HP Integrity Superdome 2 Server - Manual (Page 180)

System Firmware Services During Boot, Shutdown, etc.
Certain partition events which occur while the OS is running may not be handled if they occur
while management firmware is unavailable:
•
OS-requested restart (for example: TOC, shutdown –r)
•
MCA
•
HP-UX boot may hang until firmware update completes
In the cases above, the OS shutdown or restart may not complete. The system design does not
make any guarantees about successful handling of OS restart, MCA, or boot that occurs during
the online complex firmware update process, so HP recommends that the operator not attempt to
initiate operations like an OS shutdown, boot/reboot, cold installation, patch update, or a
Serviceguard cluster reconfiguration request during the online complex firmware update process.
Such actions should be performed serially to avoid potential conflict consequences.
All PAL and SAL calls do work during an online complex firmware update, as these commands
execute at the partition level and do not access server management resources. The following
services are not affected by the online complex firmware update process, and will remain
operational:
Get/SET EFI Variables
Calls to get/set EFI variables will work for the OS.
HPET Timer
The HPET timer will not be re-initialized, and this partition resource will remain available throughout
the firmware update process.
EFI_SetTime
System firmware will continue to maintain the correct time during an online firmware update.
Error Records
Error records can be generated as a result of INIT, CMC/CPE, and MCA.
•
INITs are stored by system firmware in NVRAM, so these records will be available to the OS
after restart. They will be also be available to CLI errdump once the firmware update completes.
•
Logging of CMC/CPE error records are unaffected by a PDHC or OA restart – errors not
logged before a restart are saved in hardware and will be logged after the restart
•
MCA logs may be lost during this period, however system firmware will alert server
management that an MCA has occurred once the firmware update completes, and server
management will ensure the partition is reset and data integrity maintained.
Affected OS Commands
The machinfo command can print the firmware versions. This command may malfunction during
an active online complex firmware update operation when it attempts to print the BMC firmware
version, which is sourced via IPMI.
Network Services to OA
All network services provided by the OA are interrupted by the firmware update process. These
services include:
•
XML inventory query from HP-SIM
•
WS-MAN partition query from HP-SIM and plugins
•
User interface (ssh, web, telnet) for all OA services
180 Updating Firmware