MergePoint® Service Processor Manager Firmware
Release Notes
V 1.1.0.04
August 12, 2008
This document outlines:
1. Upgrade instructions
2. Features and enhancements
3. Constraints and conditions
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Upgrade instructions
================================================================
Please refer to the MergePoint appliance Installer/User Guide for more information on
how to upgrade the MergePoint service processor manager to version 1.1.0.04.
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Features and enhancements
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The following SPs are now supported:
1
IPMI 1.5
2
IPMI 2.0
3
IBM® RSA II
4
IBM BladeCenter®
5
DELL® DRAC 3
6
DELL DRAC 4
7
DELL DRAC 5
8
DELL 10G
9
DELL BladeCenter DRAC/MC
10
HP® IPMI
11
HP iLo
12
HP iLo2
13
HP BladeSystem
14
SUN® iLom
15
SUN Alom
16
Fujitsu Siemens iRMC
We have tested every SP type above. For each type of SP, we have tested at least
one Firmware version. Here is the firmware list.
Unit Type
Firmware
Bios
DELL 1850
DELL 2850
DELL 2850
1.4
1.4
1.5
A04
A04
A05
IPMI 1.5
IBM X346
IBM X346
IBM X346
DELL 1855 Blade
server
Intel® 7210
1.012
1.03
1.16
1.11
1.02
1.14
1.1
A04
2.4
AMIBIOS 6.00
DELL 1950
1.0.0
1.0.1
DELL 1950
1.17
1.1.0
HPIPMI
HP Proliant® DL145
1.23
2.09
HP iLO
HP Proliant DL320
1.75
D18
HP Proliant DL320
1.64
D18
HP Proliant DL360
1.82
P54
HP Proliant DL320
1.84
D18
HP Proliant DL 360
1.91
P54
HP Proliant DL320G4
1.20
1.27
1.29
1.40
IPMI 2.0
HP iLO2
HP BladeSystem c7000
HP BladeSystem
DRAC III
DRAC IV
1.0 -- 2.04,
2.21
DELL 750 with DracIII
3.2
A02
DELL 1850 with DracIV
1.23
A02
1
DRAC V
PowerEdge® 2900 with
Drac V
DELL 1950 with
DracV
BMC 0.21
Drac 1.0
BMC 1.14
Drac 1.0
DELL 1855
1.1, 1.2 ,1.3,
1.5.0
r805v
1.44
IBM x346 with
RSA II Slimline
KPEP25A
KPEP26A
KPEP27A
DRAC/MC
DELL 10G
RSA II
0.2.9
1.1.0
KPEP30A
RSA II
ILOM
Sun iLOM
1.0.117445512
2.0.2.1
ALOM
Sun ALOM
1.54
1.60
IBM Blade Center Blade
IBM Blade AMM
iRMC
PRIMERGY® RX100
S4
1.11, 1.16
BPET34E
IBM BladeCenter
FSC
1.60A
1.70A
1.07
4.06 Rev.
1.04.2532
This release includes the following features and enhancements:
1. Support for IPV6
The MergePoint 53xx appliances support dual stack IPv4 and IPv6 networking in the external
facing Ethernet interfaces. The MergePoint appliance does not apply to the target interfaces.
However, the MergePoint 53xx family provides IPv4 to IPv6 translation capabilities between its
interfaces when applicable (e.g. MergePoint 5324 appliance carrying traffic from IPv6 User
Ethernet interface to IPv4 Server Ethernet interface and vice versa).
2. Support for Network VLAN (Only for MergePoint 5300 Appliance)
The MergePoint 5300 appliances support VLAN configuration and VLAN tagging of multiple
VLANs, so that they can interface with multiple logical network segments from its physical
Ethernet interfaces. VLAN support shall be available on all external-facing Ethernet interfaces of
the appliance.
3. Support for Network Bridge Mode (Only for MergePoint 5324/40
Appliances)
The MergePoint 5324/5340 appliances have an operation mode called Bridge Mode, which
bridges the internal (server) Ethernet ports with the external (user) Ethernet ports, allowing traffic
to go through the MergePoint 5324/5340 appliance from a host on the external network to an SP
on the internal network and vice versa, with no interference from the MergePoint 5324/5340
appliance itself.
Operating the MergePoint 5324/5340 appliance in Bridge Mode eliminates the appliance's
physical security functionality, yet makes the network setup for SPs easier, while still providing the
Ethernet port cost savings and DSView® 3 integration value to the end user. In Bridge Mode,
proper handling of the security of the SPs attached to the MergePoint 5324/5340 appliance is the
responsibility of the end user, and should be done directly through the SP, not through the
MergePoint 5324/5340 appliance.
4. Support for Selective Mode for Native IP(Only for MergePoint 5324/40
Appliances)
The MergePoint 5324/5340 appliances have an operation mode called Selective Mode, which
allows traffic to selectively go through the MergePoint 5324/5340 appliance from a host on the
external (user) network to an SP on the internal (server) network and vice versa, based on specific
configuration set by the appliance administrator.
Selective Mode leverages the existing Native IP feature in the MergePoint 5324/5340 appliances
to make it easier for administrators to set specific trusts between the server and the user networks.
5. Support for the CLP Utility
The Smash provider class name unification was improved. All classes were renamed and relationships
between classes were cleared. Provider implementations were reorganized and optimized.
a) Some common logic was extracted, and a common logic function was built to replace existing
private logic functions.
b) Some class functions were implemented with static instance definitions instead of program code,
which reduced coding efforts and bug instances.
The CLP schema was rebuilt to adapt to new class names and relationships.
The CLP changed from an eventual output to an instant output, which provides the user with an accelerated
response.
The CLP session maintain work was shifted from CIMOM to the CLP itself with direct database access, which
decreases the load of CIMOM and improves performance.
The CLP includes improvement of the syntax parser to be more aligned with the CLP specifications.
6. Support for DHCP Relay
The MergePoint 53xx appliances support DHCP relay mode in their DHCP server as a
configuration option, so that the internal DHCP server in the MergePoint 53xx appliances can
integrate with existing DHCP servers at the user's network.
7. Support for TCPDump
The MergePoint 53xx appliances have built-in network trace and debugging tools available from
the web UI. These network trace and debugging tools allow a user to collect all network packets
from an exchange between the MergePoint 53xx appliance and a target device, and save that into
a trace file that can be sent back to Avocent technical staff for troubleshooting and problem
resolution.
8. Update SP profile ‘SUN ALOM’ to ‘SUN ALOM_telnet’ and add SP profile
‘SUN ALOM_ssh’
When ALOM firmware version is equal or greater than 1.6, default connection is SSH, so “SUN
ALOM_ssh was added” as the default option in the MergePoint appliance.
9. Add SP Profile ‘IBM RSAII_withoutSol’ for IBM RSAII slimline card
The IBM RSAII slimline card does not support SoL, so the sp profile “IBM RSAII_withoutSoL” was
added.
10. Support for New Service Processor: Dell 10G
11. Support for New Service Processor: Dell DRAC/MC
12. Support for New Service Processor: HP BladeSystem
13. Support for Sensor of IBM BladeCenter
14. Change the Usage Mode for BladeCenter (BladeSystem)
The usage mode is the same as the DSView 3 software usage mode.
15. Add Telnet Method to Access Target Device
Support for Telnet connections directly to target devices was added. The user can specify the port
number that they want to use for telnet connections.
16. Add ssh Method to Access Target Device
Support SSH connections directly to target devices was added. User can specify the port number
which he wants to use for SSH connections.
17. Support vKVM for Sun iLOM, even if Customer Doesn’t Config NativeIP
18. Support vKVM for Dell DRAC4, even if Customer Doesn’t Config Native IP
19. Support DirectCommand for FSC iRMC with the Latest Fireware (1.7A)
20. Support AutoLogin and KVM for Dell DRAC3 with Microsoft Windows
Platform
21. Support for NTP Service
The user can automatically or manually synchronize the appliance time with internet time server.
22. Allow User to Save NTP Setting
Allow the user to save selection and value for NTP setting.
23. Allow User to Set Discovery Interval
Added a method to allow a user to set the discovery interval in the web interface. The valid
interval values should be between 5 and 65535. It is only used for “Automatic” discovery range.
24. Change the Web Page of SP Chassis
There are three options for chassis indicator. They are “Indicator on with time limit”,”Indicator on”
and “Indicator off”.
25. Split SP Group Page into Two Pages
In order to avoid any misunderstanding, there are two pages for the SP group. One page is for the
configuration; the other page is for action.
26. Update the SP “indicator on” Without Time Limit for Group Action
Changed the time limit. Originally the indication would only stay on for 20 seconds. Now the
indicator can remain on during group actions.
27. Improve the SOL Display
Fixed the problem that SoL information was lost or replaced during display of some BIOS screens.
28. Support for SUSE® (64 bit) Web Client and DirectCommand
Support web client in SUSE (64 bit) to access SP’s browser session, auto-login and vKVM
session.
29. Support for DELL 10G Power Consumption
30. Support a Radio Button to Toggle Between Celsius and Fahrenheit if the SP
is IPMI
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Constraints and Conditions
================================================================
This release contains the following constraints or conditions:
1. Usernames under User Configuration must be all lowercase letters.
2. BMC Provisioning can only be configured on the secondary Ethernet Interface
(eth1).
3. We support alias for every SP. Do not use special characters in the alias. Only
the following characters are allowed: “0—9”, “a—z”, “A—Z” and “-“.
4. Losing power during an upgrade is non-recoverable.
5. Please do not use special characters in the SP’s password.
support >’, ‘<’, “’”, “””,”&”, “|”.
We do not