How To
Summary
This document provides instructions to upgrade a vHMC for x86 from V10R2M1030 (or higher) to V11R1M1110. The V11 HMC product will support Power9, Power10 and Power11 systems so if you have older Power systems such as Power8 then be advised those will not be managed post upgrade of the HMC.
There are two methods such as upgrade using network images or using the HMC GUI and each will be detailed below. Once you complete the prerequisite steps, you can skip to the section of the document that details the upgrade method you want to use to complete the task.
Objective
Upgrade the vHMC to V11 R1 M1110
Environment
Virtual Appliance for x86 hypervisors (Product ID 5765-VHX)
The supported hypervisors for x86 for BIOS firmware are
- VMWARE ESXi 7.0.2 or higher
- KVM on Ubuntu 22.0 ; 24.0 LTS, Red Hat RHEL8 and RHEL9
- Xen 4.10 or higher on SLES 15, Ubuntu 22.0 LTS
The supported hypervisors for x86 for secure boot EFI firmware are
- VMWARE ESXi 7.0.2 and 8.0
- KVM on Ubuntu 22.0 LTS, Red Hat RHEL8 and RHEL9
The processor on the systems hosting vHMC for x86 must have either Intel VT-x or AMD-V Hardware Virtualization enabled.
Steps
1. Prerequisites to complete prior to starting the upgrade to V11R1
A. Verify vHMC x86 hypervisor is compatible with V11R1M1110 using information listed in the "Environment" section above.
B. Verify that the Power systems being managed are compatible with HMC V11R1M1110
(1) HMC V11 R1 M1110 supports Power9, Power10 and Power11 systems.
(2) Before upgrading an HMC connected to an FSP-based managed system with FW1050 to V11 R1 M1110, you must update the system firmware to at least MH1050_058 (FW1050.20) or higher. Otherwise, the system might end up in No Connection state with the reason as 'Version Mismatch' after the HMC is upgraded.
(3) Management of POWER8 and older servers is not supported by HMC V11. Attempts to manage Power8 and older servers will result in a connection state of Version Mismatch and connection_error_code “Connection not allowed 0009-0008-00000000”.
C. Make sure your HMC is at the minimum level required to upgrade to HMC V11 R1 M1110.
(1) The minimum level you can upgrade from is as follows:
- HMC V10 R2 M1030
- You can also upgrade from higher build levels than the minimum (V10 R2 M1040, V10 R3 M1050 or M1060) as well
(2) No requisite ifix is required as had been a practice in earlier releases.
D. If two HMCs manage the same server, both HMCs will need to be upgraded to the same version, release and maintenance level.
E. Review, repair and close all service events.
(1) See following document if you are not sure how to do this task.
(2) A simple CLI command to close all service events is, "chsvcevent -o closeall"
F. Verify date and time is correct on the HMC (can use the "date" command in CLI).
G. Review the readme file of the V11 R1 M1110 posted on fix central for the Recovery Media package.
See MF71729 readme html on IBM Fix Central
H. Reboot the HMC
(1) If the HMC has not been booted recently, you should restart before beginning the upgrade.
- Using CLI - hmcshutdown -t now -r
- Using GUI - HMC Management > Console Management > Shut Down are restart the Management Console > restart HMC then click OK
I. Cloning a vHMC is NOT supported. New image is available from the ESS website. http://www.ibm.com/eserver/ess
2. Upgrade Options for HMC V11 R1 M1110
A. Upgrade Options Overview
(1) After verifying all prerequisite tasks have been completed you can start the upgrade steps. There are two options you can use. The traditional option involves using CLI only with network upgrade files. A new option to use HMC GUI for upgrading to a new release was made available in M1040 and higher.
(2) In HMC release V10 R2 M1040 there was a new GUI upgrade feature added, but did require some manual preparation of the network install images as well.
(3)The easiest option for upgrading the HMC was introduced in V10 R3 M1060 which allows complete use of the GUI and connecting directly to IBM to obtain the network image files.
(4) All methods will be described in the next sections below so pick the one you are most comfortable with.
- If vHMC is at V10 R2 M1030 or M1031 - Use Option 2 (Network Upgrade)
- If vHMC is at V10 R2 M1040 or higher - Use Option 1 or 2 (GUI Upgrade Method)
B. Option 1 - HMC GUI Upgrade Task (Use if at HMC V10 R2 M1040 or higher)
(1) The M1060 release is the most automated upgrade task via GUI if your HMC can connect to IBM Web Site over the Internet. If you have to stage the HMC Upgrade files to a local system or to the HMC then the steps you take for M1040 are the same for M1060 release as well.
(2) The M1040 release implementation works like the Network Upgrade getupgfiles task described later, so you will need the network files to use the GUI option. If you are at M1060 and the HMC is able to access IBM Website then you can skip the manual download of network images step.
HMC GUI Upgrade Task
Step 1. Download the V11R1_network_images_x86.zip from Fix Central. From the Fix Central site, select MF71729 vHMC for x86 deploy image, click continue. Download option is set to HTTPS. Then find V11R1_network_images_x86.zip and download to your PC. Then get the .zip file moved to your local server. Make sure the file is unzipped, which will give you the necessary network files to perform this upgrade, or use https://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/server/hmc/network/v1110/x86/ to download the network files to your local server.
Step 2. Go to HMC Management, and select the box for Upgrade HMC.
Step 3. Then click the Save Upgrade Data
NOTE - The picture shows HMC Only, but we recommend selecting one of the alternatives, rather than HMC only, for Save Location.
Step 4. Once the Save Upgrade Data is completed, click Next
Step 5. Select the Download location. Remember you need the network files for this option. Select the option where you put the unzipped files. In this screen FTP is selected, you would need the FTP server name or IP address, user and password, and directory where you unzipped the files. Then click Download upgrade files.
NOTE: If your HMC is at V10 R3 M1060 or higher you have the additional download location option of "IBM website" you can use if your HMC is able to connect to IBM Services. Using the IBM website option will avoid having to manually download and stage the network install images.
Step 6. When the download is completed, you should get a Summary screen. Click the Reboot and Upgrade option.
NOTE: Upgrading HMC can take up to 2 hours to complete and requires the HMC to be restarted. All users will be logged out of their HMC sessions during restart. Tasks that are started while the HMC is being upgraded will fail if they are not completed before the HMC is restarted.
C. Option 2 - Network Upgrade
Note: This method uses the HMC CLI and is one of three options available if at V10R2M1031 or lower
NETWORK UPGRADE
NOTE: The HMC can no longer be upgraded directly from public.dhe.ibm.com. HMC network upgrade is supported from Fix Central using the .zip file option, or from public.dhe.ibm.com and staging the upgrade on a local server.
Instructions for upgrading from a network server
This section describes how to perform the upgrade over the network. The network upgrade can be done using FTP, sftp or nfs protocol from your local server.
This section describes how to perform the upgrade over the network. The network upgrade can be done using FTP, sftp or nfs protocol from your local server.
Restricted Shell Access
This upgrade method requires restricted shell command-line access.
This upgrade method requires restricted shell command-line access.
From the local HMC, (V10R2) select Console Management > Console Management > Open a Restricted Shell Terminal
From a remote location, restricted shell is available through the ssh protocol. For information on how to access HMC command line remotely see,
Step 1: Save Profile Data
Perform a Save Profile Data for each managed system to save an additional copy of partition/profile configurations. For dual HMCs managing the same server this step is only needed on the upgrade of the first HMC. It cannot be run on HMC with a server in "version mismatch - save area version mismatch" state.
At the command prompt, enter the following command to save profile data for all servers:
lssyscfg -r sys -F type_model*serial_num | while read machine; do bkprofdata -m "$machine" -f Beforeupgrade$(date +%Y%m%d) ; done
Perform a Save Profile Data for each managed system to save an additional copy of partition/profile configurations. For dual HMCs managing the same server this step is only needed on the upgrade of the first HMC. It cannot be run on HMC with a server in "version mismatch - save area version mismatch" state.
At the command prompt, enter the following command to save profile data for all servers:
lssyscfg -r sys -F type_model*serial_num | while read machine; do bkprofdata -m "$machine" -f Beforeupgrade$(date +%Y%m%d) ; done
Step 2: Save Upgrade Data
A Save Upgrade Data task must be done to preserve information on the HMC before performing the upgrade. You must upgrade immediately after the Save Upgrade Data task. If you restart the HMC again without doing the upgrade, you must log in and run the Save Upgrade Data task (to hard disk) again before performing the upgrade. Run the following command to save the upgrade data.
A Save Upgrade Data task must be done to preserve information on the HMC before performing the upgrade. You must upgrade immediately after the Save Upgrade Data task. If you restart the HMC again without doing the upgrade, you must log in and run the Save Upgrade Data task (to hard disk) again before performing the upgrade. Run the following command to save the upgrade data.
saveupgdata -r disk
Step 3: Upgrade the HMC to V11 R1 M1110
| a. |
Download the V11R1_network_images_x86.zip from Fix Central. From the Fix Central site, select MF71729 vHMC for x86 deploy image, click continue. Then find V11R1_network_images_x86.zip and download to your PC. Then get the .zip file moved to your local server. Make sure the file is unzipped, which will give you the necessary network files to perform this upgrade, or use https://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/server/hmc/network/v1110/x86/ to download the network files to your local server.
Open Restricted Shell (or ssh session) and type the following command: getupgfiles -r sftp -h myserver -u myuser --passwd mypassword -d /mydirectory The parameters of the getupgfiles command:
The following files will be downloaded to the directory indicated:
Once the files have all been downloaded successfully, the getupgfiles command returns to the command prompt. |
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| b. | Set the HMC to do the next reboot from the special location on the hard disk where the downloaded V11 files are stored by typing the following command: chhmc -c altdiskboot -s enable --mode upgrade |
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| c. |
Reboot the HMC using one of the following methods:
Method 1. HMC GUI: HMC Management > Console Management > Shut Down or restart the Management Console > restart HMC
then click OK
Method 2. Restricted shell command: hmcshutdown -t now -r
Note: The initial reboot can take 30-45 minutes. Do not reboot or power off; wait for the boot to complete. Once the HMC reboots then installation starts and typically takes about an hour. After the installation of V11R1M1110 is complete you should be able to remotely access the HMC again.
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| d. |
At the Hardware Management Console login prompt, log in using your user ID and password.
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3. Review and final thoughts
A. Prerequisite Steps were described
B. Upgrade options and steps were described
C. Following final reboot of vHMC the release details should show the new version.
(1) Can view "HMC details" in the Dashboard view and should see V11 R1 M1110 under the Level / Version section.
(2) Using CLI "lshmc -V" should show
version= Version: 11
Release: 1
Service Pack: 1110
HMC Build level 2507090120
","base_version=V11R1
D. Upgrade to V11 is now complete. There may be follow-on ifixes or service packs to install if available which are covered in different documentation.
Document Location
Worldwide
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Document Information
Modified date:
15 August 2025
UID
ibm17240483