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In this Document

Purpose

Scope

Details

References

Applies to:

Purpose

 Explain proper use of live firmware update process that has been introduced to SPARC in T7-x and S7-x and later platforms

Scope

 Any persons who are responsible for firmware updates of SPARC platforms of T7-x and S7-x and later

Details

 Information About the Live Firmware Update feature

In prior Sun System Firmware releases for SPARC T-series servers, both the Oracle ILOM and SPARC Host firmware (OBP, Hypervisor, NYX and POST) were updated simultaneously during the Sun System Firmware update process, which required the Host to be powered off. This was a limitation unique to SPARC T-series platforms. It will now be possible to download, update and activate the new ILOM firmware while the SPARC Host is powered on, and then in a later maintenance window, the already downloaded new Host components of the Sun System Firmware will be automatically activated when the Host is power cycled. Live Firmware update can reduce the amount of time the Host is unavailable.

 
With the Live Firmware Update feature, the ILOM component of SPARC T-series Sun System Firmware can be updated similar to SPARC M-series platforms, regardless of whether the Host is still powered on.

Without Live Firmware Update, if the HOST was powered on, ILOM would reject the firmware upgrade request with the following message:

With a system supporting Live Firmware Update, ILOM will instead inform the user that the Host is powered on:

at which point the load command will continue execution. The ILOM portion of the Sun System Firmware will be loaded and ILOM will reset, however the updated version of the Host firmware which has been loaded on the system, will not be activated until the next power cycle.

Updating Sun System Firmware from Oracle ILOM

You can update Sun System Firmware using the Oracle ILOM CLI or ILOM BUI. For instructions on how to perform the firmware update, see Performing Firmware Updates in the Oracle ILOM Administrator’s Guide for Configuration and Maintenance Firmware Release 3.2.x.

Updating Sun System Firmware from Oracle Solaris

Live Firmware Update via the "fwupdate" command is a feature of Oracle Hardware Management Pack (OHMP). OHMP for Oracle Solaris is a set of
commands and agents to help you manage your Oracle servers. It is bundled with Solaris.

• To take advantage of the Live Firmware Update feature and defer the power cycle of the SPARC Host during the update

The command below will update Sun System Firmware and the Host will not be power cycled. With this command, ILOM is updated, but the HOST portion of the Sun System firmware (OBP, Hypervisor, etc.) will only be updated the next time the Host is power cycled.

  "fwupdate update all -x metadata.xml"

• To automatically power cycle the Host during the update (overriding the effect of the Live Firmware Update feature)

The command below will update Sun System Firmware and cause the Host to be power cycled so that the ILOM firmware and the Host firmware will be updated at the same time. Solaris will be restarted if the system has been configured to auto boot.

  "fwupdate update all -x powercycle_metadata.xml"

For more information on using the fwupdate utility included in Oracle Solaris 11.3, refer to "Using fwupdate to Update Firmware" in the Oracle Server CLI Tools for Oracle Solaris 11.3 User's Guide 

Disregard occasional extraneous messages displayed during fwupdate

For SPARC systems using fwupdate, you may occasionally see the following messages:

"ERROR: Version verification failed."

“Error: Unable to establish IPMI v2 / RMCP+ session”

“Get Device ID command failed: Timeout”

You may disregard any of these messages. The firmware update actually completed correctly and the messages can be ignored.

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