Intel® Data Center Systems for HCI, certified for Nutanix* Enterprise Cloud Platform BIOS and Firmware Update Package (H2XXXBP_bare_metal) for UEFI

Attention

Use this Software Update Package (SUP) ONLY to prepare for the installation of Nutanix software to an Intel® Data Center Systems for HCI, certified for Nutanix* Enterprise Cloud.

To determine if your system is certified for Nutanix* Enterprise Cloud, check the system’s Product Code and should see an NX string in it (example only PCode: LWF2224NX870500) which confirms the system is certified to run Nutanix* software. Visit Self-help guide for Intel® Data Center Blocks for Nutanix* Enterprise Cloud Platform for more information

Note: For Intel® DCS for HCI, certified for Nutanix* Enterprise Cloud, it is highly recommended that after successful Nutanix* software deployment is to use Nutanix’s Prism Life Cycle Manager (LCM) to perform future BIOS/Firmware update procedures. You can download the INTEL Firmware LCM Bundle from Nutanix* download site (login is required). For more information, visit Nutanix* Life Cycle Manager page

Requirements

Minimal version of current BIOS and Firmware are required to perform a new BIOS and firmware update. If you try upgrading directly from an older BIOS version to a new version but do not meet firmware requirements, the upgrade may fail. Before you perform a new BIOS and firmware update, please verify current BIOS and firmware versions on your server systems. To update the system firmware stack to the versions included in this update package, the currently loaded system firmware stack on the system must meet the following:

•  System BIOS  - R02010014 
•   ME Firmware  - 04.01.04.505 
•   BMC Firmware - 2.86.2da97d3f 
•   FRUSDR       - 1.47 

If the system doesn't currently meet the BIOS and firmware requirements, you must download a previously-posted System Update Package (SUP) from Other Versions list of this web page and update the system to the preceding described firmware revisions before updating the system to the firmware stack included your downloaded Firmware Update Package. Failure to get to the required firmware stack, may cause unexpected results.

Overview

This download record contains the BIOS and firmware update package for the Intel® Server Board S2600BP Family and appropriate Intel® Server System S2600BP Family — for use with Intel's technology-embedded Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) shell.

Purpose

This Firmware Update Package supports 1st and 2nd generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processor families

This update package includes the following production-level system firmware updates, including the FW 01.02.00.5446 for Intel® Optane™ DC Persistent Memory. If you received your Intel® Optane™ DC Persistent Memory DIMMs with a different FW, install this one following the general installation procedure below:

•   System BIOS  - R02010015
•   ME Firmware  - 04.01.04.601.0
•   BMC Firmware - 2.88.6999d21a
•   FRUSDR       - 1.48
•   Intel® Optane™ DC Persistent Memory Firmware (PMEM) - 01.02.00.5446  

Important notes

Starting from BMC 2.22.59c3b83a, when KCS Policy Control Mode is configured as "Deny ALL" on BMC EWS, BMC and FRUSDR cannot be upgraded/downgraded as expected behavior. Updates can still be performed via Redfish or BMC EWS

This SUP package includes the FW 01.02.00.5417 for Intel® Optane™ DC Persistent Memory (DCPMM), if you received your DCPMM DIMMs with a different FW, please install this one following the general installation procedure below.

Extra parameter for ipmitool through LAN is required since BMC firmware 1.90 as the Cipher Suite 3 is disabled and only keep Cipher Suite 17 opened by default, the “-C 17” is a must when using ipmitool to access BMC LAN.

The Cipher Suite 17 was first introduced in ipmitool 1.8.18 on Oct 8th 2016, you have to update ipmitool to this version or newer one, earlier versions of ipmitool don’t have Cipher 17 support.

ipmitool is not working well when running in high load network. We recommend to add extra timeout by using “-N 5”. Default is 1 second for RMCP+, which is not enough. –N 5 will set 5 second as timeout.

So the command will look like:

ipmitool –I lanplus –H ip –U user –P password –C 17 –N 5 command

Please refer to the included "TA-1143_Extra_parameters_needed_for_ipmitool.pdf" for more information.

Downgrading BMC below 1.43.660a4315 is not supported due to a security revision change.

General installation procedure

1. Unzip the contents of the update package and copy all files to the root directory of a removable media (USB flash drive).
2. Insert the USB flash drive to any available USB port on the system to be updated.
3. Power on the server and load the UEFI shell.
4. Begin the update process by running the Startup.nsh.
5. Reboot the system after the update process has successfully completed.
6. If Intel® Optane™ DC Persistent Memory is installed, run Startup.nsh a second time after the first reboot to upgrade Intel® Optane™ DC Persistent Memory Firmware.

To see firmware updates and troubleshooting tips

Additional notes

• Refer first to the release notes and readme and update instructions files for detailed information on installation instructions, supported hardware, what is new, bug fixes, and known issues before starting the firmware update.
• Click the link Readme (PDF) to download the BIOS update instructions in Simplified Chinese.
• This package contains BIOS recovery files. Refer to the BIOS recovery instructions in the BIOS release notes in this package.
• Refer to the following P1 Operating System Installation Guides to work around the P2A ASPEED driver issue:
  • RHEL73_InstallationGuide_Rev1.00
  • SLES12_InstallationGuide_Rev1.00
  • WinSrv16_InstallationGuide_Rev1.00