Upgrading iLO 2 Firmware through SSH

Recently I had a problem upgrading the iLO firmware on one of our servers through the GUI.  This particular server did not have an OS on it at the time so normally I would update through the web interface.  However since the firmware on this machine would not work with IE 11 I had no choice but to upgrade through SSH.

Before you start copy your firmware file (ilo2_225.bin in my case) to a local web server and make note of the URL.

• Login to the iLO with your favorite SSH client.
• Once connected type “cd map1/firmware1”
• Now type the following command replacing the URL with your own URL.

         “load –source http://192.168.1.1/ilo2_225.bin”

• The update will now begin.  It can take up to 10 minutes for the process to complete.  You will be disconnected from your session during the upgrade. 
• Login to iLO again and type “version” to verify the update has been completed.

HP iLO Reset

Resetting an HP iLO2 using SSH or Telnet isn’t the most obvious thing to do. Recently I had one where the web interface wasn’t responding and I didn’t want to power down the server to reset iLO.

1. Connect to the iLO IP address using your favorite SSH client. I prefer Putty.
2. Login with your Administrator account. Don’t forget bother username and password are case sensitive.
3. Once logged in you need to go to the map1 directory. type cd map1
4. The type reset. The iLO card will restart immediately after that.

Easy as pie!