Updating LSI firmware inside TrueNAS

[CJRoss]

I really need to document this whole procedure. I do it so infrequently that I always forget the next time it happens.

It looks like my main LSI 2008 is on it's way out the door. I'm looking at scavenging a backup 2008 from another machine but it's on v15 of the IT firmware. I have a 2308 on the way that should already be IT but I'm not sure if it's the newest version so I'll need to repeat the process when that arrives.

Am I okay to just use sas2flash inside TrueNAS? Do I need to clear the existing firmware first or just overwrite it? Also, does anyone have the latest link to the firmware? Supermicro doesn't seem to have the latest version. https://www.supermicro.com/wdl/driver/SAS/Broadcom/2008/IR_IT/Firmware/IT/PH20.0.4-IT.zip

Thanks.

 

[MisterE2002]

You can find the official 2308 firmware here:

www.supermicro.com - /wdl/driver/SAS/Broadcom/2308/Firmware/IT/

Make sure you disconnect the drives first! Figure out you SAS id.

Here the steps (in Dutch).

• Ontkoppelen van de SAS kabel
• Extract “PH20.00.07.00-IT.zip”
• scp “PH20.00.07.00-IT.zip” root@san:
• ssh root@san
• unzip PH20.00.07.00-IT.zip
• cd /root/PH20.00.07.00-IT/IT/UEFI
• Uitvoeren commando's gebaseerd op “SMC2308T.nsh”

sas2flash -o -e 7
sas2flash -f 2308T207.ROM
sas2flash -b mptsas2.rom
sas2flash -b x64sas2.rom
sas2flash.efi -o -sasaddhi 5003048

• Laatst commando vraagt om laatste 9 resterende karakters. In ons geval “01BD1E200”
• Controle na de flash: sas2flash -list

 

[danb35]

Am I okay to just use sas2flash inside TrueNAS?

Sure can. I flashed a controller once with the pool online, but I wouldn't recommend that. But yes, the utility's there and works fine.

 

[CJRoss]

But if I'm going from old IT version to new IT version, do I need to do all of the steps as if I was going from IR to IT?

 

[MisterE2002]

just use the “SMC2308T.nsh” script. I do not know if this works the same for the 2008 or where people find this firmware. Maybe still on the old sites. The company changed names multiple times.

 

[Whattteva]

But if I'm going from old IT version to new IT version, do I need to do all of the steps as if I was going from IR to IT?

If it's already in IT, you shouldn't need to cross-flash anymore. Just flash with the latest version (p20 I believe).

just use the “SMC2308T.nsh” script. I do not know if this works the same for the 2008 or where people find this firmware. Maybe still on the old sites. The company changed names multiple times.

Silly me, I missed that script and did the flash commands separately. Also, I believe Broadcom is the current owner of LSI/Avago so the files should be hosted there now.

 

[CJRoss]

The only machine I had handy to do the firmware updates with was an old Intel motherboard. Running sas2flsh in DOS gave me the PAL BIOS32 error. Despite the motherboard having a EUFI boot option, I wasn't able to get it to work. Not sure why.

I ended up installing TrueNAS and using sas2flash to update the firmware. It hung both times on resetting the adapter but updated the firmware nonetheless. My only complaint is that one of the cards had a boot rom and sas2flash won't let you delete. It seems to boot quickly though, so I stopped working on it once I had the firmware updated.

Also, I just realized that this post ended up under SCALE. Not sure how that happened as I'm still doing everything with Core.

 

[Whattteva]

My only complaint is that one of the cards had a boot rom and sas2flash won't let you delete.

I think I read that the process is kinda' finicky and if you want to delete successfully, you need to use megarec.

It seems to boot quickly though, so I stopped working on it once I had the firmware updated.

Well, as long as it works for your purpose. I guess it's fine. I'm guessing since it's missing the ROM, you probably can't boot from the card directly, which is a non-issue if you're just using for TrueNAS data drives, but may be an issue in the future if you ever repurpose the card for other uses in the future and want the ability to boot from it.