topic Re: FC disk firmware update in Disk Enclosures

FC disk firmware update

benoit Bruckert — Wed, 06 Nov 2002 13:09:12 GMT

Hello,
I have FC disks installed in 2 FC10 trails.
I need to upgrade the firmware of the disk (HP wants to do that).
What I want is to not stop the server.
Disks are mirrored, and another server (which can be stopped) with FC attachment can see the disks.
I would like to know if it's possible to upgrade the firmware of the disks by stm, on unconfigured disk (i.e. not attached to a volume group).
Hp support told me that they need to boot on a specific CD to do it ? Is there any other way ? My second server could be used for that, but it has to ugrade just the proper disks (unconfigured ones..) and not all the disks..
I saw on stm that I can access to the firmware upgrade option with a selected disk ? Is it possible ? In such a case I don't need to reboot the prod server ! which is my goal.

Re: FC disk firmware update

Ashwani Kashyap — Wed, 06 Nov 2002 16:55:51 GMT

STM won't help . HP would have to boot your machine with a specific CD or tape that they have specifically for firmware upgrades and they prefer to do it when the machines are not up i.e disks are not seen by LVM .

I had a situation just like yours a cluster actually but HP insisted that I have to bring down my boxes they don't want the kernel to be booted at that time or LVM to be active . As long as they can see the disk from the PDC , they will do a cold firmware upgrade .

Re: FC disk firmware update

benoit Bruckert — Wed, 06 Nov 2002 17:22:41 GMT

Thanks for your quick answer .

The plan I have is this one :
1 - unmirror my disks
2 - unplug half of the disk from the main server (no FC attachment),
3 - unplug from the main loop my second server (used for dev and cold backup of the main server),
4 - connect the trail directly to the second server (without the FC hub),
5 - reboot this second server, with the firmware upgrade,
6 - Do the upgrade,
7 - plug back the disks to the main fc loop,
8 - mirror back the trail. Now half of my disks are upgraded.
9 - do again 1 to 8 with the second trail.

Is there something impossible by this way ?? And I didn't turn off power nor datas from my main server !

Re: FC disk firmware update

Ashwani Kashyap — Wed, 06 Nov 2002 18:54:30 GMT

Hey , thats a very nice plan you have there and I don't see any reason why it shouldn't run . But run it by your HP CE and see what it says . when I get a chance I certainly will try your method .

But you never know . HP might have hidden something here and there so better to run it through yuor CE .

I hope it works and you don't have to bring down your PROD environment . Let us know how it goes .

Re: FC disk firmware update

Eugeny Brychkov — Wed, 06 Nov 2002 21:50:31 GMT

Benoit, in addition to your action plan (and to any action plan which involves firmware update) I would insert a step 0:
0. do full backup of data on the disks
Eugeny

Re: FC disk firmware update

Ricardo Rocha — Wed, 06 Nov 2002 22:44:47 GMT

Hi

I've upgraded disks on FC10 with the server up. Of course, those disks didn't belong to vg00 and the vgs were desactivated - no I/O on them! The firmware of the disks I've upgraded were available for stm, which may not be your case. But it is possible to upgrade disks firmware with the server up.

If you want to go through your plan, you MUST perform a backup. A disk can always fail during the upgrade process, and if you unmirror......

Bye

Re: FC disk firmware update

benoit Bruckert — Thu, 07 Nov 2002 08:46:46 GMT

Thanks for all your replies,
I will propose my plan to HP and see if they are Ok to process like that.
I'll let you know later if it works !

regards
Benoit

Re: FC disk firmware update

benoit Bruckert — Fri, 15 Nov 2002 15:10:55 GMT

It's done :
And it was more easy than the plan :
first, I broke the mirrors,
2, i remove the disks from the vg,
3 , firmware upgrade trough stm (with the licence code), from the prod box (no need to boot on another server),
4 , power of/power on of the disk (to boot on the new firmware),
5, add the disks to the vgs,
6, lvextend -m 1 to mirror back the disk.
I did the same with the other half.
No power off of the prod server !!!!