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 Cautions and Important
Information
Installing power code and system firmware
Attention: 9125-F2A servers should be evaluated for ECA845 installation
prior to performing firmware upgrades. Contact your service provider for
more information about ECA845.
2.1 Cautions
POWER VM Active Memory Sharing
Attention: After this level of firmware is installed, the platform
must be powered off, then powered on to activate the POWER VM Active Memory
Sharing function.
Attention: If ES340_095 has been installed, and the new POWER
VM Active Memory Sharing function has been activated, and you want to back-level
the system firmware, the active memory sharing pool must be deactivated
and deleted prior to back-leveling the system firmware. IBM does not recommend
back-leveling the system firmware.
2.2 Important Information
HMC-Managed Systems
This firmware level requires HMC V7 R3.4.0 with MH01186 (SP3)
For information concerning HMC releases and to access the HMC code packages,
go to the following URL:
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/hmcl/home.html
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.
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
-
XXX is the release level
-
YYY is the service pack level
-
ZZZ is the last disruptive service pack level
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:
-
The release levels (XXX) are different.
Example: Currently installed release is ES330, new release is ES340
-
The service pack level (YYY) and the last disruptive service
pack level (ZZZ) are the same.
Example: ES330_120_120 is disruptive, no matter what level of ES330 is
currently
installed on the system
-
The service pack level (YYY) currently installed on the system is lower
than the last disruptive service pack level (ZZZ) of the service pack to
be installed.
Example: Currently installed service pack is ES330_120_120 and
new service pack is ES330_152_130
An installation is concurrent if:
The release level (XXX) is the same, and
The service pack level (YYY) currently installed on you system is the
same or higher than the last disruptive service pack level (ZZZ) of the
service pack to be
installed.
Example: Currently installed service pack is ES330_126_120,
new service pack is ES330_143_120.
Firmware Information and Update Description
For information about previous firmware release levels, see Section
7.0 Firmware History.
Filename |
Size |
Checksum |
01ES340_095_042.rpm |
24949359 |
02114 |
ES340 |
ES340_095_042
08/20/09 |
Impact: Function Severity: Special Attention
System firmware changes that affect all systems
-
DEFERRED: This fix corrects the handling of a specific processor
instruction sequence that was generated on a particular heavily-tuned High
Performance Computing (HPC) application. This specific instruction sequence
has the potential to produce an incorrect result. This instruction sequence
has only been observed in a single HPC application. However, it is
strongly recommended that you apply this fix.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
-
A problem was fixed that under certain rare circumstances caused a partition
to crash when a 24" InfiniBand I/O drawer (feature code 5797 or 5798) drawer
was concurrently added. When this problem occurred, rebooting the
system was required to recover.
-
On systems running system firmware ES340_075 and Active Memory Sharing,
a problem was fixed that might have caused a partition to lose I/O entitlement
after the partition was moved from one system to another using PowerVM
Mobility.
-
On systems running system firmware ES340_075 and Active Memory Sharing,
a problem was fixed that might have caused a partition to fail to boot
with SRC B700F103 if the partition had more than 24 virtual processors
assigned to it.
-
On systems with F/C 5802 or 5877 drawers attached, a problem was fixed
that prevented an I/O slot's power LED from accurately reflecting the state
of the I/O slot in a 5802 or 5877 drawer, under certain circumstances.
-
On systems with external I/O towers attached, the firmware was enhanced
so that the system will not crash when SRC B7006981 is logged for certain
types of I/O hardware failures.
|
ES340_075_042
06/22/09 |
Impact: Function Severity: Special Attention
New features and functions:
- DEFERRED: Support for F/C 5803 (24" I/O drawer) and F/C 5873
(diskless 24" I/O drawer).
Attention: After this level of firmware is installed, the platform
must be powered off, then powered on, before the 5803 or 5873 I/O drawer
is added to the system.
- DEFERRED: Support for POWER VM Active Memory Sharing.
Attention: After this level of firmware is installed, the platform
must be powered off, then powered on to activate the POWER VM Active Memory
Sharing function.
Attention: If ES340_075 has been installed, and the new POWER
VM Active Memory Sharing function has been activated, and you want to back-level
the system firmware, the active memory sharing pool must be deactivated
and deleted prior to back-leveling the system firmware. IBM does not recommend
back-leveling the system firmware.
System firmware changes that affect all systems:
-
A problem was fixed that caused hardware to be deconfigured when the system
encountered network errors, even though the SRCs were being logged as informational.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the detailed data at the end of an "early
power off warning type 5" AIX error log entry to be filled with invalid
data instead of zeros.
-
On systems running firmware release ES340, a problem was fixed that caused
data in the platform dump to be invalid.
-
The firmware was enhanced so that SRCs B181720D, B1818A13, and B1818A0F,
and occasionally a service processor dump, will not be generated when the
service processor's two Ethernet interfaces are on the same subnet. (This
is an invalid configuration.)
-
The firmware was enhanced such that error logs with relevant information
will be created when a system crashes under certain circumstances, rather
than a generic SRC (B1813410), with very little debug information, being
logged.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the system to hang when terminating if
the system had been in power save mode.
-
The firmware was enhanced so that a call home will be made if the hypervisor
issues a "terminate immediate" interrupt.
-
A problem was fixed that caused incorrect field replaceable unit (FRU)
part numbers to be returned for the BPC scroll assembly, UEPO panel and
the CEC MDA scroll assembly.
-
The firmware was enhanced so that the service processor only logs SRC B1A38B24
when a valid network setup error is found. The callouts for this SRC were
also improved.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems:
-
In systems using InfiniBand switches for processor clustering, a problem
was fixed that caused packets to be dropped under certain circumstances.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the migration of a partition with more
that 900 virtual slots defined, from a system running firmware ES320 to
a system running firmware ES340, to fail.
-
On systems using on/off (temporary) memory capacity on demand (COD), the
firmware was enhanced to improve memory COD's interaction with other tools
(such as Inventory Scout in AIX), and to make the billing process easier.
|
ES340_061_042
04/20/09 |
Impact: Function Severity: HIPER
System firmware changes that affect all systems:
-
HIPER: The firmware was enhanced to improve the service processor's
capability to recover from bad bits in the flash memory. A predictive error,
or an unrecoverable error, will be logged against the card that contains
the system firmware if the number of correctable or uncorrectable errors
exceeds the threshold.
-
HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused nodes to guard out processor
cores, or checkstop, during the transition to nominal voltage from "power
save" mode.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the service processor diagnostics to report
a "TOD (time-of-day) overflow" error, instead of an uncorrectable memory
error, when failures occurred on memory DIMMs.
-
A problem was fixed that prevented the service processor from automatically
booting from the permanent (or P) side if the temporary (or T) side of
the firmware flash was corrupted. When the problem occurred, the service
processor stopped instead of booting from the P side.
-
A problem was fixed that might have caused the system to crash when a processor
was dynamically removed when the system was running.
-
The firmware was enhanced such that VPD data corruption in the Anchor (VPD)
will be corrected by the firmware, rather than having to have the Anchor
card replaced.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash, under certain circumstances,
with SRC B112E504 being logged, followed by SRC B181C350, when a system
dump was initiated.
-
A problem was fixed that caused a partition being migrated to crash on
the target system.
-
On systems running the ES340 release of system firmware, a problem was
fixed that caused an abort code to be logged in the virtual input/output
system (VIOS) error log on the source system after a successful partition
migration.
-
A problem was fixed that caused a partition being migrated to become unresponsive
on the target system when firmware-assisted dump was enabled.
-
The firmware was enhanced so that SRC BA210012 will not generate a call
home when logged.
-
A problem was fixed that caused hardware to be deconfigured when the system
encountered network errors, even though the SRCs were being logged as informational.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems:
-
On systems with external I/O drawers, a problem was fixed that could cause
the system to hang on checkpoint C700406E during a "warm" reboot (a reboot
in which the processor drawer is power-cycled but the I/O drawers are not).
-
On systems with virtual fiber channel disks, a problem was fixed that prevented
the system management services (SMS) from displaying the virtual fiber
channel disks if the virtual fiber channel server reported that any of
them were reserved.
|
ES340_042_042
01/16/09 |
Impact: Function Severity: HIPER
System firmware changes that affect all systems:
-
HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused nodes to guard out processor
cores, or checkstop, during the transition to nominal voltage from "power
save" mode.
-
The firmware was enhanced so that SRC B1xx3409, which indicates an invalid
state change (such as pushing the power on button twice quickly) will be
logged as informational instead of predictive, and will not call home.
-
A problem was fixed that caused a service processor dump to be taken and
SRC B181EF88 to be logged, even though the operation of the system was
not affected.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the location codes for multi-port PCI adapters,
such as the 4-port Ethernet adapters, to be incorrect.
-
On systems with multiple host channel adapter (HCA) cards, a problem was
fixed that logical ports on the HCA cards to be intermittently inactive.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems:
-
In networks using a time server, a problem was fixed that caused the date
on a client system to be reset to 1969 if the client system lost power.
|
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: ES340_095.
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
-
If the release level will stay the same (Example: Level ES330_075_075 is
currently installed and you are attempting to install level ES330_081_075)
this is considered an update.
-
If the release level will change (Example: Level ES330_081_075 is currently
installed and you are attempting to install level ES340_096_096) this is
considered an upgrade.
Instructions for installing firmware updates and upgrades can be found
at http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/systems/scope/hw/topic/ipha1/updupdates.htm
7.0 Firmware History
ES330 |
ES330_095_078
08/31/09 |
Impact: Usability
Severity: HIPER
System firmware changes that affect all systems
-
DEFERRED: This fix corrects the handling of a specific processor
instruction sequence that was generated on a particular heavily-tuned High
Performance Computing (HPC) application. This specific instruction sequence
has the potential to produce an incorrect result. This instruction sequence
has only been observed in a single HPC application. However, it is
strongly recommended that you apply this fix.
-
HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused the migration of a
partition using shared processors to fail with a reason code of 4180043,
or caused the source system to hang or crash.
-
A problem was fixed that caused SRC 1000911B to be erroneously logged during
a reset/reload of the service processor.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
-
On systems with 7311-D11, 7314-G30, 5790, or 5796 19" drawers attached,
a problem was fixed that caused SRC 10009138 to be erroneously logged.
Concurrent maintenance (CM) firmware fixes
-
A problem was fixed that caused SRC B7005603 to be erroneously logged when
a F/C 5802 or 5877 drawer was concurrently added.
|
ES330_092_078
05/18/09 |
Impact: Availability Severity: HIPER
System firmware changes that affect all systems:
-
HIPER: The firmware was enhanced to improve the service processor's
capability to recover from bad bits in the flash memory. A predictive error,
or an unrecoverable error, will be logged against the card that contains
the system firmware if the number of correctable or uncorrectable errors
exceeds the threshold.
-
A problem was fixed that prevented the service processor from automatically
booting from the permanent (or P) side if the temporary (or T) side of
the firmware flash was corrupted. When the problem occurred, the service
processor stopped instead of booting from the P side.
-
The firmware was enhanced so that SRC B1xxE458 (with word 6=0000E42B) will
be logged as informational instead of generating a call home.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash, under certain circumstances,
with SRC B112E504 being logged, followed by SRC B181C350, when a system
dump was initiated.
-
A problem was fixed that caused a partition being migrated to become unresponsive
on the target system when firmware-assisted dump was enabled.
-
A problem was fixed that caused hardware to be deconfigured when the system
encountered network errors, even though the SRCs were being logged as informational.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the detailed data at the end of an "early
power off warning type 5" AIX error log entry to be filled with invalid
data instead of zeros.
-
A problem was fixed that caused a partition being migrated to crash on
the target system.
-
A problem was fixed that might cause a system to crash with SRC B170E504
when a processor was dynamically deconfigured.
-
The firmware was enhanced such that when data is written to the VPD (Anchor)
card, the results are verified, resulting in fewer VPD cards being replaced.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
In systems using InfiniBand switches for processor clustering, a problem
was fixed that caused packets to be dropped under certain circumstances.
|
ES330_078_078
01/15/09 |
Impact: Function Severity: HIPER
This level is a disruptive update from any ES330 firmware level.
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:
-
DEFERRED and HIPER: The system initialization settings were changed
to reduce the likelihood of a system crash under extremely rare circumstances.
-
HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused a system to fail to reboot
after a B1xxE504 SRC was logged, due to a processor interconnection bus
failure. The same SRC, B1xxE504, was logged when the reboot failed.
-
A problem was fixed that might, if a platform dump occurred, have caused
a reset/reload of the service processor, and the platform dump to be corrupted.
-
A problem was fixed that caused incorrect field replaceable unit (FRU)
part numbers to be returned for the BPF scroll assembly and the UEPO panel.
-
A problem was fixed that prevented the system from rebooting if an error
occurred during a memory-preserving IPL.
-
The firmware was enhanced so that a call home will be made if the hypervisor
issues a "terminate immediate" interrupt.
-
The firmware's redundant bit steering logic was enhanced to improve performance.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the location codes for multi-port PCI adapters,
such as the 4-port Ethernet adapters, to be incorrect.
-
A problem was fixed that prevented service processor and hypervisor error
log entries from being reported to the operating system after a successful
partition migration. This problem only affected the partition that was
migrated.
-
On systems running AIX or Linux, a problem was fixed that, under certain
rare circumstances, might cause the operating system to crash.
-
A problem was fixed that, in certain configurations, caused the removal
of a host Ethernet adapter (HEA) port to fail when using a dynamic LPAR
(DLPAR) operation.
-
A problem was fixed that, under certain rare circumstances, caused the
hypervisor to crash when it was booting with SRC B6000103 being logged.
-
A problem was fixed that, under certain circumstances, prevented the operating
system from recovering a PCI-E adapter on which a temporary enhanced error
handling (EEH) error occurred.
-
A problem was fixed that, under certain rarely occurring circumstances,
caused the system to crash if an L2 or L3 cache failure is not discovered
and repaired when it initially occurs.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the service processor diagnostics to call
out a processor as the failing item, instead of the memory DIMMs, when
a large number of memory error correction coding (ECC) errors occurred.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the wrong field replaceable unit (FRU)
to be called out when SRC B152F109, which indicates a problem with the
NVRAM in a bulk power controller (BPC), was logged.
-
A problem was fixed that prevented service processor and hypervisor error
log entries from being reported to the operating system after a successful
partition migration. This problem only affected the partition that was
migrated.
-
A problem was fixed that might cause a default catch to occur when booting
from an iSCSI device.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems:
-
On systems with a host Ethernet adapter (HEA) or host channel adapter (HCA)
assigned to a Linux partition, a problem was fixed that prevented the partition
from booting if 512 GB, 1 TB, or 1.5 TB of memory was assigned to the partition.
When this problem occurred, SRC B700F105 was logged.
-
In systems with clustered processors, various problems were fixed in the
InfiniBand interconnection networks.
-
A problem was fixed that, under certain circumstances, caused an AIX or
Linux partition to fail to boot with SRC D200E0AF being logged.
-
On systems with external I/O frames, a problem was fixed that might have
prevented the firmware from "unthrottling" processors after entering power
save mode.
|
ES330_046_034
08/28/08 |
Impact: Function Severity: HIPER
System firmware changes that affect all systems:
-
DEFERRED and HIPER: A problem was fixed that, under certain rarely
occurring circumstances, an application could cause a processor to go into
an error state, and the system to crash.
-
HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused the system to terminate abnormally
with SRC B131E504.
-
HIPER: A problem was fixed that might cause a partition to crash
during a partition migration before the migration was complete.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the location codes of multi-port PCI adapters,
such as a 4-port Ethernet card, to be displayed incorrectly.
-
A problem was fixed that caused multiple instances of SRC B1818A03 and
B1818A0A to be logged erroneously, and multiple calls home to be made,
during a frame connection reset.
-
A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1819506 to be erroneously generated,
and a call home to be made, when service processor (or system controller)
error log entries were generated faster than they could be processed.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the hardware management console (HMC) to
show an "Incomplete" state after it attempted to read a file with an incorrect
size from the service processor (or system controller). This problem also
occurred if the "factory configuration" option was used on the advanced
system management interface (ASMI) menus.
-
Enhancements were made to the firmware to improve the FRU callouts for
certain types of failures of the time-of-day clock circuitry.
-
A problem was fixed that prevented a dump file larger than 4 GB from being
successfully off-loaded to the hardware management console (HMC).
-
On systems with redundant bulk power controllers, a problem was fixed that
caused the hardware management console (HMC) to get stuck at "Pending Authentication"
for one of the bulk power controllers (BPCs).
-
On systems with I/O drawers attached, a problem was fixed that might have
caused some I/O slots in the drawers not to be configured when the system
was booted.
-
In systems with clustered processors, various problems were fixed in the
InfiniBand interconnection networks.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the location codes of the external InfiniBand
ports on a 5791 I/O drawer with the InfiniBand interface to be reported
incorrectly on the HMC.
-
A problem was fixed that caused SRC B7006971 to be generated because the
firmware was incorrectly performing operations on PCI-Express I/O adapters
during dynamic LPAR (DLPAR) operations on memory.
-
A problem was fixed the might have caused an out-of-memory condition in
the hypervisor, with SRC B7000200 being logged.
-
A problem was fixed in the thermal management firmware that caused SRCs
B1812635 and B1812636 to be logged, and the system or node to run in low
power mode when it should have been in nominal, or nominal when it should
have been in low power mode.
-
A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1818A10 to be erroneously generated
after a successful installation of system firmware.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the AIX commands "lsmcode" and "diag" to
fail after a partition migration.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the message "BA330000malloc error!" to
be displayed on the operating system console after a partition migration,
even though SRC BA330000 had not been logged. When this problem occurred,
the partition migration appeared to be successful. However, a process within
the partition was either hung or had failed, and in most cased the partition
had to be rebooted to fully recover.
-
A problem was fixed that caused the status of the connection between the
hardware management console (HMC) and the service processor to be set to
an invalid state. This might cause problems when the HMC and service processor
tried to communicate.
-
A problem was fixed that caused partitions that were being rebooted to
hang at D200E0AF after a concurrent firmware update under certain circumstances.
|
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
|
8.0 Change History
Date |
Description |
Sept 9, 2009 |
Added information in Section 2.2 pertaining to the HMC level required
for this firmware level. |