BL860c System Firmware Upgrade.

[The Brit]

I recently received notification of a new System F/W version for my BL860c blades running OpenVMS. This is (I think) the second update which is released as a PCSI file, (HP-I64VMS-OSIFM_BL960c-V0421.ZIPEXE).

Having read through the release and installation notes, I am curious!.

The previous patch release (HP I64VMS OSIFM_BL860C V4.11) contained a restriction requiring the server to be booted from a non-shadowed system disk.

The new release does not appear to include this restriction (at least not stated). Does anyone know if this restriction still applies?

thanks

Dave.

[Hoff]

I'm one of the guilty parties around this area and around getting this documented.

The restriction in this area is centrally around the sorts of I/O that were used; if the firmware upgrade is (partially or completely) performed from the EFI console level, then a multi-volume shadowing can't be in play.

At its simplest, if the I/O write into the console partition comes from the host via EFI$CP or otherwise, shadowing knows about it and the virtual units (shadow member volumes) stay in synchronization.

If the I/O write comes from the EFI console, then shadowing is oblivious, and a subsequent shadowset rebuild might not have the intended and desirable results.

I haven't looked at the details of this particular update. But if you have to shut down the Integrity box and shuffle some EFI data around at EFI (either directly, or via an EFI-level script that gets loaded into the EFI console), then you likely can't be running with a multiple-member shadowset.

[Hoff]

ps: Ring up HP support and ask if the restriction still applies. I'd tend to assume that somebody simply forgot to include the caveat in the ECO text. (It's also conceivable that the underlying restrictions here have been remediated, too.)

[The Brit]

I figured that the "non-shadowed" bit would still apply since the installation instructions include the following piece of information;

"The firmware package will proceed with the installation and then shutdown OpenVMS to EFI. Firmware upgrade will happen at EFI."


Dave

[The Brit]

Thanks Hoff.