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This chapter includes the following sections:
All endpoints in a Cisco UCS domain must be fully functional and all processes must be complete before you begin a firmware upgrade or downgrade on those endpoints. You cannot upgrade or downgrade an endpoint that is not in a functional state. For example, the firmware on a server that has not been discovered cannot be upgraded or downgraded. An incomplete process, such as an FSM that has failed after the maximum number of retries, can cause the upgrade or downgrade on an endpoint to fail. If an FSM is in progress, Cisco UCS Manager queues up the update and activation and runs them when the FSM has completed successfully.
Colored boxes around components on the Equipment tab may indicate that an endpoint on that component cannot be upgraded or downgraded. Verify the status of that component before you attempt to upgrade the endpoints.
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The Installed Firmware tab in Cisco UCS Manager GUI does not provide sufficient information to complete these prerequisites. |
Before you upgrade or downgrade firmware in a Cisco UCS domain, complete the following prerequisites:
Review the Release Notes.
Review the relevant Hardware and Software Interoperability Matrix to ensure the operating systems on all servers have the right driver levels for the release of Cisco UCS to which you plan to upgrade.
Back up the configuration into an All Configuration backup file.
For a cluster configuration, verify that the high availability status of the fabric interconnects shows that both are up and running.
For a standalone configuration, verify that the Overall Status of the fabric interconnect is Operable.
Verify that the data path is up and running. For more information, see Verifying that the Data Path is Ready.
Verify that all servers, I/O modules, and adapters are fully functional. An inoperable server cannot be upgraded.
Verify that the Cisco UCS domain does not include any critical or major faults. If such faults exist, you must resolve them before you upgrade the system. A critical or major fault may cause the upgrade to fail.
Verify that all servers have been discovered. They do not need to be powered on or associated with a service profile.
If you want to integrate a rack-mount server into the Cisco UCS domain, follow the instructions in the appropriate C-Series Rack-Mount Server Integration Guide for installing and integrating a rack-mount server in a system managed by Cisco UCS Manager.
For Cisco UCS domains that are configured for iSCI boot, do the following before you upgrade to Cisco UCS, Release 2.0(2) or higher:
Ensure that all iSCI vNICs used within a single service profile or across multiple service profiles have unique initiator names.
If any iSCSI vNICs have the same initiator name, reconfigure the IQNs with unique initiator names.
Make the corresponding IQN initiator name changes on any network storage devices to ensure that the boot LUNs are visible to the new IQN.
This procedure assumes that you do not have an existing backup operation for an All Configuration backup file.
For more information on backing up a Cisco UCS domain, see the Cisco UCS Manager GUI Configuration Guide and the Cisco UCS Manager CLI Configuration Guide.
Obtain the backup server IP address and authentication credentials.
The high availability status is the same for both fabric interconnects in a cluster configuration.
Step 1 | In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab. | ||||||
Step 2 | On the Equipment tab, expand . | ||||||
Step 3 | Click on the chassis for which you want to verify the status of the I/O modules. | ||||||
Step 4 | In the Work pane, click the IO Modules tab. | ||||||
Step 5 | For each I/O module, verify that the following columns display the following values:
If the values are different, create and download a Tech Support file, and contact Cisco Technical Support. Do not proceed with the firmware upgrade. For more information about Tech Support files, see the Cisco UCS Manager B-Series Troubleshooting Guide. |
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Step 6 | Repeat Steps 3 through 5 to verify the status of the I/O modules in each chassis. |
If a server is inoperable, you can proceed with the upgrade for other servers in the Cisco UCS domain. However, you cannot upgrade the inoperable server.
Step 1 | In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab. | ||||||
Step 2 | On the Equipment tab, click Equipment. | ||||||
Step 3 | In the Work pane, click the Servers tab to display a list of all servers in all chassis. | ||||||
Step 4 | For each server, verify that the following columns display the following values:
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Step 5 | If you need to verify that a server has been discovered, do the following:
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Step 1 | In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab. | ||||||
Step 2 | On the Equipment tab, expand . | ||||||
Step 3 | Click the server for which you want to verify the status of the adapters. | ||||||
Step 4 | In the Work pane, click the Inventory tab. | ||||||
Step 5 | In the Inventory tab, click the Adapters subtab. | ||||||
Step 6 | For each adapter, verify that the following columns display the following values:
If the fields show a different value and the adapter is inoperable, you can proceed with the upgrade for other adapters on the servers in the Cisco UCS domain. However, you cannot upgrade the inoperable adapter. |
If a Cisco UCS domain is configured for iSCSI boot, before you upgrade from Cisco UCS, Release 2.0(1) to Cisco UCS, Release 2.0(2) or higher, you must ensure that all iSCSI vNICs used across multiple service profile have unique initiator names.
You can use a script that runs in the Cisco UCS PowerTool to determine whether a Cisco UCS configuration for iSCSI boot includes duplicate IQNs.
Step 1 | To download Cisco UCS PowerTool, do the following:
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Step 2 | To launch Cisco UCS PowerTool, enter the following at a command line:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Cisco\Cisco UCS PowerTool>C:\Windows\System32\windowspowe rshell\v1.0\powershell.exe -NoExit -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -File .\StartUc sPS.ps1 Example: The following example shows what happens when you launch Cisco UCS PowerTool: C:\Program Files (x86)\Cisco\Cisco UCS PowerTool>C:\Windows\System32\windowspowe rshell\v1.0\powershell.exe -NoExit -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -File .\StartUc sPS.ps1 Windows PowerShell Copyright (C) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. |
Step 3 | In Cisco UCS PowerTool, do the following:
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Step 4 | In the Cisco UCS PowerTool, run the following script to validate your iSCSI boot configuration and check for duplicate IQNs :
PS C:\> Get-UcsServiceProfile -type instance | Get-UcsVnicIScsi | ? { $_.InitiatorName -ne "" } | select Dn,InitiatorName | group InitiatorName | ? { $_.Count -gt 1 } | % { $obj = New-Object PSObject ; $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty Count $_.Count; $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty InitiatorName $_.Name; $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty Dn ($_ | select -exp Group | % { $_.Dn } ); $obj } Cisco UCS PowerTool outputs the results to your screen, as follows: Count InitiatorName Dn ----- ------------- -- 2 iqn.2012-01.cisco.com:s... {org-root/ls-SP_1_6/is... 2 iqn.2012-01.cisco.com:s... {org-root/ls-SP_2_1/is... 2 iqn.2012-01.cisco.com:s... {org-root/ls-SP_2_41/i... 4 iqn.2012-01.cisco.com:s... {org-root/ls-SP_2_7/is... 2 iqn.2012-01.cisco.com:s... {org-root/org-sub1/ls-... 2 iqn.2012-01.cisco.com:s... {org-root/org-sub2/ls-... |
Step 5 | (Optional)If you have .NET Frame work 3.5 Service Pack 1 installed, you can use the following script to view the output in the GUI:
PS C:\> Get-UcsServiceProfile -type instance | Get-UcsVnicIScsi | ? { $_.InitiatorName -ne "" } | select Dn,InitiatorName | group InitiatorName | ? { $_.Count -gt 1 } | % { $obj = New-Object PSObject ; $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty Count $_.Count; $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty InitiatorName $_.Name; $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty Dn ($_ | select -exp Group | % { $_.Dn } ); $obj } | ogv |
Step 6 | Disconnect from Cisco UCS Manager, as follows:
PS C:\>Disconnect-Ucs |
If duplicate IQNs exist across multiple service profiles in the Cisco UCS domain, reconfigure the iSCSI vNICs with unique IQNs in Cisco UCS Manager before you upgrade to Cisco UCS, Release 2.1 or greater.
If you do not ensure that all iSCSI vNICs are unique across all service profiles in a Cisco UCS domain before you upgrade, Cisco UCS Manager raises a fault on the iSCSI vNICs to warn you that duplicate IQNs are present. Also, if you do not ensure that there are no duplicate IQN names within a service profile (for example, the same name used for both iSCSI vNICs), Cisco UCS reconfigures the service profile to have a single IQN. For information on how to clear this fault and reconfigure the duplicate IQNs, see the Cisco UCS B-Series Troubleshooting Guide.