Monday, June 4, 2012

Upgrade QLogic FC HBA firmware on IBM System x server

I have been researching the method to upgrade device firmware, my aim was to upgrade the firmware before installing operating system and perform the upgrade remotely by IBM RSA console.
For IBM system (IMM/UEFI/FGA/DSA) and IBM peripheral device firmware, IBM ToolsCenter Bootable Media Creator(BoMC) is a great tool to create boot CD, which can upgrade IBM system  and IBM peripheral device firmware automatically.
However, for IBM OEM product like QLogic HBA, Maybe due to bug,BoMC (v9.2) can’t detect the device, you have to use Qlogic DOS flash tool to do the upgrade.

Upgrade Qlogic FC HBA QLE 2560 firmware
1) Visit QLogic website (http://driverdownloads.qlogic.com/QLogicDriverDownloads_UI/Product_detail.aspx?oemid=376) to download  firmware package which includes firmware and DOS flash utility.
2) Download DOS boot diskette image(http://www.allbootdisks.com/downloads/Disks/MS-DOS_Boot_Disk_Download47/Diskette Images/Dos3.3.img)
3) Download Winimage software(http://www.winimage.com/) to edit the image by adding Qlogic firmware and flash tools(VPD.EXE, Q25AF232.BIN, update.bat, FLASUTIL.EXE)
4) Attach the diskette image by login to IBM RSA console->remote control->tools->launch virtual media->add image. Click map to upload the image, then mount it.
5) Boot server to DOS from floppy, run update.bat to update firmware