Remote Upgrade to HMC v7r7.7 using Network Images Technote (FAQ)
Question
Can upgrade of an HMC from v7r3.4 or higher to v7r7.7 be accomplished remotely
using the v7760 network install image files?
Answer
Before you upgrade your HMC you will need to consider if the HMC hardware
will support the new version as well as the current managed systems' firmware levels.
You can review the hardware requirements by reading the readme for HMC V7R7.7.0 Recovery
Media (Ref A). Generally the HMC needs to be one of the 7310 or 7042 dual processor models
with 1G to 4G of memory. It is also necessary to be aware that each HMC release is designed
to work with specific system firmware levels which are documented in the "HMC /
Firmware Supported Combinations" chart (Ref B). If your managed systems are not at the levels
shown as supported for the HMC version you wish to upgrade to then you will need to consider
updating the managed system firmware before upgrading the HMC. Once you have determined that
your HMC and managed system firmware will work with the new version then you are ready to
proceed with the upgrade.
HMC CLI Commands Used
During the remote upgrade process you will make use of following commands.
saveupgdata - to save configuration data of the HMC
getupgfiles - to retrieve network install images
chhmc - to setup alternate disk boot method
hmcshutdown - to reboot the HMC
updhmc - to apply corrective service patch
IBM's FTP Repository for HMC Images
Both the getupgfiles command and updhmc command syntax used in following example will
have an IBM FTP server. If your HMC can get to the IBM FTP server used in our example
then you can enter the commands exactly as shown. If you need to use your own FTP server
because your HMC is isolated from the Internet then you will want to modify the FTP
server name and fix directory used in our example to something that works in your environment.
The IBM FTP repository for HMC as well as other product updates is ftp.software.ibm.com and HMC
has separate directories for various types of fixes as follows.
Network Install Images:
/software/server/hmc/network
HMC Updates (typically this applies to service packs)
/software/server/hmc/updates
Corrective service efixes
/software/server/hmc/fixes
Example Command Syntax Used in Remote Upgrade
The following example assumes that your HMC is at v7r3.4 or higher and you have
performed good administrative actions prior to upgrade (close open service events,
clear archived diagnostic log files and made any necessary backups required for your business).
If you have an HMC at an earlier release (i.e. v4.2.1 through v7r3.3) then you will need to
heed the special upgrade notes for HMC V7R3.4.0 (Ref D). Prior to starting an upgrade its a
good practice to perform following commands first.
chsvcevent -o closeall
chhmcfs -o f -d 0
hmcshutdown -t now -r
Example commands used to remotely upgrade to v7r7.7 with SP1.
- Save Upgrade data to HMC hard disk
saveupgdata -r disk
Note: This operation will mount a file system called /mnt/upgrade and
save configuration data then unmount /mnt/upgrade. The Operation should
only take a few moments.
- Download the network install images to the HMC
getupgfiles -h ftp.software.ibm.com -u anonymous --passwd ftp \
-d /software/server/hmc/network/v7770
Note: The getupgfiles operation will mount a filesystem called /hmcdump
and copy the install files into the directory then unmount the
filesystem.
- Set the HMC to boot from an alternate disk partition
chhmc -c altdiskboot -s enable --mode upgrade
- Reboot the HMC to begin the upgrade
hmcshutdown -r -t now
Note: the HMC will boot from the alternate disk partition then start
processing the upgrade files and this process is going to take some
time. Most installs complete between one to two hours.
After the HMC is upgraded to v7r7.7 then you will need to install the
SP1 (MH01346)
updhmc -t s -h ftp.software.ibm.com -u anonymous -p ftp \
-f /software/server/hmc/updates/HMC_Update_V7R770_SP1.iso -r
After you complete the upgrade to 777 you will want to also check
to see if any other efixes are available. The process to update with
additional efixes is similar to the commands listed above, but will not
be covered in this technote.
Things to consider when doing a remote network upgrade.
While the HMC CLI environment is restricted, there are some common
scripting commands you could use to monitor the status of network image
downloads which could be constructed as hscroot.
while true ; do
date
ls -la /hmcdump
sleep 60
done
Typically the filesystem /hmcdump remains mounted until the getupgfiles
command completely exits and might be able to determine if all files and
correct sizes were completely downloaded using such a monitor before you
proceed with the upgrade. Ordering and staging recovery media as well as
fix media on site with the HMC is a prudent action to take just in case
something goes wrong during the unattended upgrade.
Post Upgrade Verification
You can use command "lshmc -V" post upgrade to verify the build level of
your HMC.