250
ucs-b200-m4-bios.B200M4.3.1.0.4.113020151739.bin
Server BIOS B200M4.3.1.0.4.113020151739

UCS-A# /chassis/server/bios # update firmware B200M4.3.1.0.4.113020151739

UCS-A# /chassis/server/bios* # activate firmware B200M4.3.1.0.4.113020151739
UCS-A# /chassis/server/bios* # commit-buffer
UCS-A# /chassis/server/bios #

CIMC Firmware
Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) is used for the management and monitoring of servers in
Cisco UCS. CIMC provides options such as GUI, CLI, and IPMI for management and monitoring tasks. On
the C-Series servers, CIMC runs on a separate chip. Thus, it is able to provide services in case of any major
hardware failure or system crash. CIMC is also useful for initial configuration of the server and troubleshooting
any problems in server operation. You can update the CIMC firmware directly from Cisco UCS Manager.

Updating and Activating the CIMC Firmware on a Server

The activation of firmware for a CIMC does not disrupt data traffic. However, it will interrupt all KVM
sessions and disconnect any vMedia attached to the server.

Caution Do not remove the hardware that contains the endpoint or perform any maintenance on it until the update
process completes. If the hardware is removed or otherwise unavailable due to maintenance, the firmware
update fails. This failure might corrupt the backup partition. You cannot update the firmware on an endpoint
with a corrupted backup partition.

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Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope server Enters chassis server mode for the specified server.
chassis-id / blade-id
Step 2 UCS-A /chassis/server # scope Enters chassis server CIMC mode.
cimc
Step 3 UCS-A /chassis/server/cimc # Displays the available software images for the adapter.
show image
Step 4 UCS-A /chassis/server/cimc # Updates the selected firmware version on the CIMC in the
update firmware version-num server.

Step 5 UCS-A /chassis/server/cimc # (Optional)

commit-buffer Commits the transaction.
Use this step only if you intend to use the show firmware
command in Step 6 to verify that the firmware update completed
successfully before activating the firmware in Step 7. You can
skip this step and commit the update-firmware and
activate-firmware commands in the same transaction; however,
if the firmware update does not complete successfully, the
firmware activation does not start.
Cisco UCS Manager copies the selected firmware image to the
backup memory partition and verifies that image is not corrupt.
The image remains as the backup version until you explicitly
activate it.

Step 6 UCS-A /chassis/server/cimc # (Optional)

show firmware Displays the status of the firmware update.
Use this step only if you want to verify that the firmware update
completed successfully. The firmware update is complete when
the update status is Ready. The CLI does not automatically
refresh, so you may have to enter the show firmware command
multiple times until the task state changes from Updating to
Ready. Continue to Step 7 when the update status is Ready.

Step 7 UCS-A /chassis/server/cimc # Activates the selected firmware version on the CIMC in the
activate firmware version-num server.

Step 8 UCS-A /chassis/server/cimc # Commits the transaction.

commit-buffer
Step 9 UCS-A /chassis/server/cimc # (Optional)
show firmware Displays the status of the firmware activation.
Use this step only if you want to verify that the firmware
activation completed successfully. The CLI does not
automatically refresh, so you may have to enter the show
firmware command multiple times until the task state changes
from Activating to Ready.

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Command or Action Purpose

The following example updates and activates the CIMC firmware in the same transaction, without verifying
that the firmware update and firmware activation completed successfully:
The following example updates the CIMC firmware, verifies that the firmware update completed successfully
before starting the firmware activation, activates the CIMC firmware, and verifies that the firmware activation
completed successfully:

PSU Firmware
You can update PSU firmware directly from Cisco UCS Manager.

Updating the Firmware on a PSU

Caution Do not remove the hardware that contains the endpoint or perform any maintenance on it until the update
process completes. If the hardware is removed or otherwise unavailable due to maintenance, the firmware
update fails. This failure might corrupt the backup partition. You cannot update the firmware on an endpoint
with a corrupted backup partition.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope chassis chassis-id Enters chassis mode for the specified chassis.

Step 2 UCS-A /chassis # scope psu Enters PSU mode for the specified PSU.
psu-id
Step 3 UCS-A /chassis/psu # show Displays the available software images for the PSU.
detail
Step 4 UCS-A /chassis/psu # update Updates the selected firmware version on the PSU.
firmware version-num [force] You can use the optional 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 5 UCS-A /chassis/psu # (Optional)
commit-buffer Commits the transaction.
Cisco UCS Manager copies the selected firmware image to
the backup memory partition and verifies that image is not
corrupt. The image remains as the backup version until you
explicitly activate it.

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The following example shows how to update the PSU firmware and commit the transaction:

UCS-A# scope chassis 1

UCS-A# /chassis # scope psu 2
UCS-A# /chassis/psu # show detail
PSU:
PSU: 2
Overall Status: Operable
Operability: Operable
Threshold Status: OK
Power State: On
Presence: Equipped
Thermal Status: OK
Voltage Status: OK
Product Name: Platinum II AC Power Supply for UCS 5108 Chassis
PID: UCSB-PSU-2500ACDV
VID: V01
Part Number: 341-0571-01
Vendor: Cisco Systems Inc
Serial (SN): DTM190304FD
HW Revision: 0
Firmware Version: 05.10
Type: DV
Wattage (W): 2500
Input Source: 210AC 50 380DC
Current Task:
UCS-A# /chassis/psu # update firmware 05.10
UCS-A# /chassis/psu* # commit-buffer
UCS-A# /chassis/psu #

Activating the Firmware on a PSU

Caution Do not remove the hardware that contains the endpoint or perform any maintenance on it until the update
process completes. If the hardware is removed or otherwise unavailable due to maintenance, the firmware
update fails. This failure might corrupt the backup partition. You cannot update the firmware on an endpoint
with a corrupted backup partition.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope chassis chassis-id Enters chassis mode for the specified chassis.

Step 2 UCS-A /chassis # scope psu psu-id Enters PSU mode for the specified PSU.

Step 3 UCS-A /chassis/psu # activate firmware Activates the selected firmware version on the
version-num PSU.

Step 4 UCS-A /chassis/psu # commit-buffer Commits the transaction.

Note Committing the transaction resets the
end points.

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The following example activates the PSU firmware and commits the transaction:

UCS-A# scope chassis 1

UCS-A# /chassis # scope psu 2
UCS-A# /chassis/psu # activate firmware 03.10
Warning: When committed this command will reset the end-point
UCS-A# /chassis/psu* # commit-buffer
UCS-A# /chassis/psu #

Board Controller Firmware

Board controllers maintain various programmable logic and power controllers for all B-Series blade servers,
and C-Series rack servers. The board controller update utility enables you to make critical hardware updates.
Board controllers, introduced in Cisco UCS Manager Release 2.1(2a), allow you to make optimizations for
components, such as voltage regulators, through an update to a digital controller configuration file by using
the board controller update utility. Previously, updating a voltage regulator required changing physical
components. These updates are at a hardware level, and are designed to be backward-compatible. Therefore,
having the latest version of the board controller is always preferred.

Guidelines for Activating Cisco UCS B-Series M3 and M4 Blade Server Board Controller Firmware
The following guidelines apply to Cisco UCS B-Series M3 and M4 blade-server board controller firmware:
You never need to downgrade the board controller firmware.
The board controller firmware version of the blade server should be the same as or later than the installed
software bundle version. Leaving the board controller firmware at a later version than the version that
is currently running in your existing Cisco UCS environment does not violate the software matrix or
TAC supportability.
Board controller firmware updates are backward compatible with the firmware of other components.

Some Cisco UCS B200 M4 blade servers running on releases prior to Release 2.2(4b) may generate a false
Cisco UCS Manager alert, documented in CSCuu15465. This false board controller mismatch alert was
resolved in Cisco UCS Manager Capability Catalogs 2.2(4c)T and 2.2(5b)T. You will not see this alert if you
use either the 2.2(4c)T or the 2.2(5b)T capability catalog.

Note For more information, refer to https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/bug/CSCuu15465

You can apply the capability catalog update as follows:

1 Download 2.2(4c) Infra/Catalog or 2.2(5b) Infra/Catalog software bundle. Obtaining Software Bundles
from Cisco, on page 68, provides detailed information about downloading software bundles.
2 Load catalog version 2.2(4c)T or 2.2(5b)T (or the catalog version included) and activate the catalog.
Activating a Capability Catalog Update, on page 121 provides detailed information about activating a
capability catalog through Cisco UCS Manager.
3 Decommission the newly inserted blade server.
4 Associate the service profile with the host firmware pack policy that has the earlier board controller version.
When the service profile is associated with the updated host firmware pack policy, any false mismatch
alert (such as the one caused by the CSCuu15465 bug) will no longer be raised.

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5 Click Save.
6 Re-discover the blade server.

Guidelines for Activating Cisco UCS C-Series M3 and M4 Rack Server Board Controller Firmware
The following guidelines apply to Cisco UCS C-Series M3 and M4 rack-server board controller firmware:
The board controller firmware and the CIMC firmware must be of the same package version.
When you upgrade the C-Series server firmware for Cisco UCS C220 M4 or C240 M4 servers to Cisco
UCS Manager 2.2(6c), you will see the following critical alarm:
Board controller upgraded, manual a/c power cycle required on server x

This alarm, documented in CSCuv45173, is incorrectly categorized as a critical alarm. It does not impact
the functionality of the server, and can be ignored.
To avoid seeing this alarm, you can do one of the following:
Create a custom host firmware package in Cisco UCS Manager to exclude the board controller
firmware from the Cisco UCS Manager 2.2(6c) update and keep the older version.
Upgrade Cisco UCS Manager infrastructure (A Bundle) to Release 2.2(6c) and continue to run the
host firmware (C Bundle) on any Cisco UCS C220 M4 or C240 M4 server at a lower version,
according to the mixed firmware support matrix in Table 2 of the Release Notes for Cisco UCS
Manager, Release 2.2.

Note For more information, refer to https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/bug/CSCuv45173.

If the activation status of the board controller displays Pending Power Cycle after you upgrade the
board controller, a manual power cycle is required. A fault is also generated. After the power cycle is
complete, the fault is cleared and the board controller activation status displays Ready.

Activating the Board Controller Firmware on Cisco UCS B-Series M3 and Higher Blade Servers
The board controller firmware controls many of the server functions, including eUSBs, LEDs, and I/O
connectors.

Note This activation procedure causes the server to reboot. Depending upon whether the service profile associated
with the server includes a maintenance policy, the reboot can occur immediately. Cisco recommends that
you upgrade the board controller firmware through the host firmware package in the service profile as the
last step of upgrading a Cisco UCS domain, along with upgrading the server BIOS. This reduces the
number of times a server needs to reboot during the upgrade process.

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Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope server chassis-id / server-id Enters chassis server mode for the specified
server.

Step 2 UCS-A /chassis/server # scope Enters board controller mode for the server.
boardcontroller
Step 3 UCS-A /chassis/server/boardcontroller # (Optional)
show image Displays the available software images for the
board controller.

Step 4 UCS-A /chassis/server/boardcontroller # (Optional)

show firmware Displays the current running software image for
the board controller.

Step 5 UCS-A /chassis/server/boardcontroller # Activates the selected firmware version on the

activate firmware version-num board controller in the server.

Step 6 UCS-A /chassis/server/boardcontroller # Commits the transaction to the system

commit-buffer configuration.

The following example activates the M3 board controller firmware:

Activating the Board Controller Firmware on a Cisco UCS C-Series M3 and Higher Rack
Servers
The board controller firmware controls many of the server functions, including eUSBs, LEDs, and I/O
connectors.

Note This activation procedure causes the server to reboot. Depending upon whether the service profile associated
with the server includes a maintenance policy, the reboot can occur immediately. Cisco recommends that
you upgrade the board controller firmware through the host firmware package in the service profile as the
last step of upgrading a Cisco UCS domain, along with upgrading the server BIOS. This reduces the
number of times a server needs to reboot during the upgrade process.

The following limitations apply to M3 and higher board controller firmware:

You must be using Cisco UCS Manager, Release 2.2(1a) or greater.
The board controller firmware and the CIMC firmware must be of the same package version.
If the activation status of the board controller displays Pending Power Cycle after you upgrade the
board controller, a manual power cycle is required. A fault is also generated. After the power cycle is
complete, the fault is cleared and the board controller activation status displays Ready.

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Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope server server-id Enters chassis server mode for the specified
server.

Step 2 UCS-A /server # scope boardcontroller Enters board controller mode for the server.

Step 3 UCS-A /server/boardcontroller # show (Optional)

image Displays the available software images for the
board controller.

Step 4 UCS-A /server/boardcontroller # show (Optional)

firmware Displays the current running software image for
the board controller.

Step 5 UCS-A /server/boardcontroller # activate Activates the selected firmware version on the
firmware version-num board controller in the server.

Step 6 UCS-A /server/boardcontroller # Commits the transaction to the system

commit-buffer configuration.

The following example activates the M3 board controller firmware:

UCS-A# scope server 7

UCS-A# /server # scope boardcontroller
UCS-A# /server/boardcontroller # show image
Name Type Version State
-------------------------------------- ----------------- --------- -----
ucs-c220-m3-brdprog.3.0.bin Board Controller 3.0 Active
ucs-c220-m3-brdprog.3.0.bin Board Controller 3.0 Active

UCS-A# /server/boardcontroller # show firmware

BoardController:
Running-Vers: N/A
Package-Vers:
Activate-Status: Ready

UCS-A# /server/boardcontroller # activate firmware 3.0 force

Warning: When committed this command will reset the end-point.

UCS-A# /server/boardcontroller* # commit-buffer

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Manage the Capability Catalog in Cisco UCS
Manager
Capability Catalog, page 119
Activating a Capability Catalog Update, page 121
Verifying that the Capability Catalog is Current, page 121
Restarting a Capability Catalog Update, page 121
Viewing a Capability Catalog Provider, page 122
Obtaining Capability Catalog Updates from Cisco, page 124
Updating the Capability Catalog from a Remote Location, page 124

Capability Catalog
The Capability Catalog is a set of tunable parameters, strings, and rules. Cisco UCS uses the catalog to update
the display and configurability of components such as newly qualified DIMMs and disk drives for servers.
The catalog is divided by hardware components, such as the chassis, CPU, local disk, and I/O module. You
can use the catalog to view the list of providers available for that component. There is one provider per
hardware component. Each provider is identified by the vendor, model (PID), and revision. For each provider,
you can also view details of the equipment manufacturer and the form factor.
For information about which hardware components are dependent upon a particular catalog release, see the
component support tables in the Service Notes for the B- Series servers. For information about which
components are introduced in a specific release, see the Cisco UCS Release Notes.

Contents of the Capability Catalog

The contents of the Capability Catalog include the following:

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Implementation-Specific Tunable Parameters

Power and thermal constraints

Slot ranges and numbering
Adapter capacities

Hardware-Specific Rules

Firmware compatibility for components such as the BIOS, CIMC, RAID controller, and adapters
Diagnostics
Hardware-specific reboot

User Display Strings

Part numbers, such as the CPN, PID/VID

Component descriptions
Physical layout/dimensions
OEM information

Updates to the Capability Catalog

The Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle includes capability catalog updates. Unless otherwise instructed
by Cisco Technical Assistance Center, you only need to activate the capability catalog update after you've
downloaded, updated, and activated a Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle.
As soon as you activate a capability catalog update, Cisco UCS immediately updates to the new baseline
catalog. You do not have to perform any further tasks. Updates to the capability catalog do not require you
to reboot or reinstall any component in a Cisco UCS domain.
Each Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle contains a baseline catalog. In rare circumstances, Cisco
releases an update to the capability catalog between Cisco UCS releases and makes it available on the same
site where you download firmware images.
For information about capability catalog releases supported by specific Cisco UCS releases, see the Release
Notes for Cisco UCS Software accessible through the Cisco UCS B-Series Servers Documentation Roadmap
available at the following URL: http://www.cisco.com/go/unifiedcomputing/b-series-doc.

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Activating a Capability Catalog Update

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope system Enters system mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /system # scope capability Enters system capability mode.

Step 3 UCS-A /system/capability # activate Activates the specified Capability Catalog

firmware firmware-version version.

Step 4 UCS-A /system/capability # commit-buffer Commits the transaction to the system

configuration.

The following example activates a Capability Catalog update and commits the transaction:

Verifying that the Capability Catalog is Current

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope system Enters system mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /system # scope capability Enters system capability mode.

Step 3 UCS-A /system/capability # show version Displays the current Capability Catalog
version.

Step 4 On Cisco.com, determine the most recent release For more information about the location of
of the Capability Catalog available. Capability Catalog updates, see Obtaining
Capability Catalog Updates from Cisco,
on page 124.

Step 5 If a more recent version of the Capability Catalog

is available on Cisco.com, update the Capability
Catalog with that version.

The following example displays the current Capability Catalog version:

Restarting a Capability Catalog Update

You can restart a failed Capability Catalog file update, modifying the update parameters if necessary.

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Viewing a Capability Catalog Provider

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope system Enters system command mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /system # scope capability Enters capability command mode.

Step 3 UCS-A /system/capability # show (Optional) Displays the update history for Capability
cat-updater [ filename ] Catalog file update operations.

Step 4 UCS-A /system/capability # scope Enters the command mode for the Capability Catalog
cat-updater filename file update operation.

Step 5 UCS-A /system/capability/cat-updater # (Optional) Specifies the username for the remote
set userid username server.

Step 6 UCS-A /system/capability/cat-updater # (Optional) Specifies the password for the remote
set password password server username.
If no password is configured, you are prompted for
a password when you start the update.

Step 7 UCS-A /system/capability/cat-updater # (Optional) Specifies the file transfer protocol for the
set protocol {ftp | scp | sftp | tftp | usbA remote server.
| usbB} Note TFTP has a file size limitation of 32 MB.
Because catalog images can be much larger
than that, we recommend that you do not
use TFTP for catalog image downloads.
Step 8 UCS-A /system/capability/cat-updater # (Optional) Specifies the hostname or IP address of
set server {hostname | ip-address} the remote server.

Step 9 UCS-A /system/capability/cat-updater # (Optional) Specifies the path and file name of the
set path pathname/filename Capability Catalog file on the remote server.

Step 10 UCS-A /system/capability/cat-updater # Restarts the Capability Catalog file update operation.
restart

The following example changes the server IP address and restarts the Capability Catalog file update operation:

Viewing a Capability Catalog Provider

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope system Enters system command mode.

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Command or Action Purpose

Step 2 UCS-A /system # scope capability Enters capability command mode.

Step 3 UCS-A /system/capability # show Displays vendor, model, and revision information for
{chassis | cpu | disk | fan | fru | iom | all components in the specified component category.
memory | psu | server} [vendor model To view manufacturing and form factor details for a
revision] [detail | expand] specific component, specify the vendor , model , and
revision with the expand keyword. If any of these
fields contains spaces, you must enclose the field with
quotation marks.

Note If the server contains one or more SATA devices, such as a hard disk drive or solid state drive, the show
disk command displays ATA in the Vendor field. Use the expand keyword to display additional vendor
information.

The following example lists the installed fans and displays detailed information from the Capability Catalog
about a specific fan:
UCS-A# scope system
UCS-A /system # scope capability
UCS-A /system/capability # show fan

Fan Module:
Vendor Model HW Revision
------------------------ ------------------------ ------------
Cisco Systems, Inc. N20-FAN5 0
Cisco Systems, Inc. N10-FAN1 0
Cisco Systems, Inc. N10-FAN2 0
Cisco Systems, Inc. N5K-C5548P-FAN 0
Cisco Systems, Inc. N5K-C5596P-FAN 0
Cisco Systems, Inc. UCS-FAN-6248UP 0
Cisco Systems, Inc. UCS-FAN-6296UP 0

UCS-A /system/capability # show fan "Cisco Systems, Inc." N10-FAN1 0 expand

Fan Module:
Vendor: Cisco Systems, Inc.
Model: N10-FAN1
Revision: 0

Equipment Manufacturing:
Name: Fan Module for UCS 6140 Fabric Interconnect
PID: N10-FAN1
VID: NA
Caption: Fan Module for UCS 6140 Fabric Interconnect
Part Number: N10-FAN1
SKU: N10-FAN1
CLEI:
Equipment Type:

Form Factor:
Depth (C): 6.700000
Height (C): 1.600000
Width (C): 4.900000
Weight (C): 1.500000

UCS-A /system/capability #

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Obtaining Capability Catalog Updates from Cisco

Procedure

Step 1 In a web browser, navigate to http://www.cisco.com.

Step 2 Under Support, click All Downloads.
Step 3 In the center pane, click Unified Computing and Servers.
Step 4 If prompted, enter your Cisco.com username and password to log in.
Step 5 In the right pane, click Cisco UCS Infrastructure and UCS Manager Software > Unified Computing
System (UCS) Manager Capability Catalog.
Step 6 Click the link for the latest release of the Capability Catalog.
Step 7 Click one of the following buttons and follow the instructions provided:
Download NowAllows you to download the catalog update immediately
Add to CartAdds the catalog update to your cart to be downloaded at a later time

Step 8 Follow the prompts to complete your download of the catalog update.

What to Do Next
Update the Capability Catalog.

Updating the Capability Catalog from a Remote Location

You cannot perform a partial update to the Capability Catalog. When you update the Capability Catalog, all
components included in the catalog image are updated.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 UCS-A# scope system Enters system command mode.

Step 2 UCS-A /system # scope capability Enters capability command mode.

Step 3 UCS-A /system/capability # Imports and applies the specified Capability Catalog file.
update catalog URL Specify the URL for the operation using one of the
following syntax:
ftp:// username@hostname / path
scp:// username@hostname / path
sftp:// username@hostname / path
tftp:// hostname : port-num / path

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Command or Action Purpose

usbA:/ path
usbB:/ path

When a username is specified, you are prompted for a

password.

Step 4 UCS-A /system/capability # show (Optional) Displays the catalog update version.
version
Step 5 UCS-A /system/capability # show (Optional) Displays the update history for a Capability
cat-updater [ filename ] Catalog file, if specified, or for all Capability Catalog file
update operations.

Cisco UCS Manager downloads the image and updates the Capability Catalog. You do not need to reboot any
hardware components.
The following example uses SCP to import a Capability Catalog file:
UCS-A# scope system
UCS-A /system # scope capability
UCS-A /system/capability # update catalog
scp://[email protected]/catalogs/ucs-catalog.3.1.1a.T.bin
Password:
UCS-A /system/capability # show version
Catalog:
Update Version: 3.1(1a)T

UCS-A /system/capability # show cat-updater ucs-catalog.3.1.1a.T.bin

Catalog Updater:
File Name Protocol Server Userid Status
--------- -------- --------------- --------------- ------
ucs-catalog.3.1.1a.T.bin Scp 192.0.2.111 user1 Success

UCS-A /system/capability #

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Troubleshoot Firmware
Recovering Fabric Interconnect During Upgrade, page 127
Recovering IO Modules During Firmware Upgrade, page 134

Recovering Fabric Interconnect During Upgrade

If one or both fabric interconnects fail during failover or firmware upgrade, you can recover them by using
one of the following approaches:
Recover a fabric interconnect when you do not have a working image on the fabric interconnect
Recover a fabric interconnect when you have a working image on the fabric interconnect
Recover an unresponsive fabric interconnect during upgrade or failover
Recover fabric interconnects from a failed FSM during upgrade with Auto Install

Recovering Fabric Interconnects When You Do Not Have Working Images on

The Fabric Interconnect or The Bootflash
You can perform these steps when both or any fabric interconnect goes down during firmware upgrade, gets
rebooted, and is stuck at the loader prompt, and you do not have working images on the fabric interconnect.

Procedure

Step 1 Reboot the switch, and in the console, press Ctrl+L as it boots to get the loader prompt.
Note You may need to press the selected key combination multiple times before your screen displays the
loader prompt.

Example:
loader>

Step 2 Configure the interface to receive the kickstart image through TFTP.

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a) Enter the local IP address and subnet mask for the system at the loader> prompt, and press Enter.

Example:
loader> set ip 10.104.105.136 255.255.255.0

b) Specify the IP address of the default gateway.

Example:
loader> set gw 10.104.105.1

c) Boot the kickstart image file from the required server.

Example:
loader> boot
tftp://10.104.105.22/tftpboot/Images.3.0.2/ucs-6300-k9-kickstart.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin
switch(boot)#

Note You do not need to do this step if you already have a kickstart image in the bootflash.

Step 3 Enter the init system command at the switch(boot)# prompt.

This will reformat the fabric interconnect.

Example:
switch(boot)# init system

Step 4 Configure the management interface.

a) Change to configuration mode and configure the IP address of the mgmt0 interface.

Example:
switch(boot)# config t
switch(boot)(config)# interface mgmt0

b) Enter the ip address command to configure the local IP address and the subnet mask for the system.

Example:
switch(boot)(config-if)# ip address 10.104.105.136 255.255.255.0

c) Enter the no shutdown command to enable the mgmt0 interface on the system.

Example:
switch(boot)(config-if)# no shutdown

d) Enter the ip default-gateway command to configure the IP address of the default gateway.

Example:
switch(boot)(config-if)# exit
switch(boot)(config)# ip default-gateway 10.104.105.1

e) Enter exit to exit to EXEC mode.

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Example:
switch(boot)(config)# exit

Step 5 Copy the kickstart, system, and Cisco UCS Manager management images from the TFTP server to the bootflash.

Example:
switch(boot)# copy
scp://<username>@10.104.105.22/tftpboot/Images.3.0.2/ucs-6300-k9-kickstart.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin
bootflash://
switch(boot)# copy
scp://<username>@10.104.105.22/tftpboot/Images.3.0.2/ucs-6300-k9-system.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin
bootflash://
switch(boot)# copy
scp://<username>@10.104.105.22/tftpboot/Images.3.0.2/ucs-manager-k9.3.0.2d56.bin bootflash://

Step 6 Create separate directories for installables and installables/switch in the bootflash.

Example:
switch(boot)# mkdir bootflash:installables
switch(boot)# mkdir bootflash:installables/switch

Step 7 Copy the kickstart, system, and Cisco UCS Manager images to the installables/switch directory.

Example:
switch(boot)# copy ucs-6300-k9-kickstart.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin bootflash:installables/switch/
switch(boot)# copy ucs-6300-k9-system.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin bootflash:installables/switch/
switch(boot)# copy ucs-manager-k9.3.02d56.bin bootflash:installables/switch/

Step 8 Ensure that the management image is linked to nuova-sim-mgmt-nsg.0.1.0.001.bin.

nuova-sim-mgmt-nsg.0.1.0.001.bin is the name that the reserved system image uses, and it makes the
management image Cisco UCS Manager-compliant.

Example:
switch(boot)# copy bootflash:installables/switch/ucs-manager-k9.3.02d56.bin
nuova-sim-mgmt-nsg.0.1.0.001.bin

Step 9 Reload the switch.

Example:
switch(boot)# reload
This command will reboot this supervisor module. (y/n) ? y

Step 10 Boot from the kickstart image.

Example:
loader> dir
nuova-sim-mgmt-nsg.0.1.0.001.bin
ucs-6300-k9-kickstart.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin
ucs-6300-k9-system.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin
ucs-manager-k9.3.02d56.bin
loader> boot ucs-6300-k9-kickstart.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin
switch(boot)#

Step 11 Load the system image.

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The Basic System Configuration Dialog wizard appears after the system image is completely loaded. Use
this wizard to configure the fabric interconnect.

Example:
switch(boot)# load ucs-6300-k9-system.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin
Uncompressing system image: bootflash:/ucs-6300-k9-system.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin

...

---- Basic System Configuration Dialog ----

This setup utility will guide you through the basic configuration of
the system. Only minimal configuration including IP connectivity to
the Fabric interconnect and its clustering mode is performed through these steps.

...

Apply and save the configuration (select 'no' if you want to re-enter)? (yes/no): yes
Applying configuration. Please wait.

Configuration file - Ok

Step 12 Log in to Cisco UCS Manager and download the firmware.

Example:
UCS-A# scope firmware
UCS-A /firmware # download image scp://<username>@<server ip>//<downloaded image
location>/<infra bundle name>
Password:
UCS-A /firmware # download image scp://<username>@<server ip>//<downloaded image
location>/<b-series bundle name>
Password:
UCS-A /firmware # download image scp://<username>@<server ip>//<downloaded image
location>/<c-series bundle name>
Password:
UCS-A /firmware # show download-task
Download task:
File Name Protocol Server Userid State
--------- -------- --------------- --------------- -----
ucs-k9-bundle-b-series.3.0.2.B.bin
Scp 10.104.105.22 abcdefgh Downloading
ucs-k9-bundle-c-series.3.0.2.C.bin
Scp 10.104.105.22 abcdefgh Downloading
ucs-k9-bundle-infra.3.0.2.A.bin
Scp 10.104.105.22 abcdefgh Downloading
UCS-A /firmware #
Step 13 After the firmware download is complete, activate the fabric interconnect firmware and Cisco UCS Manager
firmware.
This step updates Cisco UCS Manager and the fabric interconnects to the version you want, and then reboots
them.

Example:
UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect a
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect* # activate firmware kernel-version 5.0(2)N1(3.02d56)
ignorecompcheck
Warning: When committed this command will reset the end-point
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect* # activate firmware system-version 5.0(2)N1(3.02d56)
ignorecompcheck
Warning: When committed this command will reset the end-point
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # exit

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UCS-A# scope system

UCS-A /system # show image

Name Type Version

--------------------------------------------- -------------------- -------
ucs-manager-k9.3.02d56.bin System 3.0(2d)
UCS-A /system # activate firmware 3.0(2d) ignorecompcheck
The version specified is the same as the running version
UCS-A /system # activate firmware 3.0(2d) ignorecompcheck
The version specified is the same as the running version
UCS-A /system #

Recovering Fabric Interconnect During Upgrade When You have Working

Images on the Bootflash
You can perform these steps when both or any fabric interconnect goes down during firmware upgrade, gets
rebooted, and is stuck at the loader prompt.

Before You Begin

You must have working images on the bootflash to perform these steps.

Procedure

Step 1 Reboot the switch, and in the console, press Ctrl+L as it boots to get the loader prompt.
Note You may need to press the selected key combination multiple times before your screen displays the
loader prompt.

Example:
loader>

Step 2 Run the dir command.

The list of available kernel, system, and Cisco UCS Manager images in the bootflash appears.

Example:
loader> dir
nuova-sim-mgmt-nsg.0.1.0.001.bin
ucs-6300-k9-kickstart.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin
ucs-6300-k9-system.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin
ucs-manager-k9.3.02d56.bin

Step 3 Boot the kernel firmware version from the bootflash.

Note Any kernel image available here will be a working image from which you can boot.

Example:
loader> boot ucs-6300-k9-kickstart.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin

Step 4 Ensure that the management image is linked to nuova-sim-mgmt-nsg.0.1.0.001.bin.

nuova-sim-mgmt-nsg.0.1.0.001.bin is the name that the reserved system image uses, and it makes the
management image Cisco UCS Manager-compliant.

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Example:
switch(boot)# copy ucs-manager-k9.1.4.1k.bin nuova-sim-mgmt-nsg.0.1.0.001.bin

Step 5 Load the system image.

Example:
switch(boot)# load ucs-6300-k9-system.5.0.2.N1.3.02d56.bin

Step 6 Log in to Cisco UCS Manager and update your fabric interconnect and Cisco UCS Manager software to the
version that you want.

Recovering Unresponsive Fabric Interconnects During Upgrade or Failover

During upgrade or failover, avoid performing the following tasks because they introduce additional risk:
Pmon stop/start
FI reboots power cycle or CLI
HA failover

Procedure

Step 1 If the httpd_cimc.sh process is lost, as documented in CSCup70756, you lose access to the KVM. Continue
with the failover or contact Cisco Technical Assistance.
Step 2 If you lose access to the KVM on the primary side, continue with the failover to resolve the issue.
Step 3 If KVM is needed or is down on the subordinate side, start only that service using the debug plugin. Contact
TAC to run the debug image.
Step 4 If the /dev/null issue is encountered, as documented in CSCuo50049, fix the rights to 666 with the debug-plugin
at both steps if required. Contact Cisco Technical Assistance to run debug commands.
Step 5 If both CSCup70756 and CSCuo50049 are encountered, it can cause VIP loss. If the VIP is lost, do the
following:
1 Access the primary physical address through the GUI and use the GUI to verify all IO Module backplane
ports recovered.
2 If the GUI is down, verify IO Module backplane ports with the NXOS show fex detail command.
3 Perform the workaround and verify that the cluster state is UP on both fabric interconnects.
4 If the cluster state is UP on both fabric interconnects, continue the upgrade by reacknowledging the primary
fabric interconnect reboot using the SSH CLI syntax:

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

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UCS-A /firmware/auto-install #

Recovering Fabric Interconnects From a Failed FSM During Upgrade With

Auto Install
You can perform these steps when all the following occur:
You are upgrading or downgrading firmware using Auto Install between Cisco UCS Manager Release
3.1(2) and Release 3.1(3) while a service pack is installed on the fabric interconnects.
Both or any fabric interconnect goes down because of an FSM failure or multiple retries in the
DeployPollActivate stage of the FSM

Procedure

Step 1 When the FSM fails, or when multiple retries are observed in the DeployPollActivate stage of the FSM on
the subordinate fabric interconnect, do the following:
a) Clear the startup version of the default infrastructure pack and the service pack.

Example:
UCS-A# scope org
UCS-A /org # scope fw-infra-pack default
UCS-A /org/fw-infra-pack # set infra-bundle-version ""
UCS-A /org/fw-infra-pack* # commit-buffer
b) Remove the service pack from the subordinate fabric interconnect.

Example:
UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect b
UCS-A# /fabric-interconnect # remove service-pack security
UCS-A# /fabric-interconnect* # commit-buffer

Step 2 Upgrade the infrastructure firmware using the force option through Auto Install.

Example:
UCS-A# scope firmware
UCS-A /firmware # scope auto-install
UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # install infra infra-vers 3.1(3a)A force
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
(6) Check if any hardware (fabric interconnects, io-modules, servers or adapters) is
unsupported in the target release
Do you want to proceed? (yes/no): yes
Triggering Install-Infra with:
Infrastructure Pack Version: 3.1(3a)A
Step 3 Acknowledge the reboot of the primary fabric interconnect.

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 Troubleshoot Firmware
Recovering IO Modules During Firmware Upgrade

Example:
UCS-A /firmware/auto-install # acknowledge primary fabric-interconnect reboot
UCS-A /firmware/auto-install* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /firmware/auto-install #
Step 4 When the FSM fails, or when multiple retries are observed in the DeployPollActivate stage of the FSM on
the current subordinate fabric interconnect, do the following:
a) Clear the startup version of the default infrastructure pack and the service pack.

Example:
UCS-A# scope org
UCS-A /org # scope fw-infra-pack default
UCS-A /org/fw-infra-pack # set infra-bundle-version ""
UCS-A /org/fw-infra-pack* # commit-buffer
b) Remove the service pack from the current subordinate fabric interconnect.

Example:
UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect a
UCS-A# /fabric-interconnect # remove service-pack security
UCS-A# /fabric-interconnect* # commit-buffer

Both fabric interconnects will now reflect Release 3.1(3) firmware and the default service pack for Running
and Startup versions.

Recovering IO Modules During Firmware Upgrade

You can recover an IO Module during firmware upgrade by resetting it from a peer IO Module. After it is
reset, it can derive the configuration from the fabric interconnect.

Resetting an I/O Module from a Peer I/O Module

Sometimes, I/O module upgrades can result in failures or I/O modules can become unreachable from Cisco
UCS Manager due to memory leaks. You can reboot an I/O module that is unreachable through its peer I/O
module.
Resetting the I/O module restores the I/O module to factory default settings, deletes all cache files and temporary
files, but retains the size-limited OBFL file.

Procedure

Step 1 In the Navigation pane, click Equipment.

Step 2 Expand Equipment > Chassis > Chassis Number > IO Modules.
Step 3 Choose the peer I/O module of the I/O module that you want to reset.
Step 4 In the Work pane, click the General tab.
Step 5 In the Actions area, click Reset Peer IO Module.

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