MergePoint® Service Processor Manager Firmware
Release Notes
V 1.2.1.07
July 7, 2009
This document includes:
1. Instructions for upgrading
2. Features and enhancements
3. Constraints and conditions
================================================================
1. Instructions for upgrading
================================================================
Please refer to the MergePoint appliance installer/user guide for more information on how to upgrade
the MergePoint service processor manager to version 1.2.1.07. Please consult "Section 3:
Constraints and conditions" of these Release Notes before upgrading your unit.
================================================================
2. Features and enhancements
================================================================
The following SPs are supported in this release†:
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 iRMC **
17
Fujitsu iRMC S2 **
18
Sun eLOM*
†
Service processor firmware revisions may be released without notice by server vendors.
available service processor firmware may not have been tested by Avocent.
* Standalone SUN servers only.
Blade servers not supported in this release.
** Fujitsu BX600 Blade System is not supported in this release.
*** IBM AMM (Advanced Management Module) Support ONLY.
**** Dell M1000e Chassis is not supported in this release.
Therefore the latest
Browser session / Auto login / vKVM supports list: (Yes* indicates that you need to read the notes
below for more details.)
Type
Browser
1
Session
IPMI1.5
Yes
2
IPMI2.0
Yes
2
ALOM
Yes
2
Autologin
KVM
VM
KVM/VM
Integrated
DRAC 3
3
Yes
Yes
Yes
DRAC 4
4
Yes
Yes
Yes
DRAC 5
4
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
(IE)
Yes
(IE)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
iRMC
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
iRMC S2
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes*
Yes*
Yes*
Yes*
Yes
Yes
ILO
ILO2
5
ELOM
IBM
RSAII/SLIM○
6
IBM BladeCenter
IBM Blade
6
7
DRAC/MC
8
Yes*
DRAC/MC Blade
HP BladeSystem
9
Yes*
Yes*
HP Blade
10
ILOM
Yes
Yes
Yes
Notes:
1. Browser session is for pure port forwarding usage. The web interfaces of some SPs might work
abnormally in this mode no matter what kind of port forwarding program you use.
2. IPMI1.5, IPMI2.0 or ALOM has no web management interface itself by default. But it can be
integrated with a web interface. In this case, when you customize a SP profile for the IPMI SP
and set the web port and web scheme, you are able to use ―Browser session‖.
3. For web browsers in some particular OS (i.e. Linux), if the Java Applet in the web browser has no
privilege to listen on Port 443 of local IP address (127.*.*.*), the Browser session, Autologin or
vKVM won‘t work. It is because the Java Applet in web page of Dell DRAC3 uses the hard-coded
port 443 to communicate, but DirectCommand applets of MergePoint appliance can‘t redirect the
communication between the web client and DRAC3 via port 443 due to the privileges.
4. When the maximum number of sessions in DRAC4 or DRAC5 has been reached, the Autologin
or KVM will be failed. You need to reset the firmware of the SP via Telnet or SSH.
The command for reset the SP firmware:
racadm racreset
5. The iLO2 KVM runs with ActiveX in IE browser and with Applet in other browser (e.g. Firefox).
The KVM with ActiveX integrates Virtual Media, while KVM with applet does not.
iLO remote console (vKVM) does not support multi-session in MS IE via DirectCommand.
6. IBM BladeCenter or RSAII does not support Autologin or vKVM with the firmware version 1.4 or
later. If IBM Bladecenter or RSAII leads to a blank page or an error page, you need to reset its SP
firmware via Telnet.
The command for reset the RSAII: resetsp
The command for reset the IBM BladeCenter: env –T system:mm[x]
reset
7. The KVM and vMedia function of IBM Blade is integrated with the KVM/vMedia of IBM
BladeCenter‘s AMM. So you can access each blade through KVM applet of BladeCenter AMM.
8. You can visit DRAC/MC‘s digital KVM/vMedia for a blade through ―Browser session‖ ONLY IF the
client can communicate with the digital KVM‘s IP directly.
9. You can visit KVM/vMedia of a HP Blade through HP BladeCenter‘s ―Browser session‖ or
―Autologin‖ interface ONLY IF the client can communicate with the Blade‘s IP directly. HP Blade
can‘t be accessed directly from HP OA via DirectCommand. So if you want to visit the HP Blade
via BladeCenter, you need to add every blade as an SP, and then you are able to visit the SP‘s
vKVM.
10. ILOM‘s KVM/VM applet needs input username and password manually.
The following features are added or bugs are fixed in this release:
1. ****CRITICAL*** Fixed compact flash corruption issues.
Disabled unnecessary writes and corrected a control register offset. (Please see the
constraints and conditions in Section: 3.1)
2. Added system session status page
For each of managed service processor, there is System Session web page showing its session
status.
3. Connection test for DirectCommand
Connection test for DirectCommand tells user why the DirectCommand operation is failed. This
feature saves the time and effort for troubleshooting of this problem.
4. Supported setup wizard for deployment
Setup wizard tells assists the user with configuration and deployment of the appliance.
5. Supported default IP address
If MergePoint appliance is failed to obtain an IP address from DHCP server, the default IP
address will be used instead.
6. Supported new service processor: Sun eLOM
7. Supported new service processor: Fujitsu iRMC S2
8. Improved license page
Improved license web page shows not only how many licenses are used, but also how many
licenses are available.
9. Solved the problem of abnormal exiting of SoL session
Fixed the problem of abnormal exiting of SoL session when user type ‗Ctrl+C‘.
10. Changed default root password from „avocent‟ to „Sydney‟
11. Changed menu system for console application for MergePoint 5200 appliance and MergePoint 5300
appliance
12. Supported the distinguishing between DELL DRAC3 and DELL DRAC4 in Discovery
13. Supported the distinguishing between HP iLO and HP iLO2 in Discovery
14. Fixed the bug of “Cannot start DHCP service when Domain Name is empty.”
15. Fixed the bug of Discovery and Manage DELL DRAC3 ERA (Embedded RAC Access Controller)
16. Added safe shutdown and enhanced file system
A journaling file system (ext3) and a "graceful" power-down feature help improve the reliability of
non-volatile storage.
17. Improved the performance of DirectCommand
The time used to setup a DirectCommand is decreased. It‘s faster to connect DirectCommand.
18. Showed actual DSView® management software user in the active session for sessions created from
DSView software
19. Supported SuperMicro IPMI 2.0 card.
20. Recorded accounting Logs for both starting and stopping system sessions.
21. Support to show HP iLo/iLo2 IML (iLo Management Log).
================================================================
3. Constraints and Conditions
================================================================
This release includes the following constraints or conditions:
1. Some units shipped with defective compact flash cards will require a card replacement in order to
function properly with this version of the firmware. To determine whether your unit has such a
card, open the MergePoint SP manager command line and enter the following command:
dmesg | grep 'hda: STI Flash'
If as a result of this command you see the line
hda: STI Flash 8.0.0, ATA DISK drive
then your compact flash card must be replaced before proceeding with the upgrade.
Failure to replace the card before upgrading to this firmware version may render the unit
inoperable. Visit www.avocent.com/support or call 888-793-8763 to request a new compact
flash card from technical support. The new card ships with updated appliance firmware.
2. Usernames under User Configuration must be all in lowercase letters.
3. BMC Provisioning can only be configured on the secondary Ethernet Interface (eth1).
4. 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 ―-―.
5. Power outage during the upgrading process is not recoverable.
6. Not allowed to use special characters in the SP‘s password. We do not support the characters
like >‘, ‗<‘, ―‘‖, ―‖‖,‖&‖ or ―|‖.
7. RSAII SP sometimes leads to a blank page in web browser when it‘s processing two or more
Web/vKVM sessions simultaneously. This is not a defect of MergePoint appliance and the
DirectCommand vKVM session of RSAII will display an ―SP unavailable‖ message instead of a
blank page. To solve this problem, reset the RSA II SP firmware and restart the sessions. A case
has been opened with IBM for this issue.