Release Notes for Cisco UCS C-Series Software, Release 1.4(6)
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Table of Contents
Release Notes for Cisco UCS C-Series Software, Release 1.4(6)
Overview of Cisco UCS C460 and C260 Rack Servers
Overview of Cisco UCS C220 M3 and C240 M3 Rack Servers
Overview of Cisco UCS C22 M3 and C24 M3 Rack Servers
Overview of the Pre-Installed Cisco Flexible Flash Card
Hardware and Software Interoperability
Upgrading BIOS and CIMC Firmware
Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request
Release Notes for Cisco UCS C-Series Software, Release 1.4(6)
First Published Date: August 15, 2012
This document describes the new features, system requirements, open caveats and known behaviors for C- series software release 1.4(6) including Cisco Integrated Management Controller software and any related BIOS, firmware, or drivers. Use this document in conjunction with the documents listed in the “Related Documentation” section.
Note
We sometimes update the documentation after original publication. Therefore, you should also review the documentation on Cisco.com for any updates.
Table 1 shows the online change history for this document.
Introduction
This section includes the following sections:
- Overview of the Server Models
- Hardware and Software Interoperability
- Transceivers Specifications
- Firmware Files
- Host Upgrade Utility
- System Requirements
- Updating the Firmware
- Upgrading BIOS and CIMC Firmware
Overview of Cisco UCS C460 and C260 Rack Servers
The Cisco UCS C460 High-Performance Rack-Mount Server is designed with the performance and reliability to power compute-intensive, enterprise-critical standalone applications and virtualized workloads. The system is a four-rack-unit (4RU) rack-mount server supporting up to four Intel Xeon 7500 series processors, up to 512 GB of DDR3 memory in 64 slots, and 12 small form-factor (SFF) hot-pluggable SAS and SATA disk drives. Abundant I/O capability is provided by 10 PCI Express (PCIe) slots supporting the Cisco UCS C-Series network adapters, with an eleventh PCIe slot reserved for a hard disk drive array controller card. Additional I/O is provided by two Gigabit Ethernet LAN-on-motherboard (LOM) ports, two 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports, and two dedicated out-of-band (OOB) management ports.
The Cisco UCS C260 High-Performance Rack-Mount Server is designed with the performance and reliability to power compute-intensive, enterprise-critical standalone applications and virtualized workloads. The system is a two-rack-unit (2RU) rack-mount server supporting up to two Intel Xeon 7500 series processors, up to 1 TB of DDR3 memory in 64 slots, and 16 small form-factor (SFF) hot-pluggable SAS and SATA disk drives. Abundant I/O capability is provided by 7 PCI Express (PCIe) slots supporting the Cisco UCS C-Series network adapters and hard disk drive array controller cards. Additional I/O is provided by two Gigabit Ethernet LAN-on-motherboard (LOM) ports, two optional 10 Gigabit Ethernet LOM ports, and two dedicated out-of-band (OOB) management ports.
This server is shipped from the factory with one pre-installed Cisco Flexible Flash card. The slots for these cards are on the I/O riser.
The Cisco UCS 460 M2 and the Cisco UCS 260 M2 interfaces with Cisco UCS using the Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card (VIC); 1225 and P81E. The Cisco UCS VIC is a virtualization-optimized Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) PCI Express (PCIe) 2.0 x8 10-Gbps adapter designed for use with Cisco UCS C-Series servers. The VIC is a dual-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe adapter that can support up to 128 (P81E) or 256 (1225) PCIe standards-compliant virtual interfaces, which can be dynamically configured so that both their interface types-network interface card (NIC) or host bus adapter (HBA) and identity (MAC address and worldwide name (WWN))-are established using just-in-time provisioning. In addition, the Cisco UCS VIC can support network interface virtualization and Cisco® Data Center Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) technology.
Overview of Cisco UCS C220 M3 and C240 M3 Rack Servers
The Cisco UCS C220 M3 Rack Server is designed for performance and density over a wide range of business workloads, from web serving to distributed databases. The enterprise-class Cisco UCS C220 M3 server extends the capabilities of the Cisco UCS portfolio in a 1RU form factor with the addition of the Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 product family. In addition, the Cisco UCS C220 M3 server offers up to two Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600s, 16 DIMM slots, eight disk drives, and two 1 Gigabit Ethernet LAN-on-motherboard (LOM) ports.
The Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Server is designed for both performance and expandability over a wide range of storage-intensive infrastructure workloads, from big data to collaboration. The enterprise-class Cisco UCS C240 M3 server further extends the capabilities of the Cisco UCS portfolio in a 2RU form factor with the addition of the Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 product family. The Cisco UCS C240 M3 offers up to two Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 product family, 24 DIMM slots, 24 disk drives, and four 1 Gigabit Ethernet LOM ports.
The Cisco UCS C220 M3 and the Cisco UCS C240 M3 interfaces with Cisco UCS using the Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card (VIC); 1225 and P81E. The Cisco UCS VIC is a virtualization-optimized Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) PCI Express (PCIe) 2.0 x8 10-Gbps adapter designed for use with Cisco UCS C-Series servers. The VIC is a dual-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe adapter that can support up to 128 (P81E) or 256 (1225) PCIe standards-compliant virtual interfaces, which can be dynamically configured so that both their interface types-network interface card (NIC) or host bus adapter (HBA) and identity (MAC address and worldwide name (WWN))-are established using just-in-time provisioning. In addition, the Cisco UCS VIC can support network interface virtualization and Cisco® Data Center Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) technology.
Overview of Cisco UCS C22 M3 and C24 M3 Rack Servers
The Cisco UCS C22 M3 Rack Server is a low cost UCS server designed for both performance and density over a wide range of business workloads, including enterprise web/file/print server and HPC. The enterprise-class Cisco UCS C22 M3 server extends the capabilities of the Cisco UCS portfolio in a 1RU form factor with the addition of the Intel Xeon E5-2400 product family. In addition, the Cisco UCS C22 M3 server offers up to two Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2400 processors, 12 DIMM slots, 8 disk drives, and two 1 Gigabit Ethernet LAN-on-motherboard (LOM) ports.
The Cisco UCS C24 M3 Rack Server is designed for both performance and expandability over a wide range of storage-intensive infrastructure workloads, from big data to collaboration. The enterprise-class Cisco UCS C24 M3 server further extends the capabilities of the Cisco UCS portfolio in a 2RU form factor with the addition of the Intel® Xeon® processor Intel Xeon E5-2400 product family. The Cisco UCS C24 M3 offers up to two Intel® Xeon® E5-2400 processors, 12 DIMM slots, 24 disk drives, and two 1 Gigabit Ethernet LAN-on-motherboard (LOM) ports.
The Cisco UCS C22 M3 and the Cisco UCS C24 M3 interfaces with Cisco UCS using the Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card (VIC); 1225 and P81E. The Cisco UCS VIC is a virtualization-optimized Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) PCI Express (PCIe) 2.0 x8 10-Gbps adapter designed for use with Cisco UCS C-Series servers. The VIC is a dual-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe adapter that can support up to 128 (P81E) or 256 (1225) PCIe standards-compliant virtual interfaces, which can be dynamically configured so that both their interface types-network interface card (NIC) or host bus adapter (HBA) and identity (MAC address and worldwide name (WWN))-are established using just-in-time provisioning. In addition, the Cisco UCS VIC can support network interface virtualization and Cisco® Data Center Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) technology.
Overview of the Pre-Installed Cisco Flexible Flash Card
The Cisco Flexible Flash card is pre-installed with three software bundles, each on one of four preconfigured virtual drives (VDs). The fourth VD allows you to install an OS or an embedded hypervisor.
The VDs are configured with the following content:
- Cisco UCS Server Configuration Utility (SCU).
- Hypervisor (HV). This is a VD that you can use for your own purposes.
- Cisco Drivers (Drivers).
- Cisco Host Upgrade Utility (HUU).
Refer to the following documents for more information about these tasks:
– Cisco UCS C260 Server Installation and Service Guide
– Cisco UCS C220 Server Installation and Service Guide
– Cisco UCS C240 Server Installation and Service Guide
- Enabling and booting a VD: Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Integrated Management Controller GUI Configuration Guide or the Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Integrated Management Controller CLI Configuration Guide
- Monitoring and managing a card with CIMC: Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Integrated Management Controller GUI Configuration Guide or the Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Integrated Management Controller CLI Configuration Guide
The links to these documents are in the C-Series documentation road map:
Hardware and Software Interoperability
For detailed information about storage switch, operating system, adapter, adapter utility, and storage array interoperability, see the Hardware and Software Interoperability Matrix for your release located at:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10477/prod_technical_reference_list.html
Transceivers Specifications
The Cisco UCS C-Series servers supports a wide variety of 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity options using Cisco 10GBASE SFP+ modules.
Table 2 and Table 3 details the controllers and the supported transceivers.
Firmware Files
The C-Series software release 1.4(6) includes the following software files:
Note Always upgrade both the BIOS and the CIMC from the HUU ISO. Do not upgrade individual components (only BIOS or only CIMC), since this could lead to unexpected behavior.
Note If you choose to upgrade BIOS and the CIMC individually and not from the HUU ISO, make sure to upgrade both CIMC and BIOS to the same container release. If the BIOS and the CIMC versions are from different container releases, it could result in unexpected behavior.
Host Upgrade Utility
The Cisco Host Upgrade Utility (HUU) is a tool that upgrades the following firmware:
– Intel Ethernet i350 PCI Server Adapter
– 5709 Dual and Quad port adapters
The image file for the firmware is embedded in the ISO. The utility displays a menu that allows you to choose which firmware components to upgrade. For more information on this utility see:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10493/products_user_guide_list.html
Starting with this 1.4 release, separate ISO images of Host Upgrade Utility are available for different server platforms.
The ISO image is now named as ucs-<server_platform>-huu-<version_number>.iso.
The Cisco Host Upgrade Utility contains the following files:
System Requirements
The management client must meet or exceed the following minimum system requirements:
Updating the Firmware
Use the Host Upgrade Utility to upgrade the C-Series firmware. Host Upgrade Utility can upgrade the following software components:
All firmware should be upgraded together to ensure proper operation of your server.
Upgrading BIOS and CIMC Firmware
Cisco provides the Cisco Host Upgrade Utility to assist you in upgrading the BIOS, CIMC, LOM, LSI storage controller, and Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Cards firmware to compatible levels.
Note When upgrading the CIMC firmware for the UCS C-series M3 platforms, ensure that you update using the full image (for example upd-pkg-c2XX-m3-cimc.full.*.bin).
The correct and compatible firmware levels for your server model are embedded in the utility ISO.
To use this utility, use the Cisco Host Upgrade Utility User Guide which includes the instructions for downloading and using the utility ISO. Select the guide from this URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10493/products_user_guide_list.html
Supported Features
This section includes the following topics:
Software Utilities
SNMP
The supported MIB definition for Release 1.4(3) and later releases can be found at the following link: ftp://ftp.cisco.com/pub/mibs/supportlists/ucs/ucs-C-supportlist.html
Note The above link is incompatible with IE 9.0.
Resolved Caveats
The following caveats were resolved in 1.4(6) release:
CIMC
Symptom After you upgrade the firmware using HUU, sometimes the keyboard input does not work in the EFI shell.
Workaround If the keyboard input does not work from KVM, restart the server from the CIMC Web GUI or CLI. (CSCua62614)
Symptom The CIMC Web GUI displays the battery status as "unknown" when LSI 9265CV-8i with supercap battery is used.
Workaround Use MegaCLI or LSI Web BIOS to read the battery status. (CSCty64241)
Symptom HDD Fault Critical SEL events are logged in CIMC.
Workaround The Release 1.4(6) has critical fixes in the chassis firmware. Run the scope chassis and update-all commands to update the relevant chassis firmware versions. (CSCua41901)
Symptom When you upgrade CIMC using HUU, the operation fails.
Workaround Use the CIMC Web UI to perform the CIMC upgrade. Use the cimc bin file for the same. In the CIMC web UI go to Admin > Firmware Management, and select the "Install CIMC firmware through browser client" option. (CSCtz80019)
Symptom Data Center Manageability Interface (DCMI) reports the same values for minimum and maximum for various averaging periods as that of the values observed since BMC boot.
Also, averaging for each period is updated only at the end of that period so convergence appears a bit slow on DCMI management station because power consumption has gone through transition and settled long back. Averaging needs to happen more frequently so that management station can see quicker convergence.
Workaround None. This issue will be fixed in an upcoming release. (CSCty07570)
Symptom In Release 1.4(2), when the CIMC firmware is upgraded, the storage information does not get displayed in CIMC Web GUI and CLI.
Workaround Restart the CIMC.(CSCtx08443)
Symptom PCIe cards installed in UCS C240 M3 systems may overheat when the system is idle. The issue has been observed only with LSI 9266 RAID Controllers installed in UCS C240 M3 chassis and is caused by a cooling fan algorithm which reduces fan speed below the minimum required when the system is idle.
The following symptoms have been observed:
The server may hang after several hours without any activity or during a reboot.
The /var/log/messages directory will have multiple entries similar to the following:
When running the MegaCLI command with the parameters noted below, output of it will have high chip temperatures as in this example:
Workaround Update the active CIMC and BIOS software to the following versions:
CIMC Firmware 1.4(5h)or higher
BIOS C240M3.1.4.5e.0 or higher
It is recommended that you update CIMC and BIOS along with other system components using the Host Upgrade Utility (HUU) in order to assure all levels are compatible with each other. (CSCub12154)
Symptom When you run the update-all command immediately after the BIOS update, the chassis component firmware update process fails.
Workaround Perform the CIMC reboot if the update-all command fails after the BIOS update. (CSCua49441)
Symptom Sometimes the Update-all command returns inconsistent messages causing the chassis components firmware to fail.
Workaround Use the following commands in the chassis/firmware scope and read the messages or warnings displayed.
Server/chassis/firmware# show detail
Server/chassis/firmware# update-all
If any errors or failures are encountered, reboot the CIMC and retry the update-all command. (CSCua41121)
Symptom The HDD faults are not logged in the CIMC SEL for UCSC-C240-M3S.
Workaround You can observe the HDD fault status under Storage Inventory in the CIMC. (CSCua51097)
Symptom Network latency is observed when a ping sent to CIMC IP after running a Network Performance test.
BIOS
Symptom If you set the Console Redirection as Enabled and update the BIOS to Release 1.4(6), on the next system boot, the Console Redirection is seen as Disabled instead of "Com0" as Console Redirection was enabled in the previous boot.
Workaround Set the Console Redirection as required after the BIOS update. (CSCua93020)
Symptom Sometimes the following error message is displayed on starting the server and the CIMC IP and the MAC address do not displayed.
Known Behaviors
This section includes the following topics:
LSI
Symptom The embedded controller on the mother board on UCS C-220 servers is not supported with Windows 2012 servers. Drivers for this chip for Microsoft Windows 2012 servers are not available. So, if Onboard SCU Storage Support is enabled, the Windows Device Manager displays a yellow mark for SAS controllers under Other Devices.
Workaround Disable the Onboard SCU Storage Support from the BIOS -> Advanced menu as this option is not supported with Windows 2012 servers.
VIC
Symptom Virtual Interface Card (VIC) does not support Microsoft Windows 2012 on C-series server platforms in 1.4(6), 1.4(6d) and 1.4(3o) releases.
VIC
Symptom Virtual Interface Card (VIC) does not support Microsoft Windows 2012 on C-series server platforms in 1.4(6), 1.4(6d) and 1.4(3o) releases.
CIMC
Symptom Virtual CD/DVD, floppy, and HDD devices do not get populated by default.
Workaround This is an expected behavior. If virtual media is not mounted, the virtual devices do not get populated in boot order. If virtual media is mounted, the virtual devices get populated. If you need to boot to virtual devices, reboot the host.
Symptom C22 shows PSU2 in ESXi 4.1U2 VI client.
Workaround None. Ignore the PSU2 status display as there is only one PSU support for C22.
Symptom The KVM screen displays a blank screen.
Workaround Use the physical monitor to change the screen resolution. The following resolutions are supported:
- 640x480 (8bpp)
- 800x600 (8bpp)
- 1024x768 (8bpp)
- 1280x1024 (8bpp)
- 1600x1200(8bpp)
- 1920x1080(8bpp)
- 1920x1200(8bpp)
- 640x480 (16bpp)
- 800x600 (16bpp)
- 1024x768 (16bpp)
- 1280x1024(16bpp)
- 1600x1200(16bpp)
- 1920x1080(16bpp)
- 1920x1200(16bpp)
- 640x480 (24bpp)
- 800x600 (24bpp)
- 1024x768 (24bpp)
- 1280x1024(24bpp)
- 640x480 (32bpp)
- 800x600(32bpp)
- 1024x768(32bpp)
- 1280x1024(32bpp)
Symptom The mouse does not work or track in the LSI Web BIOS tool.
Workaround Use one of the following workarounds:
- Set the mouse to relative motion, no acceleration. When running the WebBIOS as a legacy OptionROM, absolute mouse positioning is not supported, and no acceleration gives the best behavior of the two relative positioning modes.
- Move the cursor to single cursor mode by using KVM windows > Tools > single cursor. The single cursor mode eliminates the discrepancy between the local cursor movement and the remote cursor movement.
Symptom BIOS update fails if KVM is launched while BIOS is uploading.
Workaround Use one of the following workarounds:
- Launch the KVM in another browser or session.
- Do not launch the KVM if the BIOS upload is in the Uploading stage.
Symptom On C460, firmware update may fail and display 'System update Package not found for the platform' or 'Error string not found' messages.
Workaround Check if the SCU boot CD or the ISO is mounted or mapped in Vmedia. Retry the update after making the SCU CD or ISO available.
Symptom CIMC CLI shows generic PID for LSI 9265 card without Battery Backup Unit (BBU) and Broadcom 5709 Dual Port Ethernet Adapter card. The following details are observed:
Workaround None. CIMC cannot detect the absence of BBU in LSI and Broadcom firmware revision details.
Symptom BIOS failed to boot after updating the BIOS from the current release version 1.4.6x.0 to version 1.4.3x.0
Workaround The change in the Non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM) layout in the BIOS 1.4.6x.0 to create more space to save the BIOS Setup settings has made the NVRAM layout incompatible with older BIOSes.
Try the following workarounds if the BIOS needs to be downgraded to an older version from the 1.4.6x.0 version.
- If HUU is used to downgrade the BIOS from 1.4.6x.0 to a older BIOS version, switch off the system after the BIOS update is complete, clear the CMOS using CMOS clear jumper and switch on the system. This method can be used irrespective of how the BIOS was upgraded.
- If EFI BIOS package is used to downgrade the BIOS from 1.4.6x.0 to a older BIOS version, execute "iflash32 /rd" in EFI shell to clear the CMOS. This should be done after the BIOS update completes and before rebooting the system.
- If the Linux BIOS package is used to downgrade the BIOS from 1.4.6x.0 to a older BIOS version, execute "./iflash32 -rd" from the linux command prompt to clear the CMOS. This should be done after the BIOS update completes and before rebooting the system.
- If the Windows BIOS package is used to downgrade the BIOS from 1.4.6x.0 to a older BIOS version, execute "iflash32.exe -rd" from the command prompt. This should be done after the BIOS update completes and before rebooting the system.
Symptom Occasionally, when configuring a C-series rack server for in-band management (connecting to the management controller via the host LAN on Motherboard ports, or via a Cisco adapter port), rebooting the host will cause an existing vKVM session to drop.
Workaround One fail-safe work around for this issue is to use the dedicated CIMC ports for management connectivity. However, that is likely not possible in many C-series server deployments. You can also configure the switch ports to which the host is attached for fast spanning-tree recalculations. That can avoid the usual 30-second delay many switches impose when a port bounces before they re-run the spanning-tree calculation. Future releases will have many improvements to minimize or eliminate the port bounce behavior, and its effects.
Symptom Cisco UCS VIC 1225 PCIe card is not supported in C260 server slot 4
Workaround Install VIC 1225 in C260 server slot 1 or slot 7.
Symptom USB Key which is inserted on a Mac can be forced to be read-only.
Workaround Mac users must unmount the removable drive before mapping by following these workarounds:
Step 1 In the command line (Terminal), enter this command:
Step 2 In the KVM/vMedia client, uncheck the Read Only check box. At this point, you may be prompted to stop the automatic mounting of the drive. Click Yes.
Step 3 Proceed with mapping the drive.
These steps are time-sensitive and the Mac OS remounts the drives that have been unmounted. If the drive does get remounted by the OS before completing the steps, repeat the steps.
You can also perform the following steps:
Step 1 Unmap the USB stick and use the Finder to eject the device.
Step 2 Wait for the device to disappear from the vMedia Client view, and then physically remove and re-insert it while the vMedia session is running.
Click Yes to the questions asking about preventing automatic mounting of the drive.
Symptom After every CIMC reboot or upgrade and downgrade, it is found that the Enable/Disable vMedia option behavior is not persistent.
Workaround After CIMC upgrade and downgrade and after a CIMC reboot, you have to explicitly disable or enable the vMedia option if it is used.
Symptom PID shows wrong value for MegaRAID 9266CV-8i w/FTM + LSI CacheVault.
Hardware
Symptom HDD fault deasserted in SEL when Locate LED is ON.
Workaround No known workaround exists. Since the same HW circuit is used to identify HDD fault and turning on HDD locate LED it is expected to see this behavior. You can turn off the locate LED as soon as it is located and also ignore the deassert/assert event caused by the locate LED.
In 1U, there is a separate bit for locate and fail, however, when both are active, it is used to indicate rebuild, therefore FPGA is not to report fault.
In 2U, the fault is decoded from the Expander chip. Fault will only be reported when the LED is solid on, blinking on is a not fault condition.
BIOS
Symptom The following symptoms have been observed after installing new PCI cards or changing PCI card configurations:
- The BIOS may appear to hang while initializing PCI devices.
- PCI option ROMs may take an excessive time to complete and this appears to lock the system up.
- PCI boot devices may not be accessible from the BIOS.
- PCI Option ROMs may report initialization errors. These errors will be seen before the BIOS hands control to the operating system.
- The keyboard may not work.
Workaround Try the following workarounds:
- Adjust the IOH IO Resource Allocation Ratio. This option is found in the BIOS setup and is available in the Advanced, PCI Configuration tab.
- Remove unused PCI cards, if any.
- Rearrange the PCI cards to create a balance between IOH0 and IOH1.
You can use the following information for the first and the last workarounds:
There is 64k of legacy 16-bit I/O resources available. This 64k is divided between two different IOH's (IOH0 and IOH1). The default BIOS setting is to allocate 40k to IOH0 and 24k to IOH1. Every PCI device that is connected to IOH0 has to share the 40k of I/O. While every PCI device connected to IOH1 must share the 24k of I/O.
This issue results because a PCI device is requesting more I/O space than available on the IOH to which it is connected.
To resolve this issue, you should do the following:
Step 1 Identify which IOH slots your PCI cards are connected to.
Step 2 Try rebalancing the load on each IOH. This can be done by removing PCI cards, rearranging PCI cards or adjusting the IOH IO resource Allocation Ratio.
The table below show the slots are connected to IOH 0 and IOH 1. This information is needed when rebalancing the IOH I/O resources.
Symptom The CPU frequency keeps fluctuating, when the Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST) is disabled and C6, C1E is enabled.
Symptom PCI bus and device number for some of the devices change after upgrading the C220 and C240 servers from 1.4(4c) to later software releases.
Workaround None. Reconfigure your OS and applications which depend on fixed PCI bus and device numbers. (CSCud22651)
LSI
Symptom In C220 and C240 servers, the RHEL 6.2 Install to iSCSI target hangs when 2008 MEZZ card Option ROM is disabled.
Workaround You can try one of the following workarounds:
- Always enable the 2008 LSI OPROM in System BIOS when it is present in the server.
- If you want to disable it then during OS installation, depending on the OS, blacklist the LSI MegaRAID driver for the 2008 MEZZ card so that system does not hang during install.
Symptom RAID 10 support on LSI Embedded MegaRAID controller having more than 2 HDD per span fails.
Workaround None. Currently, RAID 10 only supports up to 4 disks for LSI Embedded MegaRAID, that is, 2 disks per Data Group and only 2 Data Groups per RAID 10.
Symptom The hard disk slot numbering on C260 in the LSI Host Applications such as MSM and BMC WebUI/CLI may not match with the Physical Slot numbers on the silkscreen in the front panel of the servers. The condition occurs in C260 configurations which have 1 or 2 LSI controllers with Non-Expander Backplane. If there is one LSI controller, there will be only one enclosure and the disk numbering would be 0-7. If there are two LSI controllers, there will be two enclosures and the disk slot numbering would be 0-7 on Enclosure 1 and 0-7 on Enclosure 2.
Workaround The hard disk slots 0-7 on Enclosure 1 from Host Application MSM corresponds to 1-8 Physical HDD Slot numbers and the Hard disk slot 0-7 on Enclosure 2 from Host Application MSM corresponds to 9-16 Physical HDD Slot numbers on the Front Panel Silkscreen.
Symptom When C460 servers are running, the system restarts when one or more Intel SSD 64GB drives are plugged in.
Workaround If you want to use Intel 64GB SSD drives in the C460 server, shut down the system completely and then plug in the drives. The drives will be detected by the storage controller after the system has been switched on.
Symptom When using LSI 9240-8i HBA in C460 server with more than 8 drives, system hangs in BIOS POST waiting for user input with the following message:
Workaround When using LSI 9240-8i HBA in C460 server, limit number of drives installed to maximum of 8.
LOM
Symptom C460 10GBaseT LOM port cannot hold the link when the host is down (on standby power) and is connected to a switch which does not support 1G or lower speed.
Workaround C460 10GBaseT LOM does not support 10G speed on standby. If the CIMC network mode is "Shared 10G" and the LOM port has to stay up on standby power, the port must be connected to a switch which supports 1G or lower speed and auto negotiation must be enabled.
Symptom WoL Magic packet does not wake the system if it is received on 10 GigE LOM SFP+ interfaces.
Open Caveats
This section lists the open caveats for Release 1.4(6):
CIMC
Symptom RAID subsystem Virtual Drive write performance can drop without warning from the CIMC.
Workaround There is no immediate solution to the notification problem from the CIMC in current releases. You can try the following workarounds:
- Run regularly scheduled refresh cycles during non-peak load to prevent this issue.
- Monitor the BBU (Battery Backup Unit) charge information periodically to know the charge status.
- Configure standard host-based tools for monitoring and alerting. (CSCub12581)
Symptom SSH session remains active even after termination using the terminate command.
Workaround Avoid the terminate session command and always close the SSH connection when you exit. (CSCua67529)
Symptom Duplicate SNMP traps are obtained when you insert Fan 2,4 and 5 in Cisco C22.
Symptom CIMC recognizes only the SuperCap and all other information like the charge and charging state is not available.
Symptom The SEL event is not logged in the OS Watchdog timer expiration.
Symptom The connection to the Virtual Media tab gets disconnected and OS iso that was mapped over the Virtual Media tab disappears as a result of the disconnection.
Workaround Reboot the server and restart the operating system installation. (CSCtz07699)
Symptom The HDD presence cannot be viewed through SNMP.
Workaround Use either alternate interfaces or do SNMP query again for the HDD inventory after the action. (CSCty60975)
Symptom The SNMP Hard Disk Inventory starts numbering with 0 while the CIMC HDD sensor starts with 1.
Workaround None. This symptom occurs because the SNMP Hard disk inventory matches with the storage inventory and both starts with index 0. The hard disk sensor numbering starts with 1 because it matches with the label in the SKU. You need to be aware of the difference and map it accordingly while browsing for a specific HDD detail across sensors and storage inventory. (CSCty58229)
Symptom The Web GUI and CLI are not consistent in displaying the PSU redundancy status in Cisco C22.
Symptom When the LSI MegaRAID controller is used in conjunction with Cisco Flex Flash card, the SNMP_Inv_HDD:DiskPresence displays missing(11) instead of equipped(10).
Workaround Use the CIMC Web GUI to query the hard drive inventory.(CSCty26198)
Symptom When the LSI MegaRAID controller is used with the Cisco Flex Flash, SNMP_Inv_HDD:Disk_IDD N and RN shows 0,0,0 instead of 0,1,2 sequence.
Workaround Use the CIMC Web GUI to query the hard drive inventory. (CSCty26155)
Symptom CIMC Web GUI does not reflect the "Reconstruction" virtual disk state after expanding the virtual disk.
Workaround Use the same interface that you used for configuring the virtual disk to view the “Reconstruction” state. The interface can either be Web GUI or MegaCLI.(CSCtx96912)
Symptom Occasionally when CIMC boots, the HTTP Web UI does not start.
Workaround Restart CIMC. (CSCtx19968)
Symptom The SNMPv3 walk, with AES encryption enabled, produces a “Decryption Error” when an SNMPv3 trap is triggered by an event. An “authentication failure” error is also encountered on triggering an event with the secure hash algorithm (SHA) authentication. The SHA trap error is encountered with both “authpriv” and “authnopriv” settings. The issue is observed till the master agent is restarted by clicking Save All in the CIMC Web UI SNMP configuration page.
Workaround Use the Message-Digest algorithm 5 (MD5) authentication and DES encryption for v3 user configuration. (CSCtx11173)
Symptom The power supply serial number is unavailable in the SNMP inventory because the Power Management Bus (PMBus) has not provided the power information.
Symptom The SNMPv3 traps are not received in the Net-SNMP receiver.
Symptom The AES encryption field does not show the encryption level (128, 256, and so on) on the Web GUI and CLI.
Workaround The SNMP V3 encryption key length must be clearly indicated. The SNMP agent supports AES - 128 bit encryption by default. (CSCtr31577)
Symptom During system power on or reboot, HDD critical events are generated in the SEL.
Workaround This is not really a critical event. The HDD critical event is harmless and does not indicate an actual HDD fault. When the system boots to OS, the same HDD which reported critical becomes normal. This is also applicable to the LSI applications. The SEL should show that the HDD which displayed the critical events goes back to normal after 30-60 seconds. (CSCtz96990)
Symptom On C460 servers, the CIMC Web GUI does not display Cisco P81E card details when the main CPU is powered off.
Workaround Use the CIMC CLI or power on the main CPU. (CSCtn75815)
Symptom After firmware updates, the CIMC Web GUI and CLI might not display the Virtual Drive Information under the Virtual Drive tab and might display the Virtual Drive count as zero even though the Virtual Drive tab displays the list of virtual drives present in the system.
Workaround Restart the CIMC.(CSCtx88183)
Symptom When hard disks are removed from RAID groups, the CIMC Web GUI and CLI may show the same drives as online in the Physical tab of the Storage page and as missing in the Virtual Drive tab.
Workaround Restart the CIMC.(CSCtx81754)
Symptom The PSU firmware revision may only be partially available when the PSU does not have AC power.
Workaround Connect the AC power to the PSU. The full firmware revision will be available.
Symptom When LSI controller is downgraded, you may view the information, for example, virtual drive, firmware, of the previous version of the LSI controller in the CIMC Web GUI and CLI.
Workaround Restart the host machine so that the correct information is propagated to the CIMC Web GUI and CLI.(CSCtx08449)
Symptom CIMC power capping is not supported on VMware ESXi 5.0.
Workaround When CIMC is upgraded to 1.4(2), the CIMC will automatically disable power capping. Power capping must manually be re-enabled to use it. (CSCtt08424)
Symptom CIMC storage view of LSI 9260 card occasionally reports 0 Cache Memory size.
Workaround None. You can use host-based MSM tools to corroborate data. (CSCtn08982)
Symptom When you power on the chassis with some PS power cables disconnected, the system health LED on the front panel stays green, though some power supplies have no input voltage.
Workaround Connect all cables from APC power to the power supply securely. (CSCtg92856)
Symptom The SNMPv3 traps are not received in the Net-SNMP receiver.
Symptom SNMPv1 traps are sent when SNMPv2 and SNMPv3 traps are enabled.
Symptom When updating CIMC firmware through TFTP, if the image file is corrupted, the update status indicator is the same as if the file does not exist.
Workaround Be aware that this error message can actually indicate either of the above conditions and should make sure that the file both the exists, and is a valid firmware image for the CIMC being upgraded. (CSCti17492)
Symptom The following symptoms are observed in RHEL 6.3
- OS Kernel Panic.
- FC Target not visible to the OS.
- SAN OS installation fails to recognize the FC Target.
Workaround Follow these steps:
Check and verify the switch configuration to ensure that only 1 VSAN and VLAN is configured on the FCOE interface. Verify Virtual Interface Information (FCOE interface) to check that only 1 VSAN is allowed.
Run the following command to check if multiple VSAN is configured:
Trunk vsans (admin allowed and active) (n-m)
Run the following commands to change the Virtual Interface Configuration to allow only 1 Vsan.
Verify the bound interface configuration.
Bound interface is <bound_interface_name>
Run the following commands to change the Bound Interface Configuration to allow only 1 VLAN.
Symptom The SNMPv3 walk, with AES encryption enabled, produces a “Decryption Error” when an SNMPv3 trap is triggered by an event. An “authentication failure” error is also encountered on triggering an event with the secure hash algorithm (SHA) authentication. The SHA trap error is encountered with both “authpriv” and “authnopriv” settings. The issue is observed till the master agent is restarted by clicking Save All in the CIMC Web UI SNMP configuration page.
Workaround Use the Message-Digest algorithm 5 (MD5) authentication and DES encryption for v3 user configuration. (CSCtx11173)
Symptom The keyboard can stop working in the Broadcom 57712 PCIe option ROM.
Symptom The 650W PSU shows 20-35W power usage in the standby mode.
Workaround None. This issue can be ignored. (CSCub12831)
Symptom Sometimes when java 1.7.0_05-b05 is installed in the system, the KVM fails to launch.
LSI
Symptom The server hangs during BIOS POST when scanning LSI devices.
Workaround When the system hangs, switch off the system and remove the failed drive. This would be the drive that has solid amber for the Status LED. The Status LED is the uppermost LED on the hard disk. After removing this drive, switch on the system. The system should now boot successfully. Replace the failed drive with a new drive. (CSCtx62350)
Symptom The system hangs when you type Exit in the EFI shell.
Workaround Hard reset the server to recover from system hang. (CSCtx64756)
Symptom When the I/O is running on two or more hard disks part of a RAID array, the Activity LED is seen blinking GREEN on the hard disks on which the I/O is running and part of the RAID array and also on the adjacent hard disk which is not part of the RAID group.
Workaround None. You can ignore the Activity LED running on the adjacent hard disk of the RAID array as there is no actual I/O running on this hard disk. (CSCtz10983)
Symptom The 2008-8i MEZZ Card Serial number and FRU information is missing in the LSI Web BIOS and the LSI Host Application such as MSM and MegaCli.
Symptom The Storage Controller name in Device Manager, under Windows 2008 R2 SP1 for C240 server, displays the Server model number as C220 instead of C240.
Symptom The server is unable to boot to the OS.
Workaround Try the following workarounds:
- Restart the server again. This can clear the LSI controller fault condition and then boot to the OS successfully.
- If rebooting does not fix the issue, then enter the WebBIOS using Cntrl+H during BIOS POST when LSI controller OPROM is seen. In WebBIOS, navigate to the Logical Drive Tabs and set the Virtual drive in which the OS is installed and restart the server. This will result in successful booting to the OS. (CSCua92555)
Symptom When two PCIe NIC cards have been installed in a C260 M2 server, then after a reboot, the Virtual Drive disappears and no longer shows the local hard drive as a boot option.
Workaround The system has very limited Option ROM memory space (~128KB) to load all the legacy Options ROMs which are 16-bit real mode code and can be executed only below 1-Meg memory space. This limitation is not specific to C260 or any Cisco servers. All the Servers have this limitation especially for legacy Option ROMs which will be exposed when too many PCIe cards are installed or some PCI Option ROMs use more memory space. The BIOS loads the Option ROM for the PCIe cards in the order the cards are enumerated. If the Option ROM space is fully occupied by other PCIe cards before LSI Option ROM gets loaded, the LSI Option ROM will not get loaded and LSI RAID virtual drives will not show up in the boot order
As a workaround, the C260 M2 BIOS provides Setup options to disable and enable Option ROMs per PCIe slot depending on the customer need. You can resolve this issue by disabling the Option ROMs for the PCIe cards that are not required for booting. (CSCua82032)
Symptom The following issues are observed in Cisco UCS C460 servers with Qlogic 4Gbps HBA in a generation 1 PCI slot:
This issue is observed in slot 8.
Workaround Move Qlogic 4 Gbps HBA to a generation 2 slot and do not use it in slot 8. (CSCub58866)
Symptom Repeated and multiple drive removal and insertion may result in the LSI SWRAID OPROM getting into an inconsistent state and not being able to detect the plugged in or removed drives. Rebooting the system does not fix this issue and the drive states could change from Online to Ready resulting in loss of data.
Workaround You need to insert or remove the drives one at a time and wait for the LSI SWRAID OPROM to detect the drive event (either removal or insertion) via a message. Press Esc and then insert or remove another drive.(CSCtz68178)
Symptom The rebuild of drives fail if the RAID group contains both SAS and SATA hard disks.
Workaround Using both SAS and SATA drives together in the RAID group is not recommended. (CSCtz63094)
Symptom The 2008-8i MEZZ Card Serial number and FRU information is missing in the LSI Web BIOS and the LSI Host Application such as MSM and MegaCli.
Symptom The drive rebuild process does not complete if the system is being rebooted during the rebuild operation.
Workaround Allow the rebuild process to complete, that is, till it reaches 100% before rebooting the server.(CSCty92714)
Symptom The system hangs when you type Exit in the EFI shell.
Workaround Hard reset the server to recover from the system hang. (CSCtx64756)
Symptom The C460 server with 9240-8i card hangs and results in system panic or BSOD when a virtual drive is being deleted from Linux or Windows using the LSI host applications such as MegaRAID Storage Manager (MSM) or MegaCli.
Workaround Limit to one stripe size for all Virtual Drives on a controller. If you require multiple stripe sizes and encounter the VD deletion issue, restart the system and delete the VD using the Web BIOS.(CSCtx41090)
Symptom The C460 server with 9240-8i card hangs during the virtual drive creation when you use either MSM or MegaCli LSI applications from any of the supported OS.
Workaround Restart the system if the system hangs during the virtual drive creation. We recommend you limit to one stripe size for all the VDs on a controller.(CSCtw64310)
Symptom The following error message is displayed in some LSI RAID controllers when you navigate to CIMC > Inventory > Storage > Battery Backup Unit.
The server did not have BBU installed on it and it should have confirmed the absence of the unit.
Workaround None. This issue is currently under investigation. (CSCts37240)
Symptom If the number of Virtual Drives created in the LSI MegaRAID controller is greater than or equal to 50, the system will not boot from any of these Virtual Drives.
Workaround None. The system boots from MegaRAID Virtual Drives only if the number of Virtual Drives are lesser than or equal to 49. (CSCtg25373)
Symptom System reboots during EFI Windows 2008 R2 installation.
Workaround EFI OS installation is not supported by the BIOS. You should disable the EFI- Optimized mode in the BIOS setup and install Windows 2008 R2 in legacy mode. (CSCtf87728)
Symptom When the host dispatches the OptionROM for LSI Adapters, it displays the following message:
Workaround Restart the host by either pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del or restart the server from CIMC Web GUI. (CSCua80224)
BIOS
Symptom The following log is observed in the CIMC web page:
Workaround None. This issue has no functional impact. (CSCua51565)
Symptom The "Onboard SCU Storage support" under Southbridge setup page is supported in C240 only for UCSC-C240-M3S2 SKU.
Workaround Do not enable “Onboard SCU Storage support” in UCSC-C240-M3L and UCSC-C240-M3S SKUs. (CSCtz04225)
Symptom In BIOS setup, under CPU Power management, the C1E option does not get disabled when "Power Technology" is disabled.
Workaround If you want to disable the entire processor power management, then disable "Power Technology" and the C1E option. (CSCtz04125)
Symptom When an external graphics adapter is present on the system and VGA priority is set to Offboard VGA Primary, the KVM Video screen gets stuck with the following message:
Workaround None. This is an expected behavior. (CSCua93109)
Symptom Continuous beep sound is heard when the system is switched on.
Workaround Do not switch on the CIMC and the host simultaneously. Switch on the host 3 minutes after switching on the power supply.(CSCtz11862)
Symptom When a bad DIMM (which fails memory initialization) is present in one of the DIMM slots, BIOS may map out the other DIMMs in the same channel as the bad DIMM.
Workaround Remove or replace the bad DIMM.(CSCtx85587)
Symptom BIOS downgrade using the iFlash32 utility, from 1.4.x to the older version 1.2.x fails.
Workaround Use the startup.nsh script available in the 1.2.x container for the downgrade. This script will execute the BIOS downgrade successfully. (CSCtr93601)
Symptom When I/O is running on two or more hard disks part of a RAID Array, the Activity LED is seen blinking green on the hard disks on which the I/O is running and is part of the RAID array and also on the adjacent hard disk which is not part of the RAID group.
Workaround Ignore the activity LED running on the adjacent hard disk as there is no actual I/O running on this hard disk. (CSCtz13588)
Symptom When BIOS console redirection is enabled, the keyboard can stop working in the Broadcom PCIe option ROM at some baud rates.
Workaround Disable the BIOS console redirection.(CSCtq84425)
Symptom If the current CIMC networking mode is shipping mode, then the BIOS F8 CIMC configuration utility does not allow a new networking mode and IP address to be set at the same time.
Workaround Set the new networking mode, save, then set the new IP address and save again. (CSCth71350)
Symptom Serial port B cannot be enabled for console redirection in the Server Management —> Console Redirection page of the BIOS setup.
Workaround Serial port B is primarily used for SOL functionality. The BIOS will start redirecting console messages to serial port B if SOL is enabled. You should enable SOL through BMC to get console redirection messages through serial port B. (CSCtf54851)
Symptom USB Thumb drive mapped through vMedia may not get enumerated as FSx in EFI Shell
Workaround Try one of the following workarounds:
- Open the KVM client application from a Windows based system.
- Connect the USB thumb drive to one of the physical USB ports. (CSCua73451)
Symptom Continuous beep sound is heard when the system is switched on.
Workaround Do not switch on the CIMC and the host simultaneously. Switch on the host 3 minutes after switching on the power supply.(CSCtz11862)
Related Documentation
For configuration information for this release, please refer to the following:
- Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Integrated Management Controller CLI Configuration Guide
- Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Integrated Management Controller Configuration Guide
- Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Integrated Management Controller CLI Command Reference
The following related documentation is available for the Cisco Unified Computing System:
- Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Documentation Roadmap
- Cisco UCS Site Preparation Guide
- Regulatory Compliance and Safety Information for Cisco UCS
Refer to the release notes for Cisco UCS Manager software and the Cisco UCS C Series Server Integration with Cisco UCS Manager Guide at the following locations:
Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request
For information on obtaining documentation, submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see the monthly What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation, which also lists all new and revised Cisco technical documentation:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/general/whatsnew/whatsnew.html
Subscribe to the What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation as an RSS feed and set content to be delivered directly to your desktop using a reader application. The RSS feeds are a free service. Cisco currently supports RSS Version 2.0.
This document is to be used in conjunction with the documents listed in the “Related Documentation” section.
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