IBM Support

vHMC on x86: Upgrading the HMC from Version V10R1 or V10R2M1030 to V10R3M1050

How To


Summary

This document covers how to upgrade a vHMC on x86 from V10R1 or V10R2M1030 to V10R3M1050

Objective

Upgrade the vHMC

Environment

HMC V10 R3 M1050 supports the following hypervisors:

  • x86 : KVM, XEN, ESXi (6.5 / 7.0 / 7.0.2)

Steps

Prerequisites

Before upgrading, complete the following:

1. The minimum HMC levels required to perform install or upgrade via network to HMC V10 R3 M1050 are:

  • V10 R1 + vMF70430
  • Mandatory fix for vHMC on x86: vMF70430 (10.1.1010.3)

  • (This fix must be the last fix installed, prior to performing this Upgrade. It is not cumulative)

Fix Central V10R1 - Find vHMC V10R1M1010 Deploy image, click the +Show Patched By to find MF70430

  • V10 R2 - NO Pre-Req fix needed
2. Minimum memory supported for vHMC is 16GB and disk size should be 500GB.
3. HMC V10 R3 M1050 provides support for managing Power10, POWER9 & POWER8 processor-based systems.
                   Supported Combinations - HMC and System Firmware Supported Combinations
4. Management of POWER7 and older servers is not supported by HMC V10 R3. Attempts to manage POWER7 and older servers will result in a  connection state of Version Mismatch and connection_error_code “Connection not allowed 0009-0008-00000000”. 
5. If two HMCs manage the same server, both HMCs must be at the same version,  release and maintenance level.
6. Review the readme file
Review all additional "upgrade notes" found in the V10 R3 release notes.  The readme file release notes for HMC V10 R3 M1050 Recovery Media and mandatory fix can be found in IBM Fix Central at https://download4.boulder.ibm.com/sar/CMA/HMA/0btxa/5/vMF71419.readme.html
7. Review repair and close all service events
8. Reboot the vHMC
                  If the vHMC has not been restarted recently, restart before you begin the upgrade. To reboot, either:
                  - Use the GUI task Console Management > Console Management > Shut Down or restart the Management Console > Restart HMC then click OK.
                 OR
                 - Use the CLI command hmcshutdown -r -t now
9. Cloning a vHMC is NOT supported. New image is available from the ESS website. http://www.ibm.com/eserver/ess
***********************************************************************************************************************************
*** If you are on V10R2M1040 or higher, there is a new Option to Upgrade using the GUI. ***
(This new option works like the Network getupgfiles, so you will need the network files to use the new option) 
1. Download the V10R3_network_images_x86.zip from Fix Central. From the Fix Central site, select vMF71419 vHMC for x86 deploy image, click continue. Then find V10R3_network_images_x86.zip and download to your PC. Then get the .zip file moved to your local server. Make sure the file is unzipped, which will give you the necessary network files to perform this upgrade, or use https://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/server/hmc/network/v1050/x86/ to download the network files to your local server. 
2. Go to HMC Management, and select the box for Upgrade HMC.
  
 image-20231117153815-1
 3.  Then click the Save Upgrade Data
image-20231117153908-2
 
4. Once the Save Upgrade Data is completed, click Next 
image-20231117154018-3
5. Select the Download location. Remember you need the network files for this option. Select the option where you put the unzipped files. In this screen FTP is selected, you would need the FTP server name or IP address, user and password, and directory where you unzipped the files. Then click Download upgrade files.
image-20231205161505-2
 
6. When the download is completed, you should get a Summary screen. Click the Reboot and Upgrade option.
 
******************************************************************************************************************************************************* 
*******************************************************************************************************************************************************
 
If your on V10R2M1031 or lower, use the following option to Upgrade. 
 

NETWORK  UPGRADE


Instructions for upgrading from a network server
 
The HMC can no longer be upgraded directly from public.dhe.ibm.com. HMC network upgrade is supported from Fix Central using the .zip file option, or from public.dhe.ibm.com and staging the upgrade on a local server. 

Restricted Shell Access

This upgrade method requires restricted shell command-line access.

From the local HMC, select HMC Management > Console Management > Open a Restricted Shell terminal

From a remote location, restricted shell is available through the ssh protocol. For information on how to access HMC command line remotely see
 
Step 1: Save Profile Data

Perform a Save Profile Data for each managed system to save an extra copy of partition/profile configurations. For dual HMCs managing the same server this step is only needed on the upgrade of the first HMC. It cannot be run on HMC with a server in "version mismatch - save area version mismatch" state.
At the command prompt, enter the following command to save profile data for all servers:
lssyscfg -r sys -F type_model*serial_num | while read machine; do bkprofdata -m "$machine" -f Beforeupgrade$(date +%Y%m%d) ; done

Step 2: Save Upgrade Data

A Save Upgrade Data task must be done to preserve information on the HMC before performing the upgrade. You must upgrade immediately after the Save Upgrade Data task. If you restart the HMC again without doing the upgrade, you must log in and run the Save Upgrade Data task (to hard disk drive) again before performing the upgrade. CLI command - saveupgdata -r disk
 
Step 3: Upgrade the HMC to V10R3M1050
 
a.
Download the V10R3_network_images_x86.zip from Fix Central. From the Fix Central site, select vMF71419 vHMC for x86 deploy image, click continue. Then find V10R3_network_images_x86.zip and download to your PC. Then get the .zip file moved to your local server. Make sure the file is unzipped, which will give you the necessary network files to perform this upgrade, or use https://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/server/hmc/network/v1050/x86/ to download the network files to your local server.

Open Restricted Shell (or ssh session) and type the following command:

getupgfiles -h myserver -u myuser --passwd mypassword -d /mydirectory

The parameters of the getupgfiles command:
-h The host name or IP address of the remote FTP server.
-u The user ID to log in to the remote site.
--passwd The password to log in to the remote site. If this option is omitted, you are prompted for the password.
-d The directory on the remote site that contains the upgrade files.

The following files are downloaded to the directory indicated:
File name Description Size (kb) BSD Checksum
img2a kernel image 10071
36941
img3a Ram Disk file system 92069
18653
base.img Base Image 1576612
25253
disk1.img Base HMC Image and Service Doc
4723104
51814
hmcnetworkfiles.sum checksums 1 n/a


Once the files have all been downloaded successfully, the getupgfiles command returns to the command prompt.
 
b. Set the HMC to do the next reboot from the special location on the hard disk drive where the downloaded V10 files are stored by typing the following command:

chhmc -c altdiskboot -s enable --mode upgrade

 
c.
Reboot the HMC using one of the following methods:

Option 1. HMC GUI: HMC Management > HMC Actions, drop down > Restart HMC then click OK.
Option 2. Restricted shell command: hmcshutdown -t now -r

Note: The initial reboot can take 30 - 45 minutes. Do not reboot or power off; wait for the boot to complete.
 
Once the HMC reboots, the installation starts and typically takes about an hour. After the installation of V10R3M1050 is complete, you should be able to remotely access the HMC again.
d. At the Hardware Management Console login prompt, log in using your user ID and password.
 
Once Upgraded to V10R3M1050- 
******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Document Location

Worldwide

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Document Information

Modified date:
01 October 2024

UID

ibm17079616