Checking Exalogic 2.0.1.1.0 Readiness

A lot of information can be found in a new manual called the Exalogic Cloud Administration Guide. Here’s what this guide has to say about the minimum required versions to upgrade (see section 3.2) :

3.2 Verifying Firmware and Software Versions
Before reimaging Exalogic compute nodes from Oracle Linux to Oracle VM Server, you must verify that the versions of software and firmware on Exalogic machine components are as follows:

Firmware on Sun Network QDR InfiniBand Gateway Switches (NM2-GW): 2.0.6-1

Firmware on Sun Datacenter InfiniBand Switch 36 (NM2-36P): 2.0.6-1

Sun ZFS Storage 7320 appliance: 2011.04.24.1.0,1-1.8

ILOM and BIOS on storage heads: SW1.4 3.0.16.10 r65138

ILOM and BIOS on compute nodes: SW1.5 3.0.16.10.a r68533

Mellanox InfiniBand card: 2.9.1000

Now checking software versions can be a bit of a challenge if you are not so familiar with the Exalogic platform. Here’s how to do it….

1. Checking the gateway switches

Checking the firmware version on the infiniband switches is fairly simple (see also this post). First login to the switch and and then type the version command :

JNs-MBP3-QA-2:~ jnwerk$ <strong>ssh root@xxxxgw01.qualogy.com
</strong>root@xxxxgw01.qualogy.com's password:
Last login: Fri Jul 27 19:58:19 2012 from 192.168.110.17
You are now logged in to the root shell.
It is recommended to use ILOM shell instead of root shell.
All usage should be restricted to documented commands and documented
config files.
To view the list of documented commands, use "help" at linux prompt.
[root@xxxxgw01 ~]# <strong>version
</strong>SUN DCS gw version: <strong>2.0.6-1
</strong>Build time: Jan 17 2012 14:29:13
FPGA version: 0x33
SP board info:
Manufacturing Date: 2010.12.30
Serial Number: "NCD600077"
Hardware Revision: 0x0006
Firmware Revision: 0x0000
BIOS version: SUN0R100
BIOS date: 06/22/2010

Also check any other infiniband switches you have in your system to be certain they are all running this same version. In our case (we have a quarter rack) we also check the second gateway switch :

[root@xxxxgw02 ~]# <strong>version
</strong>SUN DCS gw version: <strong>2.0.6-1
</strong>Build time: Jan 17 2012 14:29:13
FPGA version: 0x33
SP board info:
Manufacturing Date: 2010.12.31
Serial Number: "NCD600233"
Hardware Revision: 0x0006
Firmware Revision: 0x0000
BIOS version: SUN0R100
BIOS date: 06/22/2010

OK, good : we are at version 2.0.6-1 across the board, as required. Let’s move on the the storage (we cannot check the NM2-36P switch as it only comes on half- and full rack configurations).

2. Checking the storage appliance version

Login to the ILOM of storage head 1 to check the version :

[root@xxxxcn01 ~]# <strong>ssh root@xxxxsn01-c
</strong>Password:
Last login: Tue Apr 17 14:11:42 2012 from 192.168.110.83
xxxxsn01:&gt; maintenance
xxxxsn01:maintenance&gt; system updates
xxxxsn01:maintenance system updates&gt; show
Updates:
 
UPDATE                           DATE                      STATUS
ak-nas@2010.08.17.1.1,1-1.16     2010-11-1 12:46:16        previous
ak-nas@2010.08.17.2.1,1-1.21     2011-3-10 23:49:47        previous
ak-nas@2010.08.17.3.0,1-1.25     2011-4-29 15:48:52        previous
<strong>ak-nas@2011.04.24.1.0,1-1.8      2011-12-21 22:32:50       current
</strong>...
etc.

OK, our current storage version qualifies, as we are on the required version 2011.04.24.1.0,1-1.8. To be thorough, also check storage head 2 :

qnlexasn02:&gt; <strong>maintenance system updates
</strong>qnlexasn02:maintenance system updates&gt; <strong>show
</strong>Updates:
 
UPDATE                           DATE                      STATUS
ak-nas@2010.08.17.1.1,1-1.16     2010-11-1 12:46:16        previous
ak-nas@2010.08.17.2.1,1-1.21     2011-3-10 23:49:47        previous
ak-nas@2010.08.17.3.0,1-1.25     2011-4-29 15:48:52        previous
<strong>ak-nas@2011.04.24.1.0,1-1.8      2011-12-21 22:32:50       current</strong>
 
...

3. Checking the ILOM and BIOS versions on the storage heads

Now we need to check the ILOM and BIOS firmware on both storage heads, so we log into the ILOM interface on both :

<strong>SN01
</strong> 
# <strong>ssh root@xxxxsn01-c.qualogy.com
</strong>Password:
 
Oracle(R) Integrated Lights Out Manager
 
<strong>Version 3.0.16.10 r65138
</strong> 
Copyright (c) 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 
-&gt; version
<strong>SP firmware 3.0.16.10</strong>
<strong>SP firmware build number: 65138</strong>
SP firmware date: Wed Jun 15 08:02:17 EDT 2011
SP filesystem version: 0.1.23
 
<strong>SN02
</strong> 
# <strong>ssh root@xxxxsn02-c.qualogy.com
</strong>Password:
 
Oracle(R) Integrated Lights Out Manager
 
<strong>Version 3.0.16.10 r65138
</strong> 
Copyright (c) 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 
-&gt; version
SP firmware 3.0.16.10
SP firmware build number: 65138
SP firmware date: Wed Jun 15 08:02:17 EDT 2011
SP filesystem version: 0.1.23

OK, good, both heads are on the same version and it is the required level 3.0.16.10 r65138. It’s not exactly clear to me what is meant by “checking the BIOS version” here, but as only version 3.0.16.10 r65138 is mentioned it is safe to assume we are OK here.

4. Checking the ILOM and BIOS versions on the compute nodes

Checking the versions on the compute nodes is very similar to the storage heads, as they are both based on SunFire X4170 M2 blade servers. Therefore, to keep things interesting we will do the version check via the ILOM webui this time around :

Go to the Integrated Lights Out Manager webconsole and login, then to the System Information > Overview tab.

Figure 1 : checking the ILOM version via the graphical webui

(by the way : there’s lot’s more useful information and functions to be found in the ILOM interfaces, but that’s for a future post…)

However for “CLI gung-ho” readers, no worries this  can also be done via the terminal by logging into it’s interface via ssh :

JNs-MBP3-QA-2:~ jnwerk$ <strong>ssh root@qnlexacn08-c.qualogy.com
</strong>Password:
 
Oracle(R) Integrated Lights Out Manager
 
<strong>Version 3.0.16.10.a r68533
</strong>...
...

Note the slight difference in version notation, we’got an extra a here : v3.0.16.10 r65138a

Again it’s not exactly clear what is meant by “checking the BIOS version” here, but as only version 3.0.16.10 r65138a is mentioned it is safe to assume we are OK here.

5. Checking the Mellanox IB version

Our infiniband version needs to be up to date as well :

Mellanox InfiniBand card: 2.9.1000

How do we check this? We can find the infomation in the Exalogic PSU Infrastructure Upgrade Guide [MOS ID 1367093.1]. It turns out we can use the ibstat command for this :

[root@xxxxcn01 ~]# ibstat | grep “Firmware version”

Firmware version: 2.9.1000

=> OK here as well. You can also retreive this information via the CheckHWnFWProfile script in the Exalogic tools.

We have now ascertained that our Exalogic infrastructure is ready for upgrading to the new version 2.0.1.x. We are ready to “rock ’n roll” with Exalogic Control ! Now it’s time to make some backups of what we have, before we put on our “new shoes”….

Publicatiedatum: 13 augustus 2012

Over auteur Jos Nijhoff

Jos Nijhoff is an experienced Application Infrastructure consultant at Qualogy. Currently he plays a key role as technical presales and hands-on implementation lead for Qualogy's exclusive Exalogic partnership with Oracle for the Benelux area. Thus he keeps in close contact with Oracle presales and partner services on new developments, but maintains an independent view. He gives technical guidance and designs, reviews, manages and updates the application infrastructure before, during and after the rollout of new and existing Oracle (Fusion) Applications & Fusion Middleware implementations. Jos is also familiar with subjects like high availability, disaster recovery scenarios, virtualization, performance analysis, data security, and identity management integration with respect to Oracle applications.

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