sas expander firmware upgrade

todo: a few words here on sas commandset perhaps?

adaptec 82885t expander

this overview has most of the relevant info, we’ll be focusing just on the firmware upgrade process here.

i only have lenovo versions, so that’s what we’ll be using here.

getting firmware

lenovo offers the firmware upgrades as a free download. you’ll need to download the .exe version and open it as an archive with 7-zip. you can then just extract the firmware. in our version it’s called aec82885t.bin

find expander

we will first need to find the eid of the adapter so we can address it.

>storcli64.exe /c0/eall show
CLI Version = 007.3503.0000.0000 Aug 05, 2025
Operating system = Windows 11
Controller = 0
Status = Success
Description = None


Properties :
==========

---------------------------------------------------------------------
EID State Slots PD PS Fans TSs Alms SIM ProdID        VendorSpecific
---------------------------------------------------------------------
  0 OK        8  1  0    0   0    0   0 VirtualSES
  2 Fault    25 11  2    4  11    0   2 DS22412IOM12A x48-0.10.10.0
 14 OK       24  4  2    4   2    1   1 AEC-82885T    PMCSIERA D
---------------------------------------------------------------------

EID-Enclosure Device ID |PD-Physical drive count |PS-Power Supply count
TSs-Temperature sensor count |Alms-Alarm count |SIM-SIM Count| ProdID=Product ID

the eid is 14 in this case:

EID State Slots PD PS Fans TSs Alms SIM ProdID        VendorSpecific
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 14 OK       24  4  2    4   2    1   1 AEC-82885T    PMCSIERA D

check current config

so we can check which firmware is currently loaded. at time of writing i only have lenovo adapters, adaptec proper or intel versions could differ but i don’t expect them to.

>storcli64.exe /c0/e14 show all
CLI Version = 007.3503.0000.0000 Aug 05, 2025
Operating system = Windows 11
Controller = 0
Status = Success
Description = None


Enclosure /c0/e14  :
==================

Information :
===========
Device ID = 14
Position = 0
Enclosure Type = SES
Status = OK
FRU Part Number = N/A
Enclosure Serial Number =    50000d1704770b3e
ESM Serial Number = N/A
Enclosure Zoning Mode = N/A
Partner Device ID = Unavailable
Device Type = Enclosure
EnclLogicalID = 0x50000D1704770B00


Inquiry Data :
============
Vendor Identification = ADAPTEC
Product Identification = AEC-82885T
Product Revision Level = B062


EnclSasAddress :
==============

-------------------------
Index SAS address
-------------------------
    0 0x50000D1704770B3E
-------------------------


Properties :
==========

------------------------------------------------------------------
EID State Slots PD PS Fans TSs Alms SIM ProdID     VendorSpecific
------------------------------------------------------------------
 14 OK       24  4  2    4   2    1   1 AEC-82885T PMCSIERA D
------------------------------------------------------------------


EID-Enclosure Device ID |PD-Physical drive count |PS-Power Supply count
TSs-Temperature sensor count |Alms-Alarm count |SIM-SIM Count| ProdID=Product ID

so we’re on firmware B062 now.
Product Revision Level = B062

update firmware

> storcli64 /c0/e14 download src=aec82885t.bin
CLI Version = 007.3503.0000.0000 Aug 05, 2025
Operating system = Windows 11
Controller = 0
Status = Success
Description = Expander FW update is in progress. It takes several minutes to complete

wait 5 minutes

there is very little to no feedback if the upgrade process has completed, so we’ll give it 5 minutes.

powercycle expander

the expander cab be upgraded live, giving it a powercycle is gives me some peace of mind.

check

i removed a non related expander before i ran this command. the adaptec expander is identified as eid 2 in this final example.

the firmware version now shows B063

>storcli64.exe /c0/e2 show all
CLI Version = 007.3503.0000.0000 Aug 05, 2025
Operating system = Windows 11
Controller = 0
Status = Success
Description = None


Enclosure /c0/e2  :
=================

Information :
===========
Device ID = 2
Position = 0
Enclosure Type = SES
Status = OK
FRU Part Number = N/A
Enclosure Serial Number =    50000d1704770b3e
ESM Serial Number = N/A
Enclosure Zoning Mode = N/A
Partner Device ID = Unavailable
Device Type = Enclosure
EnclLogicalID = 0x50000D1704770B00


Inquiry Data :
============
Vendor Identification = ADAPTEC
Product Identification = AEC-82885T
Product Revision Level = B063


EnclSasAddress :
==============

-------------------------
Index SAS address
-------------------------
    0 0x50000D1704770B3E
-------------------------


Properties :
==========

------------------------------------------------------------------
EID State Slots PD PS Fans TSs Alms SIM ProdID     VendorSpecific
------------------------------------------------------------------
  2 OK       24  4  2    4   2    1   1 AEC-82885T PMCSIERA D
------------------------------------------------------------------


EID-Enclosure Device ID |PD-Physical drive count |PS-Power Supply count
TSs-Temperature sensor count |Alms-Alarm count |SIM-SIM Count| ProdID=Product ID