Re: DSPFMWSTS on OS controlled system -- MIDRANGE-L

Hi, Steve,

IBM POWER systems can run AIX, or Linux or IBMi as the primary OS. So, the "firmware" is independent of whatever OS that is running.

As Rob suggested, if your system is HMC managed, then I think you see only those names like "SV860_109" as those are the names of the "fix packages" as seen by the HMC (running some flavor of Linux software).

When the system is "OS managed" (e.g. IBMi is the primary OS), you are letting the "primary OS" (IBMi) manage the firmware for you, then, for your convenience, IBM packages those "firmware fix packages" like "SV860_109" into an IBMi PTF such as "MH01708" ... So, we can think of the IBMi PTFs as a "container" and in the case of a firmware PTF, it contains firmware fixes.

That's my understanding of how it works; just based on what I have observed.

Hope that helps,

Mark S. Waterbury

On Thursday, May 6, 2021, 8:03:26 AM EDT, Steve Pavlichek <spavlichek@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Mark,

I understand the A and B side IPLs and why there would be different firmware and/or PTFs there. My question is why is there a “Server Firmware” and a “Operating System Firmware” level.

Service partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Firmware update policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : *OPSYS
Server IPL source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Temporary
Firmware product ID/release . . . . . . . . . . . : 5733908 V1R1M0
Update access key expiration date . . . . . . . . : 01/01/21
Server IPL required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : No

--Server firmware-- -Operating system--
Fix PTF Fix PTF Update
Copy pack ID pack ID Status
*ACTIVE SV860_109 MH01708
FW860.31
*TEMP SV860_109 MH01708 SV860_063 MH01672 Not allowed
FW860.31 FW860.11
*PERM SV860_109 MH01708 *NONE *NONE None
FW860.31 *NONE

From: Mark Waterbury<mailto:mark.s.waterbury@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, May 5, 2021 5:30 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion<mailto:midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: DSPFMWSTS on OS controlled system

Correction, I should have said, "... you can recover by IPLing on the A-side."

On Wednesday, May 5, 2021, 5:13:28 PM EDT, Mark Waterbury <mark.s.waterbury@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Steve,

When the system is not managed by an HMC, the operating system takes care of updating the firmware as needed with certain PTFs.

What is shown for "Server IPL Source" on that WRKFMWSTS panel? e.g. is the machine running on the "A-side" or the "B-side"? A=Permanent, B=Temporary

This concept applies to all PTFs that apply to the "LIC" (SLIC) kernel, and also to "firmware" PTFs. (These are normally MFnnnnn PTFs.)

When PTFs are applied, they are always applied to the "temporary" copy of the SLIC kernel first, that way, if something really bad happens, you can recover by IPLing "on the B-side" (a B mode IPL), to take steps to recover. If a bad PTF is installed, you can "un-install" it with RMVPTF, as long as it is still in "temporary" status. Once it is applied "permanently" it moves to the "A-side" and cannot be removed (except by restoring the entire system from back-up tapes ...)

Hope that helps.

All the best,

Mark S. Waterbury

On Wednesday, May 5, 2021, 3:51:41 PM EDT, Steve Pavlichek <spavlichek@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Working with a customer who has a stand alone system with LAN console. The DSPFMWSTS screen show two different firmware levels, Server and OS.

The *Active copy only displays Server Firmware SV8760_109 but the *TEMP copy show the Server Fix pack is SV860_109 and the OS Fix Pack is SV860_063.

What is the difference and why would they be at different levels?