Virtual I/O Server – Architecture and technical overview

2.10.5 Virtual I/O Server

The minimum required level of VIOS for the Power E1080 server is VIOS 3.1.3.10 or later.

IBM regularly updates the VIOS code. For more information, see IBM Fix Central.

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2.10.6 Entitled System Support

The Entitled Systems Support website (ESS) is IBM’s go-to place to view and manage Power and Storage software and hardware. In general, most products that are offered by IBM Systems that are purchased through our IBM Digital Sales representatives or Business Partners are accessed on this site when the IBM Configurator is used.

The site features the following three main sections:

Ê My entitled software: Activities related to Power and Storage software that offer to download licensed, free, and trial software media, place software update orders, and manage software keys.

Ê My entitled hardware: Activities related to Power and Storage hardware that offer to renew Update Access Keys, buy and use Elastic Capacity on Demand, assign or buy credits for new and existing pools in Enterprise Pools 2.0, download Storage Capacity on Demand codes, and manage Hybrid Capacity credits.

Ê My inventory: Activities related to Power and Storage inventory that offer to browse software license, software maintenance, and hardware inventory, manage inventory retrievals by way of Base Composer or generate several types of reports.

For more information, see this web page.

2.10.7 Update Access Keys

Since the introduction of the POWER8 processor-based server servers, IBM also introduced Update Access Key (UAK).

When system firmware updates are applied to the system, UAK and its expiration date are checked (see Figure 2-37 on page 122). System firmware updates include a release date.

When attempting to apply system firmware updates, if the release date for the firmware updates passed the expiration date for the update access key, the updates are not processed. As update access keys expire, they need to be replaced by using the Hardware Management Console (HMC) or the ASMI on the service processor.

By default, newly delivered systems include an UAK that often expires after three years. Thereafter, the UAK can be extended every six months, but only if a maintenance contract exists. The contract can be verified in the ESS website (for more information, see 2.10.6, “Entitled System Support” on page 119).

Determining when the current Update Access Key runs through the HMC, GUI or CLI as provided in the following examples. However, it also is possible to display the expiration date by using the suitable AIX or IBM i command.

UAK expiration date by using AIX 7.1

In the case of AIX 7.1, use the following command: lscfg -vpl sysplanar0 | grep -p “System Firmware”

Chapter 2. Architecture and technical overview               119

The output is similar to the output that is shown in Example 2-1 (the Microcode Entitlement Date represents the UAK expiration date).

Example 2-1 Output of the command to check UAK expiration date via AIX 7.1

$ lscfg -vpl sysplanar0 | grep -p “System Firmware” System Firmware:

…

Microcode Image………….SV860_138 SV860_103 SV860_138 Microcode Level………….FW860.42 FW860.30 FW860.42 Microcode Build Date……..20180101 20170628 20180101 Microcode Entitlement Date..20190825

Hardware Location Code……U8284.22A.XXXXXXX-Y1

Physical Location: U8284.22A.XXXXXXX-Y1

UAK expiration date by using AIX 7.2

In the case of AIX 7.2, the output is slightly different from AIX 7.1. Use the following command:

lscfg -vpl sysplanar0 |grep -p “System Firmware”

The output is similar to the output that is shown in Example 2-2 (the Update Access Key Exp Date represents the UAK expiration date).

Example 2-2 Output of the command to check UAK expiration date via AIX 7.2

$ lscfg -vpl sysplanar0 |grep -p “System Firmware” System Firmware:

…

Microcode Image………….SV860_138 SV860_103 SV860_138 Microcode Level………….FW860.42 FW860.30 FW860.42 Microcode Build Date……..20180101 20170628 20180101 Update Access Key Exp Date..20190825

Hardware Location Code……U8284.22A.XXXXXXX-Y1

Physical Location: U8284.22A.XXXXXXX-Y1

UAK expiration date by using IBM i

By using IBM i as operating system, it is possible to check the status of the UAK by using the Display Firmware Status window.

If the update access key expired, proceed to the ESS website to replace your update access

key. Figure 2-36 on page 121 shows the output in the IBM i 7.1 and 7.2 releases. In the 7.3

release, the text changes to Update Access Key Expiration Date. The line that is highlighted in Figure 2-36 on page 121 is displayed whether the system is operating system managed or HMC managed.

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Figure 2-36 Display Firmware Status window