HMC V9 R1 introduced support for managing POWER9 systems and V9 R1 M940 is the next update for Release 1. As with previous releases, along with PowerVM function enablement, a number of RFE's have also been addressed with V9 R1 M940. In this blog, let’s take a quick look at the enhancements in HMC V9 R9.1.940.
To get things started, as with previous updates on V9 R1, V9 R1 M940 is a service pack for the V9 R1 release which means, you would update (Not Upgrade or fresh install) to 940 from V9 R1 M910 with or without additional Service Packs or PTF’s. Please note that you would have to update to M940 to get service fixes for V9 R1 going forward.
PowerVM:
- Enablement for user mode access to hardware accelerator
- Access to shared access to hardware accelerator is provided via QoS Credits on supported systems (FW940 is required). Supported Hardware Accelerator type, available and total credits for each hardware accelerator types can be seen at system level. You can assign QoS credits to the partition to provide shared access to the supported hardware accelerators.
- DRAM backed Persistent Memory or Virtual Persistent Memory (vPMEM) volumes for faster partition restarts
- With this support (FW940 is required), you can carve part of memory as virtual persistent memory volumes and assign it to partitions which can leverage PMEM for faster restarts.
- Live Partition Mobility is not currently allowed when vPMEM volumes are assigned to a partition
- Remote Restart cannot be enabled on a partition assigned with vPMEM volumes and vice versa
- Useful links on using HMC GUI or Rest API to work with virtual persistent volumes
- SRIOV Hybrid Network Virtualization – Tech Preview
- Hybrid Network Virtualization functions enables you to assign SRIOV Logical ports to a partition while preserving the capability to migrate the partition by attaching a virtual backup device. SRIOV Logical port is removed from the partition on source system prior to LPM and added to the partition on the target system as part of LPM. The entire process is automated with HMC orchestration.
- Support for SRIOV Logical Ports in IBM i Restricted IO Mode
- With this capability, you can now assign SRIOV logical ports (without vNIC) to an IBM i partition even if Restricted IO mode is enabled.
- You have to remove the assigned logical ports before performing LPM or Remote Restart or DR (unless logical ports are assigned in a Hybrid Network Virtualization mode).
- Ability to enter the IBM i license keys via HMC interface using chlickey command
- Improvement in Live Partition Mobility (LPM) error messages with a new option to view status of each sub-step of LPM to identify the step(s) where LPM failed
- You can specify –-steps 1 option in the migrlpar command to view additional details on different steps during LPM. Step Results can be viewed via HMC GUI as well as part of the LPM operation.
- Ability to specify custom time out for viosvrcmd command (RFE 85578)
- diagrmc command (with –mcip) output will display an informational message that ssh authentication is required between HMCs used for Enterprise Pools (RFE 107437)
- Auto management of custom resource roles, when auto manage of custom resource roles is enabled, resource roles with be auto updated as part of partition create/delete operations (RFE 112264)
- Remote Restart Enhancements with HMC V9 R1 M940.1 (RFE 131608)
- Ability to force a remote restart operation after system transitions through Incomplete state
- After a system transitions through Incomplete state and reaches one of the supported states for remote restart, the --usecurrdata option can be used with the rrstartlpar command to perform the remote restart operation. lsrrstartlpar command can be used to view the status & lpar configuration information stored in the HMC.
- Ability to force a remote restart operation after HMC is rebooted
- If HMC is rebooted and a system connects back to the HMC and is in one of the supported remote restart states (except No connection), the --usecurrdata option can be used with the rrstartlpar command to perform the remote restart operation. lsrrstartlpar command can be used to view the status & lpar configuration information stored in the HMC.
HMC Management & Security Enhancements:
- Security & Access Enhancements :
- HMC GUI support to set scope as part of LDAP config (RFE 114499)
- The ls/chhmcencr commands have been updated to provide SSH key exchange algorithm management (RFE 130539)
- On new HMCs shipped with HMC V9 R1 M940, you will be asked to reset the password when logging in for the 1st time.
- HMC FFDC data collected using pedbg command has been updated for security purposes (related to RFE 125826)
- Ability to configure & receive e-mail notifications for scheduled operations (RFE 102935)
- Ability to configure UseDNS attribute of SSH configuration (RFE 129194)
- Ability to specify user-defined name for HMC critical console backup
- A warning dialog will be shown when user session is about to expire due to idle timeout
- Ability to configure the maximum number of invalid Web UI login attempts for HMC users (RFE 125447)
- Support for in-band authentication via RSA token when HMC is configured for Multi-factor authentication with PowerSC MFA server
- Progress messages will be shown for commands bkconsdata, getupgfiles, rstupgdata,saveupgdata, updhmc (COMMON request: SM0311)
Serviceability:
- New UI for managing dumps
Important Notes:
- HMC V9 can manage POWER7, POWER8 & POWER9 systems but cannot be used to manage POWER6 systems.
- On POWER9 servers, The HMC Virtual Appliance for PowerVM must run in POWER8 compatibility mode, for this release.
- Please note that HMC V9 R1 is the last supported release for 7042 appliance models (x86 Hardware Appliance)
- This is the last major update to support the 7042 machine type. HMC V9R2 will support the 7063 machine type and Virtual HMC Appliances (x86/ppc64le) only.
- Note: iFixes and Service packs on top of V9 R1 M940 will be supported on 7042 machine types
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