Field Notice: FN - 70456 - Cisco DNA Center Appliances Fail to Boot When Cisco Integrated Management Controller Firmware Version 4.0(4c) or Later is Installed - Not Compatible - Workaround Provided

Notice

THIS FIELD NOTICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS AND DOES NOT IMPLY ANY KIND OF GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY, INCLUDING THE WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY. YOUR USE OF THE INFORMATION ON THE FIELD NOTICE OR MATERIALS LINKED FROM THE FIELD NOTICE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. CISCO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR UPDATE THIS FIELD NOTICE AT ANY TIME.

Revision History

Revision	Publish Date	Comments
1.0	26-Sep-19	Initial Release
1.1	05-Oct-19	Updated the Products Affected, Problem Description, Background, Problem Symptom, and Workaround/Solution Sections

Products Affected

Affected Product ID	Comments
DN2-HW-APL	Affected SW: Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Firmware - Affected Version Number: 4.0(4c) and later.
DN2-HW-APL-L	Affected SW: Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Firmware - Affected Version Number: 4.0(4c) and later.
DN2-HW-APL-L=	Affected SW: Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Firmware - Affected Version Number: 4.0(4c) and later.
DN2-HW-APL-U	Affected SW: Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Firmware - Affected Version Number: 4.0(4c) and later.
DN2-HW-APL-XL	Affected SW: Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Firmware - Affected Version Number: 4.0(4c) and later.
DN2-HW-APL-XL-U	Affected SW: Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Firmware - Affected Version Number: 4.0(4c) and later.
DN2-HW-APL-XL=	Affected SW: Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Firmware - Affected Version Number: 4.0(4c) and later.
DN2-HW-APL=	Affected SW: Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Firmware - Affected Version Number: 4.0(4c) and later.
DN2-HW-APL-L-U	Affected SW: Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Firmware - Affected Version Number: 4.0(4c) and later.

Defect Information

Defect ID	Headline
CSCvr35414	Cisco DNA Center DN2 appliance is not compatible with Cisco IMC firmware versions 4.0(4c) and later

Problem Description

Cisco DNA Center Appliances currently do not support Unified Computing Systems (UCS) Cisco Integrated Management Controller (Cisco IMC) Firmware Version 4.0(4c) or later. Cisco DNA Center Appliances upgraded to CIMC Firmware Version 4.0(4c) or later will not boot properly.

Do NOT install Cisco IMC Firmware Version 4.0(4c) or later on affected appliances until Cisco announces Cisco DNA Center software compatibility with those firmware releases.

Background

Cisco UCS Cisco IMC Firmware Version 4.0(4c) introduced a new feature, named Secure Boot, for several UCS hardware models, which includes the ones listed in the Products Affected section. Cisco DNA Center software does not currently support the Secure Boot feature and is thus incompatible with Cisco IMC Firmware Version 4.0(4c) or later on affected hardware models. Cisco DNA Center Appliance models that are not listed in the Products Affected section are not affected by this issue.

Note: Cisco DNA Center Appliance customers who wish to remedy the issue described in Field Notice 70432 should NOT install Cisco IMC Firmware Version 4.0(4c) or later until Cisco announces Cisco DNA Center software compatibility with those firmware releases. However, earlier firmware versions prescribed in Field Notice 70432 are approved for use.

Field Notice 70432 describes an unrelated problem on some Cisco UCS Series servers, which includes the Cisco DNA Center Appliances affected by this field notice. The remedy described in Field Notice 70432 recommends that customers upgrade the Cisco IMC firmware on UCS M5 platforms to Cisco IMC Version 4.0(4e) or later in order to resolve Cisco bug ID CSCvq38078.

Problem Symptom

Cisco DNA Center Appliances with Cisco IMC Firmware Version 4.0(4c) or later installed will fail to boot. The appliance will either boot into the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) shell with no Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) option or it will stall.

Workaround/Solution

There is no workaround for this issue. UCS Cisco IMC Firmware Version 4.0(4b) is the latest release supported on affected Cisco DNA Center Appliances until Cisco announces support for the Secure Boot feature in the Cisco DNA Center software.

Note: A recovery might be possible for a Cisco DNA Center Appliance that has been upgraded to Cisco IMC Firmware Version 4.0(4c) or later and experiences the boot failure. Recovery relies on a rollback procedure to revert to an earlier firmware version in the backup partition. Rollback is only possible if earlier firmware is retained in the backup partition. If no backup firmware is available, the appliance must be replaced via a Return Material Authorization (RMA). Details can be found in Cisco bug ID CSCvr16833 - DN2 Appliance: 4.0.4(f) HUU Breaks Boot Order- Appliance boots direct to UEFI shell.

Additional Information

Field Notice 70432

Cisco bug ID CSCvq38078

For More Information

If you require further assistance, or if you have any further questions regarding this field notice, please contact the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC) by one of the following methods:

• Open a service request on Cisco.com
• By email
• By telephone

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