DL380 GEN10-Smart array P408i-a - Upgrade from 1.99 to 7.11

[Marco Correnti Techno S]

Hi 

I need to perform this upgrade from version 1.99 to the latest 7.11 also to overcome another problem, that is ILO5 versions > 3.0 no longer show the data of both the Smart array and the disks if the firmware of the smart array is "too old", I think < 5.32.

I haven't found any recommendations, .i.e in this SUPPORT ALERTS - CUSTOMER BULLETIN

about a "big upgrade" like this one from version 1.x to 7.x.

Any suggestion ?

Thanks in advance

Marco

[BunnyPon]

I did this, it should work for you but it will involve downtime.

Get the Service Pack, I think it is called 2024.09 now, it includes 7.11 ILO5 3.08 and other goodies.

Boot with it and let it run. it SHOULD update your raid controller to <SOME VERSION> Along with other stuff like ILO, BIOS, power controller...

Reboot, let it do its firmware update dance, don't interrupt. 

Run the service pack again, this time it should go to 7.11

I did it with the manual one, but I expect the automatic will also work.

 It helps to use the ILO and make notes.

[Grzegorz Kowalski_1]

I am just thinking about almost the same upgrade (1.99 to 6.52). Right now I think 4.11 will be good intermediate version (I just fill I shoud not go in one hop)

[Marco Correnti Techno S]

Thanks @BunnyPon I will not use the SPP but only the firmware for the Smart Array.

I need to know if it is safe to upgrade from 1.x to 7.x, otherwise I would like to know where HPE suggest a procedure to do that in a safe way.

Thanks @Grzegorz Kowalski_1  why do you want to use an intermediate version ? Have you any information about this precaution ?

If I really had to use an intermediate version I would use 3.00 which is considered a critical version...but this is a gut decision not based on any objective evidence...

[Grzegorz Kowalski_1]

Agree, 3.0 is better than 4.11 to start upgrade path. I remind myself that few years ago I performed SA upgrade from 1..66 to 4.11 in one hop. Just after that on 2 servers I saw "1716-Slot 0 Drive Array - Unrecoverable Media Errors Detected on Drives during previous Rebuild or Background Surface scan. Errors will be corrected when the sector(s) are overwritten.  Action: Backup and Restore recommended). And guess what..., I had to performed this action. I had luck - those two servers were esxi hosts with 2x240GB SSD disks in R1, so  the operation was not so painfull. On next host I use 3.00 or 3.53 as intermediate version and did not observe such problems. Of course someone can said this could be server specific, but based on this expierence I have less courage to do "big updates/upgrades" and I am also looking more cerfully for supported upgrade path for SSP. I prefer to do more reboots due to few firmware updates/upgrades that blaming myself after "why I wanted to save half an hour to avoid 1-2 reboots". I am planing to do upgrade from 1.99 to 6.52 even in 3-4 hops just to minimize risk in customer environment. I also suggest to consider whole SPP upgrade or plan it for near future.

[BunnyPon]

The SPP is quite safe, if you run it in interactive mode, you can chose what you wish to upgrade. It will do the hop-step-jump as described above.

A check of my notes shows it went from 1.99 to 6.52, then to 7.11

You also get to update everything else to match, such as the ILO so you can update the smart array from it.

Of course, if it has live data, all the usual provisos about backups apply, In my case, this machine is ex yahoo auctions! and blank. It did come with 5 300gb SAS drives though there was no filesystem on them.

[Marco Correnti Techno S · Accepted solution]

Hi

Today I have upgraded the Smart Array of two DL380 Gen10 servers in this way : 

• 1.66 --> 3.00 --> 7.11
• 1.99 --> 3.00 --> 7.11

No problems so far.

Now the information of the Smart Array and of the HDs is visible in ILO 5 3.08.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions,

[Sunitha_Mod]

Hello @Marco Correnti Techno S,

That's Awesome! 

We are extremely glad to know the problem has been resolved.