Power7 System Firmware

Applies to: 8412-EAD, 9117-MMD and 9179-MHD

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 770 (9117-MMD)  and Power 780 (8412-EAD, 9179-MHD)  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 R7.6.0 (PTF MH01326 or MH01327) with Mandatory fix for HMC V7 R7.6.0 (PTF MH01328).

Although the Minimum HMC Code level for this firmware is listed above,  either of the following HMC Levles and eFixes are suggested for this firmware level. 
Note that the following levels contain important fixes and should be installed prior to updating to this firmware level.

- HMC level V7 R7.6.0 Service Pack 3 (PTF MH01350) or higher.
or
- HMC level V7 R7.7.0 Service Pack 2 (MH01354) or higher.

For information concerning HMC releases and the latest PTFs,  go to the following URL to access Fix Central.

http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/

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

NOTES:
                -You must be logged in as hscroot in order for the firmware installation to complete correctly.
                - Systems Director Management Console (SDMC) does not support this System Firmware level.

2.0 Important Information

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

IPv6 Support and Limitations

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

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

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

Concurrent Firmware Updates

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

Memory Considerations for Firmware Upgrades

Firmware Release Level upgrades and Service Pack updates may consume additional system memory.
Server firmware requires memory to support the logical partitions on the server. The amount of memory required by the server firmware varies according to several factors.
Factors influencing server firmware memory requirements include the following:
Generally, you can estimate the amount of memory required by server firmware to be approximately 8% of the system installed memory. The actual amount required will generally be less than 8%. However, there are some server models that require an absolute minimum amount of memory for server firmware, regardless of the previously mentioned considerations.

Additional information can be found at:
  http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/topic/p7hat/iphatlparmemory.htm

3.0 Firmware Information and Description

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

For systems that are not managed by an HMC, the installation of system firmware is always disruptive.

Note: The concurrent levels of system firmware may, on occasion, contain fixes that are known as Deferred and/or Partition-Deferred. Deferred fixes can be installed concurrently, but will not be activated until the next IPL. Partition-Deferred fixes can be installed concurrently, but will not be activated until a partition reactivate is performed.  Deferred and/or Partition-Deferred fixes, if any, will be identified in the "Firmware Update Descriptions" table of this document. For these types of fixes (Deferred and/or Partition-Deferred) within a service pack, only the fixes in the service pack which cannot be concurrently activated are deferred.

Note: The file names and service pack levels used in the following examples are for clarification only, and are not necessarily levels that have been, or will be released.

System firmware file naming convention:

01AMXXX_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, 01AM720_067_045 and 01AM760_068_034 are different service packs.

An installation is disruptive if:

Example: Currently installed release is AM710, new release is AM720 Example: AM720_120_120 is disruptive, no matter what level of AM720 is currently installed on the system Example: Currently installed service pack is AM720_120_120 and new service pack is AM720_152_130

An installation is concurrent if:

The release level (XXX) is the same, and
The service pack level (YYY) currently installed on the system is the same or higher than the last disruptive service pack level (ZZZ) of the service pack to be installed.

Example: Currently installed service pack is AM720_126_120,  new service pack is AM720_143_120.

Firmware Information and Update Description

 
Filename Size Checksum
01AM760_068_034.rpm 41616867 57880

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 01AM760_068_034.rpm

AM760
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/AM-IOCp-Firmware-Hist.html
AM760_068_034 / FW760.30

06/24/13
Systems 8412-EAD, 9117-MMD and 9179-MHD

Impact: Availability    Severity: SPE

New features and functions
  • Support for the 8412-EAD.

System firmware changes that affect all systems

  • A problem was fixed that caused a service processor dump to be generated with SRC B18187DA "NETC_RECV_ER" logged.
  • A problem was fixed that prevented 1100xxxx SRCs from being sent to the partitions.
  • A problem was fixed that was caused by an attempt to modify a virtual adapter from the management console command line when the command specifies it is an Ethernet adapter, but the virtual ID specified is for an adapter type other than Ethernet.  The managed system has to be rebooted to restore communications with the management console when this problem occurs; SRC B7000602 is also logged.
  • The Hypervisor was enhanced to allow the system to continue to boot using the redundant data chip on the anchor (VPD) card, instead of stopping the Hypervisor boot and logging SRC B7004715,  when the primary data chip on the anchor card has been corrupted.
  • A problem was fixed that caused a migrated partition to have to rebooted on the target system.
  • A problem was fixed that caused a performance loss after a configuration change, such as un-licensing a processor, because the Hypervisor is unable to dispatch a partition to a shared processor.
  • A problem was fixed that may cause inaccurate processor utilization reporting.
  • A problem was fixed that caused erroneous A70047xx SRCs to be logged that called out the Anchor (VPD) card.   This led to unnecessary replacements of the Anchor card.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
  • When switching between turbocore and maxcore mode, a problem was fixed that caused the number of supported partitions to be reduced by 50%.
  • On systems running Active Memory Sharing (AMS) partitions, a problem was fixed that may arise due to the incorrect handling of a return code in an error path during the logical partition migration (LPM) of an AMS partition.
  • On systems running Dynamic Platform Optimization (DPO), a problem was fixed that caused the current DPO score for a partition to be incorrect.  When this occurs, it looks like DPO would not improve performance when in fact it would improve the performance.
Concurrent hot add/repair maintenance firmware fixes
  • On systems in which there are no processors in the shared processor pool, a problem was fixed that caused the Hypervisor to become unresponsive (the service processor starts logging time-out errors against the Hypervisor, and the HMC can no longer talk to the Hypervisor) during a concurrent hot add/repair maintenance operation.  SRC B182953C will also be called home.
AM760_062_034 / FW760.20

02/27/13
Systems 9117-MMD and 9179-MHD
Impact: Availability    Severity: SPE

New Features and Functions

  • Enablement of concurrent hot add/repair maintenance on 9117-MMD and 9179-MHD systems.

System firmware changes that affect all systems

  • A problem was fixed that caused a card (and its children) that was removed after the system was booted to continue to be listed in the guard menus in the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI).
  • A problem was fixed that caused a firmware update to fail with SRC B1818A0F.
  • A problem was fixed that caused a partition to become unresponsive when the AIX command "update_flash -s" is run.
  • A problem was fixed that caused the service processor (or system controller) to crash when it boots from the new level during a concurrent firmware installation.
  • A problem was fixed that can cause fans in the server to run at maximum speed and generate a serviceable event during system boot (B130B8AF, a predictive error with hardware callout) as a result of an incorrect calibration of a particular thermal sensor.
  • A problem was fixed that caused system fans to be erroneously called out as failing with one or more of the following SRC's: 11007610,11007620,11007630,11007640, or 11007650.
  • A problem was fixed that caused SRCs B70069F4 and B130E504 to be erroneously logged when a system was powered down.  This also results in I/O hardware being guarded out, and the hypervisor is not able to "unguard" the I/O hardware at runtime.
  • A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1812A40 to be erroneously logged; a memory DIMM  and the symbolic FRU AMBTEMP were listed in the FRU list.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
  • On systems running iSCSI, a problem was fixed that caused pinging from the iSCSI menu in the System Management Services (SMS) to fail.
  • On a partition with a large number of potentially bootable devices, a problem was fixed that caused the partition to fail to boot with a default catch, and SRC BA210000 may also be logged.
  • On a system running a Live Partition Mobility (LPM) operation, a problem was fixed that caused the partition to successfully appear on the target system, but hang with a 2005 SRC.
  • On a partition with the virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) enabled, a problem was fixed that caused errors to occur when the memory assigned to the partition was changed.
  • On a partition with the virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) enabled, a problem was fixed that caused the partition to stop functioning after certain operations.  When this problem occurs, the client partition may not power off.
  • On a system using the modem/serial port on the service processor, a problem was fixed that caused a service processor dump (with SRC B181EF88 logged) to be erroneously generated when the connection was dropped.
  • On systems that support all types of both memory and processor Capacity on Demand (CoD) operations, and on which CoD operations are frequently performed, the firmware was enhanced to reduce the number of informational SRC B7005300 logged.
  • On systems with redundant service processors, a problem was fixed that caused the sibling service processor state to show up as "unknown" in the service processor error log if a code synchronization problem was detected after a service processor was replaced.
  • On a partition with the virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) enabled, a problem was fixed that caused SRC B200F00F to be logged when the partition was resumed after hibernation.
  • On a partition with the virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) enabled, the Hypervisor was enhanced to display (on the management console) the minimum maximum memory required to support the partition.
  • On systems running AIX or Linux, a problem was fixed that caused a partition to fail to boot with SRC CA260203.  This problem also can cause concurrent firmware updates to fail.
  • On systems with TurboCore processors and unlicensed processors, a problem was fixed that caused the output of the AIX lparstat command for "Active Physical CPUs in system" to be incorrect.
  • On systems running Active Memory Sharing (AMS) partitions, a problem was fixed that caused the system to hang after an AMS partition was deleted or mobilized, combined with either an AMS pool resize or relocation of AMS pool memory.
  • On systems with an I/O tower attached, the a problem was fixed that caused multiple service processor reset/reloads if the tower was flooding the System Power Control Network (SPCN) with bad data. 
AM760_051_034

12/05/12
Systems 9117-MMD and 9179-MHD
Impact: Serviceability    Severity: ATT

System firmware changes that affect all systems

A problem was fixed that can cause fans in the server to run at maximum speed and generate a serviceable event during system boot (B130B8AF, a predictive error with hardware callout) as a result of an incorrect calibration of a particular thermal sensor.
AM760_044_034

11/28/12
Systems 9117-MMD and 9179-MHD
Impact: Availability    Severity: SPE

System firmware changes that affect all systems

  • A problem was fixed that caused an uncorrectable error (SRC B123E504) to be erroneously logged when 64GB DIMMs were installed in a system that already had 16GB or 32GB DIMMs.
  • A problem was fixed that caused the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) to produce a core dump when changing the admin user password.
  • A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1813221, which indicates a failure of the battery on the service processor, to be erroneously logged after a service processor reset or power cycle.
  • A problem was fixed the caused the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to erroneously indicate that a partition was using hardware encryption and memory compression co-processors when those co-processors were not installed in the managed system.
  • A problem was fixed that caused various parts to be erroneously guarded out when an ac power cord was unplugged when the system was powered on.
  • A problem was fixed that caused invalid temperature sensor failures to be reported on memory DIMMs.  SRC B124B8A4 was logged when this problem occurred.
System firmware changes that affect certain systems
  • On system running the Dynamic Platform Optimizer (DPO), a problem was fixed that caused an incomplete status output when using the "lsmemopt" HMC CLI command.  Specifically, the "requested" and "protected" sets of partitions will appear empty in the lsmemopt output, even though the user may have explicitly specified partitions in these sets on the optmem command.
  • On systems running the virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM), a problem was fixed that caused a memory leak when a vTPM-enabled partition was disabled, migrated, or deleted.
  • On systems running IBM i, a problem was fixed that caused the P7+ random number generator to be unavailable.
  • The Power Hypervisor was enhanced to insure better synchronization of vSCSI and NPIV I/O interrupts to partitions.
AM760_034_034

10/24/12
Systems 9117-MMD and 9179-MHD
Impact:  New      Severity:  New

New Features and Functions

  • Support for the 9117-MMD and 9179-MHD systems.
  • On 9117-MMD and 9179-MHD systems, support for attachment of the F/C 5888 I/O drawer.
  • Support for a new processor power-saving deep-sleep mode.
  • Enablement of the encryption accelerator.
  • Enablement of the compression accelerator.
  • Support for Dynamic Platform Optimizer.
  • Support for 0.05 processor granularity.
  • The Hypervisor was enhanced to enforce broadcast storm prevention between the primary and backup SEAs (Shared Ethernet Adapters).  This fix requires VIOS 2.2.2.0 or later on all VIOS partitions with SEA devices.

4.0 How to Determine Currently Installed Firmware Level

For HMC managed systems:  From the HMC, select Updates in the navigation (left-hand) pane, then view the current levels of the desired server(s).

Alternately, use the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) Welcome pane. The current server firmware  appears in the top right corner. Example: AM760_yyy.

5.0 Downloading the Firmware Package

Follow the instructions on Fix Central. You must read and agree to the license agreement to obtain the firmware packages.

Note: If your HMC is not internet-connected you will need to download the new firmware level to a CD-ROM or ftp server.

6.0 Installing the Firmware

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

Example: AMXXX_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 Wizards":
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 AM760_068:
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/AM-IOCp-Firmware-Hist.html

8.0 Change History

Date
 Description
September 13, 2013 - Updated Fix list to indicate Support for MTM 8412-EAD in level AM760_068_034 / FW760.30.