Vertiv BMC End Of Support Announcement & Update Procedure

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Jun 27, 2019

Updated 2020/6/10

Dear Valued Customers & Partners,

Currently GIGABYTE server products with an Aspeed AST2500 BMC feature two different BMC firmware solutions: Avocent MergePoint Embedded Management Software (EMS) provided by Vertiv, or MegaRAC SP-X provided by American Megatrends International (AMI). Each GIGABYTE server product may currently feature either solution, or both may be available in some cases.

On April 1st 2019, Vertiv officially announced they will end all support and further development for Avocent MergePoint EMS as of January 1st, 2020.

Accordingly, GIGABYTE would also like to announce End of Support (EOS) for Avocent MergePoint EMS. Support will be provided until March 27th, 2020.

GIGABYTE has started the process of switching all our products that feature an Aspeed AST2500 BMC or Aspeed AST1250 CMC and currently use the Vertiv solution to the AMI MegaRAC SP-X firmware platform:

For all our Intel & AMD platforms which use Vertiv solution and for which AMI MegaRAC SP-X is not yet available, the change will be implemented during Q3, 2019 (new AMI firmware version is already available to download from each product page):
G191-H44, G221-Z30, G291-280, G291-281, G291-2G0, G291-Z20, G481-H80, G481-H81, G481-HA0, G481-HA1, G481-S80, H231-G20, H231-H60, H261-3C0, H261-H60, H261-H61, H261-N80, H281-PE0, MB51-PS0, MD61-SC2, MD71-HB0, MF51-ES0, MF51-ES1, MF51-ES2, MZ31-AR0, R151-Z30, R161-R12, R161-R13, R181-2A0, R181-340, R181-N20, R181-NA0, R181-Z90, R181-Z91, R181-Z92, R271-Z31, R281-2O0, R281-3C0, R281-3C1, R281-3C2, R281-G30, R281-N40, R281-NO0, R281-Z91, R281-Z92, R281-Z94, S451-3R0, S451-Z30, S461-3T0
For our Marvell ThunderX2 ARM platforms, this change will be implemented during Q4, 2019:
R181-T90, R281-T91, R181-T92, R281-T94

GIGABYTE recommends customers to switch their existing products over to the new platform as soon as it is available. Please check with your GIGABYTE sales representative or email us at server.grp (at) gigabyte.com for AMI BMC firmware availability or for other information or assistance.

Please see the following for instructions for how to change over from Vertiv to AMI BMC firmware.

How to Switch to AMI MegaRAC SP-X BMC Firmware Solution*

*Please consult with your local SI or GIGABYTE representative before proceeding with the update

1. Settings Backup

1.1 FRU data will be lost during the switch, please back up it first.
# ipmitool -H $BMCIP -U admin -P password -I lanplus fru read 0 fru.bak
1.2 User settings from Vertiv BMC firmware will be lost, and are unable to be applied to the new AMI firmware.
1.3 BMC MAC Address is stored in EEPROM – it will be the same for AMI BMC solution

NOTE: The only way to switch over to AMI firmware is by in-band/local update.

2. Switch to new AMI firmware version for Linux OS

2.1 Download & unzip the AMI firmware package (GIGABYTE Server Product Page > Support > Downloads > Firmware), then unzip and save to a bootable Linux USB device
2.2 Boot to OS from the USB/HD device
2.3 Execute NR_flashall.sh (located in utility\fwud\linux folder), wait for completion
2.4 After complete, there will be a message "Please unplug AC cable". Please unplug and then replug AC cable(s). (Do not turn off DC power or reboot server )

3. Switch to new AMI firmware version for UEFI Shell

3.1 Download & unzip the AMI firmware package (GIGABYTE Server Product Page > Support > Downloads > Firmware), then unzip and save to a USB device.

3.2 Plug the USB device into the server, and power on the system.

3.3 Press “F10” key during the server BIOS POST, and select “UEFI: Built-in EFI Shell”.

3.4 In UEFI shell, enter “FS0:” to the USB device.

3.5 Execute NR_flashall.nsh (located in utility\fwud\uefi folder), wait for completion.

3.6 After complete, there will be a message "Please unplug AC cable". Please unplug and then replug AC cable(s). (Do not turn off DC power or reboot server)

GIGABYTE Server Team