Push 7.4 Firmware Maintenance CD through SIM?

[Kevin Brown_13]

Is it possible to push the 7.4 Firmware Maintenance CD through SIM to my servers?

I've been scheduling each server by selecting the components that need to be updated (i.e. controller, BIOS, NIC etc.). I was hoping that I can just push the whole CD out to the server and have it install what ever needs to be updated automatically just like when I boot from the cd.

I tried importing the contents of the 7.4 firmware cd to the repository but all the individual updates come up in SIM, not the 7.4 package. I just wanted to select the package, then the server and let it sort out which one it needs. Is this possible?

I don't want to have to update each server with the 7.4 CD. That will take forever and cause major scheduling issues with server downtime.

Your prompt responses will be greatly appreciated. THANKS!

-Kevin-

[David Claypool]

To accomplish what you want, do the following:

- populate the VCRM with the PSP you want everyone or a subset to use
- get the component pack firmware for each of the systems you have
- use VCRM to create a custom support pack with the PSP and all of the firmware updates
- use HP SIM to set the baseline support pack for your devices to your custom support pack
- run software data collection
- any device that is not in compliance with your baseline will be flagged as non-green. those will be the only systems that need any attention.

Here's a description of how it might work:

Take a hypothetical server, the JL686 which has a ROM release of 2010.06.01 which is the latest and is in the reference support pack.

You have 3 of the JL686 systems in your environment, one with 2010.06.01, one with 2010.05.15 and one with 2010.02.10. Let's say that a major change was made in the 2010.05.15 release (maybe some feature wasn't working properly) and the only reason the 2010.06.01 version was released was to support a new clock frequency processor being added to the line at that time.

HP SIM would show the unit with the latest, 2010.06.01, as green, the 2010.05.15 as yellow and 2010.02.10 as orange.

[Kevin Kelling]

Following up on this process....

Is there any way to tell SIM to automatically distribute any software that is not "green" (per whatever baseline is selected).

We are finding having to drill through the VCR components for each platform very time consuming and prone to human error.

Much easier would be to have a button that says "distribute anything that is not green per the VCAgent on the target node(s)"

[Kevin Brown_13]

David,

You said "- get the component pack firmware for each of the systems you have".

I didn't know there was a Component Pack Firmware for each server model. Where do I get this from? I checked the 'Software and Drivers' page for DL380 G4 and nothing pertains to a certain Firmware Pack for this model. It just lists the 'Firmware Maintenance CD', which covers all servers.

Does that mean I have to extract the 7.4 CD and populate my repository, then select each individual firmware while creating my new baseline?

Your help is greatly appreciated. THANKS!

[Igor Karasik]

David, SCSI disks firmware upgrade and some SmartArray controllers have only offline upgrade suppport.
Is HPSIM can push such updates to servers?
(I think answer is NO, so Kevin still need
update each server with the Firmware Maintenance CD).

[Kevin Brown_13]

I hope your wrong Igor!!! I don't want to update each server by CD! That would make my new year miserable.

If anyone knows for sure about the harddrive firmware update process, please post as soon as possible. My boss is hounding me for an answer. THANKS!!!

[Michael E. Matthews]

I regret to inform you, but I believe that he is correct. There might be something that you could do though the virtual floopy functionality of the Riloe/Ilo boards if you have them configured.

For external storage, MSA 1000 and the like, there is a tool that I will locate and forward to the thread that does enable the flashing of SCSI drives while live.

Does anyone else have this tool?

Michael

[Kevin Brown_13]

Oh NO!!

My main concern is updating the hard drive firmware. We have mostly 6400 and 5300 array controllers here and I've already used SIM to update the drivers and firmware on these models.
I just don't want to schedule a 6400 Controller firmware and drive update for 12:00 midnight and when the server reboots it hangs at post with the error message saying that I need to update the firmware on the drives (Hit F1 to continue). Having to come in at 1:00am to update the firmware or hit F1 would not be fun.

Anymore info will be greatly appreciated.

[Igor Karasik]

I think you don't need press "F1" on new servers, it will continue automatically.
On old servers you can disable F1
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=888934
Good news: you don't have 5312 SmartArray controllers, this controller doesn't have online firmware upgrade.
Bad news: several times when I did SCSI disks firmware update with Firmware Maintenance CD update process hangs on 100% and not completed.
More bad news - you need ILO advanced license to use Firmware Maintenance CD with ILO.
Sorry for bad news.

[David Claypool]

Unfortunately, hard drive firmware itself cannot be done in an online fashion. Each drive has to be taken offline, which would not be possible in a RAID 0 situation and in a RAID 1+0 or RAID 5 situation is too risky to complete.