How to upgrade AIX Firmware & TL Maintenance Level in AIX
Steps to upgrade AIX TL ( technology Level ) / Maintenance Level in AIX ( including Firmware HMC VIOS )
This article or post covers upgrades for
- Hardware Management Console ( HMC )
- Firmware ( also known as microcode )
- VIO ( Virtual I/O Server = PowerVM )
- AIX Version, Technology Level and Maintenance Level
HMC upgrade
- Upgrading on 2 x HMCs ( 1 for each machine )
- Lpars were running during the upgrade
Steps:
1. Save Upgrade Data - HMC configuration will then be automatically loaded once the update is done.
2. boot from the 1st DVD update.
3. once done with disc 1, it will prompt you for the second disk.
4. once done, the new HMC web based interface will show up (very differenct, and kind of slow when accessed remotely).
5. to apply SP1, insert the SP1 Disc (MH01084) , login as hscroot. look for "Updates" on the left fram of the HMC interface.
6. click on Update HMC and click on OK. the default is to look for the update in the DVD/CD drive..
and just reply to the prompts. if there are no problmes, it will take about 15-20 minutes for the service pack. HMC upgrade, in total, will take about an hour to finish.
firwmare updates for the two machines (we actually have 3 - p550, p550q and p570) were all the same. so need only to burn 1 ISO file. But the HMC won't read the discs. so downloaded the RPM and xml files and setup an FTP server (good thing i have proftpd installed in a GNU/Linux machine).
after starting up proftpd and making sure the files are accessible, i then went back to the HMC session. to access the firmware update menu, you need to:
1. under Systems management, go to "Servers", select the machine name
2. at the bottom from, go to "Updates"
4. either use "Change Licensed Internal Code for the current release" or "Upgrade Licensed internal Code to a new release".
I chose the latter.
5. HMC will do some system readiness check. No errors, so i hit OK.
6. select FTP site and hit OK. i then provided the ftp server, username, password
and directory location of the rpm and xml files.
the rest of the process is straight forward so i won't include it here.
once done, the firmware should be upgraded and should
Updates > View System Information
select "None - Display current values" and hit OK.
from the command line, once the an LPAR is online, the firmware version can be viewed using lsmcode:
(running lsmcode alone will bring you to a smitty based session).
NOTE: the LPARs here are all powered-off. VIO update commands:
#commit all uncommitted (really?) updates
# apply the patches from the directory VIO accepting all license agreements by default
after applying, VIO servers need to be restarted (NOTE: AIX Lpars are still "powered off" here.
# check VIO level:
NOTE: client lpars here are still powered down.
AIX TL / Maintenance Level update
1) Find out your current OS level
2) Download the latest technology or maintenance level from AIX fix central
Click on
IBM Support: Fix Central
Select the product group ==> SYSTEM P
Select the the product ==> AIX
Select the version ==> 6.1
Select the fix type ==> FIX PACKS
To be on the safe side, select Yes, include Technology Level 6100-05 with the Service Pack and click on Continue
Download will start..... Once you download the filesets copy it in any directory (usually more than 2GB ) if you downloaded the files on your Windows/MAC PC ftp it to AIX in binary mode
3) Put the files in any directory let us say: /tmp/AIX_TL04
run the following commands
Make commit ==> YES if you don't want to keep the old version but if you want to keep the old one and want to go back to it SELECT NO for commit
Accept License==> YES
Press Enter
takes usually more than 1 hour.
4) a Reboot of the system is required
5) verify the upgrade
6) After installation ( optional )
You may wish to retain this package for future use. When you install additional operating system software you will want to use this package to bring the additional software up to this level.
You can create a list of the APARs closed in this package, which you can then view (and search) in an ASCII editor, such as vi or emacs. First, create the .toc file for the package by using the inutoc command described above. Then, run the following command to extract the APAR listings from the .toc file:
grep ^I .toc > apar.list
Run the following command to eliminate duplicate entries from the apar.list file:
sort -u apar.list -o sorted.apars
AIX version upgrade from 4.3 to 5.3 or 6.1
If you would like to upgrade AIX version from AIX 4.x,5.x to the latest one 6.1
Then first of all make sure that the system has the latest firmware or is compatible with your P Series from here
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/aix/v6r1/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.aix.resources/RELNOTES/SC23662905.htm
see under the section of ==> Minimum firmware levels required for AIX 6.1
Once you confirm, then insert the AIX 6.1 DVD/CD volume 1
and reboot the machine
Enter into SMS Menu
Example 2-32 Open Firmware prompt
1 = SMS Menu 5 = Default Boot List
6 = Stored Boot List 8 = Open Firmware Prompt
memory keyboard network scsi speaker ok
1 > press 1
Change the boot sequence
Boot / Install from CD-ROM
Save and exit, system will try to boot from CD-ROM
Once the boot is completed
Go for migration if you want to upgrade or new/fresh installation if you want to format and over-write the old O/S
Hello Team,
Hope all doing well. I have tried to upgrade on of my AIX box too the latest SP and TL, but unfortunately it's got failed(Details are below). Need expert help to fix this.
Before up-gradation :
root@# oslevel -s
6100-07-01-1141
root@# instfix -i | grep ML
All... (3 Replies)
I currently have 2 servers running AIX 6.1 on them, but the OS level is listed differently in WSM. I am fairly new to AIX and just re-installed the OS on one of the boxes that originally had 5.1 on it. It now shows 6.1.0.0, whereas the other one shows 6.1.3.0. I have been trying to figure out how... (2 Replies)
Hello. Im attempting to install Oracle 11g, but my current AIX is a bit too old. Oracle 11g require TV 5300-05-06, and my current AIX TV is:
% oslevel -s
5300-05-00
So what would be the best way to update TV? Thanks. (6 Replies)
Please read my issue!
My old server using:
- AIX system operating (5300-05-CSP-0000)
- WebSphere 6.1.0.21 (Fix Pack 21)
After I've upgraded version AIX
- AIX system operating (5300-09-02-0849)
- WebSphere 6.1.0.21 (Fix Pack 21)
I have 1 issue when I access home page:
"Error... (0 Replies)
Hi All,
I need to do maintenance on the SAN. Do I need to shutdown AIX as well? Or I can just unmount the SAN-FS and let the SAN reboot or do maintenance mode. And then when SAN is up, just mount it back.
Is that simple it is or not?
Thanks in advance,
itik (1 Reply)
Hi Guys,
It's me again with this unending support of AIX43 ML 9.
I finally able to test a migration from SSA to SAN, no problem. One problem, I bought some expansion of DS4300, two arrays. The IBM tech told me that before I can connect to the existing DS4300, I need to upgrade the firmware... (1 Reply)
Hi,
I want to know which command will list only maintenance level of Aix Operating system
For Example:
5.3.1.7 in this example which is maintenance level of OS. (3 Replies)
Hello,
we have an 7015-R40, we want to update AIX.
oslevel shows 4.3.2.0
At ibm.com we found following
AIX 4300-11 maintenance package
Recommended maintenance for AIX 4.3.3
It's possible to update the system with this file or does we need another source?
Thank you!
S. (8 Replies)
Hi,
Installing a new version of PROGRESS DB software 9.1c requires us to upgrade AIX to Level Update 4320-02_AIX_ML
( http://techweb.progress.com/kbase/19779 )
How would a do this savely.
This is what i have already.
1) take a system backup.
2) find the level we are on right now.
#... (1 Reply)