The HMC 6.1.x Recovery DVDs perform a full installation of the Hardware Management Console. You can perform installation or upgrade tasks by using the Recovery media alone, or by upgrading to or installing HMC 6.1.x over the network. (The recovery media are not always needed for network installation.)

Before you begin any upgrade or installation task, read and follow the instructions in the Prerequisite tasks section.

Upgrade the HMC via Recovery media

Upgrade notes

If your HMC Version is lower than HMC 6.1.2, IBM recommends that you upgrade to HMC 6.1.2 from your current version, and then apply the HMC 6.1.3 Update package.

You can use the HMC 6.1.2 Recovery media and the HMC "Upgrade" task to upgrade your HMC to HMC 6.1.2 from HMC 5.x. If you are currently at HMC 4.x you MUST follow the special Upgrade instructions for upgrading from HMC 4.x to HMC 6.x.

Alternately, you can upgrade to HMC 6.1.x over the network. Network install images and upgrade instructions for HMC V6 upgrades can be found here:

For additional information, including enhancements and fixes, and known issues with this release, please see the HMC 6.1 Cumulative PTF History and Readme.

The following procedure describes the steps necessary to upgrade your HMC..

Prerequisites

  1. Order the set of HMC V6 Recovery DVDs on the Downloads page. Alternately, you can download the ISO images for the HMC 6.1 Recovery package, and then create DVDs from these ISO images by using the following procedure:

    Burning DVDs from HMC ISO images on Linux

    The HMC 6.x package consists of two or more Recovery DVDs. It is highly recommended that you obtain these media from IBM. If you wish to download the ISO images and burn your own DVDs, please make sure high-quality, single-layer, DVD-R media is used. Do not use DVD+R or DVD-RW.
  2. Review the following notes carefully.
    Notes:
    Because the HMC is a closed system, you cannot download the ISO files onto the HMC. There are no utilities available to burn DVD media on the HMC.
    The combined size of these two files is greater than 1 Gigabyte. If you are downloading these files to a server, please make sure that the operating system can handle files of this size. For UNIX systems, use the ulimit command to check the file size limit, and then change it, if necessary. Do not use the browser on the HMC to download the file onto the HMC. The download and save functions on the HMC's browser are disabled.

Upgrade procedure (from Recovery media)

You must perform a Save Upgrade Data task to preserve information on the HMC before upgrading to HMC 6.x. There is no Corrective Service to update the HMC to HMC 6.x from any Version 4 or Version 5 release.

You must upgrade immediately after the Save Upgrade Data task. If you restart the HMC again without doing the upgrade, you will need to log in and run the Save Upgrade Data task again, before you perform the Upgrade.

Follow these steps at the HMC interface to upgrade your HMC by means of the Recovery DVDs.

  1. Select Licensed Internal Code Maintenance.
  2. Select HMC Code Update.
  3. Select Save Upgrade Data and then insert a formatted DVD-RAM media into the DVD drive.
  4. Select DVD Drive and then click Continue. (In some HMC versions, you must log in to the HMC as a user with the hmcpe role, otherwise the DVD option is not selectable.)

    Note: Selecting "DVD Drive" saves the upgrade data to both the hard disk and the DVD-RAM. Therefore, you have a DVD backup of the upgrade data stored on the hard drive.
  5. Wait for the Save Upgrade Data task to complete. If the task fails, contact your next level of support before proceeding.
  6. If the Save Upgrade Data task is successful, remove the DVD-RAM, insert the first V6.1.0 recovery media into the DVD-RAM drive, select the Console menu option and then select Exit.
  7. Click Exit to display the Exit Hardware Management Console window.
  8. Click Reboot Console.
    The HMC reads the media in the DVD-RAM drive and displays the Install/Backup/Restore wizard window.
  9. Select Upgrade and then click Next.
  10. Select Upgrade from media and then click Next.
  11. Click Finish to start the Upgrade process.
  12. When prompted to insert the next media, remove the first media and then insert the second media into the DVD-RAM drive.
  13. Select Option 1 and then press Enter to continue the upgrade. When the second media is complete, the following options are displayed:
    1. Install additional software from media.
    2. Finish the installation
  14. Select Option 2, Finish the installation, to complete the Upgrade.

    The HMC restores the data preserved by the Save Upgrade Data task.

    The HMC then completes the booting process, during which you are prompted to select the language and keyboard mapping.
  15. At the Hardware Management Console login prompt, log in using your user id and password.
  16. Accept the License Agreement for Machine Code twice to complete the HMC code update.

Verifying a successful update

After the HMC is rebooted, follow these steps to verify that the HMC upgrade was successful:

  1. Select Help in the top menu bar.
  2. Select About the Hardware Management Console.
  3. On the "About" splash panel, look for updated information about the update and any fix you installed.
  4. Open the Readme for the Update you installed.
  5. Compare the "Splash panel information" listed in the Readme to the information displayed on the HMC for the Upgrade.

Additional support

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