Supermicro Xeon D SuperServer BIOS 2.0 and IPMI 3.68 released

Posted by Paul Braren on Aug 9 2018 (updated on Aug 12 2018) in

Here's the Supermicro Xeon D-1500 systems this article applies to.

Mini ITX

SYS-5028D-TN4T Xeon D-1540/1541/1567 Minitower / X10SDV-TLN4F(-12C) motherboard
(the systems I have on hand for test)
SYS-5018D-FN4T Xeon D-1540/1541 1U / X10SDV-8C-TLN4F motherboard
SYS-E200-8D Xeon D-1528 Mini 1U / X10SDV-6C-TLN4F motherboard

Flex ATX

Flex ATX E300-8D Xeon D-1518 Mini 1U / X10SDV-TP8F motherboard

Latest BIOS and IPMI Versions

	SYS-5028D-TN4T Mini Tower Mini ITX	SYS-5018D-FN4T 1U Mini ITX	SYS-E200-8D Mini 1U Mini ITX	SYS-E300-8D Mini 1U Flex ATX
BIOS	Jun 13 2018 / 2.0 X10SDVF8.613	Jun 13 2018 / 2.0 X10SDVF8.613	Jun 13 2018 / 2.0 X10SDVF8.613	Jun 13 2018 / 2.0 X10SDVT8.613
IPMI	Mar 20 2018 / 3.68	Mar 20 2018 / 3.68	Mar 20 2018 / 3.68	Mar 20 2018 / 3.68

In addition to 3/20/2018 IPMI 3.68 REDFISH_X10_368.zip which has release notes, BIOS 2.0 has now been released too! See details in this conversation started by jrp:

jrp • 5 hours ago
Version 2.0 of the firmware is now released. I have not seen any release notes

My reply:

Awesome, thank you jrp! For those following along, BIOS 2.0 can be downloaded under the X10SDV section of the download page:
https://www.supermicro.com/support/resources/bios_ipmi.php?vendor=1
and the filename is
X10SDVT8_613.zip
with a file inside the zip called
"Readme for AMI BIOS.txt"
that doesn't have anything about what's changed either.
I've reached out to my contact to see if anything has changed since Supermicro's take-down request back in Feb. 2018:
https://TinkerTry.com/superserver-xeond-bios#bios-release-notes

As usual, it will take some home lab time for me to consider this new release TinkerTry'd (tested). Rest assured that I'm very interested in making sure everything still works well, as I'm in the middle of preparing my SuperServer for public demonstration at VMworld 2018 US.

If you start at the Supermicro section of my article:

Meltdown and Spectre side-channel attack risk mitigation information from processor, server, and software vendors
Jan 10 2018

you are brought to this article, which seems to be the closest thing we have to release notes for now:

Security Vulnerabilities Regarding Side Channel Speculative Execution and Indirect Branch Prediction Information Disclosure (CVE-2017-5715, CVE-2017-5753, CVE-2017-5754, CVE-2018-3639, CVE-2018-3640)

v3.1 BIOS is required to address Intel-SA-00115 and to set the Firmware Flash Descriptor Table to Read Only

If you've tried BIOS 2.0 in your home lab, please let us know how it goes by leaving a comment below.

Here's Supermicro's Disclaimer:

Please do not download / upgrade the BIOS/Firmware UNLESS your system has a BIOS/firmware-related issue. Flashing the wrong BIOS/firmware can cause irreparable damage to the system.

Here's a copy of TinkerTry's Disclaimer, exactly as posted below every article:

Disclaimer

Emphasis is on home test labs, not production environments. No free technical support is implied or promised, and all best-effort advice volunteered by the author or commenters are on a use-at-your-own risk basis. Properly caring for your data is your responsibility. TinkerTry bears no responsibility for data loss. It is up to you to follow all local laws and software EULAs.

This all boils down to you needing to contact Supermicro's SuperServer Technical Support if something goes wrong, with no guarantees that they can help you if you bricked your system. I would add that you should be sure to run your SuperServer off an uninterruptable power supply during any firmware upgrades, and be sure you use a stable network connection.

BIOS 2.0 Download

Note, you must choose carefully, both the Mini ITX and Flex ATX systems share the same BIOS 2.0 name, but the actual file downloaded differs. FYI, direct BIOS download links from Supermicro are no longer possible, instead of a file save dialogue, instead, you now get this error.

Xeon D Mini ITX series of systems

Including SYS-5028D-TN4T, SYS-5018D-FN4T, and SYS-E200-8D SuperServers

Next to your exact motherboard model here, click X10SDVF8_613.zip and "Accept" to download, then extract to find X10SDVF8.613 inside.

Xeon D Flex ATX X10SDV series of systems including SYS-E300-8D SuperServer

Next to your exact motherboard model here, click X10SDVT8_613.zip and "Accept" to download, then extract to find X10SDVT8.613 inside.

BIOS 2.0 Upgrade

This is the slick and easier method, available using the modestly-priced:

Supermicro Out of Band Firmware Management License
SKU: 10024441
MFG Part Number: SFT-OOB-LIC

that is good for the life of that system. Once you provide your system's IPMI/BMC's MAC address in the ordering process, you'll have your license key in 1-2 business days, usually 1. Given I've now done over a dozen BIOS upgrades on my two Xeon D SuperServers, this investment was well worth it for me, but if you just can't wait for the key, you can go with the more time consuming boot-from-USB method that I already documented here. For everybody else, I'd recommend this browser based easy procedure:

make sure your SuperServer is on UPS-protected power
gracefully power your SuperServer down, using the shutdown feature of your Operating System
on another system, use a browser and type in the IP address of your BMC/IPMI/iKVM management interface in the URL area
login, default is ADMIN/ADMIN
click on the Remote Control menu, select iKVM/HMTL5, to get into your BIOS and power up
document all your BIOS settings that aren't default since they'll be lost, see also Recommended BIOS Settings for Supermicro SuperServer SYS-5028D-TN4T that Wiredzone uses when configuring Bundled SuperServers
log in to the IPMI browser interface of your SuperServer
click on the Maintenance menu, select BIOS Update
click on Choose File and navigate to correct BIOS file for your system as explained above, for me, it's called X10SDVF8.613
uncheck Preserve ME Region, Preserve NVRAM, and Preserve SMBIOS and note that it even if you leave the checkbox on for SMBIOS, it will still reset your BIOS to factory defaults
when it's complete, it will tell you, now you can power your system up, and start a Remote Console via IPMI, or use a local keyboard/monitor/mouse, to get in to your BIOS
press Del to enter the BIOS setup, you will see you've been reset to factory default BIOS settings, you need to get those settings back to the Recommended BIOS Settings that Wiredzone had initially configured for you when shipping your Bundle system.
reboot, make sure your default boot device comes up, you're done!

Supermicro SuperServer Xeon D BIOS 2.0 and IPMI 3.68 updates via browser

Follow the identical Web Upgrade procedure I used for BIOS 1.30 here.

IPMI 3.68 Download

All X10SDV models (Mini ITX and Flex ATX) share this same IPMI code.

3/20/2018 IPMI 3.68 direct download REDFISH_X10_368.zip is obtained from the X10SDV area of this page for all BIOS and IPMI upgrades, and gladly, you'll also find the release notes. Inside the zip, you'll find the IPMI Firmware Update_NEW.doc upgrade documentation and the REDFISH_X10_368.bin that is actually used for the firmware upgrade.

IPMI 3.68 Upgrade

on another system, use a browser and type in the IP address of your BMC/IPMI/iKVM management interface in the URL area
login, default is ADMIN/ADMIN
you should gracefully shut down any OS you may have running on this system, and leave it powered off, or use iKVM's Power Off button
under Maintenance, IPMI Configuration, you may wish to use the Save IPMI Configuration feature to save a config file for possible restore later, since you are about to loose all of your IPMI configuration settings
under Maintenance, Firmware Update, select the Enter Update Mode button and follow the instructions, using the IPMI file downloaded REDFISH_X10_368.bin, then make sure to Un-check Both Boxes when prompted to preserve your configuration, as seen pictured at right. Keeping your certificate or not is up to you, I went with unchecking all 3 boxes. If you don't uncheck those first two, you may get voltage alerts or critical sensor error / 5V Dual warnings in VMware ESXi, or other problems, which folks resolved by reflashing to the same level again, making sure to uncheck the boxes this time.
wait until it's done with the IPMI upgrade, takes about 5 minutes, when done, it will prompt you to wait another minute, click OK and wait some more as it says "Rebooting..." and once the IPMI Web Interface starts to respond to login again, you can continue
unplug the power cord from the SuperServer for at least 15 seconds (optional but recommended, more difficult if you're remote, I realize, but I did notice the BIOS version doesn't show in IPMI until you do this step, as shown in my video)
plug the power cord back in to your SuperServer
power on your SuperServer, wait a minute for IPMI to boot up
on another PC, use a browser and type in the IP address of your BMC/IPMI/iKVM management interface in the URL area
optional - under Maintenance, IPMI Configuration, you may wish to use the Reload IPMI Configuration feature to choose your saved file, and restore it