No Server or Chassis Maintenance
Donot remove the hardware that contains the endpoint or perform any maintenance on it until the update
processhas completed.If thehardware isremoved or otherwiseunavailable due to maintenance, the
firmwareupdate fails. This failure may corrupt the backup partition. You cannot update the firmware on
anendpoint with a corrupted backup partition.
Caution
Avoid Replacing RAID-Configured Hard Disks Prior to Upgrade
Underthe following circumstances, Cisco UCS Manager may scrub all data on a hard disk as part of the RAID
synchronizationprocess during anupgrade of the server firmware:
• The hard disks in the server are configured for RAID.
• One or more of the RAID-configured hard disks in the server are removed.
• The hard disk or disks are replaced with hard disks that are configured with a pre-existing RAID and
thelocal disk configuration policy included in the service profile on the server is not used to configure
thosehard disks.
• The server firmware is upgraded, causing the server to reboot and Cisco UCS Manager to begin the
RAIDsynchronization process.
Ifthe original hard disks contained vital data that needs to preserved, avoid insertingnew hard disks that are
alreadyconfigured for RAID.
Always Upgrade Cisco UCS Gen-2 Adapters through a Host Firmware Package
Youcannot upgrade Cisco UCS Gen-2 adapters directly at the endpoints. You must upgrade the firmware on
thoseadapters through ahost firmwarepackage.
Cannot Upgrade Cisco UCS 82598KR-CI 10-Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
Thefirmware on the Cisco UCS 82598KR-CI 10-Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (N20-AI0002), Intel-based adapter
card,is burned into the hardware at manufacture. You cannot upgrade the firmware on this adapter.
Number of Fabric Interconnects
Fora cluster configuration with twofabric interconnects, you can take advantage of thefailover between the
fabricinterconnects and perform a direct firmware upgrade of the endpoints without disrupting data traffic.
However,you cannot avoid disrupting data traffic for those endpoints which must be upgraded through a host
ormanagement firmware package.
Fora standalone configuration with a single fabric interconnect, you can minimize the disruption to data traffic
whenyou perform a direct firmware upgrade of the endpoints. However, you must reboot the fabric interconnect
tocomplete the upgrade and, therefore, cannot avoid disrupting traffic.
Firmware- and Software-Related Best Practices for Upgrades
Beforeyou upgrade any endpoint, consider the following guidelines and best practices:
Cisco UCS Manager GUI Configuration Guide, Release 2.0
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Firmware Upgrades