Ubuntu 9.04 + PSP + Firmware Updates on HP DL380 G5

PSP Install

We prefer to use Ubuntu on our production servers for all kinds of reasons. With this choice however usually comes a lack of vendor support (because how can a Linux distro be enterprise if you don’t pay money for it?).

The ProLiant Support Pack (PSP) provides a whole bunch of great software which helps with server management. I especially needed to update the firmware on our E200 RAID controller and SAS drives.

HP have recently added PSP support for Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 (and Debian Lenny 5.0) for many of their server models, so I downloaded the current PSP for our servers from here

I ignored the instructions to use apt-cdrom, and instead mounted the ISO on the target machine with:

mount -o loop HP_ProLiant_Value_Add_Software-8.25-19-12.iso /mnt/

then added the repo (temporarily) to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb file:/mnt jaunty/8.25 non-free

then updated and installed all the packages:

apt-get update
apt-get install lib32gcc1
apt-get install hp-health
apt-get install hp-snmp-agents
apt-get install hpsmh
apt-get install hp-smh-templates
apt-get install hpacucli
apt-get install cpqacuxe

At this point the /etc/apt/sources.list entry can be removed.

It is then necessary to run the snmp setup tool to make things report:

/sbin/hpsnmpconfig
[ answers go here ]
/etc/init.d/hp-snmp-agents restart

I just supplied enough answers to get things working locally.

To use the web based version of the array configuration utility, the daemon needs to be started on the host:

/usr/sbin/cpqacuxe -R

I also added this into /etc/rc.local to make sure it runs at boot:

/usr/sbin/cpqacuxe -R > /dev/null

The HP System Management Homepage (SMH) and Array Configuration Utility can be then accessed at https://[host]:2381

Firmware Updates

The online firmware update tools from HP are good. A bit tricky to get going though.

I got the updated firmware and disk firmwares for the E200 smart array controller from here

The link above is for 64 bit RHEL 5, but they will execute fine on 64 bit Ubuntu 9.04 after a few tweaks.

The firmware for the controller was under Firmware - Storage Controller with a description of Firmware CD Supplemental Update / Online ROM Flash Component for Linux - Smart Array E200 and E200i

At the same time, I used the SMH to find out the Model Number of each of the installed drives. Then found the new firmware downloads for those drives on the same downloads page.

To apply the firmware updates under Ubuntu, you need to do some hackery as outlined here. To repeat his instructions:

wget http://mediakey.dk/~cc/files/compat-libstdc++-296-2.96-138.i386.rpm
aptitude install rpm
rpm2cpio compat-libstdc++-296-2.96-138.i386.rpm | cpio -idmv
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/root/usr/lib/:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
ldconfig

Then executed the downloaded controller firmware update file (in my case):

/bin/bash ./CP011557.scexe

The program did throw some errors, but I just ignored them as they didn’t cause any issues:

./CP011557.scexe: 344: pushd: not found
./CP011557.scexe: 344: popd: not found

Using iLO, I did a cold boot as instructed, after applying the controller firmware update. As the server booted with the new controller firmware revision, the RAID BIOS threw a couple of quick messages to indicate that the firmware on some of the drives was now out of date. Good, because that is the next thing I updated.

At the next login I applied the two firmware updates for the two types of SAS drive that are installed on that server:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/root/usr/lib/:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
/bin/bash ./CP011615.scexe
/bin/bash ./CP011617.scexe

The updates prompted for all the drives that needed updating. After applying both I did another cold boot (thanks iLO). Job done.