DATOptic RM12-S6.TB - Rackmount - Manual (Page 50)

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APPENDIX
Appendix A
Upgrading Flash ROM Update Process
A-1 Overview
Since the ARC-12x4 RAID controllers feature flash ROM firmware,
it is not necessary to change the hardware flash chip in order to
upgrade the RAID firmware. The user can simply re-program the
old firmware through the in-band PCIe bus or out-of-band Ethernet
port McRAID Storage manager and nflash DOS utility. New re-
leases of the firmware are available in the form of a DOS file on the
shipped CD or Areca website. The files available at the FTP site for
each model contain the following files in each version:
ARC12x4NNNN.BIN Software Binary Code (“NNNN” refers to the
software code type)
ARC12x4BIOS.BIN: → PCIe 2.0 BIOS for system board using
ARC12x4BOOT.BIN: → RAID controller hardware initialization
ARC12x4FIRM.BIN: → RAID kernel program
ARC12x4MBR0.BIN: → Master Boot Record for supporting Dual
Flash Image in the 6Gb/s SATA RAID controller
README.TXT contains the history information of the software code
change in the main directory. Read this file first to make sure you
are upgrading to the proper binary file. Select the right file for the
upgrade. Normally, user upgrades the ARC12x4BIOS.BIN for sys-
tem M/B compatibility and ARC12x4FIRM.BIN for RAID function.
All these files in the firmware package are a part of the firmware.
You should update all files in the package, no special update order
needed. New firmware works after a system restart not instant
available, so you can update all files before restart the system. The
controller firmware is independent of the array, and update firm-
ware does not touch anything you stored in the array.
Note:
Please update all binary code (BIOS, BOOT FIRM and MBR0)
before you reboot system. Otherwise, a mixed firmware
package may hang the controller.