Check and update firmware on LPAR

To determine what firmware is installed, a couple of tools from IBM will help aid in that discovery.

  1. Inventory Scout -> installed on aix 5.3 systems and up
  2. Fix Level Recommendation Tool (FLRT) -> Used to determine vulnerability of a system from installed filesets, instfix packages etc

The examples below, will be utilizing a VIO server. Start by downloading a new catalog for invscout (saving to /home/padmin/)

  1. Available at: ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/server/firmware/catalog.mic
  2. Change ownership and permissions: chown 640 catalog.mic && chown padmin:staff catalog.mic #assuming on a vio server
  3. Replace old catalog file
    • cp /var/adm/invscout/microcode/catalog.mic /var/adm/invscout/microcode/catalog.mic.old
    • cp /home/padmin/catalog.mic /var/adm/invscout/microcode/catalog.mic
  4. Run Invscout:
    invscout
    ...
    Upload file: /var/adm/invscout/[hostname].mup
    Report File: /var/adm/inscout/invs.mrp
    Report File: /var/adm/invscout/invs.mrrup
  5. Transfer the invscout “upload file” for microcode comparison to IBM using the MDS tool: