Power8 System Firmware

Applies to:   9119-MHE, 9119-MME, 9080-MHE and 9080-MME.

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 System E880 (9119-MHE ), Power Systems E880C (9080-MHE), Power System E870 (9119-MME) and Power Systems E870C (9080-MME) 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 V8 R8.6.0 (PTF MH01654) with Mandatory efix (PTF MH01655) or higher.

Although the Minimum HMC Code level for this firmware is listed above,  HMC V8 R8.6.0 Service Pack 3 (PTF MH01711) with iFix (PTF MH01795) or higher is recommended.

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.

1.2 AIX iFix Required

For IBM Power System servers with the PCIe 2-port Async EIA-232 Adapter installed on AIX partitions, an AIX fix resolving the async port interrupt handling (APAR IV77596) must be installed before updating to the SC840_056 (FW840.00) or later level of firmware.  The ports on the adapter (feature code EN27/EN28, CCIN 57D4) may become un-usable with the installation of that firmware level due to an issue with how interrupts are handled.  Many JAS_RTS error log entries are written to the error log due to this issue.

Prior to this APAR shipping in a future Service Pack, AIX intends to publish ifixes for the latest Service Packs on all active Technology Levels on our ftp server, in ftp://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/ifixes/iv77596/ on or before Oct 13, 2015.  If you need an ifix other than the ones on this server, contact IBM support to request one for your specific situation.

The procedure is intended to be performed by the customer.  In the event that the customer has questions or concerns with the procedure, you should contact IBM Support.  Please contact IBM Support: 
US Support: 1.800.IBM.SERV
WW Support (select your country):  http://www.ibm.com/planetwide/

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.

2.1 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.

2.2 Concurrent Firmware Updates

Concurrent system firmware update is only supported on HMC Managed Systems only.

2.3 DPSS Updates

Power 8 servers use a programmable power controller called a DPSS (Digital Power Subsystem Sweep) which is located in each system node. The DPSS is used to control P8 fan speeds, check voltage levels of the power supplies for proper level, and operation in the system node.  The DPSS image is persistent and is only reloaded if there is a system firmware update that contains a DPSS change.  If there is a DPSS change and the system firmware update is concurrent, the DPSS update is delayed to the next IPL of the CEC which will cause an additional 18 to 20 minutes to be added on to the IPL.   If there is a change and the firmware update is disruptive, then DPSS update occurs when the service processor is resetting to service processor stand-by state, and will add 18 to 20 minutes to this transition.  During the DPSS update the HMC or op-panel, will display DPSS update progress codes which may be overwritten on the HMC, but will be displayed as C100C300 thru C100C3FF.   If there is a DPSS change in a system firmware service pack, the change will be designated as deferred in the service pack README.   DPSS changes will be described along with a reminder of the 18 to 20 minute additional time in the Firmware Information and Description section in the README.

The DPSS download progress codes are documented in the IBM Knowledge Center:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/POWER8/p8eai/C1xx_info.htm

2.4 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:
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://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/9119-MHE/p8hat/p8hat_lparmemory.htm


3.0 Firmware Information

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:

01SCxxx_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, 01SC830_040_040 and 01SC860_040_045 are different service packs.

An installation is disruptive if:

            Example: Currently installed release is 01SC850_040_040, new release is 01SC860_050_050.

            Example: SC830_040_040 is disruptive, no matter what level of SC830 is currently installed on the system.

            Example: Currently installed service pack is SC830_040_040 and new service pack is SC830_050_045.

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 SC830_040_040, new service pack is SC830_071_040.

3.1 Firmware Information and Description

 
Filename Size Checksum md5sum
01SC860_205_165.rpm
85544600 10914
4cfe3d8cbb757efcf13d1e994d3639da

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 01SC860_205_165.rpm

SC860
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 following Fix description table will only contain the N (current) and N-1 (previous) levels.
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/SC-Firmware-Hist.html
SC860_205_165 / FW860.70

06/18/19
Impact:  Availability      Severity:  HIPER

System firmware changes that affect all systems

  • HIPER/Pervasive:  The following problems related to SR-IOV were fixed:
    1) A problem was fixed for new or replacement SR-IOV adapters with feature codes EN15, EN16, EN17, and EN18 being rendered non-functional when moved to SR-IOV mode. This includes cards moved from dedicated device mode, newly installed adapters, and FRU replacements. This problem occurs when the adapter firmware is updated to the 10.2.252.x levels from 11.x adapter firmware levels.
    2) A problem was fixed for certain SR-IOV adapters where SRC B400FF01 errors are seen during vNIC failovers and Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migration of vNIC clients. This may also result in errors seen in partitions (for example, some partitions may show LNC2ENT_TX_ERR).
    3) A problem was fixed where network multicast traffic is not received by a SR-IOV logical port (VF) network interface for a Linux partition. The failure can occur when the partition transitions the network interface out of promiscuous or multicast promiscuous mode.
    These fixes update adapter firmware to 10.2.252.1939  for the following Feature Codes:  EN15, EN16, EN17, EN18, EN0H, EN0J, EN0M, EN0N, EN0K, and EN0L.
    The SR-IOV adapter firmware level update for the shared-mode adapters happens under user control to prevent unexpected temporary outages on the adapters.  A system reboot will update all SR-IOV shared-mode adapters with the new firmware level.  In addition, when an adapter is first set to SR-IOV shared mode, the adapter firmware is updated to the latest level available with the system firmware (and it is also updated automatically during maintenance operations, such as when the adapter is stopped or replaced).  And lastly, selective manual updates of the SR-IOV adapters can be performed using the Hardware Management Console (HMC).  To selectively update the adapter firmware, follow the steps given at the IBM Knowledge Center for using HMC to make the updates:   https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/HW4M4/p8efd/p8efd_updating_sriov_firmware.htm.
    Note: Adapters that are capable of running in SR-IOV mode, but are currently running in dedicated mode and assigned to a partition, can be updated concurrently either by the OS that owns the adapter or the managing HMC (if OS is AIX or VIOS and RMC is running).
  • DEFERRED: PARTITION_DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed for repeated CPU DLPAR remove operations by Linux (Ubuntu, SUSE, or RHEL) OSes possibly resulting in a partition crash.  No specific SRCs or error logs are reported.   The problem can occur on any DLPAR CPU remove operation if running on Linux.  The occurrence is intermittent and rare.  The partition crash may result in one or more of the following console messages (in no particular order):
     1) Bad kernel stack pointer addr1 at addr2
     2) Oops: Bad kernel stack pointer
     3) ******* RTAS CALL BUFFER CORRUPTION *******
     4)  ERROR: Token not supported
    This fix does not activate until there is a reboot of the partition.
  • A problem was fixed for a loss of service processor redundancy if an attempt is made to boot from a corrupted flash side on the primary service processor.  Although the primary service processor recovers, the backup service processor ends up stuck in the IPLing state.  The backup service processor must be reset to recover from the IPL hang and restore service processor redundancy.
  • A problem was fixed for an incorrect SRC B150F138 being logged against the backup service processor when service processor redundancy has been disabled.  This SRC is logged at system run-time when the backup service processor is in the standby or termination state.  This is the expected state of backup service processor with redundancy is disabled, so no SRC should be logged and it can be ignored.
  • A problem was fixed for a PCIe Hub checkstop with SRC B138E504 logged that fails to guard the errant processor chip.  With the fix, the problem hardware FRU is guarded so there is not a recurrence of the error on the next IPL.
  • A problem was fixed for an incorrect SRC of B1810000 being logged when a firmware update fails because of Entitlement Key expiration.  The error displayed on the HMC and in the OS is correct and meaningful.  With the fix, for this firmware update failure the correct SRC of B181309D is now logged.
  • A problem was fixed for informational logs flooding the error log if a "Get Sensor Reading" is not working.
  • A problem was fixed for a Redfish (REST) Patch request for PowerSaveMode with an unsupported mode value returning an error code "500" instead of the correct error code of "400".
  • A problem was fixed for a rare Live Partition Mobility migration hang with the partition left in VPM (Virtual Page Mode) which causes performance concerns.  This error is triggered by a migration failover operation occurring during the migration state of "Suspended" and there has to be insufficient VASI buffers available to clear all partition state data waiting to be sent to the migration target.  Migration failovers are rare and the migration state of "Suspended" is a migration state lasting only a few seconds for most partitions, so this problem should not be frequent.  On the HMC, there will be an inability to complete either a migration stop or a recovery operation.  The HMC will show the partition as migrating and any attempt to change that will fail.  The system must be re-IPLed to recover from the problem.
  • A problem was fixed for shared processor partitions going unresponsive after changing the processor sharing mode of a dedicated processor partition from "allow when partition is active" to either "allow when partition is inactive" or "never".  This problem can be circumvented by avoiding disabling processor sharing when active on a dedicated processor partition. To recover if the issue has been encountered, enable "processor sharing when active" on the dedicated partition.
  • A problem was fixed for an error in deleting a partition with the virtualized Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) enabled and SRC B7000602 logged.  When this error occurs, the encryption process in the hypervisor may become unusable.  The problem can be recovered from with a re-IPL of the system.
  • A problem was fixed in Live Partition Mobility (LPM) of a partition to a shared processor pool, which results in the partition being unable to consume uncapped cycles on the target system.  To prevent the issue from occurring, partitions can be migrated to the default shared processor pool and then dynamically moved to the desired shared processor pool.  To recover from the issue,  do one of the following four steps: 
    1) Either use DLPAR to add or remove a virtual processor to/from the affected partition;
    2) or dynamically move the partition between shared processor pools;
    3) or reboot the partition;
    4) or re-IPL the system.
  • A problem was fixed for a boot failure using a N_PORT ID Virtualization (NPIV) LUN for an operating system that is installed on a disk of 2 TB or greater, and having a device driver for the disk that adheres to a non-zero allocation length requirement for the "READ CAPACITY 16".  The IBM partition firmware had always used an invalid zero allocation length for the return of data and that had been accepted by previous device drivers.  Now some of the newer device drivers are adhering to the specification and needing an allocation length of non-zero to allow the boot to proceed.
  • A problem was fixed for a clock card failure with SRC B158CC62 logged calling out the wrong clock card and not calling out the cable and system backplane as needed.  This fix does not add processors to the callout but in some cases the processor has also been identified as the cause of the clock card failure.
  • A problem was fixed for failing to boot from an AIX mksysb backup on a USB RDX drive with SRCs logged of BA210012, AA06000D, and BA090010.   The problem trigger is a boot attempt from the RDX device. The boot error does not occur if a serial console is used to navigate the SMS menus.
  • A problem was fixed for a system IPLing with an invalid time set on the service processor that causes partitions to be reset to the Epoch date of 01/01/1970.  With the fix, on the IPL, the hypervisor logs a B700120x when the service processor real time clock is found to be invalid and halts the IPL to allow the time and date to be corrected by the user.  The Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) can be used to correct the time and date on the service processor.  On the next IPL, if the time and date have not been corrected, the hypervisor will log a SRC B7001224 (indicating the user was warned on the last IPL) but allow the partitions to start, but the time and date will be set to the Epoch value.
  • A security problem was fixed in the service processor Network Security Services (NSS) services which, with a man-in-the-middle attack, could provide false completion or errant network transactions or exposure of sensitive data from intercepted SSL connections to ASMI, Redfish, or the service processor message server.  The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures issue number is CVE-2018-12384.
  • A problem was fixed for hypervisor task getting deadlocked if partitions are powered on at the same time that SR-IOV is being configured for an adapter.  With this problem, workloads will continue to run but it will not be possible to change the virtualization configuration or power partitions on and off.  This error can be recovered by doing a re-IPL of the system.
  • A problem was fixed for hypervisor tasks getting deadlocked that cause the hypervisor to be unresponsive to the HMC ( this shows as an incomplete state on the HMC) with SRC B200F011 logged.  This is a rare timing error.  With this problem,  OS workloads will continue to run but it will not be possible for the HMC to interact with the partitions.  This error can be recovered by doing a re-IPL of the system with a scheduled outage.
  • A problem was fixed for false indication of a real time clock (RTC) battery failure with SRC B15A3305 logged.  This error happens infrequently.  If the error occurs, and another battery failure SRC is not logged within 24 hours, ignore the error as it was caused by a timing issue in the battery test.

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

  • DEFERRED:  On systems with a PCIe3 I/O expansion drawer (#EMX0) , a problem was fixed for the PCIe3 I/O expansion drawer links to improve stability.   Intermittent training failures on the links occurred during the IPL with SRC B7006A8B logged.  With the fix, the link settings were changed to lower the peak link signal amplification to bring the signal level into the middle of the operating range, thus improving the high margin to reduce link training failures.  The system must be re-IPLed for the fix to activate.
  • On a system witn an IBM i partition, a problem was fixed for a DLPAR force-remove of a physical IO adapter from an IBM i partition and a simultaneous power off of the partition causing the partition to hang during the power off.  To recover the partition from the error, the system must be re-IPLed.  This problem is rare because there is only a 2-second timing window for the DLPAR and power off to interfere with each other.
  • On a system with an active IBM i partition, a problem was fixed for a SPCN firmware download to the PCIe3 I/O expansion drawer (feature #EMX0) Chassis Management Card (CMC) that could possibly get stuck in a pending state.  This failure is very unlikely as it would require a concurrent replacement of the CMC card that is loaded with a SPCN level that is older than 2015 (01MEX151012a).  The failure with the SPCN download can be corrected by a re-IPL of the system.
  • On a system with an AMS (Active Memory Sharing) partition, a problem was fixed for a Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migration failure when migrating from P9 to a pre-FW860 P8 or P7 system.  This failure can occur if the P9 partition is in dedicated memory mode, and the Physical Page Table (PPT) ratio is explicitly set on the HMC (rather than keeping the default value) and the partition is then transitioned to AMS mode prior to the migration to the older system.  This problem can be avoided by using dedicated memory in the partition being migrated back to the older system.
  • On a system with a vNIC configuration with multiple backing Virtual Functions (VFs), a problem was fixed for a backing VF failure after a sequence of repeated failovers where one of the VF backing devices goes to a powered off state.  This problem is infrequent and only occurs after many vNIC failovers.  A reboot of the partition with the affected VF will recover it.
  • On systems with PCIe3 expansion drawers (feature code #EMX0),  a problem was fixed for a UE B700BA01 logged after a FRU was replaced in the PCIe Expansion drawer.  The log should have been informational instead of unrecoverable because it is normal to have this log for a replaced part in the expansion drawer that has a different serial number from the old part.  If a part in the expansion drawer has been replaced, the UE error log can be ignored.
  • On systems with IBMi partitions,  a problem was fixed for Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migrations that could have incorrect hardware resource information (related to VPD) in the target partition if a failover had occurred for the source partition during the migration.  This failover would have to occur during the Suspended state of the migration, which only lasts about a second, so this should be rare.  With the fix, at a minimum the migration error will be detected to abort the migration so it can be restarted.  And at a later IBMi OS level, the fix will allow the migration to complete even though the failover has occurred during the Suspended state of the migration.
  • On systems with PCIe3 expansion drawers (feature #EMX0), a problem was fixed for PCI link recovery failure during a PCI Host Bridge (PHB) reset with SRCs of B7006A80, B7006A22, B7006A8B, and B7006970 logged.  This causes the cable card to fail, losing all slots in the expansion drawer.  This is a rare problem.  If this error occurs, a concurrent maintenance operation could reboot the expansion drawer or a re-IPL of the system could be done to recover the drawer.
  • On systems with an IBM i partition with greater than 9999 GB installed, a problem was fixed for on/Off COD memory-related amounts not being displayed correctly.  This only happens when retrieving the On/Off COD numbers via a particular IBMi MATMATR MI command option value.
  • On systems with PCIe3 expansion drawers(feature code #EMX0),  a problem was fixed for a concurrent exchange of a PCIe expansion drawer cable card, although successful, leaves the fault LED turned on.
  • A problem was fixed for shared processor pools where uncapped shared processor partitions placed in a pool may not be able to consume all available processor cycles.  The problem may occur when the sum of the allocated processing units for the pool member partitions equals the maximum processing units of the pool.
SC860_180_165 / FW860.60

10/31/18
Impact:  Availability      Severity:  SPE

System firmware changes that affect all systems

  • A security problem was fixed in the Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) client on the service processor for an out-of-bound memory access flaw that could be used by a malicious DHCP server to crash the DHCP client process.  The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures issue number is CVE-2018-5732.
  • A problem was fixed for certain hypervisor error logs being slow to report to the OS.  The error logs affected are those created by the hypervisor immediately after the hypervisor is started and if there is more than 128 error logs from the hypervisor to be reported.  The error logs at the end of the queue take a long time to be processed, and may make it appear as if error logs are not being reported to the OS.
  • A problem was fixed for an IPL system termination with SRC B181345A logged.  This is an infrequent problem related to a time-out in the synchronization of data to the backup service processor.  The problem can be recovered from by a re-IPL of the system.
  • A problem was fixed for the periodic guard reminder function to not re-post error logs of failed FRUs on each IPL.  Instead, a reminder SRC is created to call home the list of FRUs that have failed and require service.  This puts the system to back to original behavior of only posting one error log for each FRU that has failed.
  • A problem was fixed for the Advanced System Management Interface being unable to show the details of a clock card error log without failing with a SRC B1818A12.  This is a very infrequent problem that needs the failing error log entry to be truncated at exactly the maximum size of an error log entry.
  • For a HMC managed system, a problem was fixed for a rare, intermittent NetsCMS core dump that could occur whenever the system is doing a deferred shutdown power off.  There is no impact to normal operations as the power off completes, but there are extra error logs with SRC B181EF88  and a service processor dump.
  • A problem was fixed for the Redfsih "Manager" request returning duplicate object URIs for the same HMC.  This can occur if the HMC was removed from the managed system and then later added back in.  The Redfish objects for the earlier instances of the same HMC were never deleted on the remove.
  • Hardware data collection performance was improved for platform-level dumps.
  • A problem was fixed a service processor reset that can occur after 30 or more Administrative Failovers to the backup service processor without an AC power cycle or soft reset of the service processor.  After a large number of failovers, a memory leak causes an out of memory condition on the service processor.  There is no impact to normal operations as the reset causes an error failover to the backup service processor that is successful.
  • A problem was fixed for an enclosure fault LED being stuck on after a repair of a fan.  This problem only occurs after the second concurrent repair of a fan.
  • A problem was fixed for a concurrent EMX0 PCIe3 expansion CXP (120 Gb/s 12x Small Form-factor Pluggable)  cable adapter add or repair that fails with a hypervisor 0x030A error after a previous add or repair failure.  The affected CXP cable adapter has feature code #EJ07.  A system IPL will recover from the problem.
  • A problem was fixed for a dedicated processor partition hanging during a shutdown.  This is a very rare problem with only a small timing window in the shutdown that can cause the hang.
  • A problem was fixed for a Novalink enabled partition not being able to release master from the HMC that results in error HSCLB95B.  To resolve the issue, run a rebuild managed server operation on the HMC and then retry the release.  This occurs when attempting to release master from HMC after the first boot up of a Novalink enabled partition if Master Mode was enforced prior to the boot.
  • A problem was fixed for resource dumps that use the selector "iomfnm" and options "rioinfo" or "dumpbainfo".  This combination of options for resource dumps always fails without the fix.
  • A problem was fixed for a Virtual Network Interface Controller (vNIC) client adapter to prevent a failover when disabling the adapter from the HMC.  A failover to a new backing device could cause the client adapter to erroneously appear to be active again when it is actually disabled.  This causes confusion and failures on the OS for the device driver.  This problem can only occur when there is more than a single backing device for the vNIC adapter and if a commands are issued from the HMC to disable the adapter and enable the adapter.
  • A problem was fixed for all variants (this was partially fixed in an earlier release) for the SR-IOV firmware adapter updates using the HMC GUI or CLI to only reboot one SR-IOV adapter at a time.  If multiple adapters are updated at the same time, the HMC error message HSCF0241E may occur:  "HSCF0241E Could not read firmware information from SR-IOV device ...".  This fix prevents the system network from being disrupted by the SR-IOV adapter updates when redundant configurations are being used for the network.  The problem can be circumvented by using the HMC GUI to update the SR-IOV firmware one adapter at a time using the following steps:
    https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/POWER8/p8efd/p8efd_updating_sriov_firmware.htm
  • A problem was fixed for the callout of SRC BA188002 so it does not display three trailing extra garbage characters in the location code for the FRU.  The string is correct up to the line ending white space, so the three extra characters after that should be ignored.  This problem is intermittent and does not occur for all BA188002 error logs.
  • A problem was fixed for when booting a large number of LPARs with Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) capability, some partitions may post a SRC BA54504D time-out for taking too long to start.  With the fix, the time allowed to boot a vTPM LPAR is increased.  If a time-out occurs, the partition can be booted again to recover.  The problem can be avoided by auto-starting fewer vTPM LPARs, or booting them a couple at a time to prevent flooding the vTPM device server with requests that will slow the boot time while the LPARs wait on the vTPM device server responses.
  • A problem was fixed for SMS menus to limit reporting on the NPIV and vSCSI configuration to the first 511 LUNs.  Without the fix, LUN 512 through the last configured LUN report with invalid data.  Configurations in excess of 511 LUNs are very rare, and it is recommended for performance reasons (to be able search for the boot LUN more quickly) that the number of LUNs on a single targeted be limited to less than 512.
  • The following two errors in the SR-IOV adapter firmware were fixed:  1)  The adapter resets and there is a B400FF01 reference code logged. This error happens in rare cases when there are multiple partitions actively running traffic through the adapter.  System firmware resets the adapter and recovers the system with no user-intervention required; 2) SR-IOV VFs with defined VLANs and an assigned PVID are not able to ping each other.
    This fix updates adapter firmware to 10.2.252.1933, for the following Feature Codes: EN15, EN16, EN17, EN18, EN0H, EN0J, EN0M, EN0N, EN0K, and EN0L,.
    The SR-IOV adapter firmware level update for the shared-mode adapters happens under user control to prevent unexpected temporary outages on the adapters.  A system reboot will update all SR-IOV shared-mode adapters with the new firmware level.  In addition, when an adapter is first set to SR-IOV shared mode, the adapter firmware is updated to the latest level available with the system firmware (and it is also updated automatically during maintenance operations, such as when the adapter is stopped or replaced).  And lastly, selective manual updates of the SR-IOV adapters can be performed using the Hardware Management Console (HMC).  To selectively update the adapter firmware, follow the steps given at the IBM Knowledge Center for using HMC to make the updates:   https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/HW4M4/p8efd/p8efd_updating_sriov_firmware.htm.
    Note: Adapters that are capable of running in SR-IOV mode, but are currently running in dedicated mode and assigned to a partition, can be updated concurrently either by the OS that owns the adapter or the managing HMC (if OS is AIX or VIOS and RMC is running).
  • A problem was fixed for an IPL that ends with the HMC in the "Incomplete" state with SRCs B182951C and A7001151 logged.  Partitions may start and can continue to run without the HMC services available.  In order to recover the HMC session,  a re-IPL of the system is needed (however, partition workloads could continue running uninterrupted until the system is intentionally re-IPLed at a scheduled time.).  The frequency of this problem is very low as it rarely occurs.
  • A problem was fixed for Live Partition Mobility (LPM) failing along with other hypervisor tasks, but the partitions continue to run.  This is an extremely rare failure where a re-IPL is needed to restore HMC or Novalink connections to the partitions, or to do any system configuration changes.
  • A problem was fixed for partition SMS menus to display certain network adapters that were unviewable and not usable as boot and install devices after a microcode update.  The problem network adapter is still present and usable at the OS.  The adapters with this problem have the following featiure codes:  EN0A, EN0B, EN0H, EN0J, EN0K, EN0L, EN15, EN16, EN17, and EN18.
  • A problem was fixed for platform dumps failing for HWPROC checkstops, causing the system to terminate instead of re-IPLing after the processor failure.  To recover, the system can be powered off and then IPLed.  Any problem hardware will be guarded during the IPL to allow normal system operations.

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

  • On a system with an AIX partition,  a problem was fixed for a partition time jump that could occur after doing an AIX Live Update.  This problem could occur if the AIX Live Update happens after a Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migration to the partition.  AIX applications using the timebase facility could observe a large jump forwards or backwards in the time reported by the timebase facility.   A circumvention to this problem is to reboot the partition after the LPM operation prior to doing the AIX Live Update.  An AIX fix is also required to resolve this problem.  The issue will no longer occur when this firmware update is applied on the system that is the target of the LPM operation and the AIX partition performing the AIX Live Update has the appropriate AIX updates installed prior to doing the AIX Live Update.
  • For a shared memory partition,  a problem was fixed for Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migration hang after a Mover Service Partition (MSP) failover in the early part of the migration.  To recover from the hang, a migration stop command must be given on the HMC.  Then the migration can be retryed.
  • For a shared memory partition,  a problem was fixed for Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migration failure to an indeterminate state.  This can occur if the Mover Service Partition (MSP)  has a failover that occurs when the migrating partition is in the state of "Suspended."  To recover from this problem, the partition must be shutdown and restarted.
  • On a system attached to a Cloud Management Console (CMC) via a Cloud Connector on the HMC,  a problem was fixed for Redfish queries to the service processor resulting in memory leaks and out of memory (OOM) resets of the service processor.
SC860_165_165 / FW860.51

05/22/18
Impact:  Security      Severity:  SPE

Response for Recent Security Vulnerabilities

  • DISRUPTIVE:  In response to recently reported security vulnerabilities, this firmware update is being released to address Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures issue number CVE-2018-3639.  In addition, Operating System updates are required in conjunction with this FW level for CVE-2018-3639.
SC860_160_056 / FW860.50

05/03/18
Only DEFERRED fix descriptions are displayed for this service pack. 
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/SC-Firmware-Hist.html
Impact:  Availability      Severity:  SPE

System firmware changes that affect all systems

  • DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed for a PCIe3 I/O expansion drawer (with feature code #EMX0) where control path stability issues may cause certain SRCs to be logged.  Systems using copper cables may log SRC B7006A87 or similar SRCs, and the fanout module may fail to become active.  Systems using optical cables may log SRC of B7006A22 or similar SRCs.  For this problem, the errant I/O drawer may be recovered by a re-IPL of the system.
SC860_138_056 / FW860.42

01/09/18
Impact:  Security      Severity:  SPE

New features and functions

  • In response to recently reported security vulnerabilities, this firmware update is being released to address Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures issue numbers CVE-2017-5715, CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5754.  Operating System updates are required in conjunction with this FW level for CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5754.
SC860_127_056 / FW860.41

12/08/17
Impact:  Availability      Severity:  SPE
SC860_118_056 / FW860.40

11/08/17
Only DEFERRED fix descriptions are displayed for this service pack. 
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/SC-Firmware-Hist.html
Impact:  Availability      Severity:  SPE

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

  • DEFERRED:  On systems using PowerVM firmware, a problem was fixed for DPO (Dynamic Platform Optimizer) operations taking a very long and impacting the server system with a performance degradation.  The problem is triggered by a DPO operation being done on a system with unlicensed processor cores and a very high I/O load.  The fix involves using a different lock type for the memory relocation activities (to prevent lock contention between memory relocation threads and partition threads) that is created at IPL time, so an IPL is needed to activate the fix.  More information on the DPO function can be found at the IBM Knowledge Center:  https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/8247-42L/p8hat/p8hat_dpoovw.htm
SC860_103_056 / FW860.30

06/30/17
Only DEFERRED fix descriptions are displayed for this service pack. 
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/SC-Firmware-Hist.html
Impact:  Availability      Severity:  SPE

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

  • DEFERRED: On systems using PowerVM firmware, a problem was fixed for PCIe3 I/O expansion drawer (#EMX0) link improved stability.  The settings for the continuous time linear equalizers (CTLE) was updated for all the PCIe adapters for the PCIe links to the expansion drawer.  The system must be re-IPLed for the fix to activate.
SC860_082_056 / FW860.20

03/17/17
Impact:  Availability      Severity:  SPE 
SC860_070_056 / FW860.12

01/13/17
Impact:  Availability      Severity:  SPE
SC860_063_056 / FW860.11

12/05/16
Impact:  N/A      Severity:  N/A
  • This Service Pack contained updates for MANUFACTURING ONLY.
SC860_056_056 / FW860.10

11/18/16
Only DISRUPTIVE and DEFERRED fix descriptions are displayed for this service pack. 
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/SC-Firmware-Hist.html
Impact:  New      Severity:  New

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

  • DISRUPTIVE:  On systems using the PowerVM firmware, a problem was fixed for an "Incomplete" state caused by initiating a resource dump with selector macros from NovaLink (vio -dump -lp 1 -fr).   The failure causes a communication process stack frame, HVHMCCMDRTRTASK, size to be exceeded with a hypervisor page fault that disrupts the NovalLink and/or HMC communications. The recovery action is to re-IPL the CEC but that will need to be done without the assistance of the management console.  For each partition that has a OS running on the system, shut down each partition from the OS.  Then from the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI),  power off the managed system.  Alternatively, the system power button may also be used to do the power off.  If the management console Incomplete state persists after the power off, the managed system should be rebuilt from the management console.  For more information on management console recovery steps, refer to this IBM Knowledge Center link: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/POWER7/p7eav/aremanagedsystemstate_incomplete.htm.  The fix is disruptive because the size of the PowerVM hypervisor must be increased to accommodate the over-sized stack frame of the failing task.
  • DEFERRED:  On systems using the PowerVM firmware, a problem was fixed for a CAPI function unavailable condition on a system with the maximum number of CAPI adapters and partitions.  Not enough bytes were allocated for CAPI for the maximum configuration case.  The problem may be circumvented by reducing the number of active partitions or CAPI adapters.   The fix is deferred because the size of the hypervisor must be increased to provide the additional CAPI space.
  • DEFERRED:   On systems using PowerVM firmware, a problem was fixed for cable card capable PCI slots that fail during the IPL.  Hypervisor I/O Bus Interface UE B7006A84 is reported for each cable card capable PCI slot that doesn't contain a PCIe3 Optical Cable Adapter for the PCIe Expansion Drawer (feature code #EJ05).  PCI slots containing a cable card will not report an error but will not be functional.  The problem can be resolved by performing an AC cycle of the system.  The trigger for the failure is the I2C devices used to detect the cable cards are not coming out of the power on reset process in the correct state due to a race condition.

4.0 How to Determine The 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: SC830_123.


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 USB flash memory device 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: SCxxx_yyy_zzz

Where xxx = release level

Instructions for installing firmware updates and upgrades can be found at http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/9119-MHE/p8ha1/updupdates.htm

IBM i Systems:

For information concerning IBM i Systems, go to the following URL to access Fix Central: 
http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/

Choose "Select product", under Product Group specify "System i", under Product specify "IBM i", then Continue and specify the desired firmware PTF accordingly.

7.0 Firmware History

The complete Firmware Fix History (including HIPER descriptions)  for this Release level can be reviewed at the following url:
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/server/firmware/SC-Firmware-Hist.html

8.0 Change History

Date
Description
September 16, 2019
Fix list description update for firmware level SC860_205_165 / FW860.70.
August 08, 2019 Fix list description update for firmware level SC860_205_165 / FW860.70.