ADI BIOS Flash Procedure Remote Update

dstibrany

I'm going to be running the BIOS update on an SG-2440 and noticed that there are now instructions for a remote update. However, at the bottom of the instructions it says "Physically turn the power off to the system and back on again (not a reboot)".

My question is, is it safe to do the update entirely over ssh remotely or will I need to physically be there.

ivor

It's safe to do it remotely, however you will need to have someone turn off and back on the unit.

johnpoz

Yeah the instructions seem to be misleading..

So in the remote instructions it says
4. Physically turn the power off to the system and back on again (not a reboot).

But on the bottom there is a note

There is no need for a clean shutdown, however running either reboot or shutdown -r will restart the unit which is typically sufficient.
https://www.netgate.com/docs/sg-2440/adi-bios-flash.html

jimp

@johnpoz:

Yeah the instructions seem to be misleading..

So in the remote instructions it says
4. Physically turn the power off to the system and back on again (not a reboot).

But on the bottom there is a note

There is no need for a clean shutdown, however running either reboot or shutdown -r will restart the unit which is typically sufficient.
https://www.netgate.com/docs/sg-2440/adi-bios-flash.html

That last quote is relevant only to the method using the bootable USB disk. Basically it's saying don't worry about shutting that bootable USB disk down cleanly, just yank the power. Normally with pfSense you want to shut it down cleanly and if you have to power cycle, you'd want to halt then yank/plug power or time it when the device is POSTing.

johnpoz

yeah I normally do a halt command if need to unplug it, etc.

Thanks for clarification!

dennypage

The instructions call for a couple of syncs, then then pulling the plug. Is there a reason for not having an intermediate "halt" step? Pulling the plug on a remote system running UFS doesn't seem like a good idea…

Ramosel

@dennypage:

Is there a reason for not having an intermediate "halt" step? Pulling the plug on a remote system running UFS doesn't seem like a good idea…

Good question. The Remote instructions did not call for a Halt, but since the dashboard was active, I did take the opportunity to issue a Halt and waited for the system to go down before I unplugged it. Came up fine. So is there a problem issuing the Halt after the double sync??

Rick