I have long thought it is rather silly that IBM Systems Director can't give you a list the licenses that you should have! It does, after all, know what machines it is controlling and the data is in the database.  Perhaps, that will come in the future.  What can we do in the short term? Generally, I like to do everything from the graphical user interface (GUI) . I have not got time to learn and use both GUI and CLI. The system configuration data can be extracted using the command line interface (CLI) on the Systems Director server, so I spent... [More]

Tags:  power systems aix director hmc licences power7 vios

As we all know, the advanced PowerVM virtualisation functions of POWER7 based machines are implemented in the hardware (the POWER7 processor itself and the System Firmware, which includes PowerVM Hypervisor) for increased security, high performance and reliability.  After more than a year of POWER7 field experience and fixes to increase RAS, further development of still more virtualisation functions and improved algorithms for higher performance - it is very important for all of us to install the newer levels of System firmware to avoid already... [More]

Tags:  systems hmc hypervisor firmware 795 power7 power 780 770

So you have Discovered, given Access and run Inventory on your HMC and it is not finding the Servers and Virtual Servers that the HMC is connected too! What do you do next? Well here are a series of suggestions for you to try (this is not an official diagnostics path but might help you out): How much memory has your HMC got? I get people trying to use old HMCs and the original ones had just 1 GB of memory. This is basically not enough these days - in my humble opinion - unless you have just one machine! But how do you find out what you have?... [More]

Tags:  aix power7 powervm director hmc power6 systems

For Systems Director 6.2 supports Firefox 3.6, 3.5 and 3.0 - you have to be nuts to not be using 3.6 IMHO! Internet Explorer 7 or 8. See http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/v6r2x/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.director.plan.helps.doc/fqm0_r_supported_web_browsers.html Unofficially, I find Google Chrome 12 works fine too. For Hardware Management Console (HMC) (I am assuming a recent HMC V7R7.3 level here) it supports (from the Power7 manuals) Internet Explorer 7 but says IE 8 is not supported - just tried this and the left hand menu got... [More]

Tags:  ie console management director explorer chrome systems internet hardware firefox hmc

The SDMC Redbook is available now - actually on the announcement date - so some one was planning ahead! IBM Systems Director Management Console: Introduction and Overview , SG24-7860-00 http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247860.html 6.9 MB and 430 pages

Tags:  "power aix power sdmc hmc systems" power7

OK, this is "blowing my own trumpet" a little but I just finished a 12 minute movie on the best bits of Systems Director. Best in the sense that they "save me a lot of time" and you might like to take a look to see if they can help you too. As I run lots of POWER based machines and lots of copies of AIX, this is why it is very relevant to this AIXpert Blog. The 8 areas are: One Hour Install, Update Manager - HMC, Firmware & AIX  in four mouse clicks, Whole Machine Performance View, LPAR direct to HMC, Active Energy... [More]

Tags:  systesm update manager firmware aem vmcontrol energy hmc active power install director aix

As of Service Pack 1 of HMC V7R3.3, there's a new access control that must be considered when creating new users. By default, remote access is not allowed, even if in general you've already allowed remote users. The box to check if you want to allow remote access is found under User Properties in the task used to create or modify a user's account. When creating a user account, remember to click on User Properties at the bottom of the task menu. In the lower left corner of the menu that comes up next you'll find a check box that says Allow... [More]

Tags:  access security hmc

The documentation for HMC Version 7 says that the web browsers supported are Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and later, as well as Firefox 1.5.0.6 and later. While many users have no trouble with Internet Explorer 7.0, others have reported problems. What makes the difference? Sometimes its Java code, and sometimes its the browser settings. For example, a customer recently reported trouble with IE 7 after he updated Java to jre 1.6.0_05 from jre 1.6.0_03. Previously, IE 7 had worked fine. IBM support usually will make a best-effort attempt... [More]

Tags:  hmc

Be sure you order the correct Hardware Management Console to match the code you plan to run. The 7042 machine type is for HMCs running Version 7. This Licensed Internal Code is a requirement for managing POWER6 servers, such as the 9117-MMA. However, it will also support POWER5 and POWER5+ managed servers. The 7310 machine type is for HMCs running Version 6. You cannot manage a POWER6 server using this HMC code. It is for POWER5 and POWER5+ managed servers only. Many 7310 HMCs can be upgraded in the field to support HMC V7 Release 3 code. ... [More]

Tags:  power5 hmc power6

Performance concerns on the Hardware Management Console sometimes point to a misconfiguration of the network adapters. In most cases, configuring eth0 and eth1 as either private or open networks using auto negotiation results in no problems whatsoever. But on occasion, the ability of the Ethernet card to correctly negotiate full duplex with a particular switch or router appears to fail and the adapter comes up in half duplex mode. If the switch really is configured for full duplex, the switch may be reporting a problem (or it may go unnoticed)... [More]

Tags:  hmc adapter tcp/ip

Unlike its predecessors, the 7042 Hardware Management Console for a POWER6 server does not have to be within 25 feet of the managed system. However, there may be practical reasons why it will continue to be close to the machines it manages. The purpose behind the distance limitation was to facilitate work by an IBM Service Support Representative. One of the HMC's functions is to serve as a repository of service information and tools. Some service utilities, such as the ability to blink lights on and off to identify adapters, would be... [More]

Tags:  hmc

A new version of Hardware Management Console code with a browser-based graphical user interface is now available. HMC Version 7 Release 3.1.0 is required to support the recently announced 9117-MMA IBM System p 570, the first POWER6 server to be introduced. This code can also support POWER5 and POWER5+ managed servers, although HMC V6R1.2 with its Web-based System Manager interface continues to be available. (POWER4 managed servers are supported by HMCs running HMC V3R3.7.) The support notice on HMC V7R3.1.0 can be found at this web page:... [More]

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The recently announced 7310-CR4 rack-mounted HMC requires HMC V6R1.2 Licensed Internal Code. The reason is that this model introduces new hardware to the product line, and device support exists only in the latest HMC code release. From the abstract in the announcement letter: The IBM 7310 Model CR4 has a Dual Core Intel Xeon 5130, 4 MB Cache, 2.00 GHz, 1333 MHz front-side bus processor, 1 GB of system memory, 80 GB minimum HDD, 12.7 mm DVD-RAM for backup, DVD-RAM media: 4.7 GB single-sided DVD-RAM, type 2 media. Note that there is no IBM... [More]

Tags:  hmc hardware

March 11, 2007, marks the start of Daylight Savings Time this year. At 2 a.m. on Sunday, the time will officially "spring forward" one hour. Patches to HMC code have been available on the HMC home page: https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/hmc/home.html What happens if you haven't updated your HMC by the time DST begins? Will there be an impact on the managed serves? The HMC will not stop working, and neither will the managed servers. The time can be reset manually on the HMC. This will entail rebooting, but again, this has no... [More]

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