Kontron AM5030 IPMI - Manual (Page 32)

IPMI Firmware User Guide AM5030
Page 32 ID: 1042-7364, Rev. 1.0
5. Firmware Code
5.1 Structure and Functionality
MMC firmware code is organized into boot code and operational code (IPMI Firmware). Both
are stored in the internal flash of the micro-controller.
An additional external serial flash device is used for holding redundant copies of the operational
code. This additional flash device is organized to have two banks. One of them will always hold
a copy of the active operational code. The other firmware bank holds either a newly download-
ed firmware or the 'previous good' operational code for rollback.
Upon a MMC start or reset, the controller first executes the boot code. The boot code will check
the status of the firmware banks and calculate a checksum of the operational code. Upon suc-
cessful verification of the operational code checksum, the firmware will execute the operational
code. The operational code is upgradable in the field.
5.2 Firmware Upgrade
The standard way to upgrade the MMC's operational code is to use the open tool “ipmitool” (see
Table 2, Related Publications). This tool allows download and activation of new operational
code and also rollback to the 'last known good' operational code. Additionally, the status and
the firmware version of the redundant firmware copies can be checked.
For local or remote firmware upgrade the following IPMI interfaces are available:
• KCS interface (locally, requires active payload, but fast)
• IPMB (remote, independent of the payload state)
• LAN (remote, via IOL, requires also active payload)
During the download process the currently running operational code operates as usual until the
activation command is issued. During the activation process the MMC is off line for about 45
seconds while the boot code is re-organizing the firmware storage. Afterwards, it starts the new
operational code. If this doesn't succeed, after a time out the boot code performs an automatic
rollback to the 'last known good' operational code.
5.2.1 Firmware File Formats
Firmware images for upgrade are provided in two formats:
• Firmware in binary format, e.g. FW_IPMI___FWUM.bin,
for usage with
‘
ipmitool fwum ..
’ commands.
• Firmware images in the PICMG defined HPM.1 file format,
e.g. FW_IPMI_>__FWUM.hpm,
for usage with ‘
ipmitool hpm ..
’ commands.
Where:
identifies to board family of the MMC’s firmware
identifies to release (version) of MMC’s firmware.