HBA firmware, driver and BIOS version on Red Hat Linux AS 4 update 5

[Danesh Qureshi]

I have a server running RHEL AS 4 update 5 with two HBA (Qlogic QLA2340) cards running on firmware version 3.03.19, driver version 8.01.07.25-f0. I need to update the HBA firmware, drivers and BIOS.

The documentation says the BIOS version I need to be on is 1.47.

Can anyone tell me how to find out the BIOS version of the HBA and how to update the BIOS or is the BIOS builtin to the driver or firmware?

[Matti_Kurkela · Accepted solution]

HBA BIOS is needed for boot only. It is used by the bootloader before the OS kernel starts up and loads the drivers, so it must be stored with the firmware (but may be a separate module). After the OS has loaded the HBA driver, the BIOS is switched off.

If you are not going to boot the system from FC-attached disks, you can usually ignore the HBA BIOS requirements.

When the system is running its Power-On Self Test, the HBA usually displays a message that includes its firmware/BIOS versions. Qlogic's management software (SanSurfer) can update the firmware and BIOS, so it probably can be used identify the versions too.

SanSurfer is downloadable on both HP's and Qlogic's support pages.
(HP: go to http://www.hp.com/go/support and navigate through "Storage" -> "Storage Networking" -> "Host Bus Adapters". Qlogic: http://www.qlogic.com and select "Downloads", then identify your card version and OS)

Do you need *exactly* BIOS 1.47 or is the requirement "1.47 or above"? That particular version seems to be rather old.

Qlogic's support web pages seem to have a large collection of BIOS versions available, including the version 1.47.

MK

[Danesh Qureshi]

I was able to reboot the server to check the HBA BIOS version is 1.45.

All our Linux server boots the Red Hat operating system installed on the local disks within the server and not from the SAN EVA3000.

I will take a look at HP SAN surfer and check how to make use of it. SAN surfer is new to me so I will read up on it and see how it works.

Thank for your help

[Uwe Zessin]

> firmware version 3.03.19

On QLogic adapters, 'firmware' means the piece of software that is loaded into the on-board RISC processor. The device driver includes the correct 'firmware' image.

> The documentation says the BIOS version I need to be on is 1.47.

Sometime this is also called the 'firmware' or the 'Options ROM'. This is stored on the adapter in flash memory.