Additional CPUs on an rp5470

[Brad Marks]

I am purchasing two additional *used* A6805B processors (and a PSM) for a total of four processors.

My concern is PDC Firmware: I plan to upgrade from 42.19 to 44.12 by making a bootable tape from PF_CARIW4412.frm. Is this the latest version for an rp5470?

I've been warned not to have the processors running with different versions of PDC. Is the best means of ensuring that all four will be at 44.12 by:
1. First updating PCD firmware.
2. Rebooting box.
3. Shutting down
4. Installing two additional CPUs.
5. Restarting.

Will this ensure that all CPUs are at the same rev?

By the way, I've already asked my reseller if new Fuzzy Buttons are included....

Thanks for your help!
-Brad

[Matti_Kurkela · Accepted solution]

Yes, 44.12 seems to be the latest firmware available.

All the firmwares for PA-RISC and Itanium servers are now available in the "Business Support Center". The easiest way to find them looks to be:

http://www.hp.com/go/support

- select "Download drivers and software (and firmware)" and type in your server model, "rp5470" in this case

- in the next screen, select the operating system; HP-UX 11.x in this case

I'm not sure that the warning about different PDC versions applies to a rp5470: as I understand, PDC is not stored in the CPUs themselves, but on the system board. A rp5470 has only one PDC memory which is used by all processors.

The warning is more relevant in newer models with nPar hardware partitioning capability. Those models are composed of cell boards. Each cell has an separate source of PDC firmware, as each cell must be able to function as an independent hardware partition.

On the other hand, the person might have meant that you should try to find new CPUs with the same hardware revision that your old CPUs are. The STM diagnostics software (commands cstm/mstm/xstm) can tell you the CPU hardware revision.

Having CPUs with different revisions in the same machine is not the optimum situation, but in many cases it's workable. I think we once had an N4000 which contained CPUs of three different revisions.

MK

[tkc]

hi brad, i can confirm what MK did said is correct. we have CPU of different version of PDC running before and it's running fine. however, i would advise to have all the cpu to have the same pdc firmware level. the latest pdc firmware for rp5470 cpu is 44.12. check the firmware of the cpu using the following command :

#echo "selclass qualifier cpu;info;wait;infolog"|cstm

[Torsten.]

You cannot have different PDC versions in this system, because there is only one location to store it (on the system board).
You have 1 version installed - this is the only 1.
The CPU is just a chip - no soft-/firmware on it. But you should upgrade to the current version anyway.
The "fuzzy buttons" should be included.

[Brad Marks]

Thanks to all for your help.