Whats the best way to update OA firmware on blade c7000 ?

[Snak3eye5]

Whats the best way to update OA firmware on blade c7000 ? And where do i get the latest OA firmware ? Should i update it when the blades are in use or when the blades are off ?

 What is the current latest OA version ?

[Psychonaut · Accepted solution]

3.31 is the latest version, you can find it here:   http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=3188475&prodTypeId=329290&prodSeriesId=3188465&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=4064

Do you have one or two OA's in the chassis?  There is a specific firmware upgrade path for the chassis.  If you have running servers: it's OA, then the upgrade the server drivers, then the server firmware and last is the interconnects (at least for a VC environment).  

You can upgrade the OA while the servers are running, it is a  non-disruptive update.  Unless you are multiple revisions back it should work without issue.  But you may want to make sure you have someone onsite in case you have a problem.

[Torsten.]

There are several ways to do this, but I prefer to use the *.bin file directly on the web-frontend.

[Snak3eye5]

We have two OA's.  I  think we have our question answered.

[Bart_Heungens]

I suggest to work from inside out... So start with the blades (firmware, ILO, ...), then the OA and finnaly the I/O - VC modules...

I had occasions already where I updated the OA first, and then lost the communication with the ILO due to the fact that the ILO was too outdated...

I had this confirmed by people from HP...

Best way is to work with HP SUM since that tool knows dependencies of firmware updates between components... And soon the new version of HP SUM, together with the SPP (Service Pack for Proliant) will make life mutch easier for the updates... Coming soo,...

Kr,

Bart

[Psychonaut]

I can see how doing the servers first in certain situations is important, especially if you have outdated firmware on the servers.

I just want to point out that HP officially recommends the OA first - I just want to put that out there if someone is reading this and planning their firmware upgrades.

[Robert_Boyd]

The official document(s) from HP recommend exactly the opposite of what you said Psychonaut.   The latest document recommends updating the firmware and iLO firmware on all of the server blades prior to updating the OA.  Then update the OA, then update interconnect components.

[Psychonaut]

I'm going to have to disagree; per HP's documentation:

The recommended update order for BladeSystem products is:

o With VC firmware earlier than 1.34, the order is VC, OA then server blades (online/offline).

o With VC firmware later than 1.34

— Without an operating system, the order is OA, VC, then server blades (offline).

— With an operating system, the order is OA, server blades (online/offline), then VC

[dsaludatmolina]

what is the safest way to upgrade firmware and driver for the c7000? We have a 4-node cluster and it host a PROD sql server. Since downtime is a challenge and the risk is high, is there any recommended steps/procedure on how to do an upgrade safely - with fail safe ? thank you.