C H A P T E R 7 - Updating the Application Software and the BSC Firmware

C H A P T E R 7

Updating the Application Software and the BSC Firmware

This chapter describes how to upgrade the software and firmware on one or more Sun Fire B10n blades. It also tells you how to set up a TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) server if you do not already have one set up on your network. The software upgrade procedures require you to use TFTP.

Introduction

Setting up a TFTP Server

Software Architecture

Upgrading and Downgrading Software on the Sun Fire B10n Load Balancer

Updating B10n Application Software and BSC Firmware

Choosing the Boot Image

Introduction

Note - To perform the update procedures in this chapter, you need to log into one of the System Controllers (SCs) using telnet. This is because you need to transfer the new firmware from a location on your network.

The BSC on each blade server is a management agent for the System Controller. It communicates information about the blade server it resides in to the System Controller. It also receives and processes any commands that you type into the System Controller's command-line interface.

Follow the instructions in this chapter if you have been advised by a Sun support engineer to download new firmware onto a System Controller, blade server, or integrated switch.

Setting up a TFTP Server

The procedures for upgrading software for the Sun Fire B10n blade involve using TFTP. This means that to perform them you need to have a TFTP server available on your network.

Note - If you are using separated data and management networks, you need a TFTP server available on both networks.

To configure a Solaris system on your network to serve TFTP requests, do the following:

1. On the system that you intend to set up as the TFTP server, log in as root.

2. Use a text editor to un-comment the following line in the file /etc/inetd.conf:

tftp dgram udp6 wait root /usr/sbin/in.tftpd in.tftpd -s /tftpboot

3. On the same system create a TFTP home directory by typing the following at the Solaris prompt:

# mkdir /tftpboot

# chown root /tftpboot

# chmod 755 /tftpboot

4. Restart inetd by typing:

# /etc/init.d/inetsvc stop

# /etc/init.d/inetsvc start

5. Verify that TFTP is working.

To do this, use TFTP to get a file from the /tftpboot directory. Follow the instructions below:

a. On the system that you are using as the TFTP server, copy any file (for example, the Solaris /etc/release file) to the /tftpboot directory.

Type the following command at the Solaris prompt:

# cp /etc/release /tftpboot/filename

Where filename is the name of the file you intend to make available on the TFTP server.

b. Make the file you have just copied read-only:

# chmod 444 /tftpboot/filename

Where filename is the name of the file you intend to make available on the TFTP server.

Note - TFTP is not the same as FTP. It does not display the same error messages as FTP, and you cannot use the cd or ls commands (or indeed most other commands) that FTP allows you to use.

Software Architecture

The Sun Fire B10n blade provides optimized server to client response. To support this response and provide tight communications between the content load balancing blade and the B1600 blade servers a software module must be installed on each of these servers. This software module is referred to as the Blade Server Module and is loaded using the Solaris package add (pkgadd) process.

The content load balancing blade is based on specialized hardware including a general purpose microprocessor that runs a real time operating system. The code that runs on this processor is called the Application Software and can be updated using a TFTP process.

In addition to the general purpose processor there is a micro controller called the Blade Support Controller (BSC). The BSC is the primary interface to the Sun Fire B1600 Service Controllers (SC) and performs the Advanced Lights-out Management (ALOM) function for a given blade. These functions include powering on and off of the blades as well as monitoring functions. This is referred to as the BSC Firmware and can be updated using the "flashupdate" command which involves using TFTP.

The Sun Fire B10n software components:

Blade server module

B10n application software

BSC firmware

The B10n has the capability to hold two versions of the Application Software and a diagnostic image. This allows a new image to be loaded without overwriting the active image. The blade must be rebooted to activate an image. See Choosing the Boot Image.

The B10n specialized hardware includes a rule based classification engine. The rules are entered through the command line interface and then compiled using a build process. See Creating an HTTP Load Balancing Rule.

Check the following web site to ensure you have the latest Sun Fire B10n software:

http://wwws.sun.com/software/download/network.html

See Updating B10n Application Software and BSC Firmware for instructions on checking the version of the software you are currently using.

Upgrading and Downgrading Software on the Sun Fire B10n Load Balancer

To Upgrade to Version 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3.5 From Version 1.0

The components that need to be upgraded to the 1.1 version (and onwards) are:

1. The BSC firmware

2. The B10n application software consisting of the boot image and the bootrom

3. The blade server modules

Note - Up to version 1.3.5, all images are backward compatible with the configuration files, that is, a 1.3.5 image can run with a 1.2, 1.1, or 1.0 configuration file.

To Upgrade to Version 1.2 or 1.3.5 From Version 1.1

The only components that needs to be upgraded are the B10n application software boot image and the blade server modules.

To Downgrade to Version 1.0 From Version 1.1 to 1.3.5

The components that need to be downgraded to the 1.0 version are:

1. The BSC firmware

2. The B10n application software consisting of the boot image and the bootrom

3. The blade server modules

A 1.0 image is not fully compatible with a 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3.5 configuration file because of the new features supported in the newer releases. So it is recommended that a 1.0 image be run with a 1.0 configuration file.

Note - Before upgrading to the new release, always make a backup of the current configuration so it can be used if a downgrade is required.

To Downgrade to Version 1.1 From Version 1.2 to 1.3.5

The only component that needs to be downgraded is the B10n application software boot image.

A 1.1 image is fully compatible with a 1.2 configuration file, but not with a 1.3.5 configuration file because of the new features supported in the 1.3.5 release.

Updating B10n Application Software and BSC Firmware

It is important to verify that you have the latest software for the Sun Fire B10n content load balancing blade. Check the following web site for the latest software and documentation:

http://wwws.sun.com/software/download/network.html

You need to set up a TFTP boot server to update the sc firmware. See Setting up a TFTP Server.

You also need to configure the management IP address and default gateway address. See Configuring the Networking.

Note - If you are updating both the B10n application software and BSC firmware, be sure to update the B10n application software first.

The B10n software can be loaded with three different images and booted. The three images are image 1, image 2, and diag. These images denote software versions.

You can upgrade the software either interactively or noninteractively.

To Update the B10n Application Software

With the B10n blade in the booted and running state perform the following steps:

1. Access the Sun Fire B10n console. At the Sun Fire B1600 SC console SC> type:

sc> console Sn

Where n is the slot number of the B10n blade

2. Login to the B10n console.

Login: admin

passwd: admin

3. Verify the boot image and versions:

puma{admin}# show system

Boot Options:

==============================================================================

Config Type   Config File   Boot Image   Diag Level   Verbose Mode

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

running			 		2   	 	1 (1.3.2)
		     				 0		 	0

Image Information Table:

========================================================================

Image	Blade		Image Type				Version	    Build Date:Time	  Size

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1	B10n		Load Balancer				1.3.2	    12/05/03 : 14:53   4046868

2	B10n		Load Balancer				1.2.2	    11/26/03 : 12:15   4045472

diag	B10n		Diagnostics				1.1.9	    10/16/03 : 15:36   2410733

========================================================================

Flash FS /RFA0 free space = 13,033,472 bytes

puma{admin}#

4. Determine which image to update (image 1 or 2), and update the empty or oldest image.

5. Update the B10n application software

puma{admin}# update image

You can upgrade the software either interactively or noninteractively.

To Update the Software Noninteractively

As admin, use the following command:

puma{admin}# update image tftp server file image_name image location

The following example uses the TFTP server with the IP address of 192.50.50.201, the image name of sunfire_b10n.1.3.2, and the image at location 1.

puma{admin}# update image 192.50.50.201 file sunfire_b10n.1.3.2 image 1

The system returns the following output, verifying the parameters entered:

file exist! will overwrite /RFA0/BOOTIMAGE/boot_image_1

Start downloading sunfire_b10n.1.3.2... using TFTP

Transferring and writing to file /RFA0/BOOTIMAGE/boot_image_1... please wait.

puma{admin}#

The following example uses the TFTP server with the IP address of 192.50.50.201, the image name of sunfire_b10n.1.3.2, and the image at location diag.

puma{admin}# update image 192.50.50.201 file sunfire_b10n.1.3.2 image diag

The system returns the following output, verifying the parameters entered:

file exist! will overwrite /RFA0/BOOTIMAGE/boot_image_diag

Start downloading sunfire_b10n.1.2.2_diag... using TFTP

Transferring and writing to file /RFA0/BOOTIMAGE/boot_image_diag .................................

please wait.

puma{admin}#

To Set the New Image to be the Default Image

1. Configure the desired Boot Image. At the B10n console type:

puma{admin}# config boot image x

Where x is the image you just updated

2. Save the updated image using the commit command:

puma{admin}# commit

commit : Are you sure to continue? [yes|no]yes

3. Reboot to activate the new image:

puma{admin} reboot

reboot: Are you sure to continue? [yes|no] yes

To Update the BSC Firmware

1. Escape to the system controller console by typing the pound sign (#) and period (.) in rapid succession:

puma{admin} #.

Note - If the two characters are not typed in rapid succession nothing happens.

2. At the sc prompt, check the current version of the BSC firmware:

sc> showsc -v

FRU   Software Version            Software Release Date

--------------------------------------------------------

S0    v5.1.4-SUNW,B10n,NetBlade1  Aug 12 2003 15:31:48

3. At the sc prompt, enter the following command:

sc> flashupdate -s TFTP_ip-addr -f filename Sn

Where TFTP_ip-addr is the TFTP server IP address, n is the slot number, filename is the file name of the image

In the following example, 192.50.50.201 is the IP address for your TFTP boot server and /tftpboot/525-2018-05-t2.a37 is the path to the BSC firmware image on the TFTP boot server:

sc> flashupdate -s 192.50.50.201. -f /tftpboot/525-2018-05-t2.a37 S12

4. Reset the system using resetsc to load the new image.

Choosing the Boot Image

The boot image can be specified for the next boot and made permanent or it can be specified at boot time.

To Specify and Make the Boot Image Permanent

1. As admin, configure the boot image of your choice:

puma{admin}# config boot image 1

In this example, the chosen image is 1.

2. Commit the change:

puma{admin}# commit

commit: Are you sure to continue? [yes|no] yes

Success!

puma{admin}#

To Specify the Boot Image at Boot Time

During boot the system prints the following message and waits for 3 seconds:

Press any key to choose boot image...

Pressing any key prompts for the image to choose for booting.

Specify Image To Boot <1 | 2 | d>

1 - Boots image 1.

2 - Boots image 2.

d - Boots image 3.

Updating Your Server

Use the appropriate instructions for updating your Solaris or Linux servers.

To Update the SPARC Solaris Server Module

1. Download the 1.2U version of the server module software from the following site:

http://wwws.sun.com/software/download/network.html

2. Unzip the file:

# /usr/bin/unzip SunFire_B10n-1_2_Update-SolarisModule.zip

3. Install the SPARC Solaris server module software packages:

# cd path_to_unzipped_file/Solaris/sparc

# pkgadd -d .

4. Restart the Solaris server module:

# /etc/init.d/clbctl stop

# /etc/init.d/clbctl start

To Update the x86 Solaris Server Module

1. Download the 1.2U version of the server module software from the following site:

http://wwws.sun.com/software/download/network.html

2. Unzip the file:

# /usr/bin/unzip SunFire_B10n-1_2_Update-SolarisModule.zip

3. Install the x86 Solaris server module software packages:

# cd path_to_unzipped_file/Solaris/i386

# pkgadd -d .

4. Restart the Solaris server module:

# /etc/init.d/clbctl stop

# /etc/init.d/clbctl start

To Update the Linux Server Module

1. Download the 1.2U version of the server module software from the following site:

http://wwws.sun.com/software/download/network.html

2. Unzip the file:

# /usr/bin/unzip SunFire_B10n-1_2_Update-LinuxModule.zip

Different Linux OS subdirectories are available, such as, RHAS_2.1, SLES_8.0, ... additionally, hardware platforms such as Scimitar1P, Scimitar2P and V60_65x are available.

3. Install the Linux server module for RHAS 2.1 Update 2, for example:

# rpm -i sun-clb-k2_4_9_e_24-1.41-1.i386.rpm

# rpm -i sun-clb-admin-1.41-1.i386.rpm

4. Restart the Linux server module:

# /etc/init.d/clbctl stop

# /etc/init.d/clbctl start

To Upgrade the Linux Server Module From an Existing Installation

1. Download the 1.2U version of the server module software from the following site:

http://wwws.sun.com/software/download/network.html

2. Unzip the file:

# /usr/bin/unzip SunFire_B10n-1_2_Update-LinuxModule.zip

Different Linux OS subdirectories are available, such as, RHAS_2.1, SLES_8.0, ... additionally, hardware platforms such as Scimitar1P, Scimitar2P and V60_65x are available.

3. Upgrade the Linux server module for RHAS 2.1 Update 2, for example:

# rpm -U sun-clb-k2_4_9_e_24-1.41-1.i386.rpm

# rpm -U sun-clb-admin-1.41-1.i386.rpm

4. Restart the Linux server module:

# /etc/init.d/clbctl stop

# /etc/init.d/clbctl start