Monday, August 31, 2009

Using OFM to update firmware on rx7640/rx8640 series

In the past, updating firmware on cell-based servers was a daunting task, requiring an FTP server usually piggybacked directly on the MP, and lots of manual commands to flash each part independently. Not anymore. HP wanted to charge me to come in and flash a bunch of servers so this gave me the opportunity to do it myself. I flashed among these a two-cell rx7640 using OFM, and it's now dead easy: simply download a .iso file, burn it on a CD, and boot on it. It uses OFM which has been available for low-end Integrity servers for a while. We're still far from the Proliant Firmware Maintenance CD, but nevertheless it's still much better than nothing! One detail: the MP has to be configured to "allow upload of firmware updates from the OS", which is enabled in CM>SO. You still need to cut off AC power though at some point, so an onsite update is still mandatory.

And for those who still have rx7620s, there's no OFM version of the latest firmware and you still have to do it the long way. While it's not as trivial, it is at least well documented.

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