PowerEdge: A Rebootless Firmware Update from iDRAC Fails for some NVMe SSDs
Summary: NVMe drive firmware update using the iDRAC fails if the "Install" (rebootless) option is selected instead of the "Install and Reboot" option.
Symptoms
NVMe drive firmware updates performed through the iDRAC may fail when the Install (rebootless) option is selected.
Firmware updates complete successfully when the Install and Reboot option is used, as a system restart is required for the update process to finish.
Cause
While the iDRAC firmware supports rebootless firmware updates, not all NVMe drive firmware versions support this capability.
As a result, attempting to update NVMe drive firmware using the Install (no reboot) option may fail if the target drive firmware does not support rebootless updates.
In these cases, the firmware update completes successfully only when the Install and Reboot option is selected, allowing the required system restart to occur and the update to be applied.
Resolution
Retrying the firmware update using the iDRAC Install and Reboot option successfully updates the NVMe drive firmware without requiring hardware replacement.
While iDRAC supports rebootless firmware updates through the Install option, support for this capability is dependent on the NVMe drive firmware version. NVMe firmware versions that do not support rebootless updates will fail when the Install option is selected.
Future NVMe drive firmware releases are expected to support rebootless upgrades, allowing firmware updates to be applied successfully using the iDRAC Install option without requiring a system reboot.