Users Guide

If you have redundant CMCs installed in the chassis, it is recommended to update both the CMCs to the same rmware version, at the
same time, with a single operation. If CMCs have dierent rmware and a failover occurs, unexpected results may occur.
NOTE:
• The CMC rmware cannot be updated to any earlier version other than 2.0 for a chassis that is congured with 1600W PSU.
• CMC rmware update or roll back is supported only for rmware versions 1.2, 1.25, 1.3, 1.31, 1.35, 1.36, 2.0, 2.01 and 2.04 later. For
any version other than these, rst update to any of these versions, and then update to the required version.
The Active CMC resets and becomes temporarily unavailable after the rmware has been uploaded successfully. If a standby CMC is
present, the standby and active roles swap. The standby CMC becomes the active CMC. If an update is applied only to the active CMC,
after the reset is complete, the active CMC does not run the updated image, only the standby CMC has that image. In general, it is highly
recommended to maintain identical rmware versions for the active and standby CMCs.
When the standby CMC has been updated, swap the CMCs’ roles so that the newly updated CMC becomes the active CMC and the CMC
with the earlier rmware becomes the standby. For information about swapping roles, see the cmcchangeover command section in the
Chassis Management Controller for PowerEdge VRTX RACADM Command Line Reference Guide. Running this command helps you to
verify that the update has succeeded and that the new rmware is working properly, before you update the rmware in the second CMC.
When both CMCs are updated, you can use the cmcchangeover command to restore the CMCs to their previous roles. CMC rmware
revision 2.x updates both the primary CMC and the redundant CMC without running the
cmcchangeover command.
During the nal phases of the rmware update process in CMC, the browser session and connection with CMC is lost temporarily as the
CMC is not connected to the network. CMC generates the chassis overall health as critical owing to the temporary network loss. When
CMC restarts after a few minutes, log in to it. The CMC then generates the chassis overall health as healthy and the CMC network link is
up. After CMC resets, the new rmware version is displayed on the Firmware Update page.
To avoid disconnecting other users during a reset, notify authorized users who may log in to CMC and check for active sessions on the
Sessions page. To open the Sessions page, click Chassis Overview in the left pane, click Network, and then click the Sessions.
When transferring les to and from CMC, the le transfer icon spins during the transfer. If your icon is not animated, make sure that your
browser is congured to allow animations. For more information about allowing animations in the browser, see Allow Animations in Internet
Explorer.
NOTE
: If you have congured the slot name length to more than 15 characters in the current version of CMC, downgrading the
CMC rmware truncates the slot name length to 15 characters.
Signed CMC Firmware Image
For VRTX CMC 2.0 and later, the rmware includes a signature. The CMC rmware veries the signature to ensure the authenticity of the
uploaded rmware. The rmware update process is successful only if the rmware image is authenticated by CMC to be a valid image from
the service provider and has not been altered. The rmware update process is stopped if CMC cannot verify the signature of the uploaded
rmware image. A warning event is then logged and an appropriate error message is displayed.
Signature verication can be performed on VRTX rmware versions 1.2 and later. For rmware downgrade to VRTX versions earlier than
1.2, rst update the rmware to a VRTX CMC version that is later than or equal to 1.2, but earlier than 2.0. After this update, rmware
downgrade to earlier, unsigned VRTX versions can be performed.
Updating CMC and Mainboard Firmware
The shared capabilities of External Shared PERC 8 card are not available until both CMC and mainboard rmware are updated.
Updating Firmware
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