Updating Firmware - Mellanox/mlxsw GitHub Wiki
Table of Contents
In-Driver Firmware Flashing
Firmware flashing is supported from within the mlxsw driver ever
since kernel version 4.13 and firmware version 13.1420.122. The supported
firmware version is packaged in the linux-firmware package, relieving
users from the need to flash the firmware themselves and synchronize
the kernel and firmware versions.
The linux-firmware package is based on the linux-firmware
repository and contains the kernel-required firmware binaries, which can
be found under the /lib/firmware/mellanox directory in most
distributions given the linux-firmware package is sufficiently up to
date.
To check the current firmware version, run:
$ devlink dev info
Upon driver initialization, the current firmware version used by the device is validated against the minimum version supported by the driver. If the current version is older, the driver will try to flash the minimum supported version.
Note that in-driver firmware flashing requires both the firmware and the kernel to be in a sufficiently up-to-date version, and if either the kernel or firmware versions are older than 4.13 or 13.1420.122 respectively, then in-driver firmware flashing fails.
Note: In-driver firmware flashing is performed using *.mfa2 files,
whereas flashing using external tools (described below) is performed
using *.mfa files.
External Tool Firmware Flashing
If it is not possible to use in-driver firmware flashing, mstflint
software package should be used instead. The latest version of mstflint
is available here. In Fedora it can be installed using dnf:
$ dnf install mstflint
Getting the Firmware
mstflint capable firmware is packed in a tarball together with the
installation files, as an *.mfa file. In addition, firmware files
are available separately here.
4.12+ kernel installations should use firmware matching the requirements of the
kernel as listed in its release notes; Earlier versions should use
firmware version 13.1302.120.
Updating Firmware
To update the firmware, the utility mstfwmanager from the mstflint
package should be used. Run:
$ mstfwmanager -d 01:00.0 -i mlxsw_spectrum-13.2000.2308.mfa -f -u
Where mlxsw_spectrum-13.2000.2308.mfa is the firmware file described
in the previous section and 01:00.0 is the PCI address of the device.
Note: Changes take effect following reboot.
Further Resources
- man mstfwmanager