Items of concern are:
One - which levels of HMC support which levels of firmware. You never
want to upgrade one or the other to where the support is no longer there.
This is why, if you have an HMC you should never have your firmware
updated by PTFs. To see the supported combinations see:
https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/power5cm/supportedcodep8.html
I see you posted something about 8247-22L. If that is what you have and
not just a handy link then you are at the lowest supported combo out
there.
https://www14.software.ibm.com/support/customercare/flrt/matrix?domain=mtm=8247-22L&pkey=pwr
I would upgrade your HMC to the highest level supported by your current
HMC hardware as that is supported by your level of firmware. Do not
upgrade your firmware first! If you look at the chart above you will
quickly see why.
Others may suggest you stop at HMC code 8.8.6 and it's highest SP. Why?
They like the "classic" HMC view and not the enhanced view. There's some
validity to their opinion.
Two: What level of HMC code does my HMC support? We had some really old
HMCs. Originals. We had to get rid of those to get a level of HMC code
loaded to support P8's. The HMC cover letters should explain this. See
also:
https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1021840
Three: Does an HMC upgrade require server outage? No.
Server firmware can often be upgraded live. There are disruptive, and
non-disruptive, firmware upgrades. Normally it depends on what level you
are at and what level you are going to. The server firmware cover letters
should explain this. If you are into splitting hairs one could argue that
to get to HMC level x requires you be at server firmware C and since you
are way back at server firmware level A then that server firmware upgrade
is disruptive therefore that HMC upgrade would be disruptive.
Four: If your HMC is really old and you need to replace it I would not
buy a new x86 (7042) based HMC. IBM has announced that only vHMC and
Power based (7063) HMC's will be getting updates.
Five: See IBM FLRT or Fix Level Recommendation Tool.
https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/flrt/home
Six: Do you need to "step stone" your upgrades? In your case one
possiblity is to
A) Upgrade from 8.8.1 to 8.8.3 then
B) Upgrade from 8.8.3 to 8.8.5 then
C) Upgrade from 8.8.5 to 8.8.6 or 8.8.7
D) And if you decide to go past 8.8.6 upgrade to 9.1.910
All of the above require that your HMC support it. Based on you running
8.8.1 your hardware should support at least 8.8.6. See
https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1021840
E) Upgrade your firmware from 810_101. You may want to step stone that
also based on what you read in the firmware cover letters. A long time
ago mine were way out of whack and a conference inspired me to get them
upgraded and I had some serious stepups to go.
Rob Berendt
midrange.com
