Incremental firmware updates using OneView on-prem

[sfrench-quilter]

Hi HPE,

May I ask if there is any progress on including firmware incremental updates to server profiles from OneView, rather than orchestration of remotely loading a whole SPP? 

I.e. OneView must know the delta between currently deployed firmware versions and the baseline derrived from an SPP which could be just a handful of updates. Firmware updates for us though OneView orchestration can take 50-60 minuites per server, mostly due to having to remotely boot the server to a large SPP ISO over the network.

I know there is this capability developed for OneView  'cloud' SaaS (for obvious reasons) and I'm very eager to understand if this is coming to a OneView appliance update soon. This would be a significant improvement to how we can manage and deploy firmware.

I have wondered if it might be better to write my own tooling to deploy the 'delta' firmware updates to servers, and just use OneView to check baseline consistency and for remote support options; in order to reduce the time it takes to perform updates to a larger server estate.

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[DanCernese]

OneView started doing incremental firmware updates back when Gen10 was launched over 5 years ago.  There are a few components, however, where our partner has only provided a kit that can be installed by doing through EUFI or booting the SPP..

This requires iLO 5 and AMS to report inventory to the iLO and then back to OneView.

[sfrench-quilter]

Thanks for the information Dan, very interesting.
Here is an example of the OneView output for one of our updates on a Gen10 plus that took 53 mins, 6 seconds:

Update firmware using firmware bundle: P62619_001_gen10spp-2023_03_00_00-SPP2023030000_2023_0323_27.
Refresh firmware inventory.
Boot server into RBSU to install components that require the server power to be on.
Power on server.
Write the selected firmware baseline settings on the iLO.
Generating install set for the server hardware.
Stage firmware.
Stage component 1/5 - ilo5_281.fwpkg
Stage component 2/5 - HPE_NS204i_Gen10P_Gen11_1.2.14.1009_A.fwpkg
Stage component 3/5 - bcm224.1.102.0.pup.fwpkg
Stage component 4/5 - firmware-fc-qlogic-2023.04.01-1.1.x86_64.rpm
Stage component 5/5 - SPSGen10Plus_04.04.04.300.fwpkg
Stage firmware complete.
Install firmware.
Install component 1/5 - ilo5_281.fwpkg
Install component 2/5 - HPE_NS204i_Gen10P_Gen11_1.2.14.1009_A.fwpkg
Install component 3/5 - bcm224.1.102.0.pup.fwpkg
Power off server.
Boot server using P62619_001_gen10spp-2023_03_00_00-SPP2023030000_2023_0323_27.
This may take a while. Do not power off or remove this server while the server settings are being applied.
Install component 4/5 - SPSGen10Plus_04.04.04.300.fwpkg
Install component 5/5 - firmware-fc-qlogic-2023.04.01-1.1.x86_64.rpm
Reboot the server for activating the installed firmware. This may take a while, the server will power off automatically after the reboot.

I'm guessing therefore that the two components that required booting the SPP were the SPS and Qlogic FC adaptors.
In this system it has 'HPE SN1100Q 16Gb 1P FC HBA' which I take to use the 'firmware-fc-qlogic-2023.04.01-1.1.x86_64.rpm' package. 

The SPS 'Server Platform Services' component I assume is local to the  systemboard - in which case.. even if you had a base Gen10 plus with no additonal modules you would need to boot the SPP to update?

[DanCernese]

Yes, that's an excellent example.  OneView is doing the least possible work incrementally.  It wouldn't possible to do any better given the components and how they must be installed.

[sfrench-quilter]

Thanks for your feedback Dan.

I'd be interested to know how this problem is resolved in the cloud OneView?
One assumes that it won't be trying to boot the SPP ISO over the Internet?

The differences between the two products intrigues me as we try to understand the benefits of one platform over the other, and which one would be best for us. At the momnet I think I prefer using OneView on-premises due to the lower licence cost, and to have fewer interdependancies on 3rd party hosted services but this is something I'm constantly evaluating.

Presumably HPE is continuing to work with your partners so all updates (on newer generations) can be sent without having to boot the SPP.

[DanCernese · Accepted solution]

I am travelling today, so a short answer but there's a lot more to say around our cloud offerings.

At the highest level-- the equivalent features are found on "HPE GreenLake Compute Ops Management" and it decomposes precisely the same packages you saw installed in OneView in your example and they get pulled from the cloud by iLO one at a time into the iLO firmware repository for installation.  However, there are still a few components that require a Linux OS to install, so we actually have a tiny Linux boot environment for those.  More effencient than booting a traditional SPP/SSP but still extra time (especially if your server has a long POST time).

Yes, HPE is working to move all the components to standards-based installation methods and this will get cleaner and faster as those deliverables arrive. 

You can try "COM" for free:  https://www.hpe.com/us/en/hpe-greenlake-compute-ops-management.html

[DanCernese]

One more thing to clear up cloudiness (sorry).  You may also hear of "OneView in the cloud" which is actually the reincarnation of HPE OneView Global Dashboard in the cloud, so OneView itself isn't in the cloud (like HPE GreenLake Compute Ops Management is), but it is something to look for at the upcoming HPE Discover !

[sfrench-quilter]

Many thanks Dan, very interesting.

I appreciate the time you have taken to explain this.

[ChrisLynch]

Additionally, when OneView boots into the SPP, only the delta would be installed. The issue in previous generations was the lack of a proper API to get the firmware versions from installed components. ILO5 and newer utilize Install Sets as a method to install component updates. However not all device options support this method.

That said, it would be advised you install updates online. This would avoid needing to boot into the SPP/SSP, which will always be slow. Online installation will require SUT to be installed within the OS. However, if SUT doesn't support the OS, then the only installation method will be offline.

As Dan said, we are working with our various device partners to eliminate this, and drive updates through iLO.