The process of upgrading Cisco UCS Firmware is pretty straight forward, this short post will go through the configuration in a step by step fashion. You will need to have admin access to UCSM as well as Cisco account to download the associated firmware bundles.
In this example we will walk through a Cisco UCS 3.2(3e) to 3.2(3g)
Step 1: Log into your UCSM VIP Address with an admin account
Step 2: Browse to the Admin section in far-left pane, under the general tab select backup configuration, this will bring you to the create backup wizard as seen in the screen shoot below
Enter the Type of backup and name and select OK.
The backup should take about 2-5 minutes to complete, the below screen shoot will give you that piece of mind before moving forward.
Step 3: From the Equipment Tab select the Fabric interconnect A and verify that the overall status is Operable, if not you should not progress any further until you your system is free from any faults. Leaning on the side optimism well assume that all is good and select the High Availability section and verify that the state is Up and ready. This also will give you a piece of mind moving forward.
Step 4: Next from the Equipment tab expand the Chassis and select the IOM Module as shown below. Verify that the overall status is Operable. Repeat this check on the second IO Module. As before if there are any faults, please take care before proceeding.
Step 5: Next select the Server Tab and verify that all servers are also in an Operable State as shown below
Step 6: Before uploading the firmware package, a quick capacity check is required to verify that you have enough space for your firmware. To verify this, you will need to navigate back to the Fabric Interconnect and expand the local Storage information section to ensure at least 20% of space is free. Repeat this process for both fabrics inter connects.
Step 7: The last pre-check is going to be verifying that you have a good time source and its accessible. Navigate to the Admin tab and expand time zone management and select Time zone as shown below.
Now were finally ready to install our Firmware, this process should take roughly 1 hour to complete
Step 8: Select the Equipment Tab and navigate to the Firmware Management Tab at the top of the screen and select Download Task and select Download Firmware. This will bring you to the screen below
Browse to the location where you have staged the firmware package. Note: Just for clarification this should be a .bin file. When you see the screen shoot below you should be on your way.
Step 9: Now select the Activate Firmware Tab and select the UCS Manager System and in the drop down select the newly installed firmware package and select apply. Immediately after this you will temporary lose access to USC Manager.
Wait around 30 seconds and log back in. The initial splash screen should now state the new version as shown below.
Step 10: Now we will install the infrastructure firmware by navigating again to the Firmware Management Tab, select the Firmware Auto Install Tab and select the Install Infrastructure Firmware tab as seen below.
Select your infrastructure package, select the upgrade now check box and select finish button as shown below.
Step 11: Now verify that all VIFs (Network adapters and HBA’s) are all operable and the secondary Fabric interconnects are running the latest firmware packages. This will prompt you for a reboot of the primary fabric, once completed you should be good to go.
Note: If you have redundant links via vNIC’s and HBA’s you should have minimal if any down time.