Updating firmware

Several components in the BladeCenter S chassis contain firmware that you can update.

You can determine the level of firmware currently installed for a device in the BladeCenter S chassis from the advanced management module Web Interface by clicking Firmware VPD.

The following BladeCenter S system components have firmware that can be updated:

Advanced management module
Blade servers
I/O modules, including the SAS connectivity module and the SAS RAID controller module
Disk storage modules

In addition, some of the optional hardware devices that you can order for the BladeCenter S system have device drivers that you must install.

For example, Ethernet controllers are integrated on each blade server system board. The Ethernet controllers provide 1000-Mbps full-duplex capability only, which enables simultaneous transmission and reception of data to the external ports on the Ethernet switches. You do not have to set any jumpers or configure the controller for the blade server operating system. However, you must install a device driver in the blade server to enable the blade server operating system to address the Ethernet controller.

See the documentation that comes with your hardware options for information about installing any required device drivers.

To obtain the latest firmware and device drivers, complete the following steps:

Go to the IBM® BladeCenter® software and device drivers Web site .
Select BladeCenter S to display the matrix of downloadable files.
Select the blade servers and other devices that are installed in the BladeCenter S chassis to download the firmware and device drivers.