Hardware Management Console

This upgrade method, uses the network upgrade images to upgrade an HMC that is currently at HMC 5.2.1 from a remote location. This method can only be used if the HMC is currently running HMC 5.2.1

Follow these basic steps.

1. Download the HMC network images from this page, and put them on an FTP server:
   HMC 5.2.1 network installation images
   You can use the Download Director link to download all the files simultaneously to the FTP server.
2. On the HMC, you must first save upgrade data by running the following command:
   saveupgdata -r diskdvd
3. Next, run the getupgfiles command to copy the files over to the bootable disk partition on the HMC.
4. After the files are copied over, run the following command
   chhmc -c altdiskboot -s enable --mode upgrade
   Now the HMC is ready to be rebooted and automatically upgraded with the code copied to the bootable disk partition.
5. Finally, issue the hmcshutdown -r -t now command to reboot the HMC and start the upgrade.

Note:
To perform a network Install/Backup/Restore, the HMC must be shut down and restarted. If you perform an install or restore operation, all data on the HMC hard drive will be lost.

The integrated Ethernet adapter on the HMC can be selected as a startup device, capable of sending Pre-boot Execution Environment (PXE) requests. This allows a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server in the same network, capable of accepting PXE requests, to acknowledge and serve an IP address to the HMC. Subsequently, the HMC can then contact the server to start in an environment that will allow it to backup/restore data on the HMC, install or upgrade the code on HMC over the network.

Prerequisites

To perform a network boot of the HMC, you must have the following:

1. A system that has dhcp, nfs and tftp servers installed and running. Linux is recommended, and is used in the example that follows. To perform a backup/restore in secure mode, you also need to have ssh server running on the system.
2. The system must be network accessible by the HMC, and be able to communicate with dhcp/tftp. Please note that many gateways block dhcp and tftp access by default. To reduce such issues, it is recommended that the system and HMC are connected to the same switch, and that the switch permits dhcp/tftp.
3. The syslinux package must be installed on the system, in order to have the boot loader file pxelinux.0.
4. The required HMC images. Download these images from the downloads page.

Server setup

The following steps describe the setup required on the server to allow an HMC to contact and perform an install/backup/restore operation over the network. The server in these steps is installed with SuSE 9.2.

In this example, it is assumed that the dhcp/tftp server resides on a private network and the address of the server is 192.168.1.1. It is also assumed that this server has the authority to give out addresses in the range of 192.168.1.101 to 192.168.1.200.

1. Login as root. Check the configuration file /etc/xinetd.d/tftp and look up the server_args. The default setting is usually /var/tftp.
2. Create the directory /var/tftp by running the mkdir -p /var/tftp command.
3. Edit the /etc/dhcpd.conf file, and then add the following 2 lines if they are not already in the file:
   
   allow bootp;
   allow booting;
4. A sample dhcpd.conf file is shown below:
   
   allow bootp;
   allow booting;
   ddns-update-style none;
   default-lease-time 14400;
   max-lease-time 172800;
   subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 256.156.155.0 {
   range 192.168.1.100 192.168.1.200;
   option routers 192.168.1.1;
   option domain-name "somecompany.com";
   option domain-name-servers 192.168.1.1;
   filename "pxelinux.0";
   }
   
   This file specifies the range of IP addresses to be served by the DHCP server. That is, one of the IP address in this range is assigned to the HMC when it broadcasts a request to obtain an IP address.
5. The bootloader to use is pxelinux.0 under the /var/tftp directory. This file is part of the syslinux package and normally resides in the /usr/lib/syslinux directory. Copy this file to the /var/tftp directory. IBM recommends that you use pxelinux.0 version 3.11 or higher.
6. Create two directories: /var/tftp/hmc and /var/tftp/pxelinux.cfg.
7. Download the bzImage and initrd.gz files, and then copy them to the /var/tftp/hmc directory.
8. Create a directory, for example, /home/hmc, and then do an NFS export of this directory. To use this directory to back up the HMC over the network, you must allow write access to it.
9. Download the disk1.img, disk2.img and disk3.img files, and then copy them to the /home/hmc directory.
10. Create a file named default in the /var/tftp/pxelinux.cfg directory, containing the following data:
    
    default hmc
    label hmc
       kernel hmc/bzImage
       append initrd=hmc/initrd.gz media=network server=192.168.1.1 dir=/home/hmc mode=manual vga=0x317
    
    This default configuration file indicates that the bzImage kernel file will be loaded from the /var/tftp/hmc directory. The parameters passed to the kernel tell the HMC the following:
• To use the initrd.gz file in the /var/tftp/hmc directory as the RAM disk
• That the server's IP address is 192.168.1.1
• The /home/hmc/ directory on the server will have the necessary images.
11. The server is now ready to accept HMC requests.

Upgrading the HMC

Follow these steps to save upgrade data before upgrading the HMC:

1. Select Licensed Internal Code Maintenance
2. Select Save Upgrade Data
3. Select Hard drive, and then continue:
   Wait for the task to complete. If the Save Upgrade Data task fails, contact your next level
   of support before proceeding.

Follow these steps to upgrade the HMC:

1. Shutdown and restart the HMC by using the hmcshutdown command or by exiting the console.
2. When the HMC restarts, the following options are displayed momentarily:
   Press F1 for Setup
   Press F12 for Startup Device
   If the F12 option is not displayed::
   
   Press F1, and then specify the network interface as one of the startup devices via the BIOS Setup utility, as follows:
1. From BIOS Setup, find and select Startup or Start Options, and then Startup Sequence to view the list of startup devices.
2. Depending on the type of HMC (desktop or rack-mount), use the +/- key or arrow key to make the network interface an entry in the startup list, after the hard disk.
3. If the HMC is a desktop, find and enable the Start up Device Menu prompt. This action allows you to press the F12 key when the HMC powers on, and then select the network device in your startup list.
4. For the CR2 or CR3 machine type, the Planar Ethernet PXE/DHCP entry should have Planar Ethernet 1 and Planar Ethernet 2. On desktop HMC machines, press the Esc key, and then select Devices -> Network Setup. Make sure that both PXE Boot Agent and PXE Base code are set to Enabled. Network installation does not occur if these two settings are not enabled.

When you have finished, save the settings, and then exit the BIOS setup utility to restart the boot process. At this point, continue with the next step.
3. Press the F12 key, and then select the network adapter. The specified network adapter then becomes the startup device for this instance of the boot, while the existing startup device list remains unchanged.
   
   Note: If you did not press the F12 key in time to select the network adapter as the startup device, the HMC restarts from the hard disk. If the HMC restarts, data preserved by the Save Upgrade Data task is restored when the HMC completes the boot process and displays the HMC login dialog. Log in and run the Save Upgrade Data task again before starting the upgrade.
4. If you press the F1 key, the BIOS setup menu is invoked. In this mode, you can select the Startup menu, and then follow instructions to permanently change your startup device. IBM recommends that you do not permanently set the network adapter as a startup device before the hard disk.
5. The HMC now broadcasts a request to obtain an IP address, and is given one by the dhcp server.
6. Next, the HMC obtains the bzImage and initrd.gz files from the tftp server, and then starts the boot process.
7. The Install/Backup/Restore Wizard panel is then displayed.

8. Select Upgrade, and then press Next to continue.
9. Select the network interface to use. In this example, where there is one server dedicated to provide the network install/backup/restore capability, select the Default settings. Selecting Default tells the HMC to use the same network interface that originally contacted the server to load the bzImage and initrd.gz files. Press Next to continue.
10. The summary panel is displayed. The Remote Directory value should be /home/hmc, and the Remote host value should show the IP address of the server, as specified in the default PXE configuration file. Press Finish to start the upgrade process.
11. If there is upgrade data previously preserved, it is restored. After upgrade data have been restored, the HMC login dialog is displayed.

If HMC Recovery DVDs are available, they can be used to start the HMC, then a server can be contacted to perform the upgrade operation. This method is useful when you do not have the setup to provide DHCP or PXE to the HMC. You will still need to have NFS on the remote system.

Server setup

For install/upgrade/backup using NFS:

1. Create a /home/hmc directory on the server. Export this directory. Write access is required if you wish to use this directory for backup.
2. Download the disk1.img, disk2.img and disk3.img files and copy them to the /home/hmc directory.

Upgrading the HMC

Follow these steps:

1. Insert the first volume of the Recovery DVD set into the HMC's DVD-RAM drive.
2. Shut down and restart the HMC.
3. The HMC begins to read the DVD media and starts the boot process.
4. An Install/Backup/Restore wizard is displayed.
5. Select Upgrade and then press Next.
6. Select the network interface to upgrade from network, and then press Next.
7. Select Static IP address, enter the required information for the HMC network interface, and then press Next.
8. Enter the IP address or the host name of the server. For hostname, use the fully qualified hostname. Next, enter the fully qualified file name for the file, on the remote server, to be used for the process. In this example, the file name is /home/hmc/<some file name>.tgz file. Press Next.
9. A summary panel is displayed. Review the information, and then press Finish to start the upgrade process.
10. The HMC continues the boot process after the operation completes, restore previously upgrade data, then displays the HMC login dialog.

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