Power9 System Firmware
Applies
to: 9008-22L; 9009-22A;
9009-41A; 9009-42A; 9223-22H; and 9223-42H.
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
READ ME FIRST
Important
Information applicable only for systems at VL930_035 (FW930.00) with
VIOS partitions or IBM i HSM:
If you have VL930_035 (FW 930.00) on your system, take the following
steps to both resolve any current problem you may be experiencing due
to changed location codes, and to avoid future problems due to location
codes reverting to their original format in later firmware levels.
1) Apply an ifix corresponding to your VIOS level. The fixes and
a README to identify which ifix you need can be found here:
ftp://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/ifixes/FW930/
2) Power down the system
3) Apply FW 930.01 or later
4) Power on the system.
The VIOS will restore the correct mapping when the system is booted on
FW 930.01 or later with the ifix installed.
5) Remove the ifix after booting on FW 930.01 or later after verifying
the mappings are restored
If FW930.00 was installed, and IBM i partitions ran on it, there will
be extraneous resources defined in the IBM i partitions following the
update to FW930.01 or later. These warnings can be ignored.
After the IPL of the IBM i partition on FW930.01 or later, the unneeded
resources should be removed, using the following steps given in APAR
MB04215:
1. STRSST and sign in
2. Option 1. Start a service tool
3. Option 7. Hardware service manager
4. Option 4. Failed and non-reporting hardware resources
5. Put a '4' (Remove) against any BCxx (Fabric I/O Bridge) resources
that are listed, and then press Enter to remove, and Enter again to
confirm the removal.
6. If there are any SRIOV shared mode resources listed, those can be
removed also.
NOTE: Customers upgrading from FW910.xx levels to FW930.01 or later are
not affected by this problem!
1.0
Systems Affected
This
package provides firmware for Power Systems L922 (9008-22L), Power
System S922 (9009-22A), Power System S914 (9009-41A), Power
System S924
(9009-42A), Power
System H922
(9223-22H) and Power System H924 (9223-42H. ) 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 levels for this firmware for HMC x86, ppc64
or ppc64le are listed below.
x86 - This term is used to reference the legacy HMC
that runs on x86/Intel/AMD hardware for both the 7042 Machine
Type appliances and the Virtual HMC that can run on the Intel
hypervisors (KVM, VMWare, Xen).
- The
Minimum HMC Code level for this firmware is: HMC V9R1M930
(PTF MH01810).
- Although
the Minimum HMC Code level for this firmware is listed
above, HMC V9R1M930 (PTF MH01810) with
iFix (PTF MH01825) or
higher
is
recommended.
ppc64 or ppc64le - describes the Linux code that is compiled to
run on Power-based servers or LPARS (Logical Partitions)
- The
Minimum HMC Code level for this firmware is: HMC V9R1M930
(PTF MH01811).
- Although
the Minimum HMC Code level for this firmware is listed
above, HMC V9R1M930 (PTF MH01811) with
iFix (PTF MH01826) 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 IBM i Minimum Levels
Reference the following URL for
IBM i Support: Recommended fixes:
https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1021194
1.3 Late
Breaking Features
A new option was added to ASMI to provide customer control over
speculative execution in response to CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5715
(collectively known as Spectre) and CVE-2017-5754 (known as
Meltdown) for POWER9 9009-42A, 9223-42H, 9009-41A, 9009-22A,
9223-22H, and 9008-22L. More information on this option can be
found in
the IBM KnowledgeCenter at the following link: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/POWER9/p9hby/p9hby_speculative_execution_control.htm.
2.0 Important
Information
NovaLink
levels earlier than "NovaLink 1.0.0.16 Feb 2020 release" with
partitions running certain SR-IOV capable adapters is NOT supported at
this firmware release
NovaLink levels earlier than "NovaLink 1.0.0.16 Feb 2020 release" do
not support IO adapter FCs EC2R/EC2S, EC2T/EC2U, EC3L/EC3M, EC66/EC67
with FW930 and later. If the adapter was already in use with
FW910/920 at an older NovaLink level, upgrading to FW930/940 will
result in errors in NovaLink and PowerVC which causes the loss of any
management operation via NovaLink / PowerVC combination.
Upgrading systems in this configuration is not supported at the
older NovaLink levels. If the system is required to be at
FW930/940 or was shipped with FW930/940, NovaLink must first be updated
to "NovaLink 1.0.0.16 Feb 2020 release" or later.
Downgrading
firmware from any
given release level to an earlier release level is not recommended
Firmware downgrade warnings:
1) Adapter feature codes (#EC2R/#EC2S/#EC2T/#EC2U and
#EC3L/#EC3M and #EC66/EC67) when configured in SR-IOV shared mode in
FW930 or later, even if originally configured in shared mode
in a pre-FW930 release, may not function properly if the system is
downgraded to a pre-FW930 release. The adapter should be configured in
dedicated mode first (i.e. take the adapter out of SR-IOV shared mode)
before downgrading to a pre-FW930 release.
2) If partitions have been run in POWER9 compatibility mode in FW940, a
downgrade to an earlier release (pre-FW940) may cause a problem with
the partitions starting. To prevent this problem, the "server
firmware" settings must be reset by rebooting partitions in
"Power9_base" before doing the downgrade.
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 supported on HMC Managed
Systems
only.
Ensure that there are no RMC connections issues for any system
partitions prior to applying the firmware update. If there is a
RMC connection failure to a partition during the firmware update, the
RMC connection will need to be restored and additional recovery actions
for that partition will be required to complete partition firmware
updates.
2.3 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:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/9009-22A/p9hat/p9hat_lparmemory.htm
2.4 SBE Updates
Power 9 servers
contain SBEs (Self Boot Engines) and are used to boot the system.
SBE is internal to each of the Power 9 chips and used to "self boot"
the chip. The SBE image is persistent and is only reloaded if
there is a system firmware update that contains a SBE change. If
there is a SBE change and system firmware update is concurrent, then
the SBE update is delayed to the next IPL of the CEC which will cause
an additional 3-5 minutes per processor chip in the system to be added
on to the IPL. If there is a SBE change and the system firmware
update is disruptive, then SBE update will cause an additional 3-5
minutes per processor chip in the system to be added on to the
IPL. During the SBE update process, the HMC or op-panel will
display service processor code C1C3C213 for each of the SBEs being
updated. This is a normal progress code and system boot should be
not be terminated by the user. Additional time estimate can be
between 6-10 minutes.
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:
01VLxxx_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,
01VL900_040_040 and 01VL910_040_045 are different service
packs.
An installation is disruptive if:
- The release levels (xxx) are
different.
Example:
Currently installed release is 01VL900_040_040,
new release is 01VL910_050_050.
- The service pack level (yyy) and the last disruptive
service
pack level (zzz) are the same.
Example: VL910_040_040
is disruptive, no matter what
level of VL910 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 VL910_040_040 and new service
pack is VL910_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 VL910_040_040, new
service pack is VL910_041_040.
3.1 Firmware
Information
and Description
| Filename |
Size |
Checksum |
md5sum |
| 01VL930_068_040.rpm |
130391861 |
02571 |
0177ebdf692562e78a7bcefc663420bd
|
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 01VL930_068_040.rpm
VL930
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/VL-Firmware-Hist.html
|
VL930_068_040 / FW930.03
08/22/19 |
Impact:
Data
Severity: HIPER
New features and functions
- Support was added
for processor module DD2.3 with CCIN 5C41 but all processor modules in
the system must have the same CCIN. These new processor modules
cannot be mixed with DD2.21 processor modules with CCIN 5C25
until service pack level FW930.10.
System firmware changes that affect all systems
- HIPER/Pervasive:
A change was made to fix an intermittent
processor anomaly that may result in issues such as operating system or
hypervisor termination, application segmentation fault, hang, or
undetected data corruption. The only issues observed to date have
been operating system or hypervisor terminations.
- A problem was fixed for a very intermittent partition error
when using Live Partition Mobility (LPM) or concurrent firmware
update. For a mobility operation, the issue can result in a
partition crash if the mobility target system is FW930.00, FW930.01 or
FW930.02. For a code update operation, the partition may
hang. The recovery is to reboot the partition after the crash or
hang.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
- DEFERRED:
HIPER/Pervasive: A change was made to address a
problem causing SAS bus errors and failed/degraded SAS paths with SRCs
or SRNs such as these logged: 57D83400, 2D36-3109, 57D84040, 2D36-4040,
57D84060, 2D36-4060, 57D84061, 2D36-4061, 57D88130, 2D36-FFFE,
xxxxFFFE, xxxx-FFFE, xxxx4061 and xxxx-4061. These errors
occur intermittently for hard drives and solid state drives installed
in the two high-performance DASD backplanes (feature codes #EJ1M and
#EJ1D). This problem pertains to the 9009-41A, 9009-42A, and
9223-42H models only. Without the change, the circumvention
is to replace the affected DASD backplane.
|
VL930_048_040 / FW930.02
06/28/19 |
Impact:
Availability Severity: SPE
System firmware changes that
affect all systems
- A problem was fixed for a bad link for the PCIe3 expansion
drawer (#EMX0) I/O drawer with the clock enhancement causing a system
failure with B700F103. This error could occur during an IPL or a
concurrent add of the link hardware.
- A problem was fixed for On-Chip Controller (OCC) power
capping operation time-outs with SRC B1112AD3 that caused the system to
enter safe mode, resulting in reduced performance. The problem
only occurred when the system was running with high power consumption,
requiring the need for OCC power capping.
- A problem was fixed for the "PCIe Topology " option to get
cable information in the HMC or ASMI that was returning the wrong cable
part numbers if the PCIe3 expansion drawer (#EMX0) I/O drawer
clock enhancement was configured. If cables with the incorrect
part numbers are used for an enhanced PCIe3 expansion drawer
configuration, the hypervisor will log a B7006A20 with PRC 4152
indicating an invalid configuration - https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/9080-M9S/p9eai/B7006A20.htm.
- A problem was fixed for a drift in the system time (time
lags and the clock runs slower than the true value of time) that occurs
when the system is powered off to the service processor standby
state. To recover from this problem, the system time must be
manually corrected using the Advanced System Management Interface
(ASMI) before powering on the system. The time lag increases in
proportion to the duration of time that the system is powered off.
|
VL930_040_040 / FW930.01
05/31/19 |
Impact:
Availability Severity: HIPER
System firmware changes that
affect certain systems
- HIPER/Pervasive:
DISRUPTIVE: For systems at VL930_035 (FW930.00) with LPARs
using a VIOS for virtual adapters or using VIOS Shared Storage Pool
(SSP) clusters, a problem was fixed for a possible network hang in the
LPAR after upgrading from FW910.XX to FW930.00. Systems with IBM
i partitons and HSM may see extraneous resources, with the old ones
non-reporting. With the problem, the I/O adapter port location
code names had changed from that used for the FW910 release, and this
difference in the naming convention prevents the VIOS virtual adapters
from working in some cases. For example, NPIV (N_PORT ID
Virtualization) Fibre Channel (FC) adapters fail to work because of the
I/O mappings are different. With the fix, the I/O adapter
location code naming convention reverts back to that used for
FW910. There could be other impacts not described
here to operating system views of IO devices and IBM strongly
recommends that customers at FW930.00 update to this new level or
higher. Customers upgrading from FW910.xx levels to FW930.01 or
later are not affected by this problem.
The following is an example of the original location code format and
the problem version of the location code name (notice that "001" was
replaced by "ND1"):
Original format: "fcs0 U78D2.001.WZS000W-P1-C6 Available 01-00 8Gb PCI
Express Dual Port FC Adapter (df1000f114108a03)"
Problem format: "fcs0 U78D2.ND1.WZS000W-P1-C6 Available 01-00 8Gb PCI
Express Dual Port FC Adapter (df1000f114108a03)"
If you have a FW930.00 (VL930_035) installed, please follow the steps
outlined in the "Important Information applicable only for systems at
VL930_035 (FW930.00) with VIOS partitions or IBM i HSM" section
of the README.
|
VL930_035_035 / FW930.00
05/17/19 |
Impact:
New
Severity: New
All features and fixes from the FW910.30 service pack (and below) are
included in this release.
New Features and Functions
- Support was added to allow the FPGA soft error checking on
the PCIe I/O expansion drawer (#EMX0) to be disabled with the help of
IBM support using the hypervisor "xmsvc" macro. This new setting
will persist until it it is changed by the user or IBM support.
The effect of disabling FPGA soft error checking is to eliminate the
FPGA soft error recovery which causes a recoverable PCIe adapter
outage. Some of the soft errors will be hidden by this change but
others may have unpredictable results, so this should be done only
under guidance of IBM support.
- Support for the PCIe3 expansion drawer (#EMX0) I/O
drawer clock enhancement so that a reset of the drawer does not affect
the reference clock to the adapters so the PCIe lanes for the PCIe
adapters can keep running through an I/O drawer FPGA reset. To
use this support, new cable cards, fanout modules, and optical cables
are needed after this support is installed: PCIe Six Slot Fan out
module(#EMXH) - only allowed to be connected to converter adapter cable
card; PCIe X16 to CXP Optical or CU converter adapter for the
expansion drawer (#EJ1R); and new AOC cables with feature/part number
of #ECCR/78P6567, #ECCX/78P6568, #ECCY/78P6569, and #ECCZ/78P6570.
These parts cannot be install concurrently, so a scheduled outage is
needed to complete the migration.
- Support added for RDMA Over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) for
SR-IOV adapters.
- Support added for SMS menu to enhance the I/O
information option to have "vscsi" and "network" options. The
information shown for "vscsi" devices is similar to that provided for
SAS and Fibre Channel devices. The "network" option provides
connectivity information for the adapter ports and shows which can be
used for network boots and installs.
- Support for an IBM i system with a SAN boot feature code
that can be ordered without an internal DASD backplane, SAS cables, or
SAS adapters.
- Support added to allow integrated USB ports to be
disabled. This is available via an Advanced System Management
Interface (ASMI) menu option: "System Configuration ->
Security -> USB Policy". The USB disable policy, if selected,
does not apply to pluggable USB adapters plugged into PCIe slots such
as the 4-Port USB adapter (#EC45/#EC46), which are always enabled.
System firmware changes that
affect all systems
- 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.
|
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: VL910_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: VLxxx_yyy_zzz
Where xxx = release level
- If the release level will stay the same (Example: Level
VL910_040_040 is
currently installed and you are attempting to install level
VL910_041_040)
this is considered an update.
- If the release level will change (Example: Level VL900_040_040 is
currently
installed and you are attempting to install level VL910_050_050) 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:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/9009-22A/p9eh6/p9eh6_updates_sys.htm
NovaLink Managed
Systems:
A NovaLink managed system does not have a HMC
attached and is managed either by PowerVM Novalink or PowerVC using
PowerVM Novalink.
Instructions for installing firmware updates and upgrades on systems
managed by PowerVM NovaLink can be found at:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/9009-22A/p9eig/p9eig_updating_firmware.htm
HMC and NovaLink
Co-Managed Systems:
A co-managed system is managed by HMC and NovaLink, with one
of the interfaces in the co-management master mode.
Instructions for installing firmware updates and upgrades on systems
co-managed by an HMC and Novalink is the same as above for a HMC
managed systems since the firmware update must be done by the HMC in
the co-management master mode. Before the firmware update is
attempted, one must be sure that HMC is set in the master mode using
the steps at the following IBM KnowledgeCenter link for NovaLink
co-managed systems:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/9009-22A/p9eig/p9eig_kickoff.htm
Then the firmware updates can proceed with the same steps as for
the HMC managed systems:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/9009-22A/p9eh6/p9eh6_updates_sys.htm
Systems not
Managed by an HMC or NovaLink:
Power Systems:
Instructions for installing firmware on systems that are not
managed
by an HMC can be found at:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/9009-22A/p9ha5/fix_serv_firm_kick.htm
Systems running Ubuntu operating system:
If Ubuntu will be used to update the system firmware,
please follow these instructions to extract the installable binary and
update/upgrade the firmware:
1) Download the .gz (tarball) from Fix Central to your Ubuntu system
(ie, to /tmp/fwupdate).
2) Extract the .gz file to /tmp/ on the Ubuntu system:
Example:
tar -xzf /tmp/fwupdate/01VL910_040_040.tar.gz -C
/tmp/fwupdate
3) Use update_flash -v -f <extracted file name> to verify the
package.
4) Update your firmware using update_flash:
/usr/sbin/update_flash -f <extracted file name>
System will reboot during the firmware update. When the system reaches
Ubuntu run-time state, you can then commit or reject the firmware
update:
Commit: /usr/sbin/update_flash -c
Reject: /usr/sbin/update_flash -r
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/VL-Firmware-Hist.html
8.0
Change History
Date
|
Description
|
February 20, 2020
|
Updated NovaLink warning in
section 2.0 Important
Information. |
| December 12, 2019 |
Added NovaLink warning and
updated the Downgrading firmware warnings in section 2.0 Important
Information.
|
| October 07, 2019 |
Fix descripton update for
firmware
level VL930_068_040 / FW930.03. |
| September 20, 2019 |
Fix descripton update for
firmware
level VL930_068_040 / FW930.03.
|