Downloading the Release 2.0 Firmware

This chapter includes the following sections:

Obtaining Software Bundles from Cisco

Before You Begin

Determine which of the following software bundles you need to update the Cisco UCS domain:

  • Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle—Required for all Cisco UCS domains.
  • Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Server Software Bundle—Required for all Cisco UCS domains that include blade servers.
  • Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Server Software Bundle—Only required for Cisco UCS domains that include integrated rack-mount servers. This bundle contains firmware to enable Cisco UCS Manager to manage those servers and is not applicable to standalone C-Series rack-mount servers.
Procedure
    Step 1   In a web browser, navigate to Cisco.com.
    Step 2   Under Support, click All Downloads.
    Step 3   In the center pane, click Unified Computing and Servers.
    Step 4   If prompted, enter your Cisco.com username and password to log in.
    Step 5   In the right pane, click the link for the software bundles you require, as follows:
    Bundle Navigation Path

    Cisco UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle

    Click Cisco UCS Infrastructure and UCS Manager Software > Unified Computing System (UCS) Infrastructure Software Bundle.

    Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Server Software Bundle

    Click Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Server Software > Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Software Bundle.

    Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Server Software Bundle

    Click Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount UCS-Managed Server Software > Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Software Bundle.
    Tip   

    The Unified Computing System (UCS) Documentation Roadmap Bundle, which is accessible through these paths, is a downloadable ISO image of all Cisco UCS documentation.
    Step 6   On the first page from which you download a software bundle, click the Release Notes link to download the latest version of the Release Notes.
    Step 7   For each software bundle that you want to download, do the following:
    1. Click the link for the latest release 2.0 software bundle.

      The release number is followed by a number and a letter in parentheses. The number identifies the maintenance release level, and the letter differentiates between patches of that maintenance release. For more information about what is in each maintenance release and patch, see the latest version of the Release Notes.

    2. Click one of the following buttons and follow the instructions provided:
      • Download Now—Allows you to download the software bundle immediately.
      • Add to Cart—Adds the software bundle to your cart to be downloaded at a later time.
    3. Follow the prompts to complete your download of the software bundle(s).
    Step 8   Read the Release Notes before upgrading your Cisco UCS domain.
    What to Do Next

    Download the software bundles to the fabric interconnect.

    Downloading Firmware Packages to the Fabric Interconnect

    You can use the same procedure to download a single firmware image to the fabric interconnect.


    Note

    In a cluster setup, the image file for the firmware bundle is downloaded to both fabric interconnects, regardless of which fabric interconnect is used to initiate the download. Cisco UCS Manager maintains all firmware packages and images in both fabric interconnects in sync. If one fabric interconnect is down, the download still finishes successfully. The images are synced to the other fabric interconnect when it comes back online.

    Before You Begin

    Obtain the required firmware bundles from Cisco.

    Procedure
      Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
      Step 2   Click the Equipment node.
      Step 3   In the Work pane, click the Firmware Management tab.
      Step 4   Click the Installed Firmware tab.
      Step 5   Click Download Firmware.
      Step 6   In the Download Firmware dialog box, complete the following fields:
      Name Description

      Protocol field

      The protocol to use when communicating with the remote server. This can be one of the following:

      Note   

      TFTP has a file size limitation of 32 MB. Because firmware bundles can be much larger than that, we recommend that you do not choose TFTP for firmware downloads.

      Server field

      If the file came from a remote server, this is the IP address or hostname of the remote server on which the files resides. If the file came from a local source, this field displays "local".

      Note   

      If you use a hostname rather than an IP address, you must configure a DNS server in Cisco UCS Manager.

      Filename field

      The name of the firmware file.

      Path field

      The absolute path to the file on the remote server.

      If you use SCP, the absolute path is always required. If you use any other protocol, you may not need to specify a remote path if the file resides in the default download folder. For details about how your file server is configured, contact your system administrator.

      User field

      The username the system should use to log in to the remote server. This field does not apply if the protocol is TFTP.

      Password field

      The password for the remote server username. This field does not apply if the protocol is TFTP.

      Cisco UCS Manager GUI begins downloading the firmware bundle to the fabric interconnect.

      Step 7   Click OK.
      Step 8   (Optional)Monitor the status of the image download on the Download Tasks tab.
      Note   

      If Cisco UCS Manager reports that the bootflash is out of space, delete obsolete images to free up space. To view the available space in bootflash, navigate to the fabric interconnect on the Equipment tab and expand the Local Storage Information area on the General tab.
      What to Do Next

      After the image file for the firmware bundles have downloaded completely, update the firmware on the endpoints.

      Determining the Contents of a Firmware Package

      Procedure
        Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
        Step 2   On the Equipment tab, click the Equipment node.
        Step 3   In the Work pane, click the Firmware Management tab.
        Step 4   On the Packages subtab, click the + icon next to a package to view its contents.
        Step 5   To take a snapshot of the package contents, do the following:
        1. Highlight the rows that include the image name and its contents.
        2. Right-click and choose Copy.
        3. Paste the contents of your clipboard into a text file or other document.

        Canceling an Image Download

        You can cancel the download task for an image only while it is in progress. After the image has downloaded, deleting the download task does not delete the image that was downloaded. You cannot cancel the FSM related to the image download task.

        Procedure
          Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
          Step 2   Expand the Equipment node.
          Step 3   In the Work pane, click the Firmware Management tab.
          Step 4   On the Download Tasks tab, right-click the task you want to cancel and select Delete.

          Verifying Local Storage Space on a Fabric Interconnect

          Checking the Available Space on a Fabric Interconnect

          If an image download fails, check whether the bootflash on the fabric interconnect or fabric interconnects in the Cisco UCS has sufficient available space.

          Procedure
            Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
            Step 2   On the Equipment tab, expand Equipment > Fabric Interconnects.
            Step 3   Click the fabric interconnect on which you want to check the available space.
            Step 4   In the Work pane, click the General tab.
            Step 5   Expand the Local Storage Information area.

            When you download a firmware image bundle, a fabric interconnect needs at least twice as much available space as the size of the firmware image bundle. If the bootflash does not have sufficient space, delete the obsolete firmware, core files, and other unneeded objects from the fabric interconnect.

            Deleting Firmware Packages from a Fabric Interconnect

            Use this procedure if you want to delete an entire firmware package or bundle. If you prefer you can also delete one or more of the individual images in a package.

            For releases prior to Cisco UCS, Release 1.3(1), you cannot delete firmware packages from the Packages tab. After you delete all images from the package, Cisco UCS Manager removes the packages.

            Procedure
              Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
              Step 2   On the Equipment tab, click the Equipment node.
              Step 3   In the Work pane, click the Firmware Management tab.
              Step 4   On the Firmware Management tab, click the Packages tab.
              Step 5   In the table, click the package that you want to delete.

              You can use the Shift key or Ctrl key to select multiple entries.

              Step 6   Right-click the highlighted package or packages and choose Delete.
              Step 7   If the Cisco UCS Manager GUI displays a confirmation dialog box, click Yes.

              Cisco UCS Manager deletes the selected package or packages and all images contained within each package.

              Deleting Firmware Images from a Fabric Interconnect

              Use this procedure if you want to delete only a single image from a package.

              Procedure
                Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
                Step 2   On the Equipment tab, click the Equipment node.
                Step 3   In the Work pane, click the Firmware Management tab.
                Step 4   On the Firmware Management tab, click the Images tab.
                Step 5   In the table, click the image that you want to delete.

                You can use the Shift key or Ctrl key to select multiple entries.

                Step 6   Right-click the highlighted image or images and choose Delete.
                Step 7   If the Cisco UCS Manager GUI displays a confirmation dialog box, click Yes.