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Here, the SRCF DRP machines are used as an example.  These machines are from SuperMicro and have one of their versions of screens and interfaces.  Many of our machines have their IMPI interface connected on the network.  Point a browser at https://<node name>-ipmi.pcdsn and a page comes up on which to enter a username and password (contact pcds-it for good values).  After successful login, the IPMI page comes up and shows many capabilities, including:

  • a remote interface to the system console
  • interacting with system power
  • updating the BIOS

Remote Console

The remote console can be run with either a Java plug-in or HTML5 via selection through the 'settings' link on the System tab.  If the Java method gives trouble, switch to HTML5, which is slower but reliably provides readable screens.  Click on the preview panel to bring up the console screen.

Invoking the BIOS

To get to the BIOS screens, the machine must be power cycled.  There are several methods with which this can be achieved, including the Reset button on the Power Control panel on the System tab.  After the power cycle takes effect, the console window will go blank for a while, then show some stuff, go blank again, etc., before finally showing a screen giving some options to enter.  In the case of these machines, the BIOS parameters are eventually accessible by hitting the Delete key (or fn delete on a Mac) during the short time the options are available.  Wait too long and the machine boots the OS.

Noting BIOS parameters

It may be important to note all the current BIOS parameter states before updating the firmware because some values may not be obvious or intuitive to re-configure after they are reset by the update process.  Here are some screenshots from the v1.0 (old) and v2.3 (new) BIOSes on the drp-srcf-cmpNNN machines:

Main tab
Advanced tab
  Boot Feature, cmp003
  Trusted Computing
  PSP fw ver
  ACPI Settings
  Super IO
    Super IO Ser Port 1 Cfg
    Super IO SOL Cfg
  Ser Port Console Redirect
  CPU Cfg
    CPU1 Info
  NB Cfg
    Mem Cfg
    CPU1 Mem Info
  AMI Graphic Output Proto
  PCIe Cfg top, PCIe Cfg bottom
    PCIe Network Stack Cfg
    PCIe Hot-Plug Settings
  USB Cfg
  SATA Cfg
    ASMedia SATA Ctrl
    ASMedia SATA Info
    SATA Info
      SATA0
      SATA1
  HTTP Boot cfg
  Network cfg
  iSCSI Cfg
  10GBase-T A
    FWImgMenuA
    DevCfgMenuA
    MBAcfgMenuA
    iSCSI BootCfgMenuA
      iSCSI GenParA
      iSCSI InitParA
      iSCSI 1stTarParA
      iSCSI 2ndTarParA
      2ndDevA
  10GBase-T B
    FWImgMenuB
    DevCfgMenuB
    MBAcfgMenuB
    iSCSI BootCfgMenuB
      iSCSI GenParB
      iSCSI InitParB
      iSCSI 1stTarParB
      iSCSI 2ndTarParB
      2ndDevB
  TLSAuthCfg
    ServerCACfg
    EnrCert
    DelCert
  RamdiskCfg
  DriverHealth
    Mlx
    Broadcom1
    Broadcom2
IPMI tab
  IPMI SEL
  IPMI BMC
EvtLog tab
  EvtLog SMBIOS settings
  EvtLog SMBIOS evt log
Security tab top, bottom
  Secure Boot
  SecBoot Key Mgmt
Boot tab old cmp001, old cmp002, new cmp001
SaveAndExit tab old cmp002, new cmp001

Updating the BIOS

Place the firmware update file somewhere in the pcds file system.  It may need to be unpacked from a .zip file first. The filename will look something like BIOS_H12SSW-1B2B_20211020_2.3_STDsp.bin.

On the IPMI home page for the machine being updated, find the 'BIOS Update' menu item.  For the drp-srcf-cmp* machines, it is in the Maintenance menu, as shown in IPMI page.  This allows you to browse to the BIOS file and initiate its loading.  After a while the loading will complete and you will be asked whether the system should reset.  Go ahead and do so, being prepared to again stop the boot process at the BIOS setup stage as described in Invoking the BIOS, above.  Since a number of the BIOS parameters will have been reset to their default values, they will now need to be reconfigured to their old settings.  Note that in the new BIOS version, some parameters may have disappeared, moved to different subsections, renamed or reordered with respect to the old version.

For BIOS v2.3, the parameters that needed restoring were:

  • Boot Feature: Restore on AC Power Loss:      Stay Off
  • Boot Feature: Power Button Function:            4 Seconds Override
  • CPU Configuration: SMT Control:                   Disabled
  • PCI... Config.: ... Slot 1 ... Bifurcation:             x8x8
  • Supermicro ... Enet Ctrlr A: DevCfgMenu: Number of VFs per PF:     8
  • Supermicro ... Enet Ctrlr A: DevCfgMenu: Energy Eff. Enet:               Disabled
  • Supermicro ... Enet Ctrlr A: DevCfgMenu: DCB Protocol:                   Enabled (IEEE Only)
  • Supermicro ... Enet Ctrlr A: MBACfgMenu: Legacy Boot Protocol:     PXE
  • Supermicro ... Enet Ctrlr A: MBACfgMenu: Pre-boot Wake On LAN:  Enabled
  • Supermicro ... Enet Ctrlr B: DevCfgMenu: Number of VFs per PF:     8
  • Supermicro ... Enet Ctrlr B: DevCfgMenu: Energy Eff. Enet:               Disabled
  • Supermicro ... Enet Ctrlr B: DevCfgMenu: DCB Protocol:                   Enabled (IEEE Only)
  • Supermicro ... Enet Ctrlr B: MBACfgMenu: Legacy Boot Protocol:    PXE
  • Supermicro ... Enet Ctrlr B: MBACfgMenu: Pre-boot Wake On LAN: Enabled

In addition, the Boot options on the Boot tab need to be modified.  Easiest may be to first go into 'UEFI NETWORK Drive BBS Priorities' (probably need to scroll to the bottom) and move the IB option to be last.  Then go back to the Boot options and change the options to:

  • UEFI USB Key
  • UEFI Hard Disk: RedHat Boot Manager
  • UEFI Network:(B198/D0/F0): UEFI PXE IPv4 Supermicro (First Ethernet Controller)
  • Set remaining options to 'Disabled'
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