Firmware Installation Basics

Overview

Now that we can construct a Fabric object using the Cxmanage API, we can use the Fabric functionality to load firmware onto each node.

Note

• This tutorial assumes:

  • Basic Object Oriented Programming knowledge
  • Basic Python language syntax and data structures

Example

Lets start by stating what the end goals of this example will be:

1. Construct a FirmwarePackage object using the Cxmanage API.
2. Construct a Fabric object using the Cxmanage API.
3. Print out each Nodes’ current firmware version.
4. If the Fabric is updatable, update the firmware.
5. If the Fabric is not, print out which Node(s) cannot be updated.

See also

Fabric is_updatabale() for more details on the functions we’ll be using.

Now lets dive right in with code ...

You can either write a script in your favorite text editor of choice or use Python’s Interactive Interpreter. The interactive interpreter is used for these code examples, however ANY of this code can be copied/pasted into a script.

To start the Interactive Interpreter, at a terminal command-line prompt:

python
 Python 2.7.3 (default, Aug  1 2012, 05:14:39)
 [GCC 4.6.3] on linux2
 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>

Note

• If you’re using a Virtual Environment ... BEFORE you start the interpreter, be sure to:

  workon <VirtualEnvironment Name>

See also

Using the Python Interpreter

The Code

from cxmanage_api.firmware_package import FirmwarePackage
#
# This needs to be the absolute path to the Firmware Package
#
fw_pkg = FirmwarePackage(filename='ECX-1000_update-v1.6.1-2-g279e340.tar.gz')

from cxmanage_api.fabric import Fabric
my_fabric = Fabric('10.20.1.9')
versions = my_fabric.get_versions_dict()

for node_number, version in versions.items():
    for key, value in version.items():
        if ('firmware' in key):
            print 'Node %d: FW Version: %s' % (node_number, value)

results = my_fabric.is_updatable(package=fw_pkg)
if (False in results.values()):
    print 'The following nodes CANNOT be updated:'
    print '%s' % [node for node, value in results.items() if value is False]
else:
    print 'Fabric Firmware Update -> %s' % fw_pkg.version
    print '=' * 80
    my_fabric.update_firmware(package=fw_pkg)

new_basic_info = my_fabric.get_versions_dict()
for node_number, version in versions.items():
    for key, value in version.items():
        if ('firmware' in key):
            print 'Node %d: FW Version: %s' % (node_number, value)

Again, in about 10 lines of (useful) code, we are able to upgrade a Fabric or even multiple Fabrics using the Cxmanage API.

The Output

Node 0: FW Version: ECX-1000-v2.0.0-0
Node 1: FW Version: ECX-1000-v2.0.0-0
Node 2: FW Version: ECX-1000-v2.0.0-0
Node 3: FW Version: ECX-1000-v2.0.0-0
================================================================================
Fabric Firmware Update -> ECX-1000-v2.1.1-1
================================================================================
Node 0: FW Version: ECX-1000-v2.1.1-1
Node 1: FW Version: ECX-1000-v2.1.1-1
Node 2: FW Version: ECX-1000-v2.1.1-1
Node 3: FW Version: ECX-1000-v2.1.1-1

Line by Line Explaination

Line 1: Imports the FirmwarePackage class from the installed cxmanage_api.

from cxmanage_api.firmware_package import FirmwarePackage

Line 5: Creates a firmware package object that we’ll use for updating.

fw_pkg = FirmwarePackage('ECX-1000_update-v1.6.1-2-g279e340.tar.gz')

Note

• Requires a VALID Firmware Package image.

Line 7: Imports the Fabric class from the cxmanage_api.

from cxmanage_api.fabric import Fabric

Line 8: Creates the actual Fabric we’ll be working with.

my_fabric = Fabric('10.20.1.9')

Line 9: Gets the Hardware/Software versions dictionary from the Fabric.

versions = my_fabric.get_versions_dict()

Lines 11-14: A for loop that iterates over the versions dictionary and prints the Nodes firmware version (ONLY).

for node_number, version in versions.items():
    for key, value in version.items():
        if ('firmware' in key):
            print 'Node %d: FW Version: %s' % (node_number, value)

Line 16: Is a VERY important line of code. It asks every Node on the Fabric if it can be updated to the proposed Firmware Package. It returns a dictionary of {node_number : True/False} stating whether or not an update is possible. We store that dictionary in results.

results = my_fabric.is_updatable(package=fw_pkg)

Lines 17-18: Tests to see if False occurs for ANY Node by simply looking at the values in the dictionary. If False occurs, we’ll figure out which Node(s) are offending.

Line 18: Is the list comprehension that returns a list of all offending Nodes.

if (False in results.values()):
    print 'The following nodes CANNOT be updated:'
    print '%s' % [node for node, value in results.items() if value is False]

Lines 17-22: Are the upgrade code. If all Nodes can be updated, we do so in this block of code.

else:
    print 'Fabric Firmware Update -> %s' % fw_pkg.version
    print '=' * 80
    my_fabric.update_firmware(package=fw_pkg)

Lines 24-26: Do essentially what lines 11-14 did ... Gets versions_dict from each Node on the Fabric and prints it out. Duplicate code like this should be factored into a function call.

new_basic_info = my_fabric.get_versions_dict()
for node_number, version in versions.items():
    for key, value in version.items():
        if ('firmware' in key):
            print 'Node %d: FW Version: %s' % (node_number, value)