Power6 High-End System Firmware

Applies to:  9125-F2A

This document provides information about the installation of Licensed Machine or Licensed Internal Code, which is sometimes referred to generically as microcode or firmware.

Contents

1.0 Systems Affected

This package provides firmware for Power 575 (9125-F2A)  Servers only.  Do not use on any other systems.
 

The firmware level in this package is:

2.0 Important Information

HMC-Managed Systems

This firmware level requires  HMC V7  R3.3.0  with MH01102.

Go to the following URL to access the HMC code packages:

NOTE:   You must be logged in as hscroot in order for the firmware installation to complete correctly.
 
 

IPv6 Support and Limitations

IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) is supported in the System Management Services (SMS) in this level of system firmware.  There are several limitations that should be considered.

When configuring a network interface card (NIC) for remote IPL, only the most recently configured protocol (IPv4 or IPv6) is retained.  For example, if the network interface card was previously configured with IPv4 information and is now being configured with IPv6 information, the IPv4 configuration information is discarded.

A single network interface card may only be chosen once for the boot device list.  In other words, the interface cannot be configured for the IPv6 protocol and for the IPv4 protocol at the same time.

A failure will occur if the overall device pathname string and its parameters exceed 255 bytes.  One symptom of the string being too long is an odd-looking boot device string  in the AIX start banner as in the following example:

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    Welcome to AIX.
                           boot image timestamp: HH:MM MM/DD
                     The current time and date: 10:15:24 04/22/2008
            processor count: 2;  memory size: 1024MB;  kernel size: 28034141
                                    boot device: /l
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Several things that can be done to try to get the overall string length reduced are:

      A.   Use the compressed form of the IPv6 IP addresses whenever possible.  For example, change the address

             FEA0:0:0:0:3CD6:F0FF:FD00:3004

             to

            FEA0::3CD6:F0FF:FD00:3004

      B.  Keep the TFTP filename as short as possible.

      C.  Leave the gateway IP address blank unless it is required.

4.  When global IPv6 addresses are used for the client and the server, and there are more than two gateways on the same link, the gateway with the best route to the server should be used.  Using a gateway that does not have the best route to the server can cause the ping test or network boot to fail.

3.0 Firmware Information and Description

Use the following example as a reference to determine whether your installation will be concurrent or disruptive.

Note:  The file names and service pack levels used in the following examples are for clarification only, and are not
             necessarily levels that have been, or will be released.

System firmware file naming convention:

     01ESXXX_YYY_ZZZ

NOTE:  Values of service pack and last disruptive service pack  level (YYY and ZZZ) are only unique
within a release level (XXX).  For example, 01ES330_067_045 and 01ES340_067_053 are different
service packs.

An installation is disruptive if:

              Example:  Currently installed release is ES330, new release is ES340                Example:  ES330_120_120 is disruptive, no matter what level of ES330  is currently
                                   installed on the system                  Example:  Currently installed service pack is ES330_120_120 and
                                     new service pack is ES330_152_130

An installation is concurrent if:

              Example: Currently installed service pack  is ES330_126_120,
                                 new service pack is ES330_143_120.
 

Firmware Information and Update Description
 
 

 
Filename Size Checksum
01ES330_018_018.rpm 23134067 18750
 
ES330_018_028

05/13/08
 

 Impact:  New        Severity:  New
  • GA Level

4.0 How to Determine Currently Installed Firmware Level

You can view the server's current firmware level on the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) Welcome pane.  It appears in the top right corner.   Example:  ES330_018.

5.0 Downloading the Firmware Package

The firmware is located at the web site

       http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/firmware/gjsn

Follow the instructions on this web page. You must read and agree to the license agreement to obtain the firmware packages.

In the drop-down box, choose the entry for your specific machine type and model.

You may download the individual .rpm and .xml files for system firmware from this location to your server, an ftp server, or a CD-ROM (both files are required).  Make sure the file names have the format 01ES3xx_yyy_zzz, with an extension of .rpm and .xml before copying them to your server, an ftp server or CD-ROM.  If using a CD-ROM, copy the .rpm and .xml files to the CD-ROM using a local CD-ROM burner utility.

Another method is to download the .iso file and create a CD-ROM to use with your HMC.

Note: If your HMC is not internet-connected you will need to download the new firmware level to a CD-ROM or ftp server.

6.0 Installing the Firmware

The method used to install new firmware will depend on the release level of firmware which is currently installed on your server. The release level can be determined by the prefix of the new firmware's filename.

Example: ESXXX_YYY_ZZZ

Where XXX =  release level

Instructions for installing firmware updates and upgrades can be found in the Operations Guide for the Hardware Management Console and Managed Systems, see Chapter 9. Updates, section Managed Systems Updates.
 

7.0 Change History

 
DATE Description
May 23, 2008 Added information in Section 2.0 concerning IPv6.