BIOS update on HP Proliant DL 580 G4 - how to find right(very old) BIOS ROM package and few other things and tricks

Ok, ok, I know.. It's 2016... And this is server from 2007... 9 years... It's more then 7 years in Tibet :) Just kidding!

OK, so you have old server that you need up and running but you need to update BIOS ROM. BIOS ROM update procedure is pretty simple. You go to manufacture web site or portal and find necessary package, follow the instructions and that it. Basically it is but... there are few thing you need to know before you go like "Ok, it's 5 minute job". Good preparation can take days for something to be 5 minute job. Keep that in mind always.

BIOS update on HP Proliant DL 580 G4

For those who don't know, HP make servers. And a good one! There are few server classes like rack servers, blade servers, etc. Every or every second year HP put's on market new servers!  I am working with HP servers 8+ years now. In case you are now familiar with HP annotation, PROLIANT DL is server line, 580 is server type and G4 is means Generation 4. Every few years, HP put's out new generation of servers. From 2015. there is Generation 9. I hope you get the picture. G4 is very old! 

So, to update BIOS ROM you need to follow these steps:

Installation:
The SCEXE components are self-extracting executable files. The SCEXE file unpacks itself, flashes the ROM, and cleans up.
To flash a ROM:
Download the file to the target server.
Execute sh CPxxxxxx.scexe where CPxxxxxx.scexe represents the filename of the component.

By the way, there are two types of update files : .exe and .scexe. Exe is for Windows environment and scexe is for Linux environment.

As you can see, there are small padlock near Obtain software. This means that package is not "free" to download. When you press Obtain software you will get this pop-up windows 

So lets suppose that you don't have this. So how to get this file? Or any other update firmware file for that particular old server? Answer in Firmware update DVD. You can find this for every HP server. Just download it. It's iso file. You can burn that .iso file to DVD, boot from it and update of BIOS ROM or some other firmware. Or you can mount that iso file and file that one package that you need. Easy? It sound's easy but ... as I mention in first part of this post, good preparation is what makes BIOS ROM update 5 minute job. Why? Because, on HP website for HP DL 580 G4 you can download Firmware update DVD 10.10. It would be perfectly logical to find there BIOS ROM package CP009618.scexe. But .... there are no such file on that .iso.

[root@]# mount -t iso9660 FW1010.2012_0530.49.iso /mnt/ -o loop
[root@]# cd /mnt/
[root@]# find . -name CP009618.scexe
[root@]#

Why? My guess it that you have to keep up with the new hardware. One of things to do that is to reduce support for old hardware.

So... now what?

So what to do now? In case you have noticed, there are date of in version. So file CP009618.scexe referrers as 2008.06.10(2 Sep 2008). My idea was to find Firmware update DVD from 2008 and try to find file that I need. And....

[root]# mount -t iso9660 FW840.2009_0209.17.iso /mnt/ -o loop
[root@]# cd /mnt/
[root@]# find . -name CP009618.scexe
./compaq/swpackages/CP009618.scexe
[root@]#

This is on Firmware update DVD 8.4.


There it was... Package for BIOS ROM update for HP Proliant DL 580 G4!
From now it's 5 minute work.
Copy file to desired server and follow instructions.

[root]# sh CP009618.scexe
Online ROM Flash Engine Version: Linux-3.5.0-0
Name: HP ProLiant DL580 G4 (P59)
Software Version: 06/10/2008
The software is installed but is not up to date.


Current Version: 08/10/2007


Do you want to upgrade the software to a newer version (y/n) ?y

Flash in progress do not interrupt or your system may become unusable.
Working.............................................
The installation procedure completed successfully.

A reboot is required to finish the installation completely.
Do you want to reboot your system now? yes
Do you want to reboot your system now? yes

For BIOS ROM update to take effect you have to reboot the server.