Technical information

IBM Europe, Middle East, and Africa Hardware
Announcement ZG14-0098
IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation
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Packing for service
The following service enhancements are included in the physical packaging of the
systems to facilitate service:
• Color coding (touch points): Terracotta-colored touch points indicate that a
component (FRU/CRU) can be concurrently maintained. Blue-colored touch points
delineate components that are not concurrently maintained -- those that require
the system to be turned off for removal or repair.
• Tool-less design: Selected IBM systems support tool-less or simple tool designs.
These designs require no tools or simple tools such as flathead screw drivers to
service the hardware components.
• Positive retention: Positive retention mechanisms help to assure proper
connections between hardware components such as cables to connectors,
and between two cards that attach to each other. Without positive retention,
hardware components run the risk of becoming loose during shipping or
installation, preventing a good electrical connection. Positive retention
mechanisms like latches, levers, thumb-screws, pop Nylatches (U-clips), and
cables are included to help prevent loose connections and aid in installing
(seating) parts correctly. These positive retention items do not require tools.
Error handling and reporting
In the event of system hardware or environmentally induced failure, the system
runtime error capture capability systematically analyzes the hardware error
signature to determine the cause of failure. The analysis result will be stored in
system NVRAM. When the system can be successfully restarted either manually or
automatically, or if the system continues to operate, the error will be reported to
the operating system. Hardware and software failures are recorded in the system
log. When an HMC is attached in the PowerVM environment, an ELA routine analyzes
the error, forwards the event to the Service Focal Point (SFP) application running
on the HMC, and notifies the system administrator that it has isolated a likely cause
of the system problem. The Service Processor event log also records unrecoverable
checkstop conditions, forwards them to the SFP application, and notifies the system
administrator.
The system has the ability to call home through OS to report platform recoverable
errors and errors associated with PCI adapters/devices.
In the IVM environment, call home is supported through an IVM partition.
In the HMC managed environment, a call home service request will be initiated
and the pertinent failure data with service parts information and part locations will
be sent to an IBM service organization. Customer contact information and specific
system-related data such as the machine type, model, and serial number, along with
error log data related to the failure, are sent to IBM Service.
Live Partition Mobility
With Live Partition Mobility, users can migrate an AIX, Linux, or IBM i partition
running on one POWER partition system to another POWER system without
disrupting services. The migration transfers the entire system environment,
including processor state, memory, attached virtual devices, and connected users.
It provides continuous operating system and application availability during planned
partition outages for repair of hardware and firmware faults.
Service processor
The service processor provides the capability to diagnose, check the status of, and
sense the operational conditions of a system. It runs on its own power boundary and
does not require resources from a system processor to be operational to perform its
tasks.
Under PowerVM the service processor supports surveillance of the connection to the
HMC and to the system firmware (hypervisor). It also provides several remote power