What is the preferred (best practice) way to maintain current levels of HBA Drivers & Firmware? Some are EMC rebranded Emulex HBA cards -- Would that mean to use EMC's website as the source or Emulex as the source which would be equivalent? For example, EMC LPe12002-E 8Gb 2-port PCIe Fibre Channel Adapter. Also, there is the other component, the fabric array, would it dictate a cross-reference in determining the HBA driver & firmware version can be applied?
Best practices would be to check/test/deploy the latest drivers/firmware once or twice annually, or as per normal operating procedures you may have for checking/testing/deploying drivers for other hardware of your server, such as NICs or Operating System patches.
You can get the drivers/firmware from the Emulex.com website; from the EMC section.
Edwin, thanks for your input. That is exactly the process I'm been going through. I happen to notice Emulex supplies more frequent updates to the "equivalent" models for all rebranded HBA cards, for example http://www.emulex.com/downloads/emulex/firmware-and-boot-code/lpe12002/firmware-and-boot-code/ for the LPe12002 / LPe12002-E HBA Model. So EMC recommends sticking with what is in the OEM (EMC tested/certified) versioning and not using the link by emulex for Non-OEM qualified? I just want to verify that since it could open the door for two possible methods to find updated drivers/firmware. Just to make sure, EMC doesn't post any of the downloads on its website?
Our current compliance reporting process is on a monthly basis, but the actual update will vary depending on urgency & opportunity.
Here is a scenario I’ve come across, if the HP server with HP branded HBA is connected to an EMC SAN, which one HP, EMC, or the “generic” Emulex equivalent (OEM drivers/firmware on the HBA) takes precedence?
EdwinVanMierlo
39 Posts
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Posted February 8th, 2014 02:00
"So EMC recommends sticking with what is in the OEM (EMC tested/certified) versioning and not using the link by emulex for Non-OEM qualified?"
Answer: Yes, stick with the drivers in the OEM section
HTH,
Edwin.
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