Disk firmware on MSA2000/P2000G3 systems

[Mike Texter]

Hi, I'm up and running with 2 separate SANs at the moment, an MSA2012i, and a P2000g3, which each can take the same disks.  I'm managing them each via the SMU, and have been able to successfully update the controller firmware using the P2000 MSA firmware update tool. 

The problem is, this doesn't include the disks, and I have a bunch of disks that are differing in firmware levels.  I want to make them all the same, but i need an actual working firmware file to do this.  I've had luck in the past with locating .lod files that have worked great for sas disks, but i can't find them anywhere on HP's website anymore, they're all some kind of either .scexe or .fla, neither of which work through the SMU from my windows 7 workstation. (in fact, whenever i click a .fla download button, it takes me to a page with miscellaneous ASCII characters, and doesn't even initiate a download!)

In the old days, you simply pointed the SMU to your .lod file, and clicked the update button, and everything worked great with no problems.  Do these still exist?? If so, where?? If not, why???

(TL, DR: Where are the .lod files for HP MSA2000/P2000 disks??)

P.S. This thread has been moved from  Storage > General to Disk Array. -HP Forum Moderator

[Torsten.]

Try here:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=4209076&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=4118559&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=4064

Keep in mind that different disk models (even with same size) have different firmware.

Most likely your browser has a problem with *.fla files, it is working on my machine.

[Mike Texter]

Torsten may I ask which browser version you're using? I'm on FireFox 22.0 (windows 7), and .fla is a completely unrecognized format.  Also that page you linked doesn't have the sata disks i'm after, it only had 2 listings, both for SFF disks.  I'm trying to update GB1000EAFJL to HPGC (C).

[Mike Texter]

I can confirm that on both firefox 22.0 and Google Chrome Version 28.0.1500.72 m, the .fla links display as a bunch of random characters.
For example: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib2/software1/pubsw-generic/p649484335/v78913/ST1000NM0001_0002.fla

edit: If i chop off the link from the last / and put it into a browser, it gets me to the ftp site where i can just download it via fireFTP or somesuch program.  Assuming the HP SMU can recognize .fla files, i might be all set, at least for this particular model of disk.  Just be aware that the link from the P2000 disk firmware page links to the full link above (a meaningless jumbled bunch of characters), not the ftp site where you can simply download the file.

[Jason_L]

If you back off one directory to:

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib2/software1/pubsw-generic/p649484335/v78913

you can right-click the files and perform a "save-as" or "save link" and save the .fla files.

I just tested in Chrome.

However, the .exe file on the page linked above installs a program then asks for the MSA IP address and login credentials.:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=4209076&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=4118559&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=4064

IMPORTANT NOTES (as seen when launching the application)

CAUTION: Updating the firmware of disk drives in a virtual disk risks the loss of data and causes the drives to be temporarily inaccessible.

IMPORTANT: Ensure that no other user is performing administrative functions on the P2000/MSA2000 storage system

NOTE: Disk drive upgrades on the HP P2000/MSA2000 is an offline process. All host and array I/O must be stopped prior to the upgrade. For more information, see the HP 2000 Family Modular Storage Array reference guide.

IMPORTANT: Please refer to the release notes for special considerations regarding the pre-install conditions for flashing hard drives in P2000/MSA2000 configurations.

[Mike Texter]

Jason, Thanks for the reply. Luckily we came to the same conclusion regarding the link-chopping :)
And yes, the multitude of .exe files that can be found at your link are pretty easy to work with generally, they at least work from Win7. Thanks!


I'm still looking for .lod raw firmware files for most disk models... And if someone would fix the "download" links on any page containing a .fla file, so that they actually initate a download, or navigate you to the parent directory on the ftp or something, that would be cool. If those are working as intended, i'd be fascinated to know how to use them properly.

[Jason_L]

I also tried the full link to the .fla with Internet Explorer.  It immediately prompts me to save the file.  Looks like a browser setting in Chrome and Firefox.  Internet Explorer seems to work fine - prompting for the save :)

Good luck!

-Jason

[Torsten.]

You should check in firefox settings - applications if the extensions are assigned to any action.

Looks like fla is also used for flash video.

[Dennis Handly]

>I can confirm that on both firefox 22.0 and Google Chrome Version 28.0.1500.72 m, the .fla links display as a bunch of random characters.

You can simply right click on it and choose "Save Link As".

>where I can just download it via fireFTP

If you have that, a right click will also offer that choice.

>You should check in firefox settings - applications if the extensions are assigned to any action.

Unfortunately I don't see any suffixes there, just names?  And no way to manually add things.