Sorry to do that to you, expensive reader, however right here’s one other merchandise in your pre-holiday to-do checklist: replace firmware on any Cisco DNA Middle home equipment you’ve acquired since September.
The Register presents that recommendation as a result of Cisco has issued a area discover titled “Some Cisco DNA Middle Home equipment Shipped Between September 2022 and November 2022 Have Incorrect Firmware Put in”.
The ill-fitting firmware was put in in RAID playing cards and community interface playing cards and “isn’t appropriate with the Cisco Built-in Administration Controller (CIMC) and BIOS firmware.”
The home equipment’ administration consoles due to this fact show a “extreme fault”, plus loads of errors indicating the SSDs have reached the top of their working lives.
There’s some tiny upside in that DNA Middle – Cisco’s community controller and administration bundle – “doesn’t discover these errors and continues to function as if the RAID controller standing is regular.”
The repair is putting in the right firmware.
To determine in case your field wants the repair, you’ll want a Cisco account to entry a serial quantity validation device that may reveal whether or not or not your machine has the infirm firmware.
However Cisco advises care when utilizing that device, as whereas it might probably let you know in case your field was shipped with the crocked code, it might probably’t report on any firmware updates it’s possible you’ll have already got put in.
Cisco customers might already be delicate to studies of dodgy disks, as the corporate has beforehand reported that a few of its servers included SSDs that die after 40,000 hours of use attributable to one other firmware concern.
HPE and Dell each blamed disk-maker Western Digital for the same concern.
This time round, the fault is Cisco’s alone: the corporate provided the next clarification for the way it occurred:
“Cisco lately modified the default software program preloaded on all new Cisco DNA Middle home equipment to Cisco DNA Middle Software program Model 2.3.3.4 and CIMC Model 4.1(3d). This transformation was made to change to the brand new Usually Out there (GA) software program model, as is completed on occasion. As a result of a producing course of error throughout the swap, solely the Cisco DNA Middle, CIMC, and BIOS software program was upgraded. The corresponding RAID controller and NIC card firmware software program was not modified to the right variations appropriate with CIMC Model 4.1(3d).”
Merry Christmas to you, too, Cisco. ®