iLO3 & OA upgrade Firmware on HP C7000

[srayfay]

Hello,

I'm about to upgrade firmware of iLO3 and OA on Encolure HP C7000 with BL870 and BL860

I'm wondering if upgrading iLO3 firmware will interupt the OS runing on these BL  (HPUX 11.31)?

I know that the OA might be updated online, no reboot required because we have Active/Standby OA

Do you have any checklist or procedure to apply before and after upgrading ?

P.S. This thread has been moved from Archived Desktops and Workstations Boards > general to HP BladeSystem Server Blades - Hp forum moderator

[Robert_Jewell]

The iLO MP firmware can be updated without interruption to the OS.  However, iLO FW is typically updated along with the rest of the system's firmware so that a level of consistency is maintained.

You did not mention "i2", so I assume the blades are the original BL860/BL870 models?  I say that as the update process is a bit different between them.  The original blades are updated through the EFI shell, while the i2 model documentation will steer you to towards using the System Update Manager utility to apply the updates.

The firmware download has instructions on how to update.  Go to the following site:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Product.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=3709945&prodCatId=3722815

Select your server model, click on "Download Drivers and Software", then "Cross Operating System...." and then look for "Firmware-System"

-Bob

[Robert_Jewell]

OK, now that I re-read your post title you reference iLO 3, so that would be the i2 series of blades.

Follow the same steps as I outlined above.  You will end up creating a CD image that is run from a system that is on the same network as the BladeCenter OA and/or iLO MP LAN.  The SUM utility will discover and report on what entities can be updated.

The good thing here is that even if you system FW is updated, the process to apply the updates can be held off until you can schedule a reboot.

-Bob

[srayfay · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your response

I assume that, even if the upgrade is online, restart iLO is recommended to take effects

[srayfay]

HP recommends a shutdown
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=130&prodSeriesId=4186428&prodTypeId=3709945&objectID=c02292444

[Torsten.]

The advisory above has a different context, in this case the firmware of the blades does not match.

However, you can do the firmware update online or offline. In online mode you update ILO and store the system firmware on the blade, it needs a reboot to activate it.

So consider to do offline, power off the system, update and restart, because you need to reboot anyway.

Don't forget to update the RAID controller and mezzanine cards and LOMs too!!!