serial number, model string stored in Baseboard only?

[stephen peng]

Guys,

I asked question about rp4440's IO baseboard replace issue in another thread: http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/HP-9000/Is-it-necessary-to-SS-UPDATE-when-replacing-an-rp4440-s-I-O/td-p/5384951 , and I still confuse about where information like serial number and model strings stored on HP 9000 servers, just on the Baseboard?

I've been told that after replacing baseboard on all HP 9000 servers, information on the baseboard should be updated to fit the original hardware platform, but as I recalled, I never followed this before, dealing with rp7410, rp8400 or superdome 9000, but they all booted successfully. So what is the main purpose of this update and what harm would it do without this update? Or is it just a exception on rp34*0 and rp44*0?

Regards

Stephen

[Torsten.]

Integrity servers usually use 2 locations for this information, so if you replace a part, the information will be synced. HP9000 servers use a single location only, so you need to update this information (special protected procedure, as you know). This is the same for almost all HP9000 servers. These values are product#, serial#, model string etc.

[stephen peng]

Torsten,

Could you please offer more details about "location" on both Integrity and 9000 servers? And is that system ID a combination of those hardware information like serial# and product#? not a single one?

regards

Stephen

[Torsten.]

The rp4440 is a good example. It is exactly the same as the rx4640, except the CPU.

While the rx4640 firmware manages 2 locations for these values (I/O board and power distribution board), the rp4440 manages only a single location. Once this single part has been swapped, the values have to been set.

The rx4640 firmware will check both locations and compare, if different, it will ask what to do or give a warning, depending on the difference. The rp4440 will just use the current value (maybe rp4410 for a replaced board, so you have limitations).

May laptop did the same by the way, after a systemboard replacement it has still the same part- and serial-number without any interaction...

The systemID of  servers (often used for software licences) is build depending on the product- and serial number to make it unique.

As said, this always depend on hardware, but it is worth to check after a replacement.