Updating the software automatically using the management GUI

You can update the entire system in a coordinated process with no user intervention after the update is initiated.

Note: The update might stall if you have hot-spare nodes that are connected via a Fibre Channel adapter and update software level 7.8.1.1 or earlier to software level 7.8.1.2 or later. To avoid this issue, remove each Fibre Channel adapter from the node that is being added to the system and check for the presence of a secure jumper. If the secure jumper is present, remove the secure jumper to allow the firmware update to complete successfully. After the update completes, return the secure jumper to the Fibre Channel adapter. For more information, search for "Upgrade to Spectrum Virtualize software-only v7.8.1.2 requires hardware check" at www.ibm.com/support.

For the most recent information about restrictions before you update, see the following site:

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S1009131 .

Before you update your system, review all of the topics in Updating to understand how the process works. Allow adequate time, such as up to a week in some cases to look for potential problems or known bugs. If you encounter a memory DIMM failure to any node during the update process, stop immediately and follow directions in Updating the system software. Additional information on updating the system is available at the following website:

www.ibm.com/support

If you want to update without host I/O, shut down all hosts before you start the update.

Complete the following steps to update the system automatically:
  1. In the management GUI, select Settings > System > Update System.
  2. Click Test & Update.
  3. Select the test utility and the code package that you downloaded from the support site. The test utility verifies that the system is ready to be updated.
  4. Click Next. Select Automatic update.
  5. Select whether you want to create intermittent pauses in the update to verify the process. Select one of the following options:
    • Fully automatic update without pauses
    • Pause update after half of the nodes are updated
    • Pause update before each node updates
  6. Click Finish. As the nodes on the system are updated, the management GUI displays the progress for each node. If you have hot-spare nodes that are configured on your system, the hot-spare node assumes I/O operations from each node as it is updated. After the configuration node is updated, all hot-spare nodes are updated.

Monitor the update information in the management GUI to determine when the process is complete.

If you selected a fully automated update without pauses and the process stalls during the update, click Resume to continue with the update or click Cancel to abandon the update and restore the previous level of code. You can also use the CLI command applysoftware -resume to resume the update.

If the selected to pause the update, click Continue to resume with the update. You can also use the CLI command applysoftware -continue to resume the update.

Important: If you update your system software to version 8.1.1 or later from a version earlier than 8.1.0, on a system where you have already installed more than 64 GB of RAM, all nodes return from the update with an error code of 841. Versions 8.1.0 and later allocate memory in a different way than previous versions, so the RAM must be "accepted" again. To resolve the error, complete the following steps:
  1. On a single node, run the svctask chnodehw command. Do not run the command on more than one node at a time.
  2. Wait for the node to restart and return without the error.
  3. Wait an additional 30 minutes for multipath drives to recover on the host.
  4. Repeat this process for each node individually until you clear the error on all nodes.
Parent topic: Updating the system software