Power10 System Firmware

Applies to:   9105-22A; 9105-42A; 9105-22B; 9105-41B; 9786-22H; and 9786-42H.

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


1.0 Systems Affected

This package provides firmware for IBM Power System S1022 (9105-22A), IBM Power System S1024 (9105-42A), IBM Power System S1022S (9105-22B), IBM Power System S1014 (9105-41B), IBM Power System L1022 (9786-22H), and IBM Power System L1024 (9786-42H) 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 the Virtual HMC that can run on the Intel hypervisors (KVM, XEN, VMWare ESXi).
ppc64 or ppc64le - describes the Linux code that is compiled to run on Power-based servers or LPARS (Logical Partitions)
The Minimum HMC level supports the following HMC models:
HMC models: 7063-CR1 and 7063-CR2
x86 - KVM, XEN, VMWare ESXi (6.0/6.5)
ppc64le - vHMC on PowerVM (POWER8,POWER9, and POWER10 systems)

For information concerning HMC releases and the latest PTFs,  go to the following URL to access Fix Central:
https://www.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):
https://esupport.ibm.com/customercare/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

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, EC66/EC67 with FW1010 and later. 

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:
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/docs/en/power10/9105-42A?topic=resources-memory

2.4 SBE Updates

Power10 servers contain SBEs (Self Boot Engines) and are used to boot the system.  SBE is internal to each of the Power10 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 12-20 minutes per drawer or up to 48-80 minutes for maximum configuration.

The SBE image is updated with this service pack.


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:

01VHxxx_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, 01MM1010_040_040 and 01MM1010_040_040 are different service packs.

An installation is disruptive if:

            Example: Currently installed release is 01VH900_040_040, new release is 01VH910_050_050.

            Example: VH910_040_040 is disruptive, no matter what level of VH910 is currently installed on the system.

            Example: Currently installed service pack is VH910_040_040 and new service pack is VH910_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 VH910_040_040, new service pack is VH910_041_040.

3.1 Firmware Information and Description

 
Filename Size Checksum md5sum
01ML1020_079_079.img 261M
1FE01
c0643f043dd41670ee5f47be1b557e1f
01ML1020_079_079.tar
123M D9153
27556dcca23f3ee4f1a2278a5417e410

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    01ML1020_079_079.img

ML1020
For Impact, Severity and other Firmware definitions, Please refer to the below 'Glossary of firmware terms' url:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6555136

The complete Firmware Fix History for this Release Level can be reviewed at the following url:
https://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/server/firmware/ML-Firmware-Hist.html
ML1020_079_079 / FW1020.00

07/22/22
Impact: NEW    Severity:  NEW

GA Level with key features listed below

New Features and Functions
  • This server firmware includes the SR-IOV adapter firmware level xx.32.1010 for the following Feature Codes and CCINs: #EC2R/EC2S with CCIN 58FA; #EC2T/EC2U with CCIN 58FB; and #EC66/EC67 with CCIN 2CF3.
  • Support for the new eBMC service processor that replaces the FSP service processor used on other Power systems.
  • Support for VIOS 3.1.3 (based on AIX 7.2 TL5 (AIX 72X) on POWER10 servers.
  • Support was added for a BMC ASMI " Operations->Resource management -> Lateral cast out control" option to disable or enable the system Lateral Cast-Out function (LCO).  LCO is enabled by default and a change to disable it must be done at service processor standby.  POWER processor chips since POWER7 have a feature called “Lateral Cast-Out” (LCO), enabled by default, where the contents of data cast out of one core’s L3 can be written into another core’s L3.  Then if a core has a cache miss on its own L3, it can often find the needed data block in another local core’s L3. This has the useful effect of slightly increasing the length of time that a storage block gets to stay in a chip’s cache, providing a performance boost for most applications.  However, for some applications such as SAP HANA, the performance can be better if LCO is disabled.  More information on how LCO is being configured by SAP HANA can be found in the SAP HANA on Power Advanced Operation Guide manual that can be accessed using the following link: 
    http://ibm.biz/sap-linux-power-library
    Follow the "SAP HANA Operation" link on this page to the "SAP HANA Operation Guides" folder.  In this folder, locate the updated "SAP_HANA_on_Power_Advanced_Operation_Guide" manual that has a new topic added of "Manage IBM Power Lateral Cast Out settings" which provides the additional information.
    The default behavior of the system (LCO enabled) will not change in any way by this new feature.  The customer will need to power off and disable LCO in ASMI to get the new behavior.
  • Support was added for Secure Boot for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) partitions.  The SUSE Linux level must be SLES 15 SP4 or later.  Without this feature, partitions with SLES 15 SP4 or later and which have the OS Secure Boot partition property set to "Enabled and Enforced" will fail to boot.  A workaround to this is to change the partition's Secure Boot setting in the HMC partition configuration to "Disabled" or "Enabled and Log only".
  • HIPER/Pervasive: For systems with Power Linux partitions, support was added for a new Linux secure boot key.  The support for the new secure boot key for Linux partitions may cause secure boot for Linux to fail if the Linux OS for SUSE or RHEL distributions does not have a secure boot key update. 
    The affected Linux distributions are as follows that need the Linux fix level that includes "Key for secure boot signing grub2 builds ppc64le".
    1) SLES 15 SP4 - The GA for this Linux level includes the secure boot fix.
    2) RHEL 8.5- This Linux level has no fix.  The user must update to RHEL: 8.6 or RHEL 9.0.
    3) RHEL 8.6
    4) RHEL 9.0. 
    The update to a Linux level that supports the new secure boot key also addresses the following security issues in Linux GRUB2 and are the reasons that the change in secure boot key is needed as documented in the following six CVEs:
    1) CVE-2021-3695
    2) CVE-2022-28733
    3) CVE-2022-28734
    4) CVE-2022-28735
    5) CVE-2022-28736
    6) CVE-2022-28737
    Please note that when this firmware level of FW1020.00 is installed, any Linux OS not updated to a secure boot fix level will fail to secure boot.  And any Linux OS partition updated to a fix level for secure boot requires a minimum firmware level of FW1010.30 or later, or FW1020.00 or later to be able to do a secure boot.  If lesser firmware levels are active but the Linux fix levels for secure boot are loaded for the Linux partition, the secure boot failure that occurs will have BA540010 logged.  If secure boot verification is enabled, but not enforced (log only mode), then the fixed Linux partition will boot, but a BA540020 informational error will be logged.
  • Support for Active Memory Mirroring (AMM) for the PowerVM hypervisor.  This is an option that mirrors the main memory used by the firmware. With this option, an uncorrectable error resulting from failure of main memory used by system firmware will not cause a system-wide outage. This option efficiently guards against system-wide outages due to any such uncorrectable error associated with firmware. With this option, uncorrectable errors in data owned by a partition or application will be handled by the existing Special Uncorrectable Error Handling methods in the hardware, firmware, and OS.  This is a separately priced option that is ordered with feature code #EM8G and is defaulted to off.
  • Support for humidity sensor on the operator panel.
  • Support has been dropped for Active Memory Sharing (AMS) on POWER10 servers
  • Support has been dropped for the smaller logical-memory block (LMB) sizes of 16MB, 32MB, and 64MB. 128MB and 256MB are the only LMB sizes that can be selected in the BMC ASMI
  • System fan speed control was enhanced to support the reading of I/O processor temperatures by the On-Chip Controller (OCC) and passing it to the BMC for fan control.  Monitoring the IO temperatures in addition to processor core temperatures allows the system to increase fan speeds accordingly based on chip requirements.
  • Support was added for a new service processor command that can be used to 'lock' the power management mode, such that the mode can not be changed except by doing a factory reset.
  • Support for firmware update of the physical Trusted Platform Module (pTPM) from the PowerVM hypervisor.
  • Support for PowerVM enablement of Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) 2.0.
  • Support for Remote restart for vTPM 2.0 enabled partitions.  Remote restart is not supported for vTPM 1.2 enabled partitions.
  • TPM firmware upgraded to Nuvoton 7.2.3.0.  This allows Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migrations from systems running FW920/FW930 and older service pack levels of FW940/FW950 to FW1010.10 and later levels, and FW1020.00 and later.
  • Support vNIC and Hybrid Network Virtualization (HNV) system configurations in Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migrations to and from FW1020 systems.
  • Support for Live Partition Mobility (LPM) to allow LPM migrations when virtual optical devices are configured for a source partition.  LPM automatically removes virtual optical devices as part of the LPM process.  Without this enhancement, LPM is blocked if virtual optical devices are configured.
  • Support for Live Partition Mobility (LPM) to select the fastest network connection for data transfer between Mover Service Partitions (MSPs).  The configured network capacity of the adapters is used as the metric to determine what may provide the fastest connection  The MSP is the term used to designate the Virtual I/O Server that is chosen to transmit the partition’s memory contents between source and target servers.
  • Support for PowerVM for an AIX Update Access Key (UAK) for AIX 7.2.  Interfaces are provided that validate the OS image date against the AIX UAK expiration date.  Informational messages are generated when the release date for the AIX operating system has passed the expiration date of the AIX UAK during normal operation. Additionally, the server periodically checks and informs the administrator about AIX UAKs that are about to expire, AIX UAKs that have expired, or AIX UAKs that are missing. It is recommended that you replace the AIX UAK within 30 days prior to expiration.
    For more information, please refer to the Q&A document for "Management of AIX Update Access Keys" at
    https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6480845.
  • Support for LPAR Radix PageTable mode in PowerVM.
  • Support for PowerVM encrypted NVRAM that enables encryption of all partition NVRAM data and partition configuration information.
  • Added information to #EXM0 PCIe3 Expansion Drawer error logs that will be helpful when analyzing problems.
  • Support to add OMI Connected Memory Buffer Chip (OCMB ) related information into the HOSTBOOT and HW system dumps.
  • Support for a PCIe4 x16 to CXP Converter card for the attachment of two active optical cables (AOC) to be used for external storage and PCIe fan-out attachment to the PCIe expansion drawers.  This cable card has Feature Code #EJ24 with CCIN 6B53 and Feature code #EJ2A. 
    #EJ24 pertains only to models S1022 (9105-22A) , S1022S (9105-22B), and L1022  (9786-22H).
    #EJ2A pertains only to models S1014(9105-41B), S1024(9105-42A), and L1024(9786-42H).
  • Support for the IBM 4769 PCIe3 Cryptographic Coprocessor hardware security module (HSM).  This HSM has Feature Code #EJ37 with CCIN C0AF.  Its predecessors are the IBM 4768, IBM 4767, and IBM 4765
  • Support for booting IBM i from a PCIe4 LP 32Gb 2-port Optical Fibre Channel Adapter with Feature Code #EN1K.  This pertains only to models S1022 (9105-22A), S1022S (9105-22B), and L1022  (9786-22H).
  • Support for new PCIe 4.0 x8 dual-port 32 Gb optical Fibre Channel (FC) short form adapter based on the Marvell QLE2772 PCIe host bus adapter (6.6 inches x 2.731 inches). The adapter provides two ports of 32 Gb FC capability using SR optics. Each port can provide up to 6,400 MBps bandwidth. This adapter has feature codes #EN1J/#EN1K with CCIN 579C. 
  • Support for new PCIe 3.0 16 Gb quad-port optical Fibre Channel (FC)l x8 short form adapter based on the Marvell QLE2694L PCIe host bus adapter (6.6 inches x 2.371 inches). The adapter provides four ports of 16 Gb FC capability using SR optics. Each port can provide up to 3,200 MBps bandwidth. This adapter has feature codes #EN1E/#EN1F with CCIN 579A.
  • Support for the 800 GB SSD PCIe4 NVMe U.2 module for IBM i with feature code #ES3A and CCIN 5B53.   Feature #ES3A indicates usage by IBM i in which the SSD is formatted in 4160 byte sectors and only pertains to models S1014(9105-41B), S1024(9105-42A), and L1024(9786-42H).
  • Support for the 1.6 TB SSD PCIe4 NVMe U.2 module for AIX/Linux and IBM i with feature codes #ES3B/#ES3C and CCIN 5B52.    Feature #ES3B indicates usage by AIX, Linux or VIOS in which the SSD is formatted in 4096 byte sectors. Feature #ES3C indicates usage by IBM i in which the SSD is formatted in 4160 byte sectors and only pertains to models S1014(9105-41B), S1024(9105-42A), and L1024(9786-42H).
  • Support for the 3.2 TB SSD PCIe4 NVMe U.2 module for AIX/Linux and IBM i with feature codes #ES3D/#ES3E and CCIN 5B51.    Feature #ES3D indicates usage by AIX, Linux or VIOS in which the SSD is formatted in 4096 byte sectors. Feature #ES3E indicates usage by IBM i in which the SSD is formatted in 4160 byte sectors and only pertains to models S1014(9105-41B), S1024(9105-42A), and L1024(9786-42H).
  • Support for the 6.4 TB SSD PCIe4 NVMe U.2 module for AIX/Linux and IBM i with feature codes #ES3F/#ES3G and CCIN 5B50.    Feature #ES3F indicates usage by AIX, Linux or VIOS in which the SSD is formatted in 4096 byte sectors. Feature #ES3G indicates usage by IBM i in which the SSD is formatted in 4160 byte sectors and only pertains to models S1014(9105-41B), S1024(9105-42A), and L1024(9786-42H).
  • Support for the 931GB SAS 4k 2.5 inch SFF-2 SSD for AIX/Linux and IBM i with feature codes #ESMB/#ESMD and CCIN 5B29.    Feature #ESMB indicates usage by AIX, Linux, or VIOS.   Feature #ESMD indicates usage by IBM i and only pertains to models S1014(9105-41B), S1024(9105-42A), and L1024(9786-42H).
  • Support for the 1.86 TB SAS 4k 2.5 inch SFF-2 SSD for AIX/Linux and IBM i with feature codes #ESMF/#ESMH and CCIN 5B21.    Feature #ESMB indicates usage by AIX, Linux, or VIOS.   Feature #ESMH indicates usage by IBM i and only pertains to models S1014(9105-41B), S1024(9105-42A), and L1024(9786-42H).
  • Support for the 3.72 TB SAS 4k 2.5 inch SFF-2 SSD for AIX/Linux and IBM i with feature codes #ESMK/#ESMS and CCIN 5B2D.    Feature #ESMK indicates usage by AIX, Linux, or VIOS.   Feature #ESMS indicates usage by IBM i and only pertains to models S1014(9105-41B), S1024(9105-42A), and L1024(9786-42H).
  • Support for the 7.44 TB SAS 4k 2.5 inch SFF-2 SSD for AIX/Linux and IBM i with feature codes #ESMV/#ESMX and CCIN 5B2F.    Feature #ESMV indicates usage by AIX, Linux, or VIOS.   Feature #ESMX indicates usage by IBM i and only pertains to models S1014(9105-41B), S1024(9105-42A), and L1024(9786-42H).
  • Support for the 387GB SAS SFF-2 SSD formatted with 5xx (528) byte sectors for AIX/Linux with feature code #ETK1 and CCIN 5B16.  Feature #ETK1 indicates usage by AIX, Linux, or VIOS.
  • Support for the 775GB SAS SFF-2 SSD formatted with 5xx (528) byte sectors for AIX/Linux with feature code #ETK3 and CCIN 5B17.  Feature #ETK3 indicates usage by AIX, Linux, or VIOS.
  • Support for the 387GB SAS SFF-2 SSD formatted with 4k (4224) byte sectors for AIX/Linux and IBM i with feature codes #ETK8/#ETK9 and CCIN 5B10.    Feature #ETK8 indicates usage by AIX, Linux, or VIOS.  Feature #ETK9 indicates usage by IBM i and only pertains to models S1014(9105-41B), S1024(9105-42A), and L1024(9786-42H).
  • Support for the 775GB SAS SFF-2 SSD formatted with 4k (4224) byte sectors for AIX/Linux and IBM i with feature codes #ETKC/#ETKD and CCIN 5B11.    Feature #ETKC indicates usage by AIX, Linux, or VIOS.   Feature #ETKD indicates usage by IBM i and only pertains to models S1014(9105-41B), S1024(9105-42A), and L1024(9786-42H).
  • Support for the 1.55TB SAS  SFF-2 SSD formatted with 4k (4224) byte sectors for AIX/Linux and IBM i with feature codes #ETKG/#ETKH and CCIN 5B12.    Feature #ETKG indicates usage by AIX, Linux, or VIOS.   Feature #ETK9H indicates usage by IBM i and only pertains to models S1014(9105-41B), S1024(9105-42A), and L1024(9786-42H).
  • Support for a mainstream 800GB NVME U.2 15 mm SSD (Solid State Drive) PCIe4 drive for AIX/Linux with Feature Code #EC7T and CCIN 59B7.   Feature #EC7T indicates usage by AIX, Linux, or VIOS in which the SSD is formatted in 4096 byte sectors.


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) Overview page under the System Information section in the Firmware Information panel. Example: (ML1020_079)


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: MHxxx_yyy_zzz

Where xxx = release level

Instructions for installing firmware updates and upgrades can be found at https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/power10/9105-42A?topic=9105-42A/p10eh6/p10eh6_updates_sys.htm

IBM i Systems:

For information concerning IBM i Systems, go to the following URL to access Fix Central: 
https://www.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.

HMC and NovaLink Co-Managed Systems (Disruptive firmware updates only):

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/docs/en/power10/9105-42A?topic=environment-powervm-novalink
 
Then the firmware updates can proceed with the same steps as for the HMC managed systems except the system must be powered off because only a disruptive update is allowed.   If a concurrent update is attempted, the following error will occur: " HSCF0180E Operation failed for <system name> (<system mtms>).  The operation failed.  E302F861 is the error code:"
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/power10/9105-42A?topic=9105-42A/p10eh6/p10eh6_updates_sys.htm

7.0 Firmware History

The complete Firmware Fix History (including HIPER descriptions)  for this Release level can be reviewed at the following url:
https://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/server/firmware/ML-Firmware-Hist.html