Power7 System Firmware

Applies to: 9119-FHB

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 795 (9119-FHB) Servers only.

The firmware level in this package is:

1.1 Minimum HMC Code Level

This section is intended to describe the "Minimum HMC Code Level" required by the System Firmware to complete the firmware installation process. When installing the System Firmware, the HMC level must be equal to or higher than the "Minimum HMC Code Level" before starting the system firmware update.  If the HMC managing the server targeted for the System Firmware update is running a code level lower than the "Minimum HMC Code Level" the firmware update will not proceed.

The Minimum HMC Code level for this firmware is:  HMC V7 R7.3.0 (PTF MH01255 or MH01256) with PTF MH01257 (Mandatory efix).

Although the Minimum HMC Code level for this firmware is listed above,  HMC level V7 R7.3.0 with PTF MH01313 (Service Pack 4) and PTF MH01320 (Fix for V7R7.3.4), or higher is suggested for this firmware level.

For information concerning HMC releases and the latest PTFs,  go to the following URL to access Fix Central.
http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/

For specific fix level information on key components of IBM Power Systems running the AIX, IBM i and Linux operating systems, we suggest using the Fix Level Recommendation Tool (FLRT):
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/flrt/home

NOTE: You must be logged in as hscroot in order for the firmware installation to complete correctly.

1.2 Minimum SDMC Code Level

This section is intended to describe the "Minimum Systems Director Management Console (SDMC) Code Level" required by the System Firmware to complete the firmware installation process. When installing the System Firmware, the SDMC level must be equal to or higher than the "Minimum SDMC Code Level" before starting the system firmware update.  If the SDMC managing the server targeted for the System Firmware update is running a code level lower than the "Minimum SDMC Code Level" the firmware update will not proceed.

The Minimum SDMC Code level for this firmware is:  SDMC V6 R7.3.0 with Mandatory PTF MF53082.

Although the Minimum SDMC Code level for this firmware is listed above, SDMC level V6.730 SP1 (MF53437), or higher is suggested for this firmware level.

For information concerning SDMC releases and the latest PTFs,  go to the following URL to access Fix Central:
http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/

For specific fix level information on key components of IBM Power Systems running the AIX, IBM i and Linux operating systems, we suggest using the Fix Level Recommendation Tool (FLRT):
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/flrt/home

2.0 Important Information

Before upgrading your system from AH720 to AH730 firmware or higher, contact your authorized service provider and ask about ECA 303, as hardware may have to be upgraded to support this function. 

Support for CEC hot add repair maintenance operations on 9119-FHB (Power 795) systems is delivered in AH730 firmware:  hot node add, hot node upgrade (memory), hot node repair, concurrent GX adapter add, and hot GX adapter repair support.  Contact your authorized service provider and ask about ECA 256, as hardware may have to be upgraded to support this function.  AH730_095 is the minimum recommended level to support this function.

Prior to this service pack, the system firmware was not properly enforcing the system partition processor limit (SPPL) attribute for shared processor partitions.  This service pack fixes that enforcement to ensure that shared processor partitions comply with the limit for virtual processors when the SPPL setting is 24 or 32.

You will be affected by this change if you have the following configuration:
   - 795 class server (model 9119-FHB)
   - The server has 3 or fewer books, or the server has 4 or more books and the SPPL attribute is set to 24 or 32.
   - The server has 24 processor cores per book and you have configured more than 24 virtual processors for a shared processor partition.
   - The server has 32 processor cores per book and you have configured more than 32 virtual processors for a shared processor partition.

After this service pack is installed, the behavior of the shared processor partitions that exceed the SPPL attribute will change as follows:

- Partition activation:
   - Partitions will continue to boot and reboot successfully unless the minimum number of virtual processors is greater than the SPPL.
   - Partitions that are activated will limit the number of active virtual processors to no more than the SPPL limit.

- Partition configuration:
   - Errors that are logged when the SPPL is exceeded can result in HMC errors HSCLA4D6 and HSC0A4D6.
   - Attempts to change the number of virtual processors or entitled processing units via a profile or dynamic LPAR change will be subject to the SPPL setting of 24 or 32. 
      For example, if the SPPL is set to 32 and your shared processor partition is configured with 40 virtual processors,   you must reduce the number of virtual processors to 32 or fewer for the change to be successful.
   - If you create a new shared processor partition, the number of virtual processors must not exceed the SPPL value.

- Partition mobility:
   -  A partition must comply with the SPPL of the target server.

- Partition hibernation (suspend/resume):
   - If you have suspended partitions that have exceeded the SPPL limit and install this service pack, you will not be able to successfully resume those suspended
     partitions.  You should ensure all suspended partitions comply with (have virtual processors fewer than or equal to) the new SPPL limit before installing this service pack.

Downgrading firmware from any given release level to an earlier release level is not recommended.
If you feel that it is necessary to downgrade the firmware on your system to an earlier release level, please contact your next level of support.

IPv6 Support and Limitations

IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) is supported in the System Management Services (SMS) in this level of system firmware. There are several limitations that should be considered.

When configuring a network interface card (NIC) for remote IPL, only the most recently configured protocol (IPv4 or IPv6) is retained. For example, if the network interface card was previously configured with IPv4 information and is now being configured with IPv6 information, the IPv4 configuration information is discarded.

A single network interface card may only be chosen once for the boot device list. In other words, the interface cannot be configured for the IPv6 protocol and for the IPv4 protocol at the same time.

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://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/topic/p7hat/iphatlparmemory.htm

3.0 Firmware Information and Description

Use the following examples as a reference to determine whether your installation will be concurrent or disruptive.

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:

01AHXXX_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, 01AH330_067_045 and 01AH340_067_053 are different service packs.

An installation is disruptive if:

Example: Currently installed release is AH330, new release is AH340 Example: AH330_120_120 is disruptive, no matter what level of AH330 is currently
installed on the system Example: Currently installed service pack is AH330_120_120 and
new service pack is AH330_152_130

An installation is concurrent if:

Example: Currently installed service pack is AH330_126_120,
new service pack is AH330_143_120.
 
Filename Size Checksum
01AH730_095_035.rpm 50657228
 39390
   
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 01AH730_095_035.rpm
AH730
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/AH-Firmware-Hist.html
AH730_095_035

08/23/12		 Impact:  Availability      Severity:  SPE

New Features and Functions

  • Support for booting the IBM i operating system from a USB tape drive.

System firmware changes that affect all systems

  • A problem was fixed that caused a partition with dedicated processors to hang with SRC  BA33xxxx when rebooted, after it was migrated using a Live Partition Mobility (LPM) operation from a system running Ax730 to a system running Ax740, or vice versa.
  • The firmware was enhanced to call out the correct field replaceable units (FRUs) when SRC B124E504 with description "Chnl init TO due to SN stuck in recovery" was logged.
  • A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1818A10 to be erroneously logged after a system firmware installation.
  • A problem was fixed that caused booting from a virtual fibre channel tape device to fail with SRC B2008105.
  • The firmware was enhanced to log SRCs BA180030 and BA180031 as informational instead of predictive.
  • A problem was fixed that caused a "code accept" during a concurrent firmware installation from the HMC to fail with SRC E302F85C.  This is most likely to occur on model FHB systems.
  • On systems running the AIX operating system, a problem was fixed that caused the hypervisor to crash with SRC B7000103, after an HEA (Host Ethernet Adapter) error was logged, when there is a lot of AIX activity on the HEAs.
  • A problem was fixed that caused the suspension of a partition to fail if a large amount of data has to be stored to resume the partition.
  • A problem was fixed that caused a system crash with unrecoverable SRC B7000103 with "ErFlightRecorder" in the failing stack..
  • On systems booting from an NPIV (N-port ID virtualization) device, a problem was fixed that caused the boot to intermittently terminate with the message "PReP-BOOT: unable to load full PReP image.".  This problem occurs more frequently on the IBM V7000 Storage System running the SAN Volume Controller (SVC), but not on every boot.
  • A problem was fixed that caused SRC B181E6F1 with the description "RMGR_PERSISTENT_EVENT_TIMEOUT" to be erroneously logged.
  • A problem was fixed that caused a memory leak in the service processor firmware.
  • A problem was fixed that caused SRC B155A491 to be erroneously logged during multiple system IPLs.  This SRC may cause the system to terminate.
  • A problem was fixed that caused the lsstat command on the HMC to display an erroneously high number of packets transmitted and received on a vlan interface.
  • The firmware was enhanced to improve the service actions when a processor error with the signature "MCFIR[14] - Hang timer detector" was logged.
  • A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash after a recoverable error was logged on an I/O hub.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
  • The firmware was enhanced to fix a potential performance degradation on systems utilizing the stride-N stream prefetch instructions dcbt (with TH=1011) or dcbtst (with TH=1011).  Typical applications executing these algorithms include High Performance Computing, data intensive applications exploiting streaming instruction prefetchs, and applications utilizing the Engineering and Scientific Subroutine Library (ESSL) 5.1.
  • On systems on which Internet Explorer (IE) is used to access the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) on the Hardware Management Console (HMC), a problem was fixed that caused IE to hang for about 10 minutes after saving changes to network parameters on the ASMI.
  • A problem was fixed that caused informational SRC A70047FF, which may indicate that the Anchor (VPD) card should be replaced, to be erroneously logged again after the Anchor card was replaced.
  • A problem was fixed that caused a network installation of IBM i to fail when the client was on the same subnet as the server.
  • On systems with a 5796 or 5797 I/O drawer attached, a problem was fixed that could cause a system hang.
  • On 9119-FHB systems with F/C 5803 or 5873 I/O drawers attached via InfiniBand, and that are running IBM i partitions, a problem was fixed that prevented slots on the same PCI bus from being assigned to other partitions.  This can result in SRC B600690B being logged.
Concurrent hot add/repair maintenance firmware fixes
  • A problem was fixed the prevented the DASD roll-up fault LED from working properly after a node add or node remove operation.
  • A problem was fixed that caused a hot node repair operation to fail with PhypRc=0x0300, indicating the deactivate system resource operation failed.
  • During a CHARM replacement of a memory card on a system running with mirrored memory, a problem was fixed that caused the operation to fail with "PhypRc = 0x0326".
  • A problem was fixed that caused a node evacuation to fail with "PhypRc=0x0300".
AH730_087_035

05/18/12

 Impact:  Availability      Severity:  SPE 

New Features and Functions 

  • Support for IBM i Live Partition Mobility (LPM)
System firmware changes that affect all systems
  • A problem was fixed that prevented the user from changing the boot mode or keylock setting after a remote restart-capable partition is created, even after the partition's paging device is on-line.
AH730_078_035

03/14/12

 Impact:  Availability      Severity:  HIPER - High Impact/PERvasive, Should be installed as soon as possible.

System firmware changes that affect all systems

  • The firmware was enhanced to properly display a memory controller that has been guarded out manually on the "Deconfiguration Records" menu option (under "System Service Aids") on the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI).
  • A problem was fixed that caused multiple service processor dumps to be unnecessarily taken during a concurrent firmware update.  SRC B181EF9A, which indicates that the dump space on the service processor is full, was logged as a result.
  • The firmware was enhanced to increase the threshold for recoverable SRC B113E504 so that the processor core reporting the SRC is not guarded out.  This prevents unnecessary performance loss and the unnecessary replacement of processor modules.
  • A problem was fixed that caused SRC B7000602 to be erroneously logged at power on.
  • The firmware was enhanced to recognize new USB-attached devices so that they will be listed as boot devices in the System Management Services (SMS) menus.
  • A problem was fixed that caused booting or installing a partition or system from a USB device to fail with error code BA210012.  This usually occurs when an operating system (OS) other than the OS that is already on the partition or system is booted or installed.
  • On the System Management Services (SMS) remote IPL (RIPL) menus, a problem was fixed that caused the SMS menu to continue to show that an Ethernet device is configured for iSCSI, even though the user has changed it to BOOTP.
  • The firmware was enhanced to log SRCs BA180030 and BA180031 as informational instead of predictive.
  • The firmware was enhanced to increase the threshold of soft NVRAM errors on the service processor to 32 before SRC B15xF109 is logged.  (Replacement of the service processor is recommended if more than one B15xF109 is logged per week.)
  • A problem was fixed that caused a system to crash when the system was in low power (or safe) mode, and the system attempted to switch over to nominal mode.
  • The firmware was enhanced to correctly log an error when the bulk power controllers' firmware levels don't match.
  • A problem was fixed that caused SRC B7006990 to be incorrectly logged, instead of SRC B7006991, when the hypervisor is unable to communicate with the secondary system controller at system boot.
  • A problem was fixed that caused corruption of the bus between the  thermal/power management device (TPMD) and the processors.  SRCs B1812A11 ("TPMD to processor communication failure"), B113E504 ("core thermal unit PCB error"), B114E504  ("nest  thermal unit PCB error"), and B121E504 ("memory controller thermal unit PCB error") were logged, and the processors to be guarded out, when this problem occurred.
  • A problem was fixed that caused a partition to hang at progress code C200xxxx when booting.
  • A problem was fixed that caused the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) to continue to show that processors were deconfigured after they had been replaced.
  • Two problems were fixed with the firmware that controls the lightstrip LED:
    - A problem that prevented the P10 and P11 LEDs from coming on when power was applied to the lightstrip
    - A problem that caused a node power LED (P2, P3, P4...P9) to come on even though a node was not installed.
  • The firmware was enhanced to more gracefully handle the system shutdown that is required when a hypervisor hang condition was encountered.  SRCs B7000602, B182951C, B1813918 and A7001151 were logged, and a service processor failover occurred, when the hypervisor hang condition and subsequent system crash occurred.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
  • HIPER/Non-Pervasive: On systems running the Advanced Energy Manager, a problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC B114E504.
  • A problem was fixed that caused the hypervisor to hang during a concurrent operation on a F/C 5802, 5803, 5873 or 5877 I/O drawer.  Recovering from the hypervisor hang required a platform reboot.
  • A problem was fixed that impacted performance if profiling was enabled in one or more partitions.  Performance profiling is enabled:
    - In an AIX or VIOS partition using the tprof (-a, -b, -B, -E option) command or pmctl (-a, -E option) command.
    - In an IBM i partition when the PEX *TRACE profile (TPROF) collections or PEX *PROFILE collections are active.
    - In a Linux partition using the perf command, which is available in RHEL6 and SLES11; profiling with oprofile does not cause the problem.
  • On a system that is being upgraded from Ax720 system firmware to Ax730 system firmware, the firmware was enhanced to log B1818A0F as informational instead of predictive if it occurs during the firmware upgrade.
  • On systems running Active Memory Sharing (AMS), the allocation of the memory was enhanced to improve performance.
  • A problem was fixed that caused the suspension of a logical partition running Active Memory Sharing (AMS) to fail because the disk headers had not been erased.
  • On systems with an iSCSI network, when booting a logical partition using that iSCSI network, a problem was fixed that caused the iSCSI gateway parameter displayed on the screen to be incorrect.  It did not impact iSCSI boot functionality.
  • On systems using affinity groups, a problem was fixed that prevented one of the partitions from being placed correctly.
Concurrent hot add/repair maintenance firmware fixes
  • A problem was fixed that caused a checkstop to occur during a node repair operation.
  • A problem was  fixed that caused the system to hang during a CHARM operation.
  • A problem was fixed that caused unrecoverable SRCs B1813918 and B182953C during a CHARM operation.
  • A problem was fixed that caused the replacement of a processor module during a CHARM operation to fail because the CCIN of the replacement module was different from the CCIN of the module being replaced, even though they were functionally equivalent.
  • A problem was fixed that caused multiple types of failures (CHARM node operations and Advanced Energy Manager (AEM) state changes, among others), after a CHARM hot node operation on the first node was followed by a concurrent firmware installation.
AH730_066_035

12/08/11

 Impact: Availability           Severity:  HIPER - High Impact/PERvasive, Should be installed as soon as possible. 

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

  • HIPER/Pervasive on systems with a Virtual Input/Output (VIO) client running AIX, and with a F/C 5803 or 5873 I/O drawer attached:  A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC B700F103.
AH730_065_035

11/22/11

 Impact: Availability           Severity:  HIPER - High Impact/PERvasive, Should be installed as soon as possible. 

System firmware changes that affect all systems 

  • HIPER/Pervasive:  On systems running firmware level AH730_051, or AH730_058, a problem was fixed that caused the target server to hang, or go to the incomplete state on the management console, after a Live Partition Mobility (LPM) operation.  This problem can also occur when a partition hibernation operation is done.

4.0 How to Determine 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: AH730_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 or SDMC is not internet-connected you will need to download the new firmware level to a CD-ROM or ftp server.

6.0 Installing the Firmware

The method used to install new firmware will depend on the release level of firmware which is currently installed on your server. The release level can be determined by the prefix of the new firmware's filename.

Example: AHXXX_YYY_ZZZ

Where XXX = release level

Instructions for installing firmware updates and upgrades can be found at http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/index.jsp?topic=/p7ha1/updupdates.htm

IBM i Systems:
See "IBM Server Firmware and HMC Code Wizard":
http://www-912.ibm.com/s_dir/slkbase.NSF/DocNumber/408316083

NOTE: For all systems running with the IBM i Operating System, the following IBM i PTFs must be applied to all IBM i partitions prior to installing AH730_095:
These PTFs can be ordered through Fix Central.

7.0 Firmware History

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