Hardware Management Console Readme

For use with Version 5 Release 1.1

Date: November 11, 2005

(C) Copyright International Business Machines Corp., 2005 All rights reserved.
 

Introduction

The information in this Readme contains hints and errata information about the Hardware Management Console. Please consult the HMC's technical support Web site for up to date information. (http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/hmc/power5).

All releases of the HMC Version 4.x machine code will manage an iSeries Server, but a pSeries Server requires HMC Version 4.2 (or greater) machine code.

 

Hints and Tips:

·       To launch the browser, right mouse click on the desktop to bring up the menu. Select "Net" and then "Browser".

·       To start a restricted shell terminal, right mouse click on the desktop to bring up the menu. Select "Terminals" and then "rshterm".

·       Currently, HMC only stores 4 service processor dumps and 4 platform system dumps per managed system.

·       Changes of a partition profile do not apply to the partition immediately. The changes will only take effect on the partition when activation is done through the profile.

·       If users are interested in keylock positions and SRC values when performing Operator Panel Service Functions through Service Focal Point, they can be viewed from the Server and Partition plugin.

·       To view system event logs, you must login as a user with ‘hmcpe’ role. From Service Applications, select Service Focal Point -> Service Utilities -> Actions -> View Problem Logs.

·       HMC Version 4 Release 2 or higher is required to manage pSeries Power5 servers.

·       HMC has enabled UTF-8 locale support. This additional support is currently only available through the command line. To enable the new locales, execute the following command: chhmc -c <locale> -s modify -l <locale name>.

·       HMC has enabled additional keyboard support. There are multiple pages for the keyboard configuration. During the keyboard configuration, enter 98 to go the next page and 97 to go to the previous page.

 

Enhancements and Changes in V5R1.1

HMC Version 4 Release 3 and up now enables Ext3 File System. If you wish to take advantage of journaled file system, you must install or upgrade your HMC using the Version 4 Release 3 and  up Recovery CDs.

 

Server and Partition:

·       Server Management:

o      Provides support to configure Host Channel Adapter.

o      Provides support for Mobile CoD.

o      Provides support for Enhanced Manage On/Off CoD.

o      Provides support for Virtual IO Server Shared Ethernet failover.

o      Provides support for IO Server Enhancements for VIOS and RPA partitions.

o      Provides support for Redundant FSP with Dynamic failover.

HMC Code Update:

·       Provides Full Backup and Restore via Network.

LIC Code Update:

·       Deferred fixes.  Deferred fixes have actually existed in firmware fixpacks since GA5, but the HMC ignored them.  In GA6, support was added to display a message at the end of code update to show that there were deferred fixes that have not been activated.  The "system information" panels and lslic command have also been changed to display the deferred fix level..

HMC Command Line:

·       The following commands have been added:

·       asmmenu – launches the Advanced System Management (ASM) browser interface

·       lsmediadev – lists the storage media devices on the HMC

·       An option has been added to the getdump, lsdump, and startdump commands to allow those commands to be targeted to the secondary service processor.

·       An option has been added to the lscod command to list Mobile Capacity on Demand (CoD) code generation information.

·       The chhwres command has been enhanced so that a virtual slot number is no longer required to be specified when adding a virtual I/O adapter.

·       The chsyscfg command has been enhanced to allow the power-on option to be set for a managed system.

·       The chsysstate command has been enhanced so that a partition profile is no longer required to be specified when activating a partition on a managed system that is in the manufacturing default configuration.

·       The following commands have been enhanced to support Host Channel adapters (HCA): chsyscfg, lshwres, lssyscfg, and mksyscfg.

·       The following commands have been enhanced to support virtual Ethernet trunk adapter priorities: chhwres, chsyscfg, lshwres, lssyscfg, and mksyscfg.

·       The following commands have been enhanced to support the addition of the partition workload group ID attribute to partition profiles: chsyscfg, lssyscfg, and mksyscfg.

·       The following commands have been enhanced to support service processor failover: chsyscfg, chsysstate, and lssyscfg.

·       The following commands have been enhanced to support locale setting: chhmc and lshmc.

 

National Language Support:

·       BiDi (Bi-directional), UTF-8, and other locales.

·       Additional keyboards support.

 

Known Issues:

Server and Partition:

·       Dynamic partition configuration for memory move can take a while. During that time, no other operation can be performed on the partition. 

·       After configuring your network setting, make sure to reboot your HMC. Otherwise, dynamic logical partitioning for AIX/Linux partitions may not work.

·       Users cannot change virtual Opticonnect and HSL Opticonnect settings through the GUI without activating the changes through a partition profile. Users can change the settings dynamically through the command line interface.

Usage: chhwres -m <managed system name> -r virtualio –-rsubtype virtualopti -p <partition name> -o s –a “virtual_opti_pool_id=[0|1]”

Usage: chhwres –m <managed system name> -r virtualio -–rsubtype hsl –p <partition name> -o s –a “hsl_pool_id=[0|1]”

·       Error messages for some Dynamic Logical Partitioning tasks give ‘AIX’ as the partition type even though it’s actually a Linux partition.

·       Unable to perform Dynamic Logical Partitioning virtual I/O remove operations if the partition does not have a current profile.

·       The HMC will display the wrong device information since the feature code 2849 is used for two different adapters :

OS/40                  p Linux                p AIX

    PCI 100/10Mbps Ethernet IOA           2849                    n/a                        n/a

    PCI 2D Graphics Accelerator               n/a                        2849                    2849

Only a visual inspection of the slot on the machine will be able to determine if the adapter is a Ethernet card or a Graphics card. Once the partition is activated with the adapter in the profile, the description should display proper adapter information.

·       After an FSP is replaced in a Power5 server, i5/OS partitions will not IPL properly and get B2xx 3110 SRC and B2xx 3200 SCR’s since the IPL Source is changed on the partition to D. On the HMC go to the Partition Properties Panel and select the Setting tab and change the IPL Source value and re-IPL the partition.

 

LIC Code Update:

·       If the HMC remote client loses its connection while it is downloading firmware, the download fails. Retry the operation “Change internal Code” might fail again with the message “Object is busy, and the task cannot handle busy objects”. Reboot the HMC and retry the “Change internal Code” operation.

·       Updating Licensed Internal Code on multiple Managed Systems in a p575 within the same power frame can be updated simultaneously by using the following procedure:

1.    Select one Managed System in each frame from the "Target Option Selection" panel.  This will update Licensed Internal Code on the Power Subsystem and the selected Managed System.

2.    Select the remaining Managed Systems in all frames from the "Target Option Selection" panel.  This will update Licensed Internal Code on the remaining Managed Systems.  The Power Subsystem was already updated in Step 1 and will not be updated again.

 

     Note that after Licensed Internal Code has been updated in Step 1, the image is saved on the HMC.  The "disk" repository can then be used for subsequent updates in Step 2.

·       Recovery procedure when error message “ACT01724 The operation failed due to an internal code failure”. Verify that the sate of the managed systems and frames are connected using the command line “lssysconn –r all”, and then retry the operation.

·       When LIC Code Update is in progress, the Frame state changes from standby/standby to standby/unavailable. This change may happen if a power dump is in progress, and the code update operation will fail. Wait for the Frame state to change back to standby/standby, and then retry the operation.

·       The following message will be displayed when a concurrent Licensed Internal Code update is initiated from the HMC:

Notice:  “Do not perform any configuration or management operations on the managed system while Licensed Internal Code is being updated”.

Note: Performing a concurrent Licensed Internal Code update will require the Service Processor to be reset as part of the process. This reset will cause any operations that are in progress to be disrupted. Therefore, it is highly recommend that you do not perform any tasks on the managed-system that is being updated until the firmware update is complete. However, if an operation does occur, the code update might still complete correctly and the operation might also complete correctly. If there is a failure, please allow the concurrent firmware update to complete before retrying a new operation. If the concurrent firmware update fails, please remove the corrupted image and retry the concurrent Licensed Internal Code update again.

·       Recovery procedure when error message “HSCF0052W Frame tttt-mmm*sssssss is locked by another process.” Is shown when performing Licensed Internal Code Update Operation on the p5 595, i5 595, p5 590 and p5 575 managed systems, verify that no other frame operations that uses the lock listed below:

·       Repair and Verify Operation

·       Initilaize Frame Operation

·       Set Frame Number Operation

·       Licensed Internal Code Update

 

     is in progress on a remote HMC or on a dual HMC. Then issue the rmlock command to force release the HMC lock on a managed frame.

     Usage: rmlock  –e <frame name>

 

 

National Language Support:

·       Mnemonics are not supported in double byte and ru locales.

·       The HMC uses several external components. These components are not developed by the HMC team and are translated as part of a separate translation plan and schedule. The mix of English and translated text is an unavoidable situation and has the potential to occur anytime the HMC is updated or pulls in a new version of an external application that is updated in between its normally scheduled translation cycles. 

·       Due to the limitation of groff, some characters in the output of "man" command might be corrupted in traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese and Korean when the window is too narrow. Widen the window and retry the command again.

·       If the browser on the HMC is used to view Japanese PDF files, Japanese text will not be displayed correctly in the bookmark page.

·       Korean input is supported. Press Shift-Space to switch between English and Korean input mode.

·       Traditional and Simplified Chinese input is supported in zh_TW and zh_CN locales. Press CTRL-Space to switch between English and Chinese  input mode. Press CTRL-Shift to select an input method. Press space bar to see more Chinese characters.

·       Japanese input is supported. Press Shift-Space to switch between English and Japanese input mode.

·       User ID, User information, HMC User password, Partition name, managed system name, profile name and system  profile name are in English only.

·       IBM275 doesn't work well when connecting from IBM Personal Communications or iSeries Access to an HMC. Use another Brazil codepage. The codepage "IBM930 Japan Katakana" doesn't work well either. Use "IBM930 Japan Katakana Extended" instead.

·       An ibm5250 session opened on the HMC locally will be in the same locale as the one that is set for the HMC. To open a session in a different locale, change the HMC locale first, logout, login and then invoke ibm5250. The other option is to connect to the HMC using a remote emulator, e.g. IBM Personal Communications or iSeries Access, in the desired locale.

 

              

    Security Fixes:

CAN-2003-0989

tcpdump remote DOS

CAN-2004-0078

 mutt remote buffer overflow

CAN-2004-0110

 libxml2 URI Parsing Remote Buffer Overflow

CAN-2004-0109
CAN-2004-0181

Linux kernel ISO9660/JFS local privilege escalation, info leak

CAN-2004-0183

tcpdump ISAKMP remote DOS

CAN-2004-0427 
CAN-2004-0424 
CAN-2004-0229 
CAN-2004-0228 
CAN-2004-0394 

Linux kernel privilege escalation, local DoS

CAN-2004-0174
CAN-2003-0020
CAN-2003-0993
CAN-2003-0542

apache - multiple vulnerabilities

CAN-2004-0554

Linux kernel "__clear_fpu()" Macro local DoS

CAN-2004-0523

kerberos aname_to_localname remote root compromise

CAN-2004-0492

apache: remote overflow in mod_proxy

CAN-2004-0460
CAN-2004-0461
VU#317350
VU#654390

dhcp-server: remote system compromise

CVE-2002-1363

libpng remote DoS

CAN-2004-0590

Certificate chain authentication in Openswan pluto

CAN-2004-0649

L2tpd: remote execution of arbitrary files w/ privs of l2tpd user

VU#388984
VU#236656
VU#160448
VU#477512
VU#817368
VU#286464
CAN-2004-0597
CAN-2004-0598
CAN-2004-0599

libpng: multiple vulnerabilities

CAN-2004-0415

kernel: local privilege escalation, race condition in file offset pointer handling

VU#550464
CAN-2004-0644

krb5:  remote unauthenticated DoS

CAN-2004-0817

imlib: local execution via heap overflow

CAN-2004-0687
CAN-2004-0688

xf86: multiple buffer overflows with malformed xpm images

CAN-2004-0966

gettext: Insecure temporary file handling

CAN-2004-0804
CAN-2004-0886

tiff: Buffer overflows in image decoding

CAN-2004-0884

Cyrus-sasl2: (ver2.1.7)Insecure handling of environment variable

CAN-2004-0971

krb5: krb5-workstation: Possible symlink attack, priv escalation via temproary file mishandling

CAN-2004-0989

 libxml: remote code execution, buffer overflow

CAN-2004-0975

Openssl: possible symlink attack via temp file mishandling

CAN-2004-0940

Apache: local buffer overflow in get_tag function in mod_include

SUSE-SA:2004:041

 xf86: SuSE security updates for libxpm

CAN-2004-0782

imlib: SuSE xpm security updates in imlib

CAN-2004-1010

zip: buffer overflow in info-zip when using recursive folder compression

CAN-2004-1308

tiff: multiple buffer overflows

CAN-2004-0986

iptables: variable init failure can cause failure to load firewall rules

CAN-2004-0883
CAN-2004-0949
CAN-2004-1070
CAN-2004-1071
CAN-2004-1072
CAN-2004-1073
CAN-2004-1074

kernel: SuSE update for multiple local and remote DoS vulnerabilities

CAN-2005-0155
CAN-2004-0452
CAN-2005-0077

Perl: SuSE security update to address two priv escalation and a buffer overflow condition

CAN-2005-0449
CAN-2005-0209
CAN-2005-0529
CAN-2005-0530
CAN-2005-0532
CAN-2005-0384
CAN-2005-0210
CAN-2005-0504
CAN-2004-0814
CAN-2004-1333
CAN-2005-0003

SuSE updates for multiple issues on 2.4-2.6.11 kernels

CAN-2005-1993

sudo: vulnerabilities allow execution of arbitrary commands

CAN-2005-1267
CAN-2005-1278
CAN-2005-1279
CAN-2005-1280

tcpdump: fix for several DOS vulnerabilities

CAN-2005-1151                           
CAN-2005-1152                
CAN-2005-1349                            
CAN-2005-0103                 
CAN-2005-0104                  
CAN-2005-1455                 
CAN-2005-1454                  
CAN-2004-1456 - CAN-2004-1470

tiff: buffer overflow allows execution of arbitrary code

 

Miscellaneous Functions:

·       Help Search is not supported. However, Find is supported for Help.

·       Printing is not supported.

·       The numerical keypad on some keyboards doesn't work. Use the normal numerical keys instead.

·       When your power5 system is shipped to you it is in a non-HMC managed mode by default. Once you attach and set up an HMC to manage your power5 system, the default non-HMC managed mode is exited. The procedure to return to the default non-HMC managed mode is documented on the InfoCenter website under “Resetting the server to a non partitioned configuration”. The following link will redirect you to the document.

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/eserver/v1r2s/en_US/info/iphbl/iphblresetserver.htm