IBM supports a number of ways to update the HMC. More specifically, a number of different sources for an update are supported:

• • Update from the HMC hard drive
  • Update via an internal DVD drive
  • Update via USB medium
  • Update via a virtual medium (7063-CR1 and 7063-CR2)
  • Update via FTP
  • Update via SFTP
  • Update via NFS
  • Update directly from the IBM website (only from V10R2M1030)

The LPAR tool allows you to store a default source for updates in one of the two configuration files /opt/pwrcmps/etc/lpar.cfg (all users) or ~/.lpar.cfg using the CorrectiveServiceLocation attribute. The syntax is as follows:

# Location for corrective service ISO images
#   disk[:path] - HMC hard disk
#   dvd - HMC DVD drive
#   dvd:device - virtual media DVD
#   ftp://<user>[:<password>]@<host>/[directory/]<filename> - FTP server
#   sftp://<user>[:<password>]@<host>/[directory/]<filename> - SFTP server
#   nfs://<host>/[directory/]<filename> - NFS server
#   usb:path - USB storage device or virtual media USB
#   ibmwebsite[:PTF] - IBM website
#
# Default:
#CorrectiveServiceLocation ibmwebsite

By default, the attribute has the value ibmwebsite, allowing the HMC to download the update or iFix directly from the IBM website.

The command “hmc updhmc” has the following syntax:

hmc updhmc <hmc> [<location>|<filename>|<ptf>|dvd]

“Location” means the complete information about how and where the update or iFix can be accessed. The type of “location” is specified first, followed by a colon and other necessary information required for the type. The supported types are those already mentioned above:

• • disk, e.g. disk:/home/hscroot/MF70632_ppc.iso
  • dvd, internal DVD drive of the HMC (if it has one)
  • dvd, e.g. dvd:/dev/sda (for a virtual DVD drive)
  • ftp, e.g. ftp://fwtrans:s3cr3t@nim-server//export/hmc/MF70632_ppc.iso
  • sftp, e.g. sftp://fwtrans:s3cr3t@nim-server//export/hmc/MF70632_ppc.iso
  • nfs, e.g. nfs://nim-server/export/hmc/MF70632_ppc.iso
  • usb, e.g. usb:/media/sda – virtual media USB
  • usb, e.g. usb:/dev/sda – physical USB
  • ibmwebsite, e.g. ibmwebsite:MF70632

If no “location” is specified, i.e. an argument without “:” (e.g. file name or PTF), then the argument is combined with the “location” stored in CorrectiveServiceLocation. The argument is essentially appended to this stored “location“. For example, if the “location” nfs://nim-server/export/hmc is stored in CorrectiveServiceLocation and the file name MF70632_ppc.iso is specified as the argument of “hmc updhmc“, these are combined to form nfs://nim-server/export/hmc/MF70632_ppc.iso. If you have stored an iFix or update on the NIM server in the /export/hmc directory, you can simply specify just the file name of the iFix or update with “hmc updhmc“!

Below, all available options are demonstrated using the iFixes MF70632 as an example.