Installing fixes on systems managed by Hardware Management Console

This topic describes how to install IBM® i fixes when your system is managed by the Hardware Management Console.

As the system administrator or system operator who manages the software level on your systems or partitions, you have two choices for performing this task for systems that are managed by the Hardware Management Console (HMC):

• You control the software level of the server firmware through the IBM i service partition. This method requires a server IPL for the updates to take effect. A server IPL requires you to power down all the partitions at the same time.
  Note: Not all systems that are managed by an HMC allow the IBM i operating system to control the level of the server firmware.
• You allow the HMC to control the level of the server firmware. On systems that have an HMC attached, this is the default action. This method requires you to install fixes by using the HMC. With this method, the IBM i service partition is disabled from applying updates to the server firmware.

When server firmware fixes are applied or removed, a message is sent that indicates if any of the PTFs require a server IPL. It is not sufficient to perform an IPL of only the service partition to activate the code. You must power down all partitions at the same time.

You can use the Display Firmware Status (DSPFMWSTS) command to determine if the server firmware is being managed by the operating system or by an HMC. When the system is being managed by the operating system, the fixes for the server firmware are delivered as PTFs for an IBM i licensed program. The product identifier that is used depends on the system model that you are running. You can determine the product identifier that is used for the server firmware fixes by using the DSPFMWSTS command. You can also enter DSPPTF LICPGM(*FMW) from the service partition to view the PTFs for the server firmware product.