AlphaServer DS25 Firmware release notes

[John Burgess_2]

I'm looking for current advice from HP about DS25 Firmware updates. The basic procedure and which updates to apply.

In



it says

"Refer to the firmware release notes for details."

and gives a URL reference

<>

But this URL does not seem to exist now.

Then on the IT Resource Center is another link

<>

Which also does not seem to exist.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[John Gillings]

John,

You should get a firmware CD distributed with each version of OpenVMS. Best practice is to be on the firmware that matches your OS version. Firmware releases tend to be rare, so typically there will only be a small number of combinations for a particular version of OpenVMS. The release notes should be on the firmware CD.


When OpenVMS boots, it checks the firmware of the hardware it's running on.

If the firmware is too far out of date, a message is issued and the boot fails.

If the firmware is old, but expected to work, a warning message will be issued giving the recommended range of firmware versions for your version of OpenVMS, and the boot continues.

If the firmware is in the recommended range, no message is issued.

I'm not sure what, if anything, happens if the firmware is newer than expected, but given the OpenVMS engineering upwards compatibility fanaticism, I would HOPE it wouldn't be an issue.

So, if you're not getting a message when you boot, you don't need to worry about updating the firmware.

If you are getting a message, just install the newest version you have that is within the range of versions listed in the warning message.

[John Burgess_2]

Thank you. I have located a Firmware v6.6 CD which I expect is the one which was delivered with our current VMS version (7.3-2). If I'm hearing right, you do not think I need to use a LATER version of this, unless I've seen warning messages at boot time (which I have not).

So I will use that CD to fire up the LFU, to get to UPD> and use that utility to install the update which I have on another CD, firmware update for the HBA card, which is what I have to do.

Thanks again.

[Jon Pinkley · Accepted solution]

http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/firmware/index.html

You can find this by going to the Alphaserver page, then the firmware page.

Current is 7.3. I am running 7.2 on both ES40 and ES47 and can boot either 7.3-2 or 8.3. In general, you can boot older versions of VMS on the latest firmware (as long as the VMS version supports the hardware you are booting from).

If you are upgrading the HBA firmware (for what?) I would recommend going for a newer CD that 6.6.

Since your original message said nothing about what you were upgrading, John Gillings responded with what VMS requirements were. For HBA, that CD may not have the firmware you need (especially if it is a new HBA).

Jon

[Volker Halle]

John,

the Alpha Firmware pages have been recently moved. See the announcement on openvms.org:

http://www.openvms.org/stories.php?story=08/02/07/9356705

While you are at it, you might want to just download and install the most recent firmware available.

Volker.

[John Burgess_2]

THANK YOU !! John, Jon and Volker...

(1) Yes, please xcuze my muddled enquiry. You have helped a lot to clarify it.
(2) The HBA is not new, but the external SAN controller will change from EVA5000 to EVA8100. To prepare for this I was advised to load the latest I/O FW revision for the HBA FCA-2384. I had just the one file hd191x6.sys to load.
(3) Now I am getting the sense it is really preferable to update all the FW (for SRM, FSB, RMC, SROM, TIG) to the latest revision at one time. From the Release Notes Overview I learn that 1.91x6 is on the V7.3 FW CD, so if I do load everything on there, it will include that.
(4) Having downloaded the iso file for V7.3, I'll create the CD, read the release notes in the doc directory on the CD and then should be good to go !!

Thanks, you guys are the best.

P.S. Do you have a sense about how long the upload process might take for the whole CD on my DS25 ?

[John Gillings]

John,

> Do you have a sense about how long the
>upload process might take for the whole CD
>on my DS25 ?

Do you mean how long it takes to do the firmware update? I'd expect no more than 5-10 minutes. It always seems longer to me as I get nervous about power failures which it's in progress ;-)

[Ian Miller.]

two references to openvms.org in itrc postings on the same day :-)

Good publicity and may it continue :-)

[John Burgess_2]

Yes, to load the firmware. Thank you. So now I'll know not to panic at least for the first 20 minutes :-)