Artesyn ATCA-8330 Installation and Use (April 2015) - Manual (Page 137)

Intelligent Peripheral Management Controller
ATCA-8330 Installation and Use (6806800S82B) 137
7.3.2 Payload Firmware Upgrade
Executing two BIOS firmware upgrades without a payload reset does not upgrade both flashes
for security reason (just the backup flash can be programmed). Crisis recovery is supported
fully (two broken BIOS images can be reprogrammed via IPMI with the help of the ShMM).
7.3.3 IPMC Firmware Upgrade
The HPM1 component IPMI firmware stores its active and backup image within one physical
flash. A small boot-loader is used to either switch to the active or to the backup image
depending on the boot flags indicating successful boot. The boot-loader is implemented as
HPM1 component as well; however there is no backup image.
The boot-loader maintains redundant copies of the firmware in flash. Each time the IPMI
firmware is upgraded, a redundant copy of the current IPMI firmware is made in flash. Once the
new IPMI firmware is programmed, the IPMI controller will reset itself to boot from the new
image. The boot loader also validates new IPMI firmware images. Provided the IPMI controller
can power up successfully the actual image is made active and the previously active image is
made backup. In case of power up fails, the boot loader will automatically recover from crisis
and boots from the image before.
The IPMI controller can be upgraded via KCS or IPMB interface. To ensure that the payload is not
interrupted during IPMI firmware upgrade, the IPMI controller is storing all operational
information (e-keying, hot-swap state, last events to be queued, graceful shutdown timeout,
latest pin settings and so on) in non-volatile storage.
The HPM1 component BIOS is implemented with two SPI flashes, one active and one backup.
The IPMC always upgrades the backup boot flash as intended. The HPM1 command "Activate
Firmware" does not reboot the payload firmware unconditionally. Instead the blade can be
rebooted gracefully to activate the firmware.