OBP/ALOM upgrade through SUE

The Solaris Utility Environment live CD can be used to upgrade Sun SPARC firmware and ALOM to the included versions.

Here is the procedure description step by step.

Boot SUE CD

I halted the machine and typed 'boot cdrom' at the OK prompt.

Boot device: /pci@1e,600000/ide@d/cdrom@0,0:f  File and args:
SunOS Release 5.10 Version Generic_139555-08 64-bit
Copyright 1983-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
Use is subject to license terms.
Hardware watchdog enabled
Hit 'm' to load SUE in memory
Loading SUE image in memory. This may take a while...done.

Configure settings for SUE

*** Solaris Utility Environment version 3.27 ***
Booting this environment will not modify any disks on this system.
Configuring devices.
Reading ZFS config: done.
prtvtoc: /devices/pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@0,0:c,raw: Invalid VTOC
prtvtoc: /devices/pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@0,0:c,raw: Invalid VTOC
Select the type of configuration to perform
1 Auto system configuration
2 Manual system configuration
3 No system configuration
h Help
Enter option: h
This is asking how to proceed with system configuration.
Valid responses are:
1 - (Auto) Perform the normal auto system configuration. This is the same
   configuration program that the standard Solaris CD/DVD runs.  When running
   this, "The Solaris Installation Program" will be displayed across the top.
   However, NO ATTEMPT WILL BE MADE TO INSTALL SOLARIS. Using this option may
   take a fair amount of time on systems that have many network interfaces as
   it attempts a RARP on each one.
2 - (Manual) This option will simply prompt for hostname, IP address, and
   subnet mask for each interface selected, along with the default route
   and DNS information. It will then use this (and only this) information to
   configure networking on the system.
3 - (None) Skip the system configuration process altogether.
h - (Help) Display this help screen.

It makes sense to select 2 and configure network manually.

Hit enter to continue: 2
Select the type of configuration to perform
1 Auto system configuration
2 Manual system configuration
3 No system configuration
h Help
Enter option: 2
Enter terminal type [vt100]:
** Manual network configuration starting **
Enter hostname: suecd
Will set hostname set to suecd
Searching for network interfaces: [bge0] [bge1] [bge2] [bge3] done
Process interface bge0 ([y]/n/q) ?
Name: bge0
IP address: 192.168.1.34
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Information entered for bge0:
Name: bge0
IP address: 192.168.1.34
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Is this correct ([y]/n) ?
** Starting configuration **
Configuring interface bge0
Adding default route
add net default: gateway 192.168.1.1
** Manual network configuration complete **

Note that the hostname selected here will overwrite the current hostname in ALOM as well.

Root password:

Please set a root password that will be used for the duration that the
Solaris Utility Environment is booted. Setting a password here has no effect
on what the root password is set to on the root disk of this machine. Please
note that hitting enter is an invalid response and won't set your root
password to nothing.
New password:
Re-enter new password:
Warning: No valid boot disk found. Cannot mount root.
Generating ssh keys...done.
Activating network services - inetd telnet ftp ssh - done.
Serial number has not been set with SNEEP.
Enter system serial number (hit enter to skip):
No serial number entered.

The SUE main menu appears.

Assuming that you have used the ALOM console for the above, at this point you can ssh to the IP you selected and take over the screen session with 'screen -DR'.

Initiating OBP upgrade from SUE

*******************************************************************************
Solaris Utility Environment version 3.27
SunOS suecd 5.10 Generic_139555-08 sun4u sparc SUNW,Sun-Fire-V240
Patched with EIS 26MAY09                          System serial number: unknown
********************************** Main Menu **********************************
1) Invoke /bin/sh                       11) Start Solaris Volume Manager
2) Invoke /bin/ksh                      12) Stop Solaris Volume Manager
3) Invoke /bin/csh                      13) Import ZFS pools
4) Invoke /bin/bash                     14) Device path decoder
5) SunVTS                               15) Run cediag on root disk
6) Firmware menu                        16) Run findaft on root disk
7) Set dump device                      17) Run findUE on root disk
8) Clear dump device                    18) Run fin954 on root disk
9) Start Veritas Volume Manager         19) Run findfma
10) Stop Veritas Volume Manager
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
h) Halt system    r) Reboot system    d) Disable menu    s) Help on GNU screen
u) View SUE User's Guide
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter selection: 6
*******************************************************************************
Solaris Utility Environment version 3.27
SunOS suecd 5.10 Generic_139555-08 sun4u sparc SUNW,Sun-Fire-V240
Patched with EIS 26MAY09                          System serial number: unknown
******************************** Firmware Menu ********************************
1) Disk                                  8) v1280/2900/Netra 1280
2) OBP/flash                             9) LSI controllers
3) Fibre Channel HBA                    10) Jasper 320 LVD SCSI controller
4) 880/890 disk backplane               11) sun4v system firmware
5) ALOM                                 12) Adaptec SAS controller
6) RSC                                  13) Auto firmware check
7) LOM                                  14) Main menu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
h) Halt system    r) Reboot system    d) Disable menu    s) Help on GNU screen
u) View SUE User's Guide
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter selection: 2
Patch:             121683
Platform:          SUNW,Sun-Fire-V240
Patch version:     4.22.33
System version:    4.16.6
Upgrade available: yes
This update requires booting the flash image.
Please modify any necessary jumper/keyswitch settings before attempting this.
The boot command is now set to:
reboot -- "/pci@1e,600000/ide@d/cdrom@0,0:f -F obp_archive -D
/flash/SUNW,Sun-Fire-V240"
Would you like to reboot with this image [y/n] ? y
The flash update program does a reset in OBP when it's done. The auto-boot?
setting in NVRAM is currently set to true. This means that this system will
end up booting off the device defined as boot-device (most likely the boot
disk) when it's done updating OBP.
Would you like to set auto-boot? to false to prevent this from happening
and have the system drop to the OK prompt when it's done instead (y/n) ? n
Oct 18 19:47:56 suecd reboot: rebooted by root
[screen is terminating]
syncing file systems... done
rebooting...

Applying OBP upgrade

As you can see, the above doesn't do much more than setting the boot device to the new firmware image on the CD.

The only thing you should take care of is making sure the power doesn't get cut during the flash procedure.

The flashing itself is very fast, approximately one minute.

Rebooting with command: boot /pci@1e,600000/ide@d/cdrom@0,0:f -F obp_archive -D /flash/SUNW,Sun-Fire-V240

Boot device: /pci@1e,600000/ide@d/cdrom@0,0:f File and args: -F obp_archive -D /flash/SUNW,Sun-Fire-V240

|
Standalone Flash PROM Update Utility, Rev. 3.0
                       Ultra(tm) 1
                       ...
                       Sun Fire (tm) V210/V240,Netra 240
                       ...
This utility allows you to interactively update the firmware
revisions in specific system Flash PROM components.
Type h for help, q to quit, Return or Enter to continue:
Every precaution should be taken to prevent the loss of system
power during the Flash PROM programming process!
Type h for help, q to quit, Return or Enter to continue:
      Firmware Release(s)                Firmware Release(s)
 Currently Existing in the System      Available for Installation  /  Install?
---------------------------------- -------------------------------------------
OBP 4.16.6 2005/05/09 13:03        OBP 4.22.33 2007/06/18 12:45         no
                                  POST 4.22.33 2007/06/18 13:07        no
Type sa if you wish to select all available firmware releases for
installation.  Type h for help, quit to exit, or cont to continue: sa
      Firmware Release(s)                Firmware Release(s)
 Currently Existing in the System      Available for Installation  /  Install?
---------------------------------- -------------------------------------------
OBP 4.16.6 2005/05/09 13:03        OBP 4.22.33 2007/06/18 12:45         YES
                                  POST 4.22.33 2007/06/18 13:07        YES
Type sa if you wish to select all available firmware releases for
installation.  Type h for help, quit to exit, or cont to continue: cont
The Flash programming process is about to begin.
Type h for help, q to quit, Return or Enter to continue:
Erasing the top half of the Flash PROM.
Programming OBP into the top half of the Flash PROM.
Verifying OBP in the top half of the Flash PROM.
Erasing the bottom half of the Flash PROM.
Programming OBP into the bottom half of Flash PROM.
Verifying OBP in the bottom half of the Flash PROM.
Erasing the top half of the Flash PROM.
Programming POST into the top half of Flash PROM.
Verifying POST in the top half of the Flash PROM.
Programming was successful.

Initiating ALOM upgrade from SUE

Boot the CD again, setup network, login via TCPIP and select ALOM from Firmware Menu.

The ALOM service network connection will go down when the ALOM reboots.

Note that the ALOM requires the OBP be upgraded first, so follow this order.

The ALOM upgrade is slow, it takes 10 minute or so to complete.

SC Bootmon Version:   1.5.3
SC Firmware Version:  1.5.3
Available version:    1.6.9
This will upgrade the ALOM/sc firmware to 1.6.9.
Type c to continue or a to abort: c
.................... (100%)
Download completed successfully
Please wait for verification
..
Complete
Waiting 60 seconds for the SC to reboot...
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.................................. (100%)
Download completed successfully
Please wait for verification
......
Complete
Done.
Please wait a minute or two for the SC to finish booting.
Hit enter to continue...

After the ALOM has been up, you can setup SSH instead of telnet. Your network settings, passwords etc should be the same as before.