Power8 System Firmware

New features and functions

• Support for a HVDC (180-400 VDC) 1400W power supply in a one plus one or two plus two configuration to support redundancy.  Supported in rack models only with F/C EB2N for the S822 (8284-22A), S814(8286-41A), S824(8286-42A), and E850(8404-E8E) models.  And F/C EL1D for the S812L(8247-21L), S822L(8247-22L), and S824L(8247-42L) models.
• The firmware code update process was enhanced with a feature to block a firmware "downgrade" to a level that is below the system's manufactured code level.
  

System firmware changes that affect all systems

• HIPER/Pervasive:DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed for a TCP/IP performance degradation on PCIe ethernet adapters with Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) over Converged Ethernet (RoCE).  By adjusting the system memory caching, a significant improvement was made to the data throughput speed to restore performance to expected levels.  This fix requires a system re-IPL to take effect.  This problem affects the E850 (8408-E8E), E870 (9119-MME), and E880 (9119-MHE) systems.
• HIPER/Pervasive:  A problem was fixed for an ethernet adapter hanging on the service processor.  This hang prevents TCP/IP network traffic from the managment console and the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) browsers.  It makes it appear as if the service processor is unresponsive and can be confused with a service processor in the stopped state..  An A/C power cycle would recover a hung ethernet adapter.
• HIPER/Pervasive:  A problem was fixed for missing the interrupts for processor local bus (PLB) time-outs..  This problem could hang the service processor or cause it to panic with a reset/reload of the service processor.  There is a possibility the reset of the service processor could take it to a stopped state where the service processor would be unresponsive.  In the service processor stopped state, any active partitions will continue to run but they will not be able to be managed by the management console.  The partitions can be allowed to run until the next scheduled service window at which time the service processor can be recovered with an AC power cycle or a pin-hole reset from the operator panel.
• HIPER/Pervasive:  A problem was fixed for a system reset to clear the boot registers to prevent the reset from being mishandled as chip reset.   If a "system reset" is misinterpreted as a "chip reset", the boot of the service processor can go inadvertently to a stopped state and be unresponsive.  Pin-hole resets from the operations panel could also fail to the service processor stopped state.  In the service processor stopped state, any active partitions will continue to run but they will not be able to be managed by the management console.  The partitions can be allowed to run until the next scheduled service window at which time the service processor can be recovered with an AC power cycle or a pin-hole reset from the operator panel.
• HIPER/Pervasive:  A problem was fixed so a corrupted file system partition table can be recovered and not have the service processor lose the ability to do P and T-side switches.  In error recovery situations, the loss of the side-switch option could present itself as an unresponsive service processor if it was needed to prevent a failure to the service processor stopped state.
• HIPER/Pervasive:  A problem was fixed for a runaway interrupt request (IRQ) condition that caused the service processor to go to a stopped state.  In the service processor stopped state, any active partitions will continue to run but they will not be able to be managed by the management console.  The partitions can be allowed to run until the next scheduled service window at which time the service processor can be recovered with an AC power cycle or a pin-hole reset from the operator panel.
• HIPER/Pervasive:  A problem was fixed for a dump partition full condition that caused the service processor to go to a stopped state.  In the service processor stopped state, any active partitions will continue to run but they will not be able to be managed by the management console.  The partitions can be allowed to run until the next scheduled service window at which time the service processor can be recovered with an AC power cycle or a pin-hole reset from the operator panel.
• DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed for a PCIe3 I/O expansion drawer (#EMX0) link failure with SRC B7006A8B .  Data packet send retries were increased and link recovery was enabled to improve the stability of the links.  The CEC must be re-IPLed for the fix to activate.
• A problem was fixed for a SRC 11002613 logged during a concurrent repair of a power supply.  This SRC was erroneously logged and did not represent a real problem.
• A problem was fixed for an intermittent SRC B1504804 logged on a re-ipl of the CEC but that did not result in an IPL failure.
• A problem was fixed for the capture of the registers for the Hostboot Self-Boot Engine (SBE) for SBE failures.  These registers had been missing from failure data for SBE failures, making these problems more difficult to debug.
• A problem was fixed to remove an unnecessary delay in the system IPL to reduce the time needed to IPL by 30 seconds.
• A problem was fixed for an unneeded error log with SRC B181DB04 that occurred in a failed IPL for a normal condition of lost PNOR flash access after a reIPL process had started and taken over the access.
• A problem was fixed for an Advanced System Manager Interface (ASMI) error message of "Error in function 'connect", error code 111" when a browser attempted to connect before the service processor was ready.  The browser connection through the web server is now held off until the ASMI process is ready after a reset of the service processor or a AC power cycle of the system.
• A problem was fixed for an incorrect call home for SRC B1818A0F.  There was no real problem so this call home should have been ignored.
• A problem was fixed for a dump reIPL that failed with SRC B1818601 and B181460B after processor checkstops had terminated the system.
• A problem was fixed for an infrequent service processor database corruption during concurrent firmware update that caused the system to terminate.
  
• A problem was fixed for a failed PCI oscillator that was not guarded, causing repeated errors with SRC B15050A6 and B158E504 logged on each IPL of the system.
• A problem was fixed for a two rotor fan failure to provide adequate cooling to the system by adjusting the remaining fans to maximum speed.
• A problem was fixed to correct the SRC calllouts for the fans.   Symbolics PWRSPLY and AIRMOVR were added for missing fans for the power supply and for the system, respectively.
• A problem was fixed for a service processor dump with error logs  B181E911 and B181D172 during an IPL.  The error logs were for the detection of defunct processes but otherwise the IPL was successful.
• A problem was fixed for Digital Power Subsystem Sweep (DPSS) firmware updates that caused an error log with SRC B1819906 but otherwise was successful.
  
• A problem was fixed for missing Keyword (KW) and Resource ID (RID) for SRC B181A40F.
• A problem was fixed for a I2C bus lock error during a CEC power off that caused a ten minute delay for the power off and  errorlog SRCs  B1561314 and B1814803 with error number (errno) 3E.
• A problem was fixed for concurrent firmware updates to a system that needed to be re-IPLed after getting a B113E504 SRC during activation of the new firmware level on the hypervisor.  The code update activate failed if the Sleep Winkle (SLW) images were significantly different between the firmware levels.  The SLW contains the state of the processor and cache so it can be restored after sleep or power saving operations.
• A problem was fixed for System Power Control Network (SPCN) failover for a I/O module A/C power fault on the PCIe3  I/O expansion drawer (#EMX0).  A sideband failure on one I/O module was blocking SPCN commands for the entire drawer instead of SPCN failing over to a working I/O module.  The broken SPCN communications path prevented  concurrent maintenance operations on the expansion drawer.
• A problem was fixed for a possible lack of recovery for an A/C power loss condition on the PCIe3  I/O expansion drawer (#EMX0).   If there was an outstanding problem on the expansion drawer and an A/C loss occurred while the earlier error was still unprocessed, the auto-recovery for the A/C power loss would not have happened.
• A problem was fixed for a missing FRU call out for error SRC B7006A87  when unable to read the drawer module logical flash VPD for the PCIe3 I/O expansion drawer (#EMX0).
  
• For a partition that has been migrated with Live Partition Mobility (LPM) from FW730 to FW740 or later, a problem was fixed for a Main Storage Dump (MSD) IPL failing with SRC B2006008.  The MSD IPL can happen after a system failure and is used to collect failure data.  If the partition is rebooted anytime after the migration, the problem cannot happen.  The potential for the problem existed between the active migration and a partition reboot.
• A problem was fixed for partial loss of Entitlement for On/Off Memory Capacity On Demand (also called Elastic COD).  Users with large amounts of Entitlement on the system of greater than "65535 GB * Days" could have had a truncation of the Entitlement value on a re-IPL of the system.  To recover lost Entitlement, the customer can request another On/Off Enablement Code from IBM support to "re-fill" their entitlement.
• A problem was fixed for a management console command line failure with a return code 0x40000147 (invalid lock state) when trying to delete SR-IOV shared mode configurations.  This could have occurred if the adapter slot had been re-purposed without involvement of the management console and was owned and operational at the time of the requested delete.  With the fix, the current ownership of the slot is honored and only the SR-IOV shared mode configuration data is deleted on the force delete.
•  A problem was fixed for an  incorrect restriction on the amount of "Unreturned"  resources allowed for a Power Enterprise Pool (PEP).  PEP allows for logical moving of resources (processors and memory) from one server to another.  Part of this is 'borrowing' resources from one server to move to another. This may result in "Unreturned" resources on the source server. The management console controls how many total "Unreturned" PEP resources can exist.  For this problem,  the user had some "Unreturned" PEP memory and asked to borrow more but this request was incorrectly refused by the hypervisor.
• A problem was fixed for a PCIe3 I/O expansion drawer (#EMX0) error with SRCs  B7006A82 and B7004137 for a missing FRU location code.  The FRU location code for the Active Optical Cable (AOC)  was added to identify the failing drawer side.
• A problem was fixed for a PCIe3 I/O expansion drawer (#EMX0)  failing to IPL when the IPL includes a FPGA update for the drawer.  The FPGA update is actually good but perceived as a failure when the FPGA resets as part of the update.  For the problem, a re-IPL of the system would have fixed the drawer.
  
• A problem was fixed for Live Partition Mobility (LPM) to prevent a memory access error during LPM operations with unpredictable affects.  When data is moved by LPM, the underlying firmware code requires that the buffers be 4K aligned.  The fixes made now force the buffers to be 4K aligned and if there is still an alignment issue, the LPM operation will fail without impacting the system.
• A problem was fixed for an On-Chip Controller (OCC) failure after a system dump with SRCs B18B2616 and BC822024 reported.  This resulted in the system running with reduced performance in safe mode, where processor clock frequencies are lowered to minimum levels to avoid hardware errors since the OCC is not available to monitor the system.   A re-IPL of the system would have resolved the problem.
• A  performance problem was fixed for systems entering processor hang recovery prematurely with SRC B111E504 and PBCENTFIR(9) "PB_CENT_HANG_RECOV".  The ability of the L3 cache to prefetch memory was extended to speed the memory accesses and prevent a processor hang condition for applications running with lower memory affinity.
• A problem was fixed for a processor error causing a Hostboot terminate instead of a deconfiguration of the bad hardware and continuation of the IPL.  The state of the processors was synchronized between the service processor and the Hostboot process to correct the error.
• A problem was fixed for a USB Save and Restore of machine configuration to not lose the system name.
• A problem was fixed for Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) help text for menu "I/O Adapter Enlarged Capacity" being missing with the system IPLed and partitions running.  The help text is now available for the system in the powered on state as well as in the powered off state.
• A problem was fixed for an intermittent predictive error log B1504805 during an IPL of the S814 (8286-41A) and S812L (8247-21L) systems.  An adjustment was being incorrectly attempted to a Voltage Regulator Module (VRM) that did not exist on the single-socket systems.
• A problem was fixed for an intermittent power supply error SRC 1100D008 with a flood of VPD SRC B1504804 with errno 3Es logged on a re-ipl of the CEC but that did not result in an IPL failure.
• A problem was fixed for a LED intermittently not lighting for an enclosure with a fault.
• A problem was fixed for an intermittent PSI link error with SRC B15CDA27 after a firmware update or reset/reload of the service processor.
• A problem was fixed for PCIe3 adapters failing when requesting more than 32 Message Signaled Interrupts (MSI-X).  The adapter may fail to ping or cause OS tasks to hang that are using the adapter.  This problem was found specifically on the 10 Gb Ethernet-SR (Short Range) PCIe3 adapter with feature codes #5275 and #5769 and on the 56 Gb Infiniband (IB) Fourteen Data Rate (FDR) adapter with feature codes #EC32, #EC33, #EL3D, and #EL50 and CCIN 2CE7.  However, other PCIe adapters may also be affected.
• A problem was fixed for IBM copyright statements being displayed on the System Management Services (SMS) menu after a repair or replacement of system hardware.
  

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

• HIPER/Pervasive:  For partitions with a graphics console and USB keyboard, a problem was fixed for a OS boot hang at the CA00E100 progress SRC.  For the problem, the hang can be avoided by issuing the boot command from the Open Firmware (OF) prompt.
• HIPER/Pervasive:  On systems using PowerVM with shared processor partitions that are configured as capped or in a shared processor pool, there was a problem found that delayed the dispatching of the virtual processors which caused performance to be degraded in some situations.  Partitions with dedicated processors are not affected.   The problem is rare and can be mitigated, until the service pack is applied, by creating a new shared processor AIX or Linux partition and booting it to the SMS prompt; there is no need to install an operating system on this partition.  Refer to help document http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1020863 for additional details.
• DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed for Non-Volatile Memory express (NVMe) adapters, plugged into PCIe3 switches, mis-training to generation 1 instead of generation 3.   NVMe adapters attached directly to the PCIe3 slots trained correctly to the generation 3 specification. This fix requires a re-IPL of the system to correct the training of any mis-trained adapters.
• On a system with an IBM i partition using Active Memory Sharing (AMS),  a problem was fixed for internal memory management errors caused by deleting a IBM i partition that had been powered off in the middle of a Main Storage Dump (MSD).  Until the fix is installed, if a MSD is interrupted for a IBM i partition that has AMS, the partition should be powered on and powered off normally before a delete of the partition is done to prevent errors with unpredictable affects.  This problem does not affect the S822 (8284-22A), S812L(8247-21L), S822L (8247-22L), S824L(8247-42L), and E850 (8408-E8E) models.

New features and functions for MTM 8408-E8E:

• POWER8 (and later) servers include an “update access key” that is checked when system firmware updates are applied to the system.  The initial update access keys include an expiration date which is tied to the product warranty. System firmware updates will not be processed if the calendar date has passed the update access key’s expiration date, until the key is replaced.  As these update access keys expire, they need to be replaced using either the Hardware Management Console (HMC) or the Advanced Management Interface (ASMI) on the service processor.  Update access keys can be obtained via the key management website: http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/ess/index.wss.
  

• This system supports only the PowerVM hypervisor.
• Support for Little Endian (LE) Linux in PowerVM.  With PowerVM LE guest support, all three Linux on Power distribution partners (SUSE, Canonical, and Red Hat) with LE operating systems can run on the same IBM Power Systems.
• Support for allowing the PowerVM hypervisor to continue to run after the service processor has become unresponsive with a SRC B1817212.  Any active partitions will continue to run but they will not be able to be managed by the management console.  The partitions can be allowed to run until the next scheduled service window at which time the service processor can be recovered with an AC power cycle or a pin-hole reset from the operator panel.
  

New Features and Functions for MTMs 8247-21L, 8247-22L, 8247-42L, 8284-22A, 8286-41A, 8286-42A:

NOTE:

• POWER8 (and later) servers include an “update access key” that is checked when system firmware updates are applied to the system.  The initial update access keys include an expiration date which is tied to the product warranty. System firmware updates will not be processed if the calendar date has passed the update access key’s expiration date, until the key is replaced.  As these update access keys expire, they need to be replaced using either the Hardware Management Console (HMC) or the Advanced Management Interface (ASMI) on the service processor.  Update access keys can be obtained via the key management website: http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/ess/index.wss.
• The 830 release stream only supports the PowerVM hypervisor.  OPAL firmware and PowerKVM support will be provided in a later release for MTMs 8247-21L, 8247-22L, and 8247-42L.
• Support for Little Endian (LE) Linux in PowerVM.  With PowerVM LE guest support, all three Linux on Power distribution partners (SUSE, Canonical, and Red Hat) with LE operating systems can run on the same IBM Power Systems.
• Support for allowing the PowerVM hypervisor to continue to run after the service processor has become unresponsive with a SRC B1817212.  Any active partitions will continue to run but they will not be able to be managed by the management console.  The partitions can be allowed to run until the next scheduled service window at which time the service processor can be recovered with an AC power cycle or a pin-hole reset from the operator panel.  This error condition would only be seen on a system that had been running with a single service processor (no redundancy for the service processor).
  
• Support for a PCIe 3 I/O expansion drawer (#EMX0).  This 19-inch 4U (4 EIA) enclosure provides PCIe Gen3 slots outside of the system unit. It has two module bays. One 6-Slot Fanout Module (#EMXF) is placed in each module bay. Two 6-slot modules provide a total of 12 PCIe Gen3 slots. Each fanout module is connected to a PCIe3 Optical Cable Adapter located in the system unit over an active optical cable (AOC) pair.
• Support for a  PCIe3 x16 optical cable adapter with F/C #EJ08 and CCIN 2CE2 for a PCIe3 expansion drawer (#EMX0).  This adapter provides two optical CXP ports for the attachment of two active optical cables (AOC).   One adapter supports the attachment of one PCIe3 module in a PCIe Gen3 I/O Expansion Drawer.   This cable adapter is supported in the following IBM Power Systems:  S814 (8286-41A), S824 (8286-42A) and S824L (8247-42L).
• Support for a PCIe3 x16 optical cable adapter with F/C #EJ05 and CCIN 2B1C for a PCIe3 expansion drawer(#EMX0).  This adapter provides two optical CXP ports for the attachment of two active optical cables (AOC).   One adapter supports the attachment of one PCIe3 module in a PCIe Gen3 I/O Expansion Drawer.    This cable adapter is supported in the following IBM Power Systems: S822 (8284-22A), S812L (8247-21L),  and S822L (8247-22L).
• Support for Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) that enables the hypervisor to share a SR-IOV-capable PCI-Express adapter across multiple partitions. Twelve ethernet adapters are supported with the SR-IOV NIC capability, when placed in the P8 system  (SR-IOV supported in both native mode and through VIOS):
  - PCIe3  4-port 10GbE SR Adapter                           (F/C EN15 and CCIN 2CE3)
  - PCIe3  4-port 10GbE SR Adapter                         (F/C EN16 and CCIN 2CE3).  Fits E870/E880 system node PCIe slot.
  - PCIe3  4-port 10GbE SFP+ Copper Adapter                    (F/C EN17 and CCIN 2CE4)
  - PCIe3  4-port 10GbE SFP+ Copper Adapter                    (F/C EN18 and CCIN 2CE4).  Fits E870/E880 system node PCIe slot.
  - PCIe2  4-port (10Gb FCoE & 1GbE) SR and RJ45 SFP+ Adapter        (F/C EN0H and CCIN 2B93)
  - PCIe2 LP 4-port (10Gb FCoE & 1GbE) SR and RJ45  SFP+ Adapter        (F/C EN0J and CCIN 2B93)
  - PCIe2 LP Linux 4-port (10Gb FCoE & 1GbE) SR and RJ45 SFP+ Adapter       (F/C EL38 and CCIN 2B93)
  - PCIe2  4-port (10Gb FCoE & 1GbE) LR and RJ45 Adapter             (F/C EN0M and CCIN 2CC0)
  - PCIe2 LP 4-port (10Gb FCoE & 1GbE) LR and RJ45 Adapter              (F/C EN0N and CCIN 2CC0)
   -PCIe2  4-port (10Gb FCoE & 1GbE) SFP+Copper and RJ45 Adapter        (F/C EN0K and CCIN 2CC1)
  - PCIe2 LP 4-port (10Gb FCoE & 1GbE) SFP+Copper and RJ45    Adapter        (F/C EN0L and CC IN 2CC1)
  - PCIe2 LP Linux 4-port (10Gb FCoE & 1Gb Ethernet) SFP+Copper and RJ45    (F/C EL3C and CCIN 2CC1)
  These adapters each have four ports, and all four ports are enabled with SR-IOV function. The entire adapter (all four ports) is configured for SR-IOV or none of the ports is.
  System firmware updates the adapter firmware level on these adapters to 10.2.252.16 when a supported adapter is placed into SR-IOV mode.
  Support for SR-IOV adapter sharing is now available for adapters in the PCIe3 I/O Expansion Drawer with F/C #EMX0.
  SR-IOV NIC on the Power P8 systems is supported by:
      - AIX 6.1 TL9 SP4 and APAR IV63331, or later
      - AIX 7.1 TL3 SP4 and APAR IV63332, or later
      - IBM i 7.1 TR8, or later (Supported on S824/S814)
      - IBM i 7.2  or later  (Supported on S824/S814)
      - IBM i 7.1 TR9, or later (Supported on E870/E880)
      - IBM i 7.2 TR1, or later  (Supported on E870/E880)
              - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 or later ( Supported on E870/E880/S812L/S822/S822L/S814/S824/S824L except for adapters with F/Cs EN15/EN16/EN17/EN18)
      - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6, or later (Supported on E850 and minimum level needed for adapters with F/Cs EN15/EN16/EN17/EN18)
      - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1, or later
      - SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 or later  (Supported on S812L/S822/S822L/S814/S824/S824L)
      - SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 or later  (Supported on E870/E880)
      - SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12, or later  (Supported on E850)
      - Ubuntu 15.04 or later (Supported on E850/S812L/S822/S822L/S814/S824/S824L) 
      - VIOS 2.2.3.4 with interim fix IV63331, or later
  
• Support for adjusting voltage regulators input voltage dynamically based on regulator slave failures to achieve the optimal voltage for system operation for normal and degraded conditions.
• Support for a 226W 4.323 GHz eight core processor (CCIN 54E5, F/C EPXF) for the S822 (8284-22A) and S822L(8247-22L).

System firmware changes that affect all systems except MTM 8408-E8E:

• A problem with concurrent PCIe adapter maintenance was fixed that caused On-Chip Controller (OCC) resets with SRCs logged of B18B2616 and BC822029, forcing the system into safe mode (processor voltage/frequency reduced to a "safe" level where thermal monitoring is not required).  Recovery from safe mode requires a system re-IPL.
  

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

• On systems with memory mirroring enabled, a problem was fixed for PowerVM over-estimating its memory needs, allowing more memory to be used by the partitions.