CPLD firmware update for SY 660?

[PatrickLong]

I note that there is a new version ( 0x0F ) of Complex Programmable Logic Device firmware released for Synergy SY 480 Gen10 and Synergy SY 48- Gen10 Plus (Note there is different file for each!) in .fwpkg format on the Support Site,  BUT I am unable to find any similar new releases for SY 660 Gen 10 or the SY 660 Gen10 Plus .

The latest I am able to find for the SY 660 Gen 10 is 0x1C  from 2019 linked in these two older Customer Advisory documents:

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docLocale=en_US&docId=a00076367en_us and

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docLocale=en_US&docId=a00077281en_us

I personally have a number of SY 660's suffering the amber light cosmetic issue described above that are resolved in newer CPLD firmware releases, and somehow missed the advisory in the past - but I can't find any links on the support site, and the links in the advisories above are for Win and Linux binaries. My hosts are VMware ESXi.  Why are there no new CPLD releases for SY 660 G10 and G10Plus in the .fwpkg format that I can apply via iLoREST as there are for the SY 480?

Or perhaps even more importantly, WHY HAVE FIRMWARE UPDATES FOR THE CPLD NEVER BEEN INCLUDED on any version of the older Synergy Custom Service Pack for ProLiant SPP OR the current Synergy Service Pack SSP iso's?  This is just like the Innovation Engine and Server Platform Services components, which in the early Synergy 2017-2019 days were never included in early SPP releases and required a separate convoluted (read: not documented) install process to load them on Synergy Compute modules running ESXi - these two components were only relatively recently added to the SPP/SSP.  I mean, the whole point of the SPP and SSP .iso' s is to provide an HPE- blessed recipe of firmware and driver versions that are tested to work together on Synergy so that I'm NOT downloading one-off component firmware updates individually. It should include CPLD firmware imo.

If anyone can point me to an SY 660 Gen10 CPLD firmware NEWER than the 0x16 or 0x17 that I find on many of my SY 660's - and newer than the 0x1C version from 2019 Advisory linked above - preferably in .fwpkg format, I would appreciate it.  I have opened a Support case for this as well.

[support_s]

System recommended content:

1. Updating firmware

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[ChrisLynch]

Or perhaps even more importantly, WHY HAVE FIRMWARE UPDATES FOR THE CPLD NEVER BEEN INCLUDED on any version of the older Synergy Custom Service Pack for ProLiant SPP OR the current Synergy Service Pack SSP iso's?  

CLPD was never intended to be updated in the field, per the conversations from the server hardware teams diagnosing this.  In this case affecting Synergy Gen10/Gen10+ servers, the CPLD firmware needs to be updated to address the underlying condition.  There has never been a need prior.

As for when a SY660 Gen10/Gen10+ CLPD firmware update, I am looking into it, as I thought it was supposed to be released as well.

[PatrickLong]

Thank you for this info, Chris.  As I look across my smallish (38) fleet of SY660's, I see CPLD versions including:

0x14

0x16

0x17

0x1C (on a single server I just upgraded by downloading the Windows package linked in the 7/01/2019 Customer Advisory a00076367en_us and also the 7/10/2019 Customer Advisory a00077281en_us, then extracting the CPLD_SY660_Gen10_V1C1C_signed.vme file and uploading it into the iLo5 >Update Firmware function as directed by Support. I'm a bit surprised I missed that Advisory as I definitely have SY660's that are afflicted with the cosmetic-only errant amber light on the mobo.

<If> there is also a new 0x1F version that was supposed to have been released recently with the corresponding SY480 files as you (and I) thought, that would make at least five different releases of the SY660 CPLD firmware to date, which seems like enough revisions to at least consider for inclusion in future SSP releases.  I admit, it is a bit more invasive an update than other firmware components as it's very low level and initiates an auxiliary power cycle (Device in Bay xx has been removed) on restart - so that's a consideration as well.

In any case, thank you for responding and please do post here if you are able to find a newer release than 0x1C.

Patrick

[PatrickLong]

Slightly off-topic, but I now see that an Advisory a00121027en_us has been released for the SY480 related to new SY480 CPLD firmware was published yesterday, which raises it's own questions.  The Advisory does very specifically refer to a precise serial number range to which the fault condition applies which REQUIRE the CPLD firmware as the fix for this fault.  But I wonder if there is a compelling reason why I should simply NOT update ALL of my SY480's (all of which are at CPLD 0x0A, and none of which are in the Advisory serial # range) to this newer CPLD firmware 0x0F, so long as I am aware of and accept the relative invasiveness of updating that component,  with it's auxiliary power cycle requirement, etc. as outlined in the Advisory.  What is the down side of doing that?

As you may have guessed, I am not an "if it ain't broke don't fix it" guy; I'm more of a "newer versions provide compatibility and algorithmic efficiency improvements IN ADDITION TO bug fixes - even to bugs you haven't personeally experienced yet, but you might someday if you leave it at this old version" guy.  I'd rather "fix" things in my environment now at my own pedestrian pace and cadence - first in a test/lab setting and then after some time bring it to production - than wait for a catastrophic issue to bite me and have to scramble to remediate it on someone else's schedule, only to find out that the fix was a 2 year old firmware that I never applied because it wasn't broken at the time.

[ChrisLynch]

If there is also a new 0x1F version that was supposed to have been released recently with the corresponding SY480 files as you (and I) thought, that would make at least five different releases of the SY660 CPLD firmware to date, which seems like enough revisions to at least consider for inclusion in future SSP releases. 

There are no plans to include this as part of an SPP going forward.  It is an extremely low-level component that to this day has only been updated in the factory.  There has been no need to release CLPD firmware to the field, except for this specific event.

The Advisory does very specifically refer to a precise serial number range to which the fault condition applies which REQUIRE the CPLD firmware as the fix for this fault.  But I wonder if there is a compelling reason why I should simply NOT update ALL of my SY480's (all of which are at CPLD 0x0A, and none of which are in the Advisory serial # range) to this newer CPLD firmware 0x0F, so long as I am aware of and accept the relative invasiveness of updating that component,  with it's auxiliary power cycle requirement, etc. as outlined in the Advisory.  What is the down side of doing that?

No.  Please follow the guidance documented in the advisory.

As for the SY660 Gen10/Gen10+ CLPD firmware, it hasn't been released yet.  I haven't been able to find any ETA right now, but will continue to research this.

[Lawrance Lee_1]

Is it possible to apply the CPLD firmware en-masse to a fleet of servers, and then reboot the servers at a later stage, when it's possible to arrange a maintenance outage?  In other words, is it like an online BIOS update where the new version remains dormant until such time the server is rebooted, and the new version comes into effect.

[PatrickLong]

@Lawrance Lee_1  I don't believe it works like that, as all of the Advisories I can find for CPLD updates on Synergy compute modules - one for the SY660 Gen10,  one for the SY480 Gen10 and one for the SY480 Gen10 Plus all state some variation of the instructions  that the server should be powered on  prior to the CPLD flash, and "some variation of "After the flash is completed, reboot the server."   That leads me to believe that CPLD is not a redundant ROM sutiation like you have with BIOS - there is likely only one CPLD component on the motherboard and you should reboot immediately after completing the installation per those Advisories. 

[PatrickLong]

@ChrisLynch Per my HPE Support Case they indicated that there is NOT a new version of CPLD firmware for the SY660 and that the 0x1C version indicated in the 2019 Advisory is the latest - so I'll take that as the answer unless you dig up different information.

However, in response to your answer that I should NOT update any of my SY480 Gen10's (all of which fall outside of the SY480 Gen10  Advisory's scope serial number range) I would respectfully ask that HPE add that important information somewhere on the Support Site download page for CPLD_SY480_Gen10_v0F0F.fwpkg.  There is nothing anywhere on the download page tabs indicating a restriction by serial number range for which SY480 Gen10 servers it should be installed.  If I never see the Advisory linked above but just go to the Support Site as part of my regular administratoive due diligence and search on SY480 Drivers and Software filter to see what's new, I'll find that CPLD update rated as as an Upgrade Requirement: Critical, yet never know to only apply that to SY480 Gen10's of a specific serial number range. Reconciling the Advisory info to the download page info would be helpful, or incluing a link to the Advisory itself on the Prerequisites tab of the download would also be helpful.

[ChrisLynch]

I don't know who provided that answer about SY660 to you, but that isn't what the Synergy team has been working on nor what was told to me the other day.
As for the advisory, I'll pass that along.