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:

This level is a disruptive update from the prior level, ES330_018.  The system should be powered off before installing this level of system firmware.  If this level is installed when the system is running, the CECs will be rebooted, causing all partitions to be terminated, and a reboot will be required.

2.0 Important Information

HMC-Managed Systems

This firmware level requires  HMC V7 R3.3.0  with MH01105.

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 examples as a reference to determine whether your installation will be concurrent or disruptive.

Note:  The concurrent levels of system firmware may, on occasion, contain fixes that are known as deferred. These deferred fixes can be installed concurrently, but will not be activated until the next IPL.  Deferred fixes, if any, will be identified in the "Firmware Update Descriptions" table of this document.  For deferred fixes within a service pack, only the fixes in the service pack which cannot be concurrently activated are deferred.

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_034_034.rpm 23197210 59480
 
ES330
ES330_034_034

06/10/08

 Impact:  Function        Severity:  HIPER

This level is a disruptive update from the prior level, ES330_018.  The system should be powered off before installing this level of system firmware.  If this level is installed when the system is running, the CECs will be rebooted, causing all partitions to be terminated, and a reboot will be required. 

System firmware changes that affect all systems:

  • HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused a concurrent firmware installation to hang with SRC BA00E840 being logged.  This problem may also cause a partition migration to hang, under certain circumstances, with the same SRC, BA00E840, being logged.  This SRC will be logged when this level of firmware is installed and will generate a call home; it should be ignored.  It will not be logged during subsequent installations.
  • HIPER:  The processor initialization settings were changed to reduce the likelihood of a processor going into an error state and causing a checkstop or system crash.
  • HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused large numbers of enhanced error handling (EEH) errors to be logged against the 4-port gigabit Ethernet adapter, F/C 5740, under certain circumstances.
  • A problem was fixed that caused the /tmp directory on the system controllers and the service processor in the bulk power controller (BPC) to fill up, which results in an out-of-memory condition.  When this problem occurred, the system controllers or service processor in the BPC usually performed a reset/reload.  This is one possible cause of SRC B1817201 being logged. 
  • A problem was fixed in the repair and verify (R and V) function on the HMC that caused an unnecessary shutdown of the processor node when an error was logged against a bulk power regulator (BPR).
  • A problem was fixed that caused a partition using a host channel adapter (HCA) or host Ethernet adapter (HEA) to appear to hang (with progress code D200C1FF being displayed) before successfully shutting down.  The amount of time the partition appeared to hang depended on the amount of memory assigned to the partition and the usage of HCA or HEA.
  • A problem was fixed that prevented the HMC from connecting to the managed system if the HMC's DHCP server IP range is changed when the managed system is running.
  • The firmware was enhanced so that the IDs "celogin1" and "celogin2" allow an authorized service provider to log into the bulk power controller (BPC).
  • The firmware was enhanced to improve the system memory error recovery.
  • The firmware was enhanced so that the contents of /tmp are included when a service processor dump is taken.
  • A problem was fixed in the hypervisor that might cause a partition migration to fail.
  • The firmware was enhanced so that:
    • A failure when writing VPD to a P6 processor will cause the node to be deconfigured rather than terminating the system.
    • The failure of a VPD write operation will not corrupt the VPD table, which may lead to unnecessary system down-time and unnecessary FRU replacement.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems:
  • On systems using QLogic InfiniBand switches, a problem was fixed that caused the PortInfo:linkWidthActive and PortInfo:linkSpeedActive to be inaccurately stored and displayed on the display of subnet parameters.
ES330_018_018

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_034.

5.0 Downloading the Firmware Package

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

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 at http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/systems/scope/hw/topic/ipha1/updateschapter.htm

7.0 Change History

Date Description
12/02/08 Revised the link in Section 6.0 for updating and upgrading firmware.