Power7 Entry Systems Firmware
Applies to: 8202-E4B, 8205-E6B, 8231-E2B, 8233-E8B,
8236-E8C, 8492-DW2 and 8493-SV2
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 710 (8231-E2B), Power 730
(8231-E2B), Power
720 (8202-E4B), Power 740 (8205-E6B, 8492-DW2 and 8493-SV2), Power 750
(8233-E8B) and Power
755 (8236-E8C) servers only.
The firmware level in this package is:
1.1 Minimum HMC Code Level
This section is intended to describe the "Minimum HMC Code Level"
required by the System Firmware to complete the firmware installation
process. When installing the System Firmware, the HMC level must be
equal to or higher than the "Minimum HMC Code Level" before starting
the system firmware update. If the HMC managing the server
targeted for the System Firmware update is running a code level lower
than the "Minimum HMC
Code Level" the firmware update will not proceed.
The Minimum HMC Code level for
this firmware is: HMC V7 R7.3.0
(PTF MH01255 or MH01256) with PTF MH01257 (Mandatory efix).
Although the Minimum HMC Code level for this firmware is listed
above, HMC level V7 R7.3.0 with PTF MH01265 (Service Pack 1), or
higher is
suggested for
this
firmware level.
For information concerning HMC releases and the latest PTFs,
go
to the following URL to access Fix Central:
http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/
For specific fix level
information on key components of IBM
Power Systems running the AIX, IBM i and Linux operating systems, we
suggest using the Fix Level Recommendation Tool (FLRT):
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/flrt/home
NOTE: You must be logged in as hscroot in order for the
firmware
installation to complete correctly.
1.2 Minimum SDMC Code
Level
This section is intended to describe the "Minimum Systems Director
Management Console (SDMC) Code Level"
required by the System Firmware to complete the firmware installation
process. When installing the System Firmware, the SDMC level must be
equal to or higher than the "Minimum SDMC Code Level" before starting
the system firmware update. If the SDMC managing the server
targeted for the System Firmware update is running a code level lower
than the "Minimum SDMC
Code Level" the firmware update will not proceed.
The Minimum SDMC Code level for
this firmware is: SDMC V6
R7.3.0 with Mandatory PTF MF53082.
For information concerning SDMC releases and the latest PTFs,
go
to the following URL to access Fix Central:
http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/
For specific fix level
information on key components of IBM
Power Systems running the AIX, IBM i and Linux operating systems, we
suggest using the Fix Level Recommendation Tool (FLRT):
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/flrt/home
2.0 Important
Information
Downgrading firmware from any
given release level to an earlier release level is not recommended.
If you feel that it is
necessary to downgrade the firmware on
your system to an earlier release level, please contact your next level
of support.
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.
Concurrent Firmware Updates
Concurrent system firmware update is only supported on HMC or SDMC -
Managed
Systems
only.
Changes to DIMM VPD reported under FW Release AL730, for select DIMMs
After installation of AL730 firmware, select DIMMs may
display VPD information that does not match the attached FRU
label. The FRU number displayed may
differ from the FRU number printed on the DIMM label.
This change would not apply
when the server is running an earlier supported release of system
firmware (ex.
AL710, or AL720).
| Changes
in VPD (Vital Product Data) May be Reported for Feature Codes 4526,
4529, and
4528 |
| Feature
Code |
Supported
Systems |
Description |
DIMM
FRU Label |
Under
FW Release AL730,
VPD is displayed as the following |
|
|
|
FRU
Number |
CCIN |
FRU
Number |
CCIN |
| 4526 |
8202-E4B
8205-E6B
8231-E2B
8233-E8B
8236-E8C
8492-DW2
8493-SV2 |
4GB Memory
DIMM
|
77P8784
|
31C5
|
78P0554
|
31F3
|
| 4529 |
8202-E4B
8205-E6B
8492-DW2
8493-SV2
|
8GB Memory
DIMM
|
77P8919
|
31D2
|
78P0555
|
31F4
|
| 4528 |
8233-E8B
8236-E8C |
16GB Memory
DIMM
|
77P8633 |
31C9 |
78P0639 |
31F5 |
|
Note: This
change does not apply to all DIMMs with the FRU numbers listed above,
only a
sub-set of DIMMs will report changes in VPD information. The
change in displayed VPD information has no functional impact and does
not
affect the operation or reliability of the associated memory DIMMs, it
simply reports
select DIMMs with new VPD information as a means of differentiating
their
capabilities to service providers. Future
service actions should be placed using the displayed VPD information,
as logged
by diagnostic and service related software, and not against the FRU number
printed on the DIMM FRU label.
|
Memory Considerations for
Firmware Upgrades
Firmware Release Level upgrades and Service Pack updates may consume
additional system memory.
Server firmware requires memory to support the logical partitions on
the server. The amount of memory required by the server firmware varies
according to several factors.
Factors influencing server firmware memory requirements include the
following:
- Number of logical partitions
- Partition environments of the logical
partitions
- Number of physical and virtual I/O devices
used by the logical partitions
- Maximum memory values given to the logical
partitions
Generally, you can estimate the amount of memory required by server
firmware to be approximately 8% of the system installed memory. The
actual amount required will generally be less than 8%. However, there
are some server models that require an absolute minimum amount of
memory for server firmware, regardless of the previously mentioned
considerations.
Additional information can be found at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/topic/p7hat/iphatlparmemory.htm
3.0 Firmware
Information
and Description
Use the following examples as a reference to determine whether your
installation
will be concurrent or disruptive.
For systems that are not managed by an HMC or SDMC, the installation
of
system
firmware is always disruptive.
Note: The concurrent levels
of system firmware may, on occasion,
contain
fixes that are known as Deferred and/or Partition-Deferred. Deferred
fixes can be installed
concurrently, but will not be activated until the next IPL.
Partition-Deferred fixes can be installed concurrently, but will not be
activated until a partition reactivate is performed. Deferred
and/or Partition-Deferred
fixes,
if any, will be identified in the "Firmware Update Descriptions" table
of this document. For these types of fixes (Deferred and/or
Partition-Deferred) 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:
01ALXXX_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,
01AL720_067_045 and 01AL740_067_053 are different service
packs.
An installation is disruptive if:
- The release levels (XXX) are different.
Example: Currently installed release is AL710, new release is AL720
- The service pack level (YYY) and the last disruptive
service
pack level (ZZZ) are the same.
Example: AL720_120_120 is disruptive, no matter what level of AL720 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 AL720_120_120 and new
service
pack is AL720_152_130
An installation is concurrent if:
The release level (XXX) is the same, and
The service pack level (YYY) currently installed on the 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 AL720_126_120,
new
service pack is AL720_143_120.
Firmware Information and Update Description
| Filename |
Size |
Checksum |
| 01AL730_066_035.rpm |
35310792 |
45653
|
Note: The Checksum can be found by running the AIX sum
command against
the rpm file (only the first 5 digits are listed).
ie: sum 01AL730_066_035.rpm
AL730
For Impact, Severity and other Firmware definitions, Please
refer to the below 'Glossary of firmware terms' url:
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/power5cm/home.html#termdefs
|
AL730_066_035
12/08/11 |
Impact: Availability
Severity: HIPER - High Impact/PERvasive, Should be installed as soon as
possible.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
- HIPER/Pervasive on systems
with a Virtual Input/Output (VIO) client running AIX, and with a F/C
5802 or 5877 I/O drawer attached: A problem was fixed
that caused the system to crash with SRC B700F103.
|
AL730_060_035
11/07/11 |
Impact: Availability
Severity: HIPER
- High Impact/PERvasive, Should be installed as soon as
possible.
New Features and Functions
- On 8202-E4B, 8205-E6B, and 8233-E8B systems,
support for the PCIe2 1.8GB cache RAID SAS adapter (tri-port 6Gb), F/C
5913.
System firmware changes that affect all systems
- A problem was fixed that caused SRC B7005442 to be
erroneously logged, and functional processor cores to be erroneously
guarded out, when an error occurred in the operating system or an
application.
- HIPER/Non-Pervasive:
A problem was fixed that
caused the system to crash with SRC B18187DA.
- A problem was fixed that
prevented a partition from being activated with SRC B2006009.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
|
AL730_049_035
09/15/11 |
Impact:
Performance
Severity: HIPER - High Impact/PERvasive, Should be installed as soon as
possible.
System firmware changes that affect all systems
- A problem was fixed
that caused SRC B18138B7 to be erroneously logged, and the service
processor to terminate, when errors were continuously logged due to
failing hardware.
- A problem was fixed that
caused the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) menus to be
displayed in English no matter which language was selected.
- The
firmware was enhanced to verify that no uncorrectable memory errors are
present in all of a partition's memory when the hypervisor accesses
that memory.
- The firmware was enhanced to
reduce the number of times informational SRC 10009002 is logged when a
system is booted.
- A problem was fixed that
caused two calls home for the same error to be made when a platform
dump was generated.
- A problem was fixed that
caused unrecoverable SRC B181A809 to be erroneously logged.
- A problem was fixed that
caused a system boot to terminate with unrecoverable SRC B181A403.
- A problem was fixed prevented
a platform system dump from being deleted when the file system space on
the service processor was full.
- A problem was fixed prevented
an encapsulated state partition from being activated after a main store
dump (MSD).
- A problem was fixed that
caused a partition to fail to activate when the activation took place
within an hour of the system being powered on. This problem is
much more likely to occur on large systems with a large number of I/O
slots.
- A problem was fixed that
caused the system to terminate when rebooting after the power was
removed, then reapplied.
- A problem was fixed that
caused a partition to fail with SRC B170E540 when rebooting after an
unrecoverable error was logged that impacted the partition's reserved
memory area (RMA).
- A problem was fixed that
caused SRCs B181156C and B181A40F to be erroneously logged after a
service processor reset.
- The firmware was enhanced to
delay the rebooting of a partition after a uncorrectable error (UE) is
logged in the partition's memory. This gives the service
processor sufficient time to gard out the memory in which the UE
occurred.
- The firmware was enhanced to
log SRC B181C3251 as informational rather than predictive.
- The firmware was enhanced to
log SRC B1812A11 as informational, instead of "service action
required", when the thermal/power management device (TPMD) is
successfully reset.
- A problem was
fixed that erroneously caused SRC B18186x1 to be logged and an FSP dump
to be generated.
- The field replaceable unit
(FRU) callouts were enhanced for SRC B181E550.
- A problem was fixed that caused a system's partition dates
to revert back to 1969 after the service processor or its battery was
replaced. This occurred regardless of whether or not the service
processor's time-of-day (TOD) clock was correctly set during the
service action.
- A problem was fixed that
caused the system to crash with SRC B700F103.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
- HIPER/Pervasive: On
systems running
VIOS, a problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC
B700F103.
- On systems with processors
that don't have memory associated with them, a problem was fixed that
was degrading system performance.
- On systems running Advanced
Memory Sharing (AMS), a problem was fixed that caused the system to
crash during the creation of a logical partition (LPAR).
- On a system that terminates
when in dynamic power save mode, a problem was fixed that caused SRCs
B150B943, B113C660, and B113C661 to be erroneously logged when the
system rebooted.
- On systems running more than
100 logical partitions, a problem was fixed that caused a concurrent
firmware installation to fail.
- On systems running IBM i
partitions, a problem was fixed that prevented IBM i partitions that
were suspended from being reactivated after a main store dump (MSD).
- On systems
running IBM i partitions, a problem was fixed that caused changing the
processor weight on an IBM i partition to 255 to have no effect.
- On systems running Advanced
Memory Sharing (AMS), a problem was fixed that prevented the virtual
I/O server (VIOS) partition associated with an AMS pool from shutting
down.
- On systems with partitions
with dedicated memory assigned, a problem was fixed that caused a
resume operation on a partition with dedicated memory to fail with HMC
SRC HSC0A945.
- On systems running an
IBM i partition with dedicated memory, and redundant virtual I/O server
(VIOS) partitions, a problem was fixed that caused the resumption of
the IBM i partition to fail if the hypervisor failed-over to the other
VIOS partition while the IBM i partition was in hibernation.
- The firmware was enhanced to
allow the installation of IBM i from the HMC command line interface
(CLI) using the "chsysstate" command.
- On systems running
shared processor partitions, a problem was fixed that caused a
partition to hang until powered off and back on.
- On systems running the
Advanced Energy Manager (AEM), a problem was fixed that caused the work
rate calculation for a processor to be incorrect if the system dropped
into safe mode.
- On systems with an
uninterruptible power supply (UPS) attached, a problem was fixed that
caused the system to power cycle after a power failure, instead
of waiting for power to be restored before powering on.
- On systems with F/C 1954
(4-port GB Ethernet adapter) installed, a problem was fixed that
prevented the adapter from being configured during boot, and two
B7006970 SRCs to be erroneously logged.
- On systems running VIOS, a
problem was fixed that caused the location code in the output of the
VIOS command "lsmap -npiv -all" to be incorrect.
- A problem was fixed that
caused a partition migration operation to abort when the partition has
more than 4096 virtual slots.
- On systems running
Advanced Memory Sharing (AMS), the firmware was enhanced to reduce the
time required to migrate an AMS partition.
- On systems running
DB2 pureScale, a problem was fixed that caused intermittent remote
direct memory access (RMDA) errors, and a core dump of the pureScale
server process.
- On systems with processors
that don't have memory associated with them, the firmware was enhanced
to improve boot time and system performance.
- A problem was fixed that
caused the system to appear to hang, and a service processor
reset/reload to occur, when multiple hardware errors occurred.
- On systems running virtual switches, the firmware was
enhanced to limit the number of partitions that have access to a
particular vswitch.
- On 8202-E4B and 8205-E6B
systems with F/C 5685, the PCI-E expansion riser installed, and running
IBM i, a problem was fixed that caused empty slots on the riser to be
displayed as "Unknown Position" instead
of "Empty" in the SLIC Hardware Services Manager (HSM).
- On systems managed by an HMC,
a problem was fixed that caused a firmware installation from the HMC
with the "do not auto accept" option selected to fail.
- On 8202-E4B and 8205-E6B
systems, a problem was fixed that caused unrecoverable SRCs 11003116
and B1754201 to be erroneously logged.
- On 8231-E2B systems, a
problem was fixed that caused the system fans to run faster than
necessary for several minutes.
|
4.0
How to Determine Currently Installed Firmware Level
For HMC managed systems:
From the HMC, select Updates in the navigation (left-hand) pane, then
view the current levels of the desired server(s).
For SDMC managed systems:
From the SDMC Welcome page, select the desired server(s), then select
Release Management, then select Power System Firmware Management. Click
Gather Target Information, then view the current levels of the desired
server(s).
NOTE:
If Inventory has not previously been collected, a message will be
displayed indicating to "View and Collect Inventory" to proceed.
For standalone system running IBM i
without an HMC or SDMC:
From a command line, issue DSPFMWSTS.
For standalone system running IBM AIX
without an HMC or SDMC:
From a command line, issue lsmcode.
Alternately, use the Advanced System
Management Interface (ASMI) Welcome pane. The current server
firmware appears in the top right
corner.
Example: AL710_yyy.
5.0
Downloading the Firmware Package
Follow the instructions on Fix Central. You must read and agree to
the
license agreement to obtain the firmware packages.
Note: If your HMC or SDMC 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: ALXXX_YYY_ZZZ
Where XXX = release level
- If the release level will stay the same (Example: Level
AL710_075_075
is
currently installed and you are attempting to install level
AL710_081_075)
this is considered an update.
- If the release level will change (Example: Level AL710_081_075 is
currently
installed and you are attempting to install level AL720_096_096) this
is
considered an upgrade.
HMC Managed Systems:
Instructions for installing firmware updates and upgrades on
systems
managed by an HMC can be found at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/index.jsp?topic=/p7ha1/updupdates.htm
SDMC Managed Systems:
Instructions for
installing firmware updates and upgrades
on systems
managed by an SDMC can be found at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/v6r2x/index.jsp?topic=/dpsm/dpsm_managing_hosts/dpsm_managing_hosts_power_firmware.html
Systems not Managed by an HMC or SDMC:
p Systems:
Instructions for installing firmware on systems that are not
managed
by an HMC can be found at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/index.jsp?topic=/p7ha5/fix_serv_firm_kick.htm
IBM i Systems:
See "IBM Server Firmware and HMC Code Wizard":
http://www-912.ibm.com/s_dir/slkbase.NSF/DocNumber/408316083
NOTE: For all systems running with
the IBM i Operating System, the following IBM i PTFs must be applied to
all IBM i partitions prior to installing AL730_066:
- V7R1M0 - MF51869
- V6R1M1 - MF51864
NOTE: For all systems running
with the IBM i Operating System and without an HMC attached, the
following IBM i PTFs must be applied to all IBM i partitions in
addition to the PTFs listed above, prior to installing AL730_066:
- V7R1M0 - MF51814 and SI41153
- V6R1M1 - MF51225
These PTFs can be ordered through Fix Central.
7.0 Firmware History
The Firmware History can be reviewed at the following link:
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/server/firmware/AL-Firmware-Hist.html