Metis PCIe – Firmware update recommendation for Voyager SDK 1.9.0

Hello Axelera Team,

We are qualifying a Supermicro server with 2 Metis 150p 4-chip PCIe cards (8 AIPUs total).

Our current configuration is:

• OS: Rocky Linux 10.2 (kernel 6.12)

• Voyager SDK: 1.6.0-rc1

• Linux driver: 1.7.16

• Flashed Metis firmware: 1.6.0

• Board type: PCIe, revision 1

All 8 AIPUs are detected and working correctly. 

We are assessing if upgrading to Voyager SDK 1.9.0. According to the compatibility matrix, Metis firmware 1.6.0 is still supported, while 1.9.0 is recommended.

However, axdevice -v and axdevice report console report the following fields as N/A on all devices:

• Board Controller firmware version

• Board Controller board type

Could you please clarify:

1. Is it acceptable to keep Metis firmware 1.6.0 with SDK 1.9.0, or do you recommend updating it to 1.9.0?

2. Is the Board Controller information reported as N/A expected on Metis PCIe cards, or is there another way to identify its firmware version?

3. Would you recommend running axdevice interactive_flash_update to update both Metis and Board Controller firmware on this hardware configuration?

We would like to reach the recommended and fully supported configuration before deploying the server in production while avoiding unnecessary firmware updates or risks to the cards.

Thank you!