106
IBM Power 595 Technical Overview and Introduction
The service processor has various functional states, which can be queried and reported to
the POWER Hypervisor component. Service processor states include, but are not limited to,
standby, reset, power up, power down, and run time. As part of the IPL process, the primary
service processor checks the state of the backup. The primary service processor is
responsible for reporting the condition of the backup service processor to the POWER
Hypervisor component. The primary service processor waits for the backup service processor
to indicate that it is ready to continue with the IPL (for a finite time duration). If the backup
service processor fails to initialize in a timely fashion, the primary service processor reports
the backup service processor as a non-functional device to the POWER Hypervisor
component and marks it as a
guarded
resource before continuing with the IPL. The backup
service processor can later be integrated into the system.
Open Firmware
The 595 server has one instance of Open Firmware, both when in the partitioned
environment and when running as a full system partition. Open Firmware has access to all
devices and data in the system. Open Firmware is started when the system goes through a
power-on reset. Open Firmware, which runs in addition to the Hypervisor firmware in a
partitioned environment, runs in two modes: global and partition. Each mode of Open
Firmware shares the same firmware binary that is stored in the flash memory.
In a partitioned environment, partition Open Firmware runs on top of the global Open
Firmware instance. The partition Open Firmware is started when a partition is activated. Each
partition has its own instance of Open Firmware and has access to all the devices assigned to
that partition. However, each instance of partition Open Firmware has no access to devices
outside of the partition in which it runs. Partition firmware resides within the partition memory
and is replaced when AIX 5L takes control. Partition firmware is needed only for the time that
is necessary to load AIX 5L into the partition system memory.
The global Open Firmware environment includes the partition manager component. That
component is an application in the global Open Firmware that establishes partitions and their
corresponding resources (such as CPU, memory, and I/O slots), which are defined in partition
profiles. The partition manager manages the operational partitioning transactions. It responds
to commands from the service processor external command interface that originate in the
application that is running on the HMC.
For more information about Open Firmware, refer to
Partitioning Implementations for IBM
eServer p5 Servers,
SG24-7039, at:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/abstracts/SG247039.html?Open
Temporary and permanent sides of the service processor
The service processor and the BPC maintain two copies of the firmware:
One copy is considered the
permanent
or
backup
copy and is stored on the permanent
side, sometimes referred to as the
p
side.
The other copy is considered the
installed
or
temporary
copy and is stored on the
temporary side, sometimes referred to as the
t
side. Start and run the server from the
temporary side.
The copy actually booted from is called the
activated level
, sometimes referred to as
b
.
The concept of
sides
is an abstraction. The firmware is located in flash memory, and pointers
in NVRAM determine which is
p
and
t
.
Summary of Contents for Power 595
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