ILO Firmware update via command line with ipmitool.

[yesilbeyaz]

For some reasons I can not mount iso with virtual media. So I want to upgrade ilos firmware. Can I do the upgrade from linux tool ipmitool? I can do lots of things. But not sure about firmware upgrade.

Is there a how to?

Thanks

[Jimmy Vance]

Not sure if it is possible to do the firmware over ipmi. You can extract the .scexe file and load the .bin file using the iLO web interface

[yesilbeyaz]

I have ilo1 and 2 but none of them has ilo upload menu. Am I missing something? Not sure but maybe ilo 3 has such feature?

I maybe upload using PXE boot?

[Matti_Kurkela]

ILO1: Use a web browser to login to the iLO web UI with an account that has iLO configuration privileges, open Administration tab, select "Upgrade ILO firmware" from the left column.

ILO2: Use a web browser to login to the iLO2 web UI with an account that has iLO configuration privileges, open Administration tab, select "iLO 2 Firmware" from the left column.

[yesilbeyaz]

I tried different user levels, as there are OEM, Administrator, Operator and User. Tried loggining with each of them, but I donot see ilo firmware update menu. Are you sure there must be?

[Oscar A. Perez]

You cannot update iLO firmware using IPMI. Try logging to iLO webGUI and flash it from there or download the Online Flash Component for your OS.

[yesilbeyaz]

There  is not an option on Webgui.

[Torsten.]

What servers do you have and what are the installed versions?

Is this a LO100 by chance?

[Matti_Kurkela]

iLO 1 web GUI login should look like this:

After login, the firmware upgrade option can be found like this: (bright red text added by me)

[Matti_Kurkela]

iLO2 web GUI login screen should look like this:

And the firmware upgrade option is the first one on the Administration tab:

[yesilbeyaz]

Here are each screen shot and you can see servers' model. Note that firemware download button on some of them says only this:

Firmware Download

  TFTP Server IP Address: Firmware File Name:
(Relative to TFTP server's root)

Please enter TFTP server IP address and firmware fully qualified filename.
Refresh browser for status.

Note: After a successful download the BMC will automatically reset.

[Torsten.]

these are all LO100.

get the bootable usb image from the web.

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c00718633&docLocale=en_US

For virtual media/kvm you need the advanced licence.

[Moderator edit: Updated the working link. You may also refer to https://support.hpe.com/]

[anthony11]

---

@Jimmy Vance wrote:

Not sure if it is possible to do the firmware over ipmi. You can extract the .scexe file and load the .bin file using the iLO web interface

---

I've been doing that for BIOS on ESXi iLO4 systems, but in this case, why not just run the .scexe file directly?

[Torsten.]

Here is the linux file (Version 4.26):

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?sp4ts.oid=3884344&spf_p.tpst=swdMain&spf_p.prp_swdMain=wsrp-navigationalState%3Didx%253D%257CswItem%253DMTX_6b04eb2ec8914f979aba383fab%257CswEnvOID%253D4103%257CitemLocale%253D%257CswLang%253D%257Cmode%253D%257Caction%253DdriverDocument&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vig...

[Moderator edit: Removed the broken link.]

[Matti_Kurkela · Accepted solution]

Note that Torsten's link was for G6/G7 series servers with LO100 only.

For the version of LO100 in DL140 G3, you'll need another download:

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c00718633&docLocale=en_US

[Moderator edit: Updated the working link.]

[yesilbeyaz]

Thank you guys. Some more questions;
Is LO100 older version of ILO1 ?

@anthony11
    Can you please post the command that you use to flash BIOS via ipmitool within linux? All my servers are Debian based. So I may try to upgrade LO from ssh using ipmitool?
    
On linux file version page, .scexe file, there are these linux versions,
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (x86), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (AMD64/EM64T), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (x86), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (AMD64/EM64T), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server (x86-64), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server (x86), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (x86), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (AMD64/EM64T), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Server (x86), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Server (x86-64)
    
Our servers are debian so can I still install .scexe file?
    
Thank you again.

[Torsten.]

create the bootable usb key and boot to update. a reboot is needed anyway.

[Jimmy Vance]

LO100 is not in the same family as any generation iLO. It was used in the G6/G7 ProLiant 100 series systems.  The 300, 500, 700 series ProLiant and the Blade server all have iLO

the .scexe file is pretty much a shell script.  you should be able to run the scexe file and if all the dependencies are there it should work. If not you can extract the files by running something like listed below so you can poke around in the scripts

/filename.scexe --unpack=path/that/you/select

[yesilbeyaz]

As I said in first post, I can not mount iso image, It does not work on some server. And I read also some other having same issue. So I tried to upgrade LO via alternative method. From SSH by ipmitool, or PXE boot.

[anthony11]

---

@yesilbeyaz wrote:
As I said in first post, I can not mount iso image, It does not work on some server. And I read also some other having same issue. So I tried to upgrade LO via alternative method. From SSH by ipmitool, or PXE boot.

---

What ISO image?  iLO 2 2.20 is available here:

http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?sp4ts.oid=1135772&spf_p.tpst=swdMain&spf_p.prp_swdMain=wsrp-navigationalState%3Didx%253D%257CswItem%253DMTX_a79b65b946b34074be3be46402%257CswEnvOID%253D%257CitemLocale%253D%257CswLang%253D%257Cmode%253D%257Caction%253DdriverDocument&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignett...

Download the .scexe file and run it.

For iLO 1 (which I've never used) 1.94 is here:

http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?sp4ts.oid=397991&spf_p.tpst=swdMain&spf_p.prp_swdMain=wsrp-navigationalState%3Didx%253D%257CswItem%253DMTX_67869b1e7b5a4e459885406e98%257CswEnvOID%253D%257CitemLocale%253D%257CswLang%253D%257Cmode%253D%257Caction%253DdriverDocument&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette...

 If you had a .iso file, you could just copy that to the system and do a read-only loopback mount to extract files from it.

[Moderator edit: Removed the broken link. ]

[Casper42]

Anthony, he has LO100i which as mentioned above is NOT the same as iLO.

LO100i was a 3rd party BMC with HP Firmware.
This was only used in some 100 series machines to save cost.

iLO 1/2/3/4 are all HP Designed ASIC (Processor).
As of Gen8, LO100i is no longer used and all new models have iLO4.

So while the help is appreciated, stop giving him download links for iLO :)

[Casper42]

PS: It looks like you can only do a USB Firmware update on those LO100i models like Torsten reccomended.

Download this and run it from a WINDOWS machine to create the USB Key.
Then you can put the USB Key into the DL180 and boot from it.

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c00718633&docLocale=en_US - Management

[Moderator edit: Updated the working link.]

[anthony11]

Doh.  Sorry.  I only saw "I have ilo1 and 2" early on and missed the later information.

[yesilbeyaz]

Ok thank you guys. I now know that they are only Lights-Out 100i Remote Management no way of ILO. And there seems to be only usb media key. But I can make is iso maybe and use PXE boot to flash LO.

Only think I still wonder, do you think PXE boot can be used to flash firmware logically?

[Casper42]

The HP USB Key deployments typically use DOS as the underlying OS and I am not sure you will be able to easily get that to work over PXE.

If you download the above SP62696.exe I linked to, you will find you can extract the contents with any decent zip/rar type tool.
They provide the USB contents, raw files and ISO.
The ISO is using Floppy emulation within the El Torito boot spec and is emulating a 2.88MB Floppy disk.

If you can somehow chain load that ISO over PXE, you might be able to get it to work.