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Considerations for upgrading drive firmware

Take into account some key considerations before upgrading your drive firmware.

Drive compatibility​

Each drive firmware file contains information about the drive type on which the firmware runs. You can download the specified firmware file only to a compatible drive. System Manager automatically checks compatibility during the upgrade process.

Drive upgrade methods​

There are two types of drive firmware upgrade methods: online and offline.

Online upgradeOffline upgrade

During an online upgrade, drives are upgraded sequentially, one at a time. The storage array continues processing I/O while the upgrade occurs. You do not have to stop I/O. If a drive can do an online upgrade, the online method is used automatically.

Drives that can do an online upgrade include the following:

  • Drives in an Optimal pool
  • Drives in an Optimal redundant volume group (RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6)
  • Unassigned drives
  • Standby hot spare drives

Doing an online drive firmware upgrade can take several hours exposing the storage array to potential volume failures. Volume failure could occur in these cases:

  • In a RAID 1 or RAID 5 volume group, one drive fails while a different drive in the volume group is being upgraded.
  • In a RAID 6 pool or volume group, two drives fail while a different drive in the pool or volume group is being upgraded.

During an offline upgrade, all drives of the same drive type are upgraded at the same time. This method requires stopping I/O activity to the volumes associated with the selected drives. Because multiple drives can be upgraded concurrently (in parallel), the overall downtime is significantly reduced. If a drive can do only an offline upgrade, the offline method is used automatically.

The following drives MUST use the offline method:

  • Drives in a non-redundant volume group (RAID 0)
  • Drives in a non-optimal pool or volume group
  • Drives in SSD cache