Hardware Management Console Readme

Terminology

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).

ppc64 or ppc64le - describes the Linux code that is compiled to run on Power-based servers or LPARS (Logical Partitions)

DNS - Domain Name Server

GUI - Graphical user interface

vHMC - Virtual HMC. The HMC appliance that runs in supported VM Hypervisors

Package information

Package name	Size	Checksum (sha1sum)	APAR#	PTF#
HMC_Update_V9R1M941_x86.iso	4101580800	df3fbcf56d5d9dfd4a24eae07a99d745d909def7	MB04252	MH01859
Splash Panel information (or lshmc -V output)
"version= Version: 9  Release: 1   Service Pack: 941 HMC Build level 2004292238 MH01859 - HMC V9R1 M941  ","base_version=V9R1 "

EOS of x86 Hardware Appliance

HMC V9 R1 is the last release to support the 7042-CR7 and CR8 machine types. HMC V9R2 will support 7042-CR9, the 7063 machine types and Virtual HMC Appliances (x86/ppc64le) only.

Note: iFixes and Service packs on top of V9 R1 M940 will be supported on 7042 machine types.

Enhancements and new function

• The "Cleanup associated Virtual IO Server mappings" and "associated Virtual Disk" check boxes are now enabled by default on the delete Partition panel.
  
• Hybrid Network Virtualization (HNV) which was a technology preview with HMC V9 R1 M940 is now fully supported with HMC V9 R1 M941 and FW940.10
  
• Cloud connector has been enhanced to support HTTPS proxy only (without using SOCKS5) and connecting to CMC using only Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDN)
  
• When powering off a managed system from the GUI, the default selection has been changed to "No" in the warning pop-up displayed when partitions are running.  Pressing enter on the keyboard will no longer trigger the managed system power off.

List of fixes

General fixes

• Fixed the reporting of SRC E3D46FFF when discovered call home servers are used to submit requests for other HMCs.  Error symptoms include "Insufficient authority for the credentials Entity I"' and "No matching handler found for request".
  
• Fixed an issue with the "Change Network Settings" panel hanging indefinitely when accessed locally on the HMC.
  
• Fixed a problem where the user was unable to select virtual ethernet and SR-IOV logical port adapters as the console device on an IBM i partition.
  
• Fixed an issue where the user is unable to add a new virtual network on a second vswitch to a partition that already has a virtual network with same pvid on a different vswitch because the new network is disabled and can’t be selected.    This also fixes the case where the new network has a different vlan and different vswitch then the existing network, the user can select it but the attach operation fails with "Selected network(s) does not belong to same virtual switch".
  
• Fixed to prevent SRC E35F0011 from calling home.  When reported it is informational only and no further action is required.
  
• Fix to not ignore new 7063-CR1 console reported serviceable events (FQPSXXXXXXXX) that occur while hardware repair procedures are taking place on a managed system.
  
• Fix to prevent SRC E302F831 from calling home. When reported it is informational only and no further action is required.
  
• Fix to prevent the "hdwr_svr" internal process from faulting and restarting. Symptoms may include SRCs E23D040A, E2FF4500, E2FF4600, and E2FF4406 being reported and calling home as well as all managed systems going into No Connection state periodically then recovering
  
• Fix for enabling or disabling ipv6 autoconfiguration for an interface from the HMC GUI.
  
• Fix for an intermittent HMC startup failure. Symptoms include no local console access with no login page and browser showing "Unable to connect", no remote web browser access stuck with "console initializing" and no CLI access with "Connection refused" due to command server failure.
  
• Fix an HMC crash due to a PCI NMI flagging the storage controller PCI slot. This impacted the 7042-CR9 when the mega raid driver c-state is enabled.
  
• Fix to avoid a sequencing issue where a network restart happened during startup of the HMC after reboot.  Symptoms can include receiving message "HSCL1400 an error has occurred" during tasks or operations and lock contention on lpar activations.
  
• Fixed an issue with file permissions that can cause call home to fail and/or prevent call home configuration changes from being saved. The problem occurs on HMCs that were upgraded from V8R8.6.0 or earlier at some point in time.
  
• Fixed an issue to prevent call home SRC E3550423 when some EED files failed transmission.
  
• Fixed an issue where some Serviceable Events would not be closed automatically after they were resolved and closed on the IBM side.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Serviceable Event's EED would not be sent to IBM during call home
  
• Fixed an issue with HMC backup and update GUI function when the SFTP password contains special characters.
  
• Fix to prevent a deadlock in HMCSession.destroy resulting in call home SRCs E35A0034 and E35A0035.
  
• Fixed errors while restoring HMC critical console data resulting in message "A critical error occurred during the recovery of the archive data".
  
• Fixed a welcome text issue in the preloginmonitor page from displaying as raw html.
  
• Fixed an issue where running multiple simplified remote restart validations and restarts on partitions containing vnics or migratable logical SR-IOV ports incorrectly fails with HSCLAF34 due to an incorrect port limit calculation.    Workaround was to perform a rebuild on the target managed system and try the operation again.
  
• Fix when repairing an AOC cable in a P7 or P8 system failing with errors "Exception while running display method" and "Cable incompatible with .."
  
• Removed inaccurate header reference of "OS and VIOS images" to now only display "VIOS Images" under the path Templates and OS Images.
  
• Fixed an issue causing call home SRC E23D040A and continuous dump/restart of the HMC’s "hdwr_svr" internal process when sl0 was configured with an incorrect network mask and is down on the HMC. Symptoms include losing connections to managed systems cycling with "No Connection".
  
• Fix for the tasks log showing tasks still in Running state after an HMC reboot.
  
• Fixed an issue where a virtual network is renamed, then a new virtual network is created with the original network name causes  the managed system  to go into an Incomplete state.
  
• Fix to prevent the recreate profile data operation (mkprofdata) from hanging.
  
• Update lslic to prevent resetting I/O device survey while an update task is running against the same target resulting in HSCF0010.
  
• Fixed an issue with system plan failing with error "Exception Occurred" in setPartitionProfiles when the partitons last activated profile is not the default profile.
  
• Fixed lsprimhmc to display the public resolveable ipaddress.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused legacy GUI tasks to show as "Running" in the tasks log, even after they completed, and prevented legacy tasks after that from being recorded in tasks log at all.
  
• Fixed an issue where user was allowed to start a second simplified remote restart for the same partition while the first instance was still running causing the original restart to fail with HSCLB905.  The fix forces the user to end the original instance or wait for the original to complete before attempting another restart on the same partition.
  
• Fix   to remove stale vfc client adapters a from the client partition when an errors occurs during the creation of new adapters using the enhanced UI.
  
• Fix for chaccfg where the user was unable to remove a deleted lpar from a resourcerole using the CLI resulting in error "An invalid parameter was entered."
  
• Fix to prevent repeated reports of SRC E212E134 when gathering and transmitting scheduled service information for a large number of lpars. Temporary ESA data will now be written to /data/adm/esa.
  
• Fixed an issue where the HMC allowed the user to try to add new virtual fibre channel adapters to a fibre channel port that was not npiv capable causing the operation to fail.  With the fix, the HMC will not allow the user to select backing devices which are not npiv capable.
  
• Fix for outbound connectivity proxy information not populating when locale set to non-English.  Symptoms include failure to send in periodic service transmissions (vpd, heartbeat, etc).
  
• Fix to restrict legacy Remote Restart vfc validation to only when the partition is inactive.  Symptoms include a duplicate WWPN active on the SAN and potential loss of disk.
  
• Fix to prevent Simpified Remote Restart data from being marked stale during FSP failover. Symptoms include inability to perform SRR during initialization and error "HSCLA9CD The remote restart state of the partition is Stale Data."
  
• Fixed an inssue where after PTF install the user is unable to login due to exceptions during sign in attempt.  Symptoms include HTTP Status 404 - /dashboard/ and HTTP Status 500 – java.lang.ClassNotFoundException.
  
• Fix to allow the uncheck of diagnostic mode for Logical Port of an SRIOV adapter.
  
• Fix to prevent a SocketTimeoutException that caused SRC E3550046 to call home.
  
• Fix to log topology tasks (virtual network diagram, virtual storage diagram, etc) to task recorder
  
• Fix to prevent error "HSCL8018 The managed system was not found" when attempting to assign a virtual fibre channel adapter to a partition when the server name contains multiple spaces and hyphen characters.
  
• Fix for missing LPAR level samples and system utilization values in the PCM data when exported.
  
• Fixed the inability to remove a taskrole created via the CLI.  Symptoms include attempts to delete result in rmaccfg or GUI error "HSCL3510 Input error: An invalid role or parent role has been specified."
  
• Fix for updating to M940 resulting in missing install files.  Symptoms include managed systems displaying Incomplete state when 940 firmware is installed because the HMC is not really at M940.
  
• Fixed an issue where a server may go to incomplete state if the managed system connection goes to no connection during HMC startup or a rebuild operation. 
  
• Fix for intermittent software inventory collection failures during the delta collection.
  
• Fix for a GUI discrepancy when changing the boot mode of a profile for a running partition and lssyscfg output.
  
• Fix to prevent call home SRC E212E136 after updating to M940 when pmc rpms leave 14K+ files in the root filesystem after uninstall.
  
• Fix for too many sockets opened on port 443 to prevent call home SRC E212E161.
  
• Fix for discrepancy where PCM shows enabled in UI, but not enabled in CLI.

VRMF (Version, Release, Maintenance, Fix Level) format for the V9

The differences in the VRMF with Version 8 & prior vs Version 9 & later is depicted in the following table:

	V8 & prior	V9 & higher	Further explanation
V = Version	8	9	Maps to Power Family
R = Release	810,820…	1,2,3…	In V8, release mapped to the firmware release. In V9, release increments when an upgrade is required.
M = Mod	0,1,2…	910,920…	In V8, mod mapped to a service pack. In V9, mod maps the first 2 digits to the service firmware release. In V9, the third digit maps to the HMC service pack.
F = Fix	Not used	1,2,3…	V9 only.  The fix level increments for each interim fix (a PTF released between service packs).  lshmc -V output will list the PTF number associated with fix.  lshmc -v "*RM" field will list the Fix level.

• The initial release of the V9 HMC is VRM V9.R1.M910.0
  
  • If a PTF with a security fix comes out the following month, the lshmc –V output would show "Version: 9  Release: 1 Service Pack: 910" as well as the iFix PTF number and description.  lshmc -v output would list it as V9R1.910.1.
  • If Service Pack 1 comes out 3 months later, the VRMF will then be V9.R1.M911.0
• Interim fixes (iFixes) are only published for the most recent service pack level.  Once a Service Pack is released, for example 9.1.941.0, you must update 9.1.91x to 9.1.941.0 to obtain future iFixes for V9R1.
• When the release is incremented to 9.2 instead of 9.1, new recovery images or vHMC images will be published & a fresh install/upgrade can be done from previous releases. 
• Maintenance releases will be supported until they are superseded by the next subsequent maintenance level.
  

Web browser requirements

Learn about the requirements your web browser must meet to monitor and control the HMC.

To access HMC through a remote browser in a Windows 7 environment, you must have a minimum/default of 1600x900 screen resolution.

HMC web browser support requires HTML 2.0, JavaScript 1.0, Java™ Virtual Machine (JVM), Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Version 8 U151, and cookie support in browsers that will connect to the HMC. Contact your support personnel to assist you in determining if your browser is configured with a Java Virtual Machine. The web browser must use HTTP 1.1. If you are using a proxy server, HTTP 1.1 must be enabled for the proxy connections. Additionally, pop-ups must be enabled for all HMCs addressed in the browser if running with pop-ups disabled.

The following browsers have been tested:

Google Chrome

This HMC version supports Google Chrome Version 73 (Official Build) (64-bit).

Safari

This HMC version supports Safari 11.1

Mozilla Firefox

This HMC version supports Mozilla Firefox Version 60.5 Extended Support Release (ESR) and Mozilla Firefox Version 60.6 Extended Support Release (ESR). Ensure that the JavaScript options to raise or lower windows and to move or resize existing windows are enabled. To enable these options, click the Content tab in the browser’s Options dialog, click Advanced next to the Enable JavaScript option, and then select the Raise or lower windows option and the Move or resize existing windows options. Use these options to easily switch between HMC tasks.  For more information about the latest Mozilla Firefox ESR levels, see Security Advisories for Firefox ESR.

Safari

This HMC version supports Safari Browser Version 12.0.3

Clearing the Browser Cache

In Microsoft Internet Explorer

1. Open the Browser
2. Select Tools
3. Select Internet Options
4. Under Browser History, select Delete
5. Check "Temporary Internet files and websites files" and "Cookies and website data"
6. Click on Delete

In Mozilla Firefox

1. In the top-right corner of the browser window click the menubutton
    Choose History, and then Clear Recent History.
    In time range to clear, select "Everything"
    In the Details section, select "Cookies" and "Cache"
    Click on "Clear now"
2. In the top-right corner of the browser window click the menu button
    Choose Options > Advanced > Network >
    In "Offline Web Content and User Data" section click on "Clear Now"

In Google Chrome

1. In the top-right corner of the browser window, click the Chrome menu
    Choose History.
    Click the button Clear browsing data. A dialog will appear.
    From the drop-down menu, select "the beginning of time."
    Check the boxes "Cookies, site, and plug-in data" and "Cache"
    Click the button Clear browsing data.
2. Open the following URL with the Chrome browser: chrome://appcache-internals/
    If there is an entry related to the target hmc, click the corresponding “Remove” link

Other web browser considerations

Session cookies need to be enabled in order for ASMI to work when connected to HMC remotely. The ASM proxy code saves session information and uses it.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Click Tools > Options.
2. Click the Cookies Tab.
3. Select Allow sites to set cookies.
   If you want to allow only specific sites, select Exceptions, and add the HMC to allow access.

Installation

Virtual HMC Installation for x86 hypervisors

Installation Images 

Download of the Power Hardware Management Virtual Appliance (vHMC) install images are available at the Entitled Systems Support site (ESS): http://www-304.ibm.com/servers/eserver/ess/OpenServlet.wss .  You must be entitled to Product ID 5765-HMW or 5765-HMV in order to download 5765-HMW from the ESS site.

Upgrade of 5765-HMV to 5765-HMW is supported.

Fixes, mandatory fixes and service packs for the vHMC are common to the Power Hardware management console (HMC) and will be available at IBM Fix Central.

The splash panel information (lshmc -V output) for the vHMC will be the same as for the HMC recovery DVD that is documented in the above description section.

Installation guidance for installing the vHMC into your hypervisor is found in the IBM Knowledge Center. Installation procedures may vary depending on the operating system you use and the hypervisor you use.

A feature of the vHMC is the activation engine which allows you to preconfigure the HMC Console by passing configuration information to the HMC at the first boot of the HMC, when using these images. Please look at the on-line Knowledge Center documentation on using the Activation Engine feature.

Notes for the Virtual Appliance for  x86 hypervisors

• The supported hypervisors for x86 are
  
  • VMWARE ESXi 6.0 or 6.5
  • KVM on Red Hat RHEL7 or higher
  • Xen 4.2 or higher on SLES 12
• There are now two images for the VMWare ESXi Server, one is for ESXi 6.0 and the other for ESXi 6.5. This is due to differences in the encoding of the OVA images. SHA1 for ESXi 6.0 , SHA256 for ESXi 6.5
• The processor on the systems hosting vHMC for x86 must have either Intel VT-x or AMD-V Hardware Virtualization enabled.
  

Installation methods for vHMC on x86 hypervisors
http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/POWER8/p8hai/p8hai_installvhmc.htm

After the upgrade, install the mandatory fix using the instructions at Installation methods for HMC Version 8 fixes

Virtual HMC for PowerVM LPARS

Installation Images 

Download of the Power Hardware Management Virtual Appliance (vHMC) install images are available at the Entitled Systems Support site (ESS): http://www-304.ibm.com/servers/eserver/ess/OpenServlet.wss . You must be entitled to Product ID 5765-HMA or 5765-HMB in order to download 5765-HMB from the ESS site.

Upgrade of 5765-HMA to 5765-HMB is supported.

Fixes, mandatory fixes and service packs for the vHMC are common to the Power Hardware management console (HMC) and are available at IBM Fix Central.

The splash panel information (lshmc -V output) for the vHMC will be the same as for the HMC recovery DVD that is documented in the above description section for the 7063 Machine type.

Installation guidance for installing the vHMC into your hypervisor are found in the Online Knowledge Center. Installation procedures may vary depending on the operating system you use and the hypervisor you use. 

Notes for the Virtual Appliance for PowerVM :

• On Power9 servers, the HMC Virtual Appliance for PowerVM must run in Power8 compatibility mode, for this release.
  
• The HMC Virtual Appliance for PowerVM   does not provide graphics adapter support for adapters assign to the partition. Use a supported web browser to point to the HMC for UI support.
  
• DLPAR operations such as memory and processor moves for HMCs running in an LPAR are not supported.
  
• Inactive partition migration and Simplified Remote Restart operations are supported.
  
• The virtual appliance for PowerVM requires a Power8 or Power9 server that is enabled for little endian support. Minimum System Firmware 860 recommended for Power8 servers.
• vHMC for PowerVM cannot manage the server it is hosted on.

Installation of vHMC for LPARs:
http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/POWER8/p8hai/p8hai_vhmc_pvm.htm

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General Virtual HMC notes

• Virtual HMC Appliance can be deployed in your existing POWER virtualized infrastructure. Virtual HMC Appliance supports install into PowerVM LPARs.
• Call home of serviceable events with a failing MTMS of the HMC itself is disabled.  Those serviceable events should be manually reported to IBM software support.
• To see if you are running on a virtual HMC use the lshmc -v command. If it displays a UVMID field, then you are running in a virtual machine.
  

  Example:
  

  lshmc -v

  "vpd=*FC ????????
  *VC 20.0
  *N2 Thu Sep 14 15:02:44 UTC 2017
  *FC ????????
  *DS Hardware Management Console
  *TM Vc87-f0a
  *SE 7f61457
  *MN IBM
  *PN N/A
  *SZ 8371892224
  *OS Embedded Operating Systems
  *NA 127.0.0.1
  *FC ????????
  *DS Platform Firmware
  *RM V8R8.7.0.0
  *UVMID c87f:0a7f:603a:1457
  "

• When deploying a virtual HMC, if the mac address is not specified, it will be generated by the hypervisor.  Network configuration on the HMC relies on the value of MAC addresses. If you re-deploy a new virtual HMC and want to restore critical console data previously taken on a virtual HMC, ensure sure you are using the same MAC addresses.
• When using Activation Engine to setup NTP configuration, you must specify the NTP version value.
• We recommend upgrading to the new image that uses 500GB by following the steps below:
  
  • From the current HMC version (e.g. HMC V8.860.0), upgrade to HMC V9 R1 M910
  • When the upgrade is complete the HMC is now at a new version but still has a 160GB disk.
  • Perform a Critical Console Data backup, excluding network information and store the backup to a remote location.
  • Deploy the new HMC V9 R1 M910 image which uses a 500GB disk.
  • After the HMC boots up with the 500GB disk, restore the Critical Console data.