HP Smart Update Firmware - HP Integrity BL860c/BL870c/BL890c i2 Servers Bundle for Linux

TITLE: HP Smart Update Firmware - HP Integrity BL860c/BL870c/BL890c i2 Servers Bundle for Linux

VERSION:
HP Smart Update Linux Firmware Bundle
Bundle Version : 21.08

System Firmware Version : 1.24
FGPA Firmware Version : 1.14
iLO-3 Firmware Version : 01.30.30
Power Monitor Firmware Version: 03.04

Onboard Administrator (OA)
OA Firmware Version : 3.21

Note: Server Firmware 21.08 is supported with OA Firmware Version 3.11. However OA 3.21 is required for blade upgrade support (ex. upgrade from BL860c i2 to BL870c i2).

HP Smart Update Manager (HP SUM)
HP SUM Version : 3.7.1

DESCRIPTION:
This bundle contains the HP Smart Update Manager (HP SUM) Linux x86 application, the firmware for HP Integrity BL860c/BL870c/BL890c i2 Servers (System firmware (SFW), FPGA firmware, iLO-3 MP firmware & Power Monitor firmware) and the Onboard Administrator (OA) firmware. This bundle can be used to update the firmware using the HP SUM application from a Linux x86 system.

Note: Any update to the information below will be available on the release notes for HP Smart Update Linux Firmware Bundle for HP Integrity BL860c/BL870c/BL890c i2 Servers, available on www.hp.com

For more information on HP SUM, review the HP Smart Update Manager User Guide which will be available on hp.com at:

More information about firmware update methods can be obtained from the following document which will be updated shortly to include HP SUM and new Platforms

HP Integrity and HP9000 Servers – HP Firmware Update options

UPDATE RECOMMENDATION: Critical

HP recommends systems used in Mission Critical environments update to this revision of firmware during the next system maintenance period in order to improve system reliability.

[X] Critical
     [  ]  Panic,  [  ]  Hang,  [  ]  Abort,   [  ]  Corruption,  [  ]  Memory Leak,
     [  ]  Other __________
     [X]  Hardware Enablement,  [  ] Software Enablement
[  ]  Recommended
[  ]  Optional
     [  ] Hardware Enablement,  [  ]  Software Enablement, [  ]  non-critical
[  ] Initial Customer Release

SUPERSEDES:
HP Smart Update Linux Firmware Bundle
Bundle Version : 15.05

System Firmware Version : 01.08
FGPA Firmware Version : 01.12
iLO-3 Firmware Version : 01.01.02
Power Monitor Firmware Version: 03.04

Onboard Administrator (OA)
OA Firmware Version : 3.00

HP Smart Update Manager (HP SUM)
HP SUM Version : 3.7.1

PRODUCT MODEL(S):
HP Integrity BL860c i2 Server
HP Integrity BL870c i2 Server
HP Integrity BL890c i2 Server

OPERATING SYSTEMS:
HP-UX 11i v3 OE Update Release for March 2010 (and later OE Releases)
Microsoft Windows server 2008 R2
OpenVMS 8.4

NOTE: HP Smart Update Manager (HP SUM) for Linux is supported on following Linux Operating System flavors:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server (x86-64)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server (x86)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (AMD64/EM64T)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (x86)
SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 (AMD64/EM64T)
SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 (x86)
SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 (AMD64/EM64T)
SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 (x86)

LANGUAGES:
International English

ENHANCEMENTS:

Memory Patrol scrubber
16 GB DIMM support
EFI boot options for directed LAN boot
Multiple connections to the live event viewer are now allowed

FIXES:

Fixed an issue where the “String buffer too small” error message could be displayed during a network installation of the blade, eventually leading to a system panic.
Fixed an issue where the MCA errdump log file might not have included MCA information for all the blades.
Improved boot stability by fixing several potential occurrences of MCAs during boot.
Health state does not return to 'OK' when temperature goes from Critical to OK. In order to clear this error a system power cycle was required.
iLO/Integrity blade information is now shown correctly in OA.
Fixed an issue where some blades would not power on and generate a POWERON_DENIED_BUSY_ERROR message upon enclosure power on.
Fixed an issue in which the DIMM Slot location for DIMM errors was being reported as decimal numbers when it should have been reported as hexadecimal numbers.
An issue in which the iLO Web GUI 'System Health Page' could inaccurately display a Mezzanine card as 'not installed' has been fixed.
An issue in which LDAP did not expect the format user@domain.com has been fixed in the iLO web GUI. The problem still exists in the iLO CLI. The work around is to configure the LDAP server to use an alternative format.
An issue in which rapid execution of multiple power commands could cause CM menu to become unresponsive has been fixed. A reset from the GUI could clear this condition.
A rare issue in which an internal file system could crash causing defaulting of iLO user configuration data, or potential iLO unresponsiveness has been fixed.
The System Health Page in the iLO Web GUI now displays temperatures appropriately.
An issue in which vMedia connections could experience failures has been resolved.
Thermal and fan control behavior has been fixed.
The DC command now sets Asset Tag to default values properly.
An issue with an unexpected close of network sessions has been addressed.
An issue in which the VMEDIA connections event was logged without an IP address has been fixed.
IP address is now logged appropriately in the IEL event for VMEDIA connections.
Fixed an issue in which the factory default password could have been set to Admin.
Multiple connections to the live event viewer are now allowed.
An issue with highlighting the wrong tab in the system health page on BL870c and BL890c systems has been fixed.
An issue with the rare loss of an EFI configuration change has been addressed.
An issue where fatal events (i.e. non-recoverable temperatures) may not shut down the system has been fixed.
Fixed an issue where the system was failing to boot due to temperatures being misread and fans speeding up incorrectly while CPUs were still resetting.
Fixed an issue where fan speed would not increase after the FAN_BLOWOUT_ENTER event was logged.
Empty DIMM slots are now properly reported in SMBIOS.
Fixed an issue where a DVD drive may be intermittently missing.
BIOS release date has been included in SMBIOS.
Memory test is now properly disabled with boottest mem off.
vMedia performance and reliability has been improved.
Debugging information for Traps/Interrupts has been improved.
Error handling/containment/logging has been improved.
Improved help text output for EFI commands.

PREREQUISITES:

Minimum Onboard Administrator firmware version 3.11 is required for HP BladeSystem c7000 Enclosure and HP BladeSystem c3000 Enclosure to support this release of System firmware for HP Integrity BL8x0c i2 servers. However field upgrades support requires to use at the minimum Onboard Administrator firmware version 3.21, which is included in this bundle.
Minimum Virtual Connect (VC) firmware version 3.15 is required for use with this version of HP Integrity BL8x0c i2 Servers.
Note: VCSU 1.5.0 is required to install the VC firmware update. This firmware is not included in this bundle.
Onboard Administrator and iLO-3 MP(s) must be on the network (reachable from local system) and have static IP or be configured with DHCP.
An http daemon, service or IDS (Intrusion Detection System) running in the local system may interfere with HP SUM connecting to remote hosts, hence these services may need to be disabled when HP SUM is running.
Please see the HP Smart Update Manager User Guide for any prerequisites required for HP SUM.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Please review all instructions and the "Hewlett-Packard Support Tool License Terms" or your Hewlett-Packard support terms and conditions for precautions, scope of license, restrictions, and limitation of liability and warranties, before installing this package. It is important that you read and understand these instructions completely before you begin. This can determine your success in completing the firmware update.

A. Extracting and Running HP SUM

Download the binary bl8x0ci2_fw_bndl_lin.tar.gz in a new folder on your Linux system.
Extract the bundle by using the below command:
- gunzip bl8x0ci2_fw_bndl_lin.tar.gz
- tar -xvf bl8x0ci2_fw_bndl_lin.tar
The above step will extract the contents of the bundle in the new folder where the bl8x0ci2_fw_bndl_lin.tar.gz file is located. HP SUM and firmware components must reside in the same folder.
Execute hpsum, located in the extracted folder, by logging as super user or in root privilege.Executing hpsum will bring up a graphical user interface of the HP Smart Update Manager (HP SUM). HP SUM provides an easy-to-use graphical interface that enables you to deploy and maintain firmware components.

NOTE: HP SUM also provides a Command Line Interface (CLI) that allows user to perform scripted installations in silent mode. For more information please refer to the HP Smart Update Manager User Guide or the "CLIHelp.txt" file in the extracted folder. Note that the CLI does not support the "Upload but Do Not Activate" option which is available only in the GUI mode.

B. Installing the Firmware Components using HP SUM - Graphical User Mode

Once started, HP SUM displays a startup screen showing the version and then displays the “Source Selections” screen.
Choose – define Repositories you want to be considered for updating.
1. The “Source Selections” screen allows the user to choose a directory (repository) where the firmware components are located. The directory to which the bundle is extracted is the default location.
  NOTE:The option "Check ftp.hp.com" will enable HP SUM to check and download latest software updates available online on hp.com. However, this feature is currently not supported for HP Integrity Servers.
2. Select the "Start Inventory" button to proceed to the Inventory Progress screen.
3. The Inventory Progress screen displays while the HP SUM builds an inventory of available updates in the repository. Once this check completes, HP SUM shows the "Select Installation Host" screen.
Define - Select Host: i.e., target devices you want to update.
1. The "Select Installation Host" screen enables you to choose a host (target) for component installation.
2. Select "Remote Host or Group" radio button. Note: “Local Host" is not applicable for installing the firmware updates included in this bundle.
3. Select the “Manage Hosts” button to enter hosts to be updated. Valid hosts for this bundle include Onboard Administrators and the iLO-3 MP of the HP Integrity BL8x0c i2 servers.
4. Select the “Add Host” button and begin entering the information for one or more hosts by inputting either DNS Name or IP Address or Range of IP Addresses.
  - To update a blade and ILO firmware, enter the iLO-3 MP IP (Monarch) or DNS name.
  - To update OA firmware, enter the OA IP address or DNS name. Do not enter the Blade IP address.
5. Descriptions of each of these host entries could be entered by the user to easily identify the host in current or successive sessions of HP SUM.
6. Use the Manage Group button if you want to group one or more hosts.
7. Select the hosts and/or groups where you want to install the firmware components and click “Next” button on the bottom-right corner of the screen.
8. HP SUM then requests credential details for each selected Host.
  NOTE: HP SUM does not recommend including more than 16 hosts in a group.
Enter Credentials
1. Each host (i.e., target) will require credential details.
  NOTE: The option “Use current credential (requires an existing trust relationship with the host)” when selected will use the credential of the current user credential to login to the remote host which is not applicable for Integrity BL8x0c-i2 blades
2. HP SUM contacts the host to validate the credential details one at a time for each host.
3. In the next screen, HP SUM runs a discovery routine that determines which firmware components are already installed on the remote host.
Select what you want to install.
1. Next screen provides the bundle filter options. The current bundle is automatically selected by HP SUM. The bundle filter options are enabled by selecting the checkbox against the current bundle.
2. The bundle filter options are:
  - ALLOW NON BUNDLE VERSIONS: Selecting this option allows HP SUM to include smart components having different versions of components in the current bundle. Example: A smart component for OA containing a later version of firmware.
  - ALLOW NON-BUNDLE PRODUCTS: Selecting this option allows HP SUM to include smart components of product which are not defined in the current bundle. Example: A smart component for Virtual Connect firmware update.
  - FORCE ALL BUNDLE UPDATES: Sets the Force Update flag for all smart components.
3. Click “Ok” button to proceed to the next screen where HP SUM displays the installed firmware versions versus what is included in the bundle. You can select firmware components you need to update.
4. HP SUM displays firmware item to be installed on the hosts.
5. For more details and component level granularity select the item and click the "View Host" button.
  NOTE: If firmware is latest or already up-to-date version, it would show "Nothing-to-Install". User can override and choose to perform force reinstallation or downgrading the firmware by clicking the "Installation Option" and checking “Force Install” option.
  NOTE: System firmware update supports delay activation - where the new firmware gets flashed on the ROM but activated only when you will reboot the system at a convenient time. This option can be selected by clicking the "Configure Now" and then selecting "Upload but Do Not Activate" checkbox. The default setting is that the system will shutdown and reboot.
6. Repeat the above steps 4-5 for all firmware components listed, until HP SUM displays “Ready” against each listed items to be installed.
Launch the update - Install
1. Proceed with installation of the selected firmware on the selected hosts by clicking the "Install" button on the bottom-right corner of the screen.
2. If the “Upload and Activate” option is selected either by taking the default or explicitly selecting it, an option dialog will pop up with the request
  
  “The Integrity Server will REBOOT during the firmware update process in order to activate the new system firmware.
  Press OK to continue update, or Cancel to return to making selections."
  Select the appropriate button. HP SUM may take up to 45 minutes to complete the firmware update on a remote host.
3. HP SUM displays the progress of the firmware update on the local host.
4. Please do not interrupt HP SUM until it completes the firmware installations on all remote hosts.
5. When the update completes, HP SUM displays success message (or failure message in case of firmware update failure) for each host.
6. HP SUM Installation Logs are located in “/var/hp/log/” folder on the local Linux system.
7. HP SUM Debug Logs are located in “/tmp/hp_sum/” folder on the local Linux system. See the HP Smart Update Manager User Guide for more information on the debug files.

C. Using HP SUM Command Line Interface (CLI) Mode
Please refer to the HP Smart Update Manager User Guide or CLIHelp.txt in the extracted folder for information on the available command line arguments.

NOTE: There is no command line argument to specify the “Upload and do not activate” option. If HP SUM is started from the command line using the silent argument (/silent), the system being updated will reboot automatically.

For more information on HP SUM, review the HP Smart Update Manager User Guide which will be available on hp.com at:

COMPATIBILITY/INTEROPERABILITY:

WARNING: Do not disconnect power supply to HP Integrity Server during the firmware upgrade process or else the ROM will be corrupted.

DETERMINING CURRENT VERSION:
HP SUM displays the current version of the firmware on the host. However user can also log in to the iLO-3 MP and use the following procedure to find out the current firmware versions.

Establish a telnet session with the iLO-3 MP.
Logon to the iLO-3 MP using the Administrator password.
Type "CM" to enter the Command Menu.
Type "SYSREV" to display system revision information. The following should be displayed if the current firmware is installed.

SYSREV

Revisions               Active         Pending
-------------------------------------
iLO FW               :  01.30.30
System FW          :  01.24
MHW FPGA       :  01.14
Power Mon FW   :  03.04
Front Panel HW   :  02.00
PRS HW             :  02.06
IOH HW             :  01.02

To determine the currently installed OA version, please refer to the instruction in OA user guides:

The user guide for the Onboard Administrator is located here.
The user guide for the Onboard Administrator command line interface is located here.

KNOWN FIRMWARE ISSUES:

Initial conditions of system can only be achieved with cycling power on the blade. iLO may hang and needs to be reset from the OA.
When using VT220-8 Terminal Emulation for the Serial Port, SFW boot may ASSERT when the SFW Boot Manager Screen is displayed. An event will be logged. The following output will be displayed on the SFW console, mixed in with the Boot Manager Menus: ASSERT ...\Universal\Console\TerminalDxe\TerminalConIn.c(1595): ((BOOLEAN)(0==1))
While the system is at the EFI Shell or the OS is running, SFW will not report if any of the QPI links drop lanes and become degraded (functional, but with less lanes). SFW will detect QPI links with dropped lanes and send events only during SFW boot. Possible degraded OS performance (as time elapses after OS boot) due to increased memory, CPU, and I/O access times.
Processor Thermal Events generate CMC (Correctable Machine Check) and is supposed to be handled by PAL and then returned back to the OS with a CMCI. However, due to an Intel PAL (PAL4.28), problem, these Processor Thermal Events (CMC) are not handled correctly, which results in a corrected MCA logged by System Firmware. A MCA is produced.
EFI reconnect -r does not complete and return to EFI shell prompt. The reconnect -r command may take up to 25 minutes to complete. In some cases it may never complete. A hang of 12 minutes is seen during the command. Therefore the normal completion time for this command would be about 10-12 minutes.
Unable to login to web with empty user name, password when sec override is enabled.
If the Windows OS initiates a Global MCA while the OS is running, the system will not display a blue screen.
Revisions of firmware prior to K21.08 will not be supported after Jan, 2012
BL8x0c i2 server blades with the HP Integrity VM Host application may cause the supported HPVM guests to panic after this firmware update. See the HP-UX Errata for HP Integrity BL860c i2, BL870c i2 & BL890c i2 Server Blades for a list of required HPVM Host patches.

KNOWN INSTALLATION ISSUES:

Sometimes HP SUM may appear to hang during firmware update on HP Integrity Blade BL8x0c i2 servers. The user needs to wait for another 30 minutes and then restart HP SUM if update has not been completed. To reduce the possibility of this occurring, update the OA firmware before or after updating the other firmware components in the bundle.
The "FORCE ALL BUNDLE UPDATES" option on the “Select Bundle Filter” screen does not set the "force install" flag for all firmware components in the bundle. The user can choose to perform force installation for every individual firmware component by selecting the "Installation Option" for the firmware component and checking the “Force Install” option.
Whenever the auxiliary blade is changed, and if the FW version on the Monarch is greater than the version on the auxiliary blade, the upgrade/install option shows everything as up to date. The only workaround to install the firmware on the auxiliary blade is doing a “Force Install”.
If you receive the message "Could not add the following requested repositories:" after selecting a directory to use with HPSUM, the HPSUM temporary directory /tmp/hp_sum must be removed.
- From a command line terminal enter: rm –rf /tmp/hp_sum
- Restart HPSUM

DISCLAIMER:
The information in this document is subject to change without notice.

Hewlett-Packard makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.

This document contains proprietary information that is protected by copyright. All rights are reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, photocopied, or translated to another language without the prior written consent of Hewlett-Packard Company.

SUPERSEDES HISTORY:
None

INITIAL RELEASE:
HP Smart Update Linux Firmware Bundle
Bundle Version : 15.04

System Firmware Version : 01.07
FGPA Firmware Version : 01.12
iLO-3 Firmware Version : 01.01.02
Power Monitor Firmware Version: 03.04

Onboard Administrator (OA)
OA Firmware Version : 3.00

HP Smart Update Manager (HP SUM)
HP SUM Version : 3.7.1

FEEDBACK
As we are continuing to improve the firmware management process we welcome your feedback on this document and on the firmware update process.
TEAM-FWupdateFeedback@external.groups.hp.com