Single file I/O ISO Image

This document provides information about the installation of Licensed Machine or Licensed Internal Code, which is sometimes referred to generically as microcode or firmware.

Single file I/O ISO Image
1.Description
2.License Agreement
3.Content of the ISO Image
4. Overview of Microcode Discovery Tools
5.Inventory Scout
6. Usage Guidelines
System Requirements
List of Packages not detectable by Inventory Scout

1.Description

This ISO image contains microcode updates for pSeries and RS/6000 systems, as well as discovery tools for use in AIX system environments. Refer to section "Usage Overview" for recommendations for your
particular situation.

Use this image and the appropriate tools to keep your machine code (sometimes referred to generically as microcode and firmware) current with the latest available. The tools will assist you in managing your own
system and I/O adapter microcode by surveying, retrieving, and in some cases installing the latest updates. We encourage you to maintain the microcode on your systems at the latest level to benefit from improvements that are continually being made to the microcode.

The Microcode Discovery Tool (MDT) on this ISO complements the IBM eServer pSeries & RS/6000 Microcode Updates website, the Microcode Discovery Service (MDS) Web site, and the Microcode Update Tool (webSM) available on AIX 5100-4 ML or AIX 5200-2 ML and later.

This image provides a way to update microcode on systems that cannot access the internet, addressing concerns of some customers regarding the security of their systems. In particular it provides:

The ability for AIX users to perform updates to microcode at times most convenient to them.

Enhanced ease of installing microcode updates by providing a comprehensive source for the latest code. This eliminates the need to make multiple diskettes from multiple download sessions. The ISO contains the latest level of microcode at the time of creation.

This ISO image will continue to be enhanced by adding microcode, improving microcode documentation, and improving the usability of the provided tools.

This "Microcode Update Files and Discovery Tool" ISO may be ordered through the IBM Software Distribution and Fulfillment (SDF) or your hardware support center via the on-demand Program Temporary Fix (PTF) process.

If you experience problems using the ISO image, please contact your IBM hardware Support Center (ISC) for assistance.

2.License Agreement

Using this image as ISO file or DVD constitutes acceptance of the enclosed License Agreement for Machine Code. Please review the enclosed license in the root directory of this image before using this product. If you do not accept the terms of this agreement, please don't use the image.

This ISO is intended primarily for use in situations where an AIX system is not connected to the internet, although it can be used on any AIX system.The microcode on this image is current on the day of creation but will become obsolete thereafter.

3.Content of the ISO Image

The latest microcode install files in several formats, for supported IBM systems and devices:

ReadMe files for each microcode file set, in HTML and text format.

Several versions of the "Inventory Scout" utility, located in the "./invscout" directory of the image.

A table containing the list of the microcode levels, in two formats (./cddownload.html, ./cddownload.txt).

Various tools to facilitate maintenance of your microcode (microcode discovery tools).

4. Overview of Microcode Discovery Tools

"WebSM" is the prefered tool, since it can also install (or 'flash') microcode, as well as determine installed levels. WebSM can also run on Hardware Management Consoles (HMCs). WebSM has the ability to obtain microcode install files from either an IBM Web site, or ISO this . WebSM is distributed on AIX media, and is not part of this Image.

The MDS Applet (available only from the MDS Web site) can survey and display results for multiple systems in one report. It can run in browsers on non-AIX hosts. The MDS Applet will automatically update
data files used by the Inventory Scout utility on surveyed hosts.

The "MDT" tool on this ISO can survey the installed microcode on an AIX system, produce a report, and copy microcode install files to local disk. It cannot install microcode however. 'MDT' runs in two
modes: graphical, and ascii text.

All of the above tools make use of a utility called "Inventory Scout", which is part of the AIX distribution.

4.1. More About the Microcode Discovery Tool (MDT)

This section provides more detail on the operation of the 'MDT' tool. The following description is based on the graphical version. the ascii version performs similar functions by means of a text command-line interface. Upon startup, 'MDT' performs the following:

Determines the level of AIX, and the Inventory Scout tool on the system

If Inventory Scout needs to be updated, the "Update Invscout" button will be enabled. Clicking this button will copy the latest version of invscout to the "/tmp/invs" directory the local disk. The user must perform the installation of Inventory Scout manually before proceeding. For installation instructions, see: https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/mds/fetch?page=invreadme.html

At this point, a microcode survey can be initiated by clicking the "Run Survey" button. If either of the data files used by invscout is old, the newer version is first copied from the ISO/DVD to the local disk. A microcode report will be generated, detailing currently installed microcode levels, available updates, and recommended actions.

The user may click links in the report to copy microcode install files for individual devices to local disk. There is also a button to copy to local disk install files for all devices which are down-level.

RPM packaged microcode files will be copied to "/tmp/microcode/RPM"

Microcode files will be copied to the location specified in the individual ReadMe file for the given microcode files. Please reference the ReadMe for the files being copied for more details.

If file access permissions do not allow the copy to the normal directory or file, then the user will be prompted for a new location.
Note: "/etc/microcode" is a symbolic link to "/usr/lib/microcode".

ReadMe files for the microcode can be viewed directly from the MDT tool by clicking the appropriate link.

The Microcode Discovery Tool utilizes several AIX commands already installed on your system. These commands may need /tmp space to run. If the tool fails running one of these commands please check the amount of /tmp space available on your system and try again.

Note: To install microcode ('flash' the system or device) you should first read and understand the ReadMe file included with each microcode package on the ISO. The individual ReadMe files contain important information critical to successful installation of the associated microcode.

5.Inventory Scout

Inventory Scout (invscout) is a low-level utility, distributed with AIX, which does the actual polling of devices to determine their microcode levels.

If you are running AIX 4.3.3 or higher, Inventory Scout should already be installed on your system. To confirm installation, run the lslpp command.
If the invscout filesets appear in the output, you are ready to use the tools on this image. If it is not installed on your system, please install it from AIX media.

The installp command to check for inventory scout on your system is:
/usr/bin/lslpp -l |grep invscout

For users below AIX 4.3.3, a version of invscout is provided in the "invscout" directory of this ISO. You need to install Inventory Scout before continuing to run a microcode survey. The 'MDT' tool can assist with this. (To obtain your AIX OS level type "oslevel". To obtain your AIX maintenance level (ML) type "oslevel -r".)

For a table describing the appropriate version of Inventory Scout for your level of AIX, see: https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/mds/fetch?page=invreadme.html

Versions of Inventory Scout before 2.0 make use of a data file called the Logical Data Base (LDB). Versions 2.0 and later make use of acatalog of microcode information. Both the LDB and microcode catalog
can and do change frequently.

6. Usage Guidelines

The following is an overview of the methods available for using this image:

1. If you have internet access:

If WebSM is installed on your system, use WebSM

If Mozilla 1.7 (with JVM 1.4.2) is installed, use the MDS Applet, at: https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/mds/fetch?page=mds.html

2. If you do not have internet access:

If WebSM is installed, use WebSM in conjunction with this ISO image.

If Java is installed, run "MDT" from the root directory.

If Java is not installed, manually select and copy install files from the image to your local disk.

If your device is in the list of devices that are not detectable by inventory scout (see below), copy and install these microcode files manually.

Manual copy and installation manually is always possible.

The "which_tool" script can assist in determining the best way to use this image. Run "which_tool" from the root directory, on the system you wish to survey for microcode. It will determine which method is suggested by IBM for your particular situation and help you get started with the suggested tool.

6.1. Using MDT tool

1. Log in as root user or as a user whose primary group is "system". (Type "/usr/bin/groups " to determine the primary group of a user ID. The first group in the list will be the primary group.)

2. Type "/cdrom/MDT" and press the key.

If your CD-ROM is mounted at a location other than "/cdrom" (eg: "/mnt") use that mount point instead, eg: "/mnt/MDT".
If an X-Windows display is available, 'MDT' will operate in graphical mode. If not, it will drop automatically to ascii text mode. To force text mode, supply option '-x' to MDT.

3. If running in graphical mode, click the "Run Survey" button, then copy appropriate microcode files to disk by clicking the appropriate links in the microcode report.

If running in text mode, respond to the questions and options presented by the program to generate the report and complete the copy of microcode to disk.

4. After you have copied the microcode to disk, review each ReadMe file to understand and complete the microcode installation process.

Note: If you are running MDT as root, and the X-Windows display server is not owned by root, you must first enable MDT to use the display. This is done by typing "xhost +[host_name]", in a shell of the user which owns the display. (Replace [host_name] with the name of the AIX system the display is connected to.) The "DISPLAY" environment variable may also be set in the environment where MDT is run, to direct the output to an X-Windows display on another host. If "DISPLAY" is not set, the MDT script will set it to indicate the local host.

6.2. Manual Copy and Install

1. Reference the table provided in file "cddownload.txt" in the root directory of the image to find the location of the microcode package to be updated, and its associated ReadMe file.

Caution: Be careful to select the proper firmware for your system as system damage can occur by attempting to install incorrect firmware.

To identify the machine type and model of an AIX system, type "uname -M" on that system.

2. Manually copy the microcode file(s) to the appropriate directory of your system.
3. Read the associated Read-Me file before microcode installation, since it contains important information critical to a successful installation of the microcode.

4.Install the microcode per the instructions in the associated ReadMe.

6.3. Remote Installation of Microcode

Remote installation of microcode consists of copying microcode files to the proper directory on a remote system or systems, and then remotely executing the same commands that you would on the local system to update microcode. You can manually copy and install microcode files that you acquired from the ISO or Web to other systems anywhere in your network. Before attempting to do this, read the specific read me installation instructions for the microcode you want to install.

1. On the remote system, you will need root authority to install microcode and you will need to ensure that you have sufficient file system space.
2. Copy, in binary format, the new microcode into the specified directory of the remote system or systems to be updated using whatever protocol you use to transfer files.
3. Do a checksum on the files to be sure they copied correctly.
4. Login as root to the remote system and execute the installation command(s) indicated in the individual microcode installations.This will cause the remote system to install the microcode and, in some cases, cause the system to reboot.
5. To ensure that the microcode installed properly, we suggest that you query the VPD on the remote system to see that the new microcode is installed

7. System Requirements

7.1. Linux requirements

The Discovery tool (MDT) only works with AIX. The Web based microcode discovery tool (MDS Applet) works with all AIX systems, and Linux on an HMC terminal. The Update tool (webSM) works with all AIX systems and Linux on an HMC terminal.

Microcode files in "RPM" format can be copied and installed on a Linux system by following the instructions in section "Detailed Usage"/"Manual Copy and Install" (above), and in the specific microcode package read-me file.

7.2. AIX requirements

The microcode discovery tool (MDT) included in the image is designed for use on supported AIX systems running 4.3.3 or later which have Java installed.

Logical Partitioning (LPAR):

LPAR allows for one physical machine to be logically divided into several smaller machines. This gives users the flexibility and protection to run different levels of AIX and even different operating systems on the same physical machine. The following considerations should be noted when installing microcode on a machine running LPAR:

Microcode may only be downloaded to hardware in a partition running AIX. Linux does not support microcode download at this time.

The microcode installer must work with the system administrator to determine in what partition (if any) the ISO image or DVD-ROM are assigned to.

The microcode installer must ensure that all hardware is configured into a partition to be updated. Hardware not associated with a partition will NOT be updated and has the ability to log AIX errors via the Service Processor.

The microcode installer should follow the remote install instructions to successfully update the hardware in all partitions.

List of Packages not detectable by Inventory Scout

The following is a list of microcode packages that Inventory Scout, and therefore any microcode discovery tool, are unable to match with a device. Note that these are undetectable microcode packages: even if
your system is in this list you can still run a microcode discovery tool on that system to detect microcode for other devices.

Please check to see if any of the devices below are installed in your system(s).
If it appears that your device is listed, refer to the "Manual Copy and Install" section above under "Detailed Usage".

Description	Feature Code	Location on Image
10/100 Mbps Ethernet PCI Adapter II Auto Token-Ring LAN Streamer MC 32 SysKonnect SK-NET-FDDI-PCI SSA MCA Enhanced RAID Adapter SSA MCA RAID Adapter SSA PCI Enhanced RAID Adapter SSA PCI RAID Adapter SSA MCA 4-Port Adapter SSA Enhanced Microchannel Adapter SSA Disk Drive (DGHC) SSA Disk Drive (DRHC) SSA Disk Drive (DRVC) SSA Disk Drive ST37340 SSA Disk Drive ST31830 SSA Disk Drive ST33660 SSA Disk Drive (UCPR) 8mm Tape Library (7334-410) VXA 80GB Tape Drive (7206-VX2) CD-ROM Drive 32X	(FC 4962) (FC 2972) (FC 2741,2742,2743) (FC 6219) (FC 6217) (FC 6215,6219) (FC 6218) (FC 6214) (FC 6216)	microcode/F4962_A microcode/F2972_A microcode/F2741_A microcode/F6219_A microcode/F6217_A microcode/F6215_A microcode/F6218_A microcode/F6214_A microcode/F6216_A microcode/SSA_DGHC microcode/SSA_DRHC microcode/SSA_DRVC microcode/ST3xxxx5LW-LC microcode/ST3xxxx5LW-LC microcode/ST3xxxx5LW-LC microcode/SSA_UCPR microcode/M7334-410 microcode/F6120_A microcode/32xcdrom.html