storage - How to upgrade the firmware of HP SAS expander card without Smart Array controller or Proliant Server?

itemprop="text">

How can I update/upgrade/flash the
firmware of an HP SAS expander card [468406-B21 href="http://partsurfer.hp.com/Search.aspx?SearchText=468406-B21" rel="nofollow
noreferrer">a.k.a. href="http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay?javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.prp_ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c01733557-4%257CdocLocale%253D%257CcalledBy%253D&javax.portlet.tpst=ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01&ac.admitted=1412070310829.876444892.199480143"
rel="nofollow
noreferrer">487738-001]?

I used to
do this using Windows and a HP P410 Smart Array controller, however that controller is
no longer available.

The online ROM
flash component is not an option because I don't own HP Smart Array controller. Neither
is the href="http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/server-software/product-detail.html?oid=5104018#!tab=features"
rel="nofollow noreferrer">HP Service Pack for ProLiant + USB key/stick an
option because that requires a ProLiant server.

Answer

Upgrading the HP SAS expander is possible using Linux and a SAS
HBA.
_{Note: Flashing firmware to a SAS
expander will likely not work when the expander is connected to a SAS
RAID controller because that controller might hide all
devices behind it from the OS. An example of a SAS HBA is href="http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AOC-SAS2LP-MV8.cfm"
rel="noreferrer">Supermicro
SAS2LP-MV8.}

In case you
haven't got Linux, you can use a Linux Live CD. You could try the href="http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/" rel="noreferrer">most recent Ubuntu
Live CD. A 32-bit download will do. 64-Bit will
also work.

1.
Prerequisites

1. Start
   a Linux terminal
   _{That is
   Ctrl+Alt+T using
   the Ubuntu LiveCD.}




2. Make
   sure your internet connection is working
   _{To download and install
   additional components}




3. Make
   sure your SAS expander card is detected in Linux
   _{#
   lsscsi -g | grep HP
   Should return something like: />[6:0:0:0] enclosu HP HP SAS EXP Card 2.08 - /dev/sg1 />[6:0:1:0] enclosu HP HP SAS EXP Card 2.10 -
   /dev/sg2}

2.
Setup utility

You use
sg_write_buffer version ≥ 1.15 to download microcode when the
expander is connected to a host bus adapter (HBA). To download and install this utility
in 32-bit Ubuntu or Debian, use:

#
            curl -O http://sg.danny.cz/sg/p/libsgutils2-2_1.39-0.1_i386.deb &&
            

curl -O http://sg.danny.cz/sg/p/sg3-utils_1.39-0.1_i386.deb
            && 
dpkg -i
            *_1.39-0.1_i386.deb

^{The
sg_write_buffer utility version ≥ 1.15 — distributed in href="http://sg.danny.cz/sg/sg3_utils.html"
rel="noreferrer">sg3_utils version ≥ 1.39 — added
a --bpw option to download in small chunks. An expander might
require a small chunk size like 4096
bytes.}

3. Get and unpack HP
firmware
image

1. Get the
   expander firmware image file, for example href="http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?sp4ts.oid=3923501&spf_p.tpst=swdMain&spf_p.prp_swdMain=wsrp-navigationalState%3Didx%253D3%257CswItem%253DMTX_07e17cded9e8409ea4b9d7ea74%257CswEnvOID%253D54%257CitemLocale%253D%257CswLang%253D%257Cmode%253D4%257Caction%253DdriverDocument&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken"
   rel="noreferrer">version 2.10 (C) — dated 9 Sep 2014: /># curl -O
http://downloads.hpe.com/pub/softlib2/software1/sc-linux-fw-array/p6670438/v96061/CP022989.scexe />^{Although they sound like Windows/DOS executables,
   .scexe files from HP are really Linux executable scripts that
   you can view in a text editor (at least the first
   part).}





2. Running
   a 64-bit Linux and having issues with the next command? Then make sure you can run
   32-bit executables. The commands in Ubuntu are:
   # dpkg
--add-architecture i386 && apt-get update && apt-get install
libstdc++6:i386




3. To
   extract the firmware image from this .scexe file:
   # mkdir tmp
&& chmod +x CP022989.scexe && ./CP022989.scexe --unpack=tmp &&
mv tmp/PUF21000.bin . && rm -r
tmp/

4.
Flash SAS expander

When the expander to be
upgraded/flashed is named sg1 _{(check with
lsscsi -g | grep HP)},
use:

# sg_write_buffer
            --mode=dmc_offs_defer --bpw=4096 --in=PUF21000.bin /dev/sg1
# sg_write_buffer
            --mode=activate_mc
            /dev/sg1

^{Older
devices might only support --mode=0x7. Mode
0x7 is also known as dmc_offs_save,
which does download microcode with offsets, save and
activate.}

5. Remove temporary
files

# rm
            PUF21000.bin

You might
need to unload (for instance modprobe -r mvsas) and load (f.e.
modprobe mvsas) your HBA module again or
reboot to reflect the firmware version changes in
lsscsi -g output.