Power7 System Firmware
Applies to: 8231-E1C, 8231-E2C, 8202-E4C, 8205-E6C,
8492-DW3, 8493-SV3, 8246-L2C, 8246-L2S, 8246-L1C and 8246-L1S.
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-E1C), Power 730
(8231-E2C), Power
720 (8202-E4C), Power 740 (8205-E6C, 8492-DW3 and 8493-SV3), PowerLinux
7R2 (8246-L2C, 8246-L2S) and PowerLinux 7R1 (8246-L1C, 8246-L1S) 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 R7.4.0
(PTF MH01273 or MH01274) with PTF MH01275 (Mandatory efix).
Although the Minimum HMC
Code level for this firmware is listed
above, HMC level V7 R7.4.0 with PTF MH01324 (Service Pack 3), 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
NOTES:
-You must be logged in as hscroot in order for the
firmware
installation to complete correctly.
- Systems Director Management Console (SDMC) does not support this
System Firmware level.
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 Managed
Systems
only.
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, 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 |
| 01AL740_098_042.rpm |
39794471 |
50563
|
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 01AL740_098_042.rpm
AL740
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
The complete Firmware Fix History for this
Release Level can be
reviewed at the following url:
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/server/firmware/AL-IOC-Firmware-Hist.html
|
AL740_098_042
11/28/12 |
Impact: Availability
Severity: SPE
System firmware changes that affect all systems
- HIPER/Non-Pervasive: DEFERRED: A problem was fixed
that caused a system crash with SRC B170E540.
- HIPER/Non-Pervasive:
A
related problem was also fixed that could cause a live lock on the
power bus resulting in a system crash.
- To address poor placement of partitions following a reboot
of a server with unlicensed cores, the firmware was enhanced to run the
affinity manager when the initialize configuration operation is done
from the HMC. A problem was also fixed that caused the hypervisor
to be left in an inconsistent state after a partition create operation
failed.
|
AL740_095_042
09/19/12 |
Impact: Availability
Severity: SPE
New features and functions
- Support for booting the IBM i operating system from a USB
tape drive.
System firmware changes that affect all systems
- The firmware was
enhanced to correctly diagnose the failing FRU when SRC B1xxE504 with
error signature "MCFIR[14] - Hang timer detector" was logged.
- A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash after a
recoverable error was logged on an I/O hub.
- A problem was fixed that caused a "code accept" during a
concurrent firmware installation from the HMC to fail with SRC E302F85C.
- The firmware was enhanced to continue booting when SRC
B181C803 with description "WIRE_PROC_CST_HW_FAIL" is logged during boot.
- A problem was fixed that caused the suspension of a
partition to fail if a large amount of data has to be stored to resume
the partition.
- A problem was fixed that caused a system crash with
unrecoverable SRC B7000103 and "ErFlightRecorder" in the failing stack.
- A problem was fixed that caused an external interrupt to
get stuck for some period of time before being presented to the
operating system in certain scenarios in which there is a high rate of
interrupts.
- On 8231-E1C and 8231-E2C systems, the firmware was enhanced
to improve the service actions for SRC 11002691.
- A problem was fixed that caused DIMMs to be deconfigured,
and SRC B123E504 to be erroneously logged, when additional DIMMs of
larger capacity than the DIMMs already in the system were added.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
- On systems that are managed by a Hardware Management
Console (HMC), and on which Internet Explorer (IE) is used to access
the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) on the HMC, a problem
was fixed that caused IE to hang for about 10 minutes after saving
changes to network parameters on the ASMI.
- A problem was fixed that caused a network installation of
IBM i to fail when the client was on the same subnet as the server.
- On systems with a 5796 or 5797 I/O drawer attached, a
problem was fixed that could cause a system hang.
- On systems with I/O drawers feature code (F/C) 5802 or 5877
attached, and running the Active Energy Manager, a problem was fixed
that caused SRC B7000602 to be erroneously logged.
|
AL740_088_042
05/25/12 |
Impact: Availability
Severity: SPE
New features and functions
- Support for IBM i Live Partition Mobility (LPM)
- Support for the EXP30 Ultra SSD I/O Drawer, feature code
(F/C) 5888.
- Support for the 8246-L2C and 8246-L2S systems.
- Support for the 8246-L1C systems.
- Support for the 8246-L1S systems.
System firmware changes that affect all systems
- A problem was
fixed that prevented the user from changing the boot mode or keylock
setting after a remote restart-capable partition is created, even after
the partition's paging device is on-line.
- A problem was fixed that caused a partition with dedicated
processors to hang with SRC BA33xxxx when rebooted, after it was
migrated using a Live Partition Mobility (LPM) operation from a system
running Ax730 to a system running Ax740, or vice-versa.
- A problem was fixed that caused the service processor's
eth0 or eth1 IP addresses to change to "IPv6 NA" when viewed on
the control (operator) panel when a laptop was connected to the service
processor.
- A problem was fixed that caused booting from a virtual
fibre channel tape device to fail with SRC B2008105.
- The firmware was enhanced to increase the threshold of soft
NVRAM errors on the service processor to 32 before SRC B15xF109 is
logged. (Replacement of the service processor is recommended if
more than one B15xF109 is logged per week.)
- A problem was fixed that caused informational SRC A70047FF,
which may indicate that the Anchor (VPD) card should be replaced, to be
erroneously logged again after the Anchor card was replaced.
- On system managed by an HMC, a problem was fixed that
caused the lsstat command on the HMC to display an erroneously high
number of packets transmitted and received on a vlan interface.
- A problem was fixed that caused a partition that owned a
powered-off slot to hang when being shutdown after a DLPAR operation
was performed on it.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
- The firmware resolves undetected N-mode stability problems
and improves error reporting on the feature code (F/C) 5802 and 5877
I/O drawer power subsystem.
- On systems on which the service processor is using IPv6
Ethernet addresses, a problem was fixed that caused a service processor
dump to be taken with SRC B181EF88.
- On systems running the virtual Trusted Platform Module
(vTPM), a
problem was fixed that caused the system to crash when the vTPM adjunct
was reset.
- On 8231-E1C, 8231-E2C, 8202-E4C and 8205-E6C systems
running IBM i partitions, a problem was fixed that prevented slots on
the same PCI bus from being assigned to different partitions.
This can result in SRC B600690B being logged when a partition is booted.
- The Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) menus were
enhanced to more clearly indicate which processor cores were
deconfigured by the Field Core Override option (F/C 2319).
- A problem was fixed that caused various operations to hang,
such as running lsvpd from a partition, or a concurrent firmware
installation.
|
AL740_077_042
03/06/12 |
Impact:
Availability
Severity: HIPER - High Impact/PERvasive, Should be installed as soon as
possible.
System firmware changes that affect all systems
- The firmware was
enhanced to log SRC B7006A72 as informational instead of
predictive. This will prevent unnecessary service actions on PCIe
adapters and the associated I/O planars.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
- On systems
running system firmware level AL740_075 and managed by a Hardware
Management Console (HMC), a problem was fixed that prevented HMC
authentication to a managed system in the "Pending
Authentication" state, and prevented the Advanced System Management
Interface (ASMI) admin user's password from being changed.
|
AL740_075_042
02/20/12 |
Impact: Availability
Severity: HIPER - High Impact/PERvasive, Should be installed as soon as
possible.
New features and functions
- Support for
concurrent hot add/repair maintenance (CHARM) operations on models MHC
and MMC.
System firmware changes that affect all systems
- A problem was fixed
that caused multiple service processor dumps to be unnecessarily taken
during a concurrent firmware update. SRC B181EF9A, which
indicates that the dump space on the service processor is full, was
logged as a result.
- A problem was fixed that caused SRCs B181843C and B181EF88
to be logged erroneously, and a service processor dump to be generated
unnecessarily.
- The firmware was enhanced to increase the threshold for
recoverable SRC B113E504 so that the processor core reporting the SRC
is not guarded out. This prevents unnecessary performance loss
and the unnecessary replacement of processor modules.
- A problem was fixed that caused SRCs B7006790 and B7006A21
to be erroneously logged.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
- HIPER/Non pervasive:
On systems with PCI adapters in a feature code (F/C) 5802 or 5877 I/O
drawer assigned to a Virtual I/O Server (VIOS), and on systems with the
I/O adapters in a CEC drawer assigned to a VIOS, a problem was fixed
that caused the system to crash with SRC B700F103.
- HIPER/Non pervasive:
On systems running the Trusted Boot feature of the PowerSC Standard
Edition, a problem was fixed that caused the system to hang.
- A problem was fixed that impacted performance if profiling
was enabled in one or more partitions. Performance profiling is
enabled:
- In an AIX or VIOS partition using the tprof (-a, -b, -B, -E option)
command or pmctl (-a, -E option) command.
- In an IBM i partition when the PEX *TRACE profile (TPROF) collections
or PEX *PROFILE collections are active.
- In a Linux partition using the perf command, which is available in
RHEL6 and SLES11; profiling with oprofile does not cause the problem.
- On systems running the Trusted Boot feature of the PowerSC
Standard Edition, a problem was fixed that prevented an inactive
partition from being migrated when the partition did not have enough
memory to boot. The migration of an inactive partition should be
allowed in this case.
- On systems running the Virtual I/O Server (VIOS), a problem
was fixed that caused SRCs HSCL294C and HSCLB308 to be logged on the
management console, and the operation to fail, if an attempt was made
to add Virtual Station Interface (VSI) configuration information to a
virtual Ethernet adapter that was already running.
- A problem was fixed that prevented the operating system
from being notified that a F/C 5802 or 5877 I/O drawer had recovered
from an input power fault (SRC 10001512 or 10001522).
- On systems running Active Memory Sharing (AMS), a problem
was fixed the caused an "Error in Pager device driver" message to be
erroneously logged during a successful partition migration.
- The firmware was enhanced to reduce the time between the
completion of partition migration and the target system's reporting
that the migration is complete.
- On systems on which the Active Energy Manager (AEM) is
running, a problem was fixed that caused the AEM to report the standby
power usage of a system was 0 watts.
- On systems using the Active Energy Manager (AEM) to run in
Dynamic Power Save (DPS) mode, and with deconfigured processor cores, a
problem was fixed that caused the processor voltages to be set
incorrectly, which in turn caused the system to use more power than it
should have been using.
- On systems running Active Memory Sharing (AMS), the
allocation of the memory was enhanced to improve performance.
- On systems managed by an HMC and using affinity groups, a
problem was fixed that prevented one of the partitions from being
placed correctly.
- A problem was fixed that caused the hypervisor to hang
during a concurrent operation on a F/C 5802, 5803, 5873 or 5877 I/O
drawer. Recovering from the hypervisor hang required a platform
reboot.
|
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
standalone system running IBM i
without an HMC:
From a command line, issue DSPFMWSTS.
For standalone system running IBM AIX
without an HMC:
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 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
Systems not Managed by an HMC:
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 AL740_098:
- 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 AL740_098
- V7R1M0 - MF51814 and SI41153:
- V6R1M1 - MF51225
These PTFs can be ordered through Fix Central.
7.0 Firmware History
The complete Firmware Fix History for this Release Level can be
reviewed at the following url:
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/server/firmware/AL-IOC-Firmware-Hist.html
8.0
Change History
Date
|
Description
|
December 12, 2012
|
Corrected the Fix description
classifications for
level AL740_098 |