Exadata X7-2 Hardware
 
Exadata X7-8 Hardware
 

PLA-Support>Sun Systems>x86>Engineered Systems HW>SN-x64: EXADATA
 

INTERNAL reference page for Hardware support team for Exadata Database Machine X7-2 and X7-8.  For V2, X2-2, X2-8 refer to Note 1358327.1. For X3-2, X4-2, X3-8, X4-8 (with X4-2L), refer to Note 1501410.1. For X5-2, X4-8 (with X5-2L), X5-8, X6-2 and X6-8 firmware and patches, refer to Note 1998905.1.

Applies to:

Purpose

This document contains the Exadata Database Machine X7-2 and X7-8 Firmware and Image patch history for Hardware support.
For V2, X2-2, X2-8 refer to Note 1358327.1.
For X3-2, X4-2, X3-8 and X4-8 (with X4-2L) refer to Note 1501410.1.
For X5-2, X4-8 (with X5-2L), X5-8, X6-2 and X6-8 refer to Note 1998905.1.

Scope

This note only covers Oracle Sun based hardware versions supported directly by Oracle. 
For support of Oracle Exadata Database Machine V1 based on HP hardware, please contact the GCS EEST
team which interfaces with the Hub that receives contracted support from HP for those units.

For Exadata Software assistance, refer to Internal Master Note 1274721.1

Details

Exadata Database Machine Firmware and Image patch history - X7-2 and X7-8

Quick Links:   X7-2  X7-8  IB Switch  Rack PDU  Cisco Switch

Associated documents:

• NOTE 888828.1 Database Machine and Exadata Storage Server 11g Release 2 (11.2) Supported Versions.  This is the definitive guide to patches; this Note is intended only to provide supplemental information regarding hardware firmware versions and patch release information intended for hardware support engineers.
• NOTE 1270094.1 for Exadata Critical Issues and associated patches.
• NOTE 1358327.1 for Exadata Database Machine V2, X2-2 and X2-8 Firmware and Image patch history
• NOTE 1501410.1 for Exadata Database Machine X3-2, X4-2, X3-8 and X4-8 (w/X4-2L Storage Servers) Firmware and Image patch history
• NOTE 1998905.1 for Exadata Database Machine X5-2, X4-8 (w/X5-2L Storage Servers), X5-8, X6-2 and X6-8 Firmware and Image patch history
• NOTE 2088888.1 How to Update Disk Drive Firmware on Exadata and Recovery Appliance Compute Nodes

About Exadata Patch Releases

All firmware and patches for Exadata DB Machine are controlled and tested by Oracle DB engineering. Any
 firmware update is delivered and distributed as an Oracle DB/OEL OS patch, as Exadata has built-in
scripts (/opt/oracle.cellos/CheckHWnFWProfile) to check and re-flash the firmware to
Exadata specific versions as distributed within the OS patch. The versions qualified are critical on Exadata
Storage Servers (cells) that contain customer data so re-flashing is automatic on boot up if there are any
inconsistencies or wrong/replaced down revision parts. All firmware images and tools to flash them are
locally available within the OS file system and distributed in the image or Oracle patch.

On Storage Cells all firmware updates are done automatically during the next boot after replacement, to the
version contained in the image.

On DB nodes, the re-flashing is not automatic on boot up as it considered less critical being each node is in a RAC cluster. The best practice procedure options for updating
firmware on Database nodes after parts replacements are:

1. Check with the customer first and if they have a specific version they are using, then ask they use the
normal firmware update utility and bits they have to update to that version themselves and help them with
how if they need it. A Warning about version validation may show during boot, but it can be safely ignored.

2. If they don't care, check and update to the latest available on the Oracle download site for that part, using
normal manual update methods if there is one available. Use the built-in image script to show the versions
being checked for by the image: 

A Warning about version validation may show during boot, but it can be safely ignored until the manual
update is completed.

3. If there is no version available newer than what the checks are, then use the image bits/utilities to update
to the Exadata tested/approved image version manually using the following option similar to what the storage
nodes use:

Due to release cycles on Exadata, Option 2 may be preferred for ILOM/BIOS if there are bug fixes or
features not released on Exadata yet. In most cases though Option 3 is the preferred method, as all firmware
and tools are readily available as included in the image. Upon HW replacements the Field Engineer should
do f/w upgrades such that the system is left in a booted, updated state. Otherwise, updating via regularly
released image update patches is the customer's responsibility to download and update image patches,
unless they have separately purchased the ACS proactive service offering.

The only exception is Infiniband switch firmware is not contained within the images. This is a separate patch
 and manual install release via the instructions in the patch readme.

Approved and released Exadata patches can be found at MOS NOTE 888828.1. That note is the definitive guide to patches, this Note is only to provide supplemental information regarding hardware firmware versions.

The Oracle image version can be checked by running the "imageinfo"command, and the history of
images patched or updated previously can be seen with "imagehistory" command on one of the
Exadata Storage or Database Nodes:

About Version Numbering

Exadata images are numbered with 5 digits:  A.B.X.Y.Z.

The first two A.B correspond to the primary database release i.e 18c

The third X is the major feature release version.

The fourth Y is the minor feature release version.

The fifth Z is the patch release version.

Note: Starting September 2017, the Oracle Database changed version numbering from 11.x / 12.x to be 18.x based on the year of release.

The tables below are ordered by Version number only. The release date and version number orders may not be consistent. If a new image is deemed necessary to provide patch fixes to an earlier major.minor release version, a patch release version of an image may be released at a date later than the next major.minor feature release version. In these instances, although newer, the patch fix version may not necessarily incorporate all new firmware that the next major.minor feature release versions contain.  All listed firmware updates for a patch releases are relative to the original major.minor version of the release where noted, or the previous major.minor.patch release where not noted.

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Exadata OS/Firmware Image History for X7-8

 Where applicable, DB refers to DB nodes, HC refers to Storage Servers with High Capacity disks and EF refers to Storage Servers with Extreme Flash disks.

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Exadata OS/Firmware Image History for X7-2

 Where applicable, DB refers to DB nodes, HC refers to Storage Servers with High Capacity disks and EF refers to Storage Servers with Extreme Flash disks.

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Exadata - Sun Infiniband 36P Data Center Switch Firmware

Note: IB firmware provided with Exadata OS Image patch bundles can be installed using the bundled tools, independent of doing the whole OS Image update, so customer's can choose to qualify and update to the new IB firmware without updating the server's to the latest OS Image at the same time.

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Exadata - Sun Rack II Power Distribution Unit (PDU) Firmware

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Exadata - Cisco Nexus 93108TC-EX-1G Gigabit Ethernet Switch

The switch comes with Cisco Enterprise Support if under an Oracle Premier Support contract.  Support is provided
through Oracle TSC Network team with Cisco support agreements for further assistance from Cisco if required.
Oracle can provide patch updates to the Cisco Nexus 93108TC-EX (1G) switch NxOS firmware if necessary. 
Refer to the EIS checklist for later version information.

The original version shipped was NxOS 7.0(3)i5, however the version that Cisco and Oracle currently ships on
new switches may be later than this. 

The version and model type can be obtained using the "show version" command. 

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References

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