Updated procedures for upgrading a Sun Storage Tek 6140/6540 or FLX380 Array controller firmware from 6.x to 7.50 (or higher).

Asset ID:	1-73-1020565.1
Update Date:	2010-09-21
Keywords:

Solution Type FAB (standard) Sure

Solution 1020565.1 : Updated procedures for upgrading a Sun Storage Tek 6140/6540 or FLX380 Array controller firmware from 6.x to 7.50 (or higher).

Impact

The requirements for upgrading a Sun Storage Tek 6140/6540 or FLX380 array to controller firmware version 7.50 or higher depends on what the current version of controller firmware is.

There are 2 basic scenarios:

1. Current firmware version is 6.x
2. Current firwmare version is 7.x

The second scenario does not require an outage to accomplish. The first will require the use of a special upgrade utility to get to 7.x followed by an immediate and direct upgrade to 7.50 or higher.

The previous upgrade utility detailed in FAB 236969 required Sun badged personnel to perform the upgrade. With the release of this new upgrade utility, that restriction will be lifted so that customers can perform their own upgrades.

Contributing Factors

Upgrades to 7.x firmware can only be done on the Sun Storage Tek 6140/6540 and FLX380 arrays. Newer arrays (6x80 and beyond) will only run at 7.x firmware and thus there is no need for to use the special upgrade utility. FLX2x0 and SE6130 arrays cannot be upgraded to 7.x firmware.

Symptoms

Attempts to upgrade any array running 6.x firmware to firmware 07.x will not succeed. In the CAM Browser interface, you will only be prompted for an upgrades of the same base firmware (6.x to a higher version of 6.x and 7.x to a higher version of 7.x). If you attempt to manually perform the upgrade using csmservice, you will see a message like:

   # ./csmservice -i -a 6140-1 -p /opt/SUNWstkcam/share/fw/images/nge/RC_07500810_09q1_apollo_fc_399x.dlp
   Analyzing Firmware
   Servicing request to update Controller
   ... Loading controller firmware
   ... ... Saving Controller Info
   Error from updating controller. Caught exception: /opt/SUNWstkcam/share/fw/images/nge/RC_07500810_09q1_apollo_fc_399x.dlp - Incompatible firmware file
   The task failed due to an internal error.
   #

Note: It may be possible to successfully download the NVSRAM using csmservice.
      But doing so will put incompatible NVSRAM and firmware on the controller.
      Do NOT attempt to do this!

Root Cause

Because of internal changes to the array's data structures (aka DACstore), it is not possible to do this upgrade on a system using the existing array management tools. This is true for both CAM (Common Array Manager) and SANtricity managed arrays.

Corrective Action

Workaround:

No workaround available - see Resolution section below.

Resolution:

For arrays already running 7.x code, upgrading to 7.50 or higher can be done using the traditional methods in CAM or SANtricity. No special considerations are required.

For arrays running 6.x firmware you must use a special upgrade utility to get to an initial level of 7.x code (specifically 7.15.11.17). Whereupon you must immediately upgrade to 7.50.xx.xx or higher (preferably the latest version). The specific steps for doing this are covered in the Sun Storage Tek 6000 Series Array Firmware Upgrade Guide (820-7197-10). This document is available on both the Uniform Software Repository (USR);

   https://dlrequest.sfbay.sun.com/usr/search    (search for 10.36.x1.06)

or externally via the below URL;

   http://search.sun.com/docs/   (search for the document part number 820-7197).

The upgrade utility is available for the following platforms:

   Solaris/SPARC = SMFWUpgInstaller-SOL-10.36.01.06.bin
   64 bit Solaris/x86 = SMFWUpgInstaller-SOLX86-10.36.01.06.bin
   32 bit Windows = SMFWUpgInstaller-WS32-10.36.31.06.bin
   64 bit Windows = SMFWUpgInstaller-WS64-10.36.31.06.bin
   32 bit Linux = SMFWUpgInstaller-LINUX-10.36.A1.06.bin
   64 bit Linux = SMFWUpgInstaller-LINUX64-10.36.A1.06.bin

The upgrade utility is also available on USR and SDLC. Specific details on how to download the utility can be found in the Sun Storage Tek 6000 Series Array Firmware Upgrade Guide.

It is important to remember that, if you need to use the upgrade utility to upgrade the controller firmware, the IOM/ESM firmware and disk drive firmware should also be upgraded. These components are upgraded using traditional CAM or SANtricity methods.

Comments

Upgrades to the 25x0 array to 7.x firmware require a different upgrade utility. Details can be found in document 820-6362.

This FAB obsoletes FAB 236969 which has been unpublished at time of publication of this knowledge asset.

References:

Sun Alert: 256288
Other References: FAB 236969
Reference Manual: 820-7197-10

For information about FAB documents, its release processes, implementation strategies and billing information, go to the following URL:

http://tns.central/fab

For Sun Authorized Service Providers go to:

http://tns.central/SPE/fab/

In addition to the above you may email:

FAB-Manager@sun.com

Internal Contributor/submitter
Bob.Deguc@Sun.COM

Internal Eng Responsible Engineer
Bob.Deguc@Sun.COM Responsible Manager: David.Treen@Sun.COM

Internal Services Knowledge Engineer
Joe.Davis@Sun.COM

Internal Eng Business Unit Group
NWS (Network Storage)

Internal Sun Alert & FAB Admin Info
05-Jun-2009: Completed draft and sent to Extended Review.
19-Nov-2009: Corrected Product Name to swoRDFish inconsistency.

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