Services Unavailable; Management Processor Access - HP Integrity Superdome 2 16-socket User Manual

new partition firmware packages (system firmware) will require a partition reboot to activate, but
the timing of such an operation can be done on an individual nPartition basis as determined by
the operator to best fit their individual needs.
When performing an online complex firmware update, Superdome 2 server management capabilities
are inactive, and this is something which operators should keep in mind. It should not be surprising
that server management entities throughout the Superdome 2 complex will bear responsibility to
update their own firmware Flash ROMs, reboot updated firmware images, and reestablish internal
communications with each other, but it is important to remind operators what kinds of management
services will become temporarily unavailable at the server level during an online complex firmware
update operation. This information is being provided to inform the user of such server management
limitations, but will not be a complete listing of all possible consequences which may be encountered
during an online complex firmware update.
Please note that Superdome 2 systems not already running a firmware bundle released prior to
(numbered lower than) 2.2.27 do not possess the capability to perform an online complex firmware
update, so it should be understood that updating to a future firmware bundle from firmware release
1.3.1, for example, must be performed with all partitions taken offline, and the xfabric powered
off.

Services unavailable

Superdome 2 server management features are unavailable during the process of an online complex
firmware update. System firmware will continue to operate and support the OS running on partitions
in the complex, however, certain activities may require system firmware to interact with server
management firmware, and these operations will not work during the actual process of executing
an online complex firmware update. These partition/complex firmware interactions may either be
delayed until after the complex firmware update operation has completed, or may be dropped or
only partially used. Legacy sx2000 Superdome systems also supported online update of server
management entities (MP, ED, PDHC, CLU), and performing such updates held similar consequences
for that platform.
The following table shows the major classes of server management services which the OS and
applications use during normal runtime and details their Availability or Unavailability during the
online complex firmware update process:
Service
Management processor access (for example: poweron/off,
restart, TOC, console, logs)
IPMI services
Console service to OS
System firmware services during boot, shutdown, MCA,
INIT and CMC logging operations
Network management services (SD2 has additional
services). OS-debugger, HP-SIM XML query, HP-SUM SOAP
query, WEBES ws-manage events and query.

Management Processor access

When an online complex firmware update is initiated, all current users are disconnected from the
OA for the duration of the complex firmware update process. This includes all OA CLI and GUI
sessions, with one possible exception: If the operator initiates the firmware update from the CLI,
then this session will remain active to allow for tracking the progress of the update for all but the
last few minutes. The time it takes for a complex firmware update to complete is highly variable
based on system size and complexity (bigger systems take longer), and the number of firmware
Status during online complex firmware update
Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable, and some character loss is possible if the
buffer fills up
Available
Unavailable
Complex Information: Firmware Management 69