HP DL360p Gen8, BIOS version and HP Product ID

[AlecKeeler]

Up until now I belived that by ordering the same Product ID (in our case 670638-425) you would get exactly the same hardware with the same BIOS loaded.

We produce an appliance based product on this platform and I have to create a document detailing the required BIOS configuration settings

If when we order the same Product ID, but we can no longer be guaranteed that the BIOS is as expected, this can potentially cause us delays, while we examine and document what the new settings available in the new BIOS version are and what defaults values for these we should use.

The first 670638-425 we ordered was delivered with BIOS P71 05/30/2012, the one we received last week had BIOS P71 12/14/2012 

Does anyone know what the policy is for BIOS updates ? Is there any way of telling what BIOS is going to be on the servers?

What I want to avoid is having to have lots of different documents all to cope with the fact that although we order the same Product ID what we get and have to build changes

Alec Keeler, Build and Release Engineer, Nexor Ltd

[AlecKeeler]

What we are trying to achieve is a set of documentation that can be used by anyone to build our appliance product.

This means that the documentation must match the hardware exactly.

If new options appear or expected options disappear on BIOS menus, then the person doing the build will have to stop and ask for clarification.

Our requirement is that when we order the same Product ID the same part arrives, not the same part but with a different BIOS.

Up until now this has been working, with no instances of unexpected BIOS versions on servers we received.

Have we just been lucky or has policy changed or was there some mistake in the production of the 670638-425 model and we got a pre-release version as our first one ?

Alec

[Jimmy Vance]

As new system ROMS are released, they are used in the current build of servers, many times due to a need for example to support a new processor. Generally the core functionality doesn't change so the menu options are static across releases and should have no effect on your documents. ProLaint has always been this way. Maybe you need to contact HP about creating an OEM build for your product.

[Torsten.]

Not exactly sure what your problem is, you received a server with a newer BIOS version. By doing a BIOS update all your servers will have the same version again ...

Sometimes a newer BIOS introduces even new features/functionalities - I remember the possibility to diable the colorful output and enable the options output during POST for G6/G7 servers in newer versions of their BIOS.

Type: BIOS - System ROM Version:

2012.12.14 (19 Dec 2012)

Upgrade Requirement:
Recommended - HP recommends users update to this version at their earliest convenience.

http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?sp4ts.oid=5226971&spf_p.tpst=swdMain&spf_p.prp_swdMain=wsrp-navigationalState%3Didx%253D%257CswItem%253DMTX_80ef0fd3544f4b8f91dd0d3fac%257CswEnvOID%253D4103%257CitemLocale%253D%257CswLang%253D%257Cmode%253D%257Caction%253DdriverDocument&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vig...

[AlecKeeler]

Thanks for the reply guys

The crux of the issue is we want to build identical (including BIOS settings) EAL evaluated appliances :

*we order the exactly the same item (via Product ID) that we have validated and documented

*the item that arrives may be different enough to not match the documentation that defines how to set the BIOS

I have already produced the build docs for the 670638-425 ready for a delivery of 25 servers

The 25 servers arrive and the first one we start to build has a different BIOS from the validated one and requires a document update, also are the other 24 all supplied with the same BIOS?

Is there anywhere where the fact that the BIOS has been updated is published, so at least we know that we will need to do a doc refresh/revalidate ?

Its the reason that we have stopped using Dell R210 servers for one of our other products, we never knew what was going to arrive when we had ordered the same part number, so it was difficult to say how long it would take to build.

This is the first time we have seen an update of the BIOS without the Product ID changing (we have used DL360 G5, G6, G7 and now Gen8) have we just been lucky for the last 4 years ?

Alec

[Torsten.]

Every manufacturer provides BIOS updates for their systems. Once an update is released, system are delivered with these updates.

You can downgrade the BIOS, but you probably run into known issues later ...

[AlecKeeler]

It's not the update that's the issue so much as the lack of visibility that a change has happened.

If we only find out when we are about to build it that's the worst possible time.

Is there any resource that publishes the current build state of a particular model that I could monitor, so I we would know when a new BIOS was installed in the production machines and at which serial number, so we would know when we would have to allow the extra time for a doc refresh.

[Torsten.]

>> t's not the update that's the issue ...


Then what else?



>> The first 670638-425 we ordered was delivered with BIOS P71 05/30/2012, the one we received last week had BIOS P71 12/14/2012


So you got version from 05/30/2012, then version from 12/14/2012. Same system with updated BIOS version (see link above).

Here is the version history:

http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?sp4ts.oid=5226971&spf_p.tpst=swdMain&spf_p.prp_swdMain=wsrp-navigationalState%3Didx%253D%257CswItem%253DMTX_80ef0fd3544f4b8f91dd0d3fac%257CswEnvOID%253D4103%257CitemLocale%253D%257CswLang%253D%257Cmode%253D5%257Caction%253DdriverDocument&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vi...

[AlecKeeler]

Its the change without warning that is the issue

Imagine you are a car manufacturer, a supplier provides a widget that has a red wire and a black wire

Without notice they change it to a blue wire and a brown wire and don't tell you, then just supply the new version when you ordered some more of what you had before

They arrive and your guys on the line don't know which wire plugs in where anymore, so production stops

Or in our case the correct document detailing how you set up the BIOS doesn't apply, so production stops while we work out what the new BIOS options should be set to and redo the document

This now means we have to have 2 versions of the document and an extra step saying to check what BIOS is installed and select the relevant document, even though as far as we are concerned we are asking our supplier for the same thing

If there was at least some way of knowing that the thing we have ordered is not the same as the previous we can allow the time to revalidate and rework the document

Does anyone know of an HP resource that shows the current BIOS version installed on a particular model (670638-425 for example), either by Date or Serial number?

If there was somewhere that made this info available we could monitor it and be prepared for the change

Alec

[Torsten.]

Did you review the version history?

This should give you what you need.

It's the very same for all the firmware in that box, e.g. ILO, smartarray, HBA, etc ... as said, downgrade, if you like.