SOFTPACK NUMBER: SP25779 PART NUMBER: FILE NAME: SP25779.tgz TITLE: ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Firmware for Linux VERSION: 1.1.1 LANGUAGE: English (US) CATEGORY: Firmware - Blade Infrastructure DIVISIONS: Server PRODUCTS AFFECTED: ProLiant BL20p All Models ProLiant BL30p All Models ProLiant BL40p All Models OPERATING SYSTEM: All HP-supported Linux versions SYSTEM CONFIGURATION: N/A PREREQUISITES: EFFECTIVE DATE: 4/9/04 ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION ALLOWED: Yes SOFTPACK UTILITY VERSION: SUPERSEDES: SP24908, SP24995 DESCRIPTION: This SoftPaq contains the ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch firmware image and Readme files. It should be used with the version 1.1.1 ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnnect Switch boot image to ensure correct operation and behavior. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Caution: Do not use the Browser-based Interface (BBI) to upgrade version 1.0.0 or 1.0.1 Firmware, since it may cause the switch to panic. Use the CLI, serial interface, or the Upgrade Tool. The BBI may be used to upgrade version 1.1.0 or later firmware. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fixed Issues: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Updating Firmware On A ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Using The Browser Based Interface May Cause The Switch To Panic GbE2 Interconnect Switch may become unresponsive when a fiber SAN module (cube) is inserted. Browser-based Interface May Not Display All Options When Configuring The ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Sends Similar Trap For Default Gateway Up And Default Gateway Down Events ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Command Line Interface Is Unable To Display The Serial Number, Spare Part Number, Or Interconnect Module Number ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch May Not Link When Forced To 100Mbps/Half Duplex ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Browser-Based Interface Does Not Allow VLAN 1 Assigned To Any Other STP Group Other Than STG 1 ``Page Cannot Be Displayed`` Message During Port Operational Status Modification Attempt On The HP ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Trunk Groups That Contain Port 1, Port 17, Or Port 18 Are Not Displayed When Viewing Trunk Group Information For The HP ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Via The Browser-Based Interface Forwarding Database Information Page For The HP ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch May Display Incomplete Or Inaccurate Information When Viewed Through The Browser-Based Interface (BBI) Forwarding Database Search Does Not Display Trunk Ports On HP ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Unless Using Default Search Criteria Within The Browser-Based Interface (BBI) ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Port Forward Transitions Statistics Display Invalid On All Switch Ports Using The Browser-Based Interface ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Browser-Based Interface Dashboard Displays Port 18 Of The Trunk Group With An Incorrect Designated Bridge ID Unable To Configure DNS Settings For The ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Using The Browser-Based Interface Configure Option Unable To View Current DNS Settings For The ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Using The Browser-Based Interface Configure Option ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Notification Of Administrator Login And Logout Is Not Communicated On The Front Panel LED When Using The BBI Serial RS-232 Session Console To CLI On A ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Does Not Log Out After The Idle Timeout Timer Expires ``Revert`` Button In The Browser-Based Interface Of The HP ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Does Not Function Properly When Deleting A VLAN ``Revert`` Button In Browser-Based Interface Main Banner Of The HP ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch May Not Function Properly ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Browser-based Interface (BBI) Displays Unused Fields Relating To Layer 3 Switching Or IP Routing ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switches That Are Paired May Display An Errant Debug Message When Only One Switch In the Pair Is Rebooted STP should default to off for ports 1-16 when adding VLAN to spanning tree group ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Spanning Tree Protocol configuration can cause ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment Pack jobs to fail with the PXE-E51 error. Rack location traps are not sent unless a gateway address defined. Broadcast PING hops VLANs. After running traceroute 8 times it begins to time out. After a few more iterations, it times out every time. Access to the default gateway then fails. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Known Issues: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Issue: ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Does Not Update Rack Location After Software Reset customer advisory EB030902_CW10 revision 2 released February 2004 Suggestion: To update the rack location on a ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch running firmware version 1.0.0., power-cycle the switch. Issue: ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Statistics Count Runt And Oversized Frames As Unicast Frames customer advisory EB030828_CW01 revision 0 released October 2003 Suggestion: The operation, functionality, and performance of the HP ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch are not affected by increments of the Statistics Counter. The Statistics Counter can be ignored for incoming unicast frames. Issue: ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Times Out After 11 Minutes When Upgrading The Boot Or Firmware Image Using TFTP customer advisory EB030828_CW02 revision 0 released September 2003 Suggestion: Use a network link faster than 56-Kbps to communicate with the switch. If a faster link is not available, then the serial port on the Interconnect Switch must be used to upgrade the firmware or boot image. Detailed instructions for updating firmware using the serial port are included in the Interconnect Switch User Guide. Issue: ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch May Lose IP Address Supplied By Bootp Server after scp customer advisory EB030829_CW05 revision 0 released October 2003 Suggestion: To avoid this issue, do not use the scp putcfg_apply_save command. Once the bootp information is lost, the switch must be forced to renegotiate with the bootp server. To force a renegotiation with the bootp server, either toggle the bootp state on the switch via /cfg/sys/bootp disable followed by /cfg/sys/bootp enable, or reboot the switch. Forcing a renegotiation with the bootp server will need to be done from the serial console port of the switch. Issue: ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switches Display ``MPM REQUEST`` Messages On Console When Rack Configuration Changes customer advisory EB030829_CW07 revision 0 released October 2003 Suggestion: The messages displayed on the console screens do not impact the functionality of the switch and can be ignored. Issue: An HP ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch will forward Jumbo Frames correctly, but the port statistics will list the frames as "Interface Errors." Suggestion: HP recommends ignoring the "Interface Errors" counter on a ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Issue: Abnormal character output occurs anytime the "Telnet" command is issued from the HP ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch to connect to a remote device and the remote device does not support a terminal type of "network." The remote device shows a double echoing of the typed characters and results in password fields that are not hidden. The extra character echoing occurs because the ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch uses a terminal type unknown by the remote device. Some remote devices display the following message: unknown terminal "network" Suggestion: Use known terminal type. Issue: The ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch CPU utilization counters display near 100 percent CPU utilization at all times, even if the switch is idle. This does not reflect the actual CPU utilization. Suggestion: The CPU utilization counter display can be ignored. Issue: The Load Distribution Algorithm for the ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch is not user configurable. The GbE2 Interconnect Switch uses a hash algorithm based on the last three bits of SRC IP Address XOR with the last three bits of DST IP Address. Sugestion: Use the following information to determine the forwarding port in a trunk group that contains more than one port: For broadcast, multicast and unknown unicast traffic, the lowest port number in the trunk group is elected to be the forwarding port for forwarding traffic. For IP traffic, the GbE2 Interconnect Switch calculates the trunk port to use for forwarding traffic by implementing the load distribution algorithm on a value equal to the modulus of (XOR of last 3 bits of Source and last 3 bits of Destination IP address). For non-IP traffic, the GbE2 Interconnect Switch calculates the trunk port to use for forwarding traffic by implementing the load distribution algorithm on a value equal to the modulus of (XOR of last 3 bits of Source and last 3 bits of Destination MAC address). Issue: It is not obvious why the ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch diff command sometimes displays the headings "=> Pending configuration", "<= Current configuration" or both. The diff command is used to summarize the configuration changes that have not been applied to the currently running switch configuration. This command is available through the /diff command in the Command Line Interface (CLI), and through the Diff toolbar button in the Browser-based Interface (BBI). The headings displayed depend on whether the current configuration value is equal to the factory default value or not, and if the pending configuration value is a factory default or not. If the current value is a factory default, then the "Pending configuration" heading and associated value are reported. If the pending value is a factory default, then the "Current configuration" heading and associated value are reported If neither the current or pending values are factory defaults, then both the "Pending configuration" and "Current configuration" headings and associated values are reported Suggestion: After the switch configuration changes are applied, the /cfg/dump command can be used to verify that configuration changes are made as intended. Issue: When one BBI user logs out, all BBI users get logged out. Multiple simultaneous BBI user connections are not entered into the system log. Suggestion: Implement a policy to allow only one BBI user at a time or disable BBI access if this is a problem. Issue: When the GbE2 Interconnect Switch fiber links are reconfigured to autonegotiation off for an established link, the link will not be renegotiated even though the link up/down messages are displayed. If the link at the other end of the uplink port’s connection has autonegotiation turned on, a link fluctuation at a later time may fail to reestablish the link. In other words, if the cable is removed and reinserted, or if the cube is hotplugged, the link may not be reestablished if the autonegotiation parameter has been changed since the GbE2 Interconnect Switch was booted. The link is not established until the switch is rebooted. Notice, this is an unsupported configuration when one end is autonegotiation off and the other end is autonegotiation on. Suggestion: Configure both link ends the same regarding autonegotiate. Issue: An HP ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch may experience frame loss when operating under maximum load for an extended period of time, as reported by the IXIA throughput test. The frame loss only occurs when the switch ports are connected in a "daisy-chained" configuration (i.e., Port 1 > Port 2 > Port3 > Port 4, etc.) Suggestion: This is essentially a test reporting error and the actual loss rate is much less than reported, since the test divides the success rate in half for every lost frame. When testing the ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch, avoid "daisy-chaining" ports. Issue: Revert apply hangs CLI when applied for a lot of changes Suggestion: The switch still functions. Only the CLI delays responding for about 5 minutes. Issue: ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch Loses bootp Supplied IP Address When Using Get Config Button From The Browser-Based Interface customer advisory EB040209_CW04 revision 0 released February 2004 Suggestion: To obtain the bootp supplied IP address for the management interface, connect to the Switch via the serial management port and perform the following steps using the Command Line Interface: Delete the management IP interface via /cfg/ip/if 1/del Disable the bootp process using the command /cfg/sys/bootp disable and then type "apply." Re-enable the bootp process using the command /cfg/sys/bootp enable and then type "apply." Issue: ProLiant BL p-Class Servers May Not Link to HP ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch While Running Red Hat Linux 8.0 And DHCP customer advisory EB030826_CW02 revision 0 released December 2003 Suggestion: To establish a link to the ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch if the interface is configured to DHCP, upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1. OR If Red Hat Linux 8.0 is required, manually reload the network driver on the server to allow the NIC to link to the switch. Issue: ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch May Not Obtain An IP Address For Management Interface When Using bootp From A Linux Server customer advisory EB040209_CW02 revision 0 released March 2004 Suggestion: To allow the bootp process to function properly, issue the following commands at the Command Line Interface (CLI): /cfg/ip/if 1 /del (Delete uninitialized management IP interface) /cfg/sys/bootp disable (Toggle the bootp process off) apply (Apply the previous command) /cfg/sys/bootp enable (Toggle the bootp process on) apply (Apply the previous command) Issue: GbE2 switches operating continuously at line rate may drop jumbo frames after 2 Gb have been transferred Suggestion: Continuous operation at maximum line rate that long is unlikely to occur. Issue: GbEe switches may exhibit incompatibility with devices that use the Intel LXT9785EHC Transcievers (e.g. Cisco 3550 switches). Suggestion: The workaround involves padding an extra 4 bytes to the IPG header to make it uniformly sized. Execute this hidden command found under /maint/sys/ipgenh. The IPG gap extension can be enabled or disabled via: /maint/sys/ipg e (enable) /maint/sys/ipg d (disable) The results will be written to NVRAM, and a reset is required for this to take affect. This parameter is loaded before the GEA init on reset. To see whether it is active or not, type /c/dump and look at the 3rd line in comments. If enabled, you will see: /* IPG Gap Extension Enabled Issue: GbE2 Interconnect Switch doesn't use Forward Delay as MAC aging timer during STP Topology Changes. Suggestion: The entries will be aged as configured via /cfg/stp <#>/brg/aging Issue: Switch ports discard all frames when VLAN 1 is moved out of spanning tree group 1. Suggestion: Move VLAN 1 back into STG 1 if it was moved out. Issue: There are four BBI dashboard searches, one for each of Spanning Tree Groups, Virtual LANs, IP Interfaces, and Default Gateways. All searches allows a range to be specified, followed by multiple search criteria. The relationship between the search range and the search criteria is always an AND operation and is performed before any of the search criteria are applied. After narrowing the search via the range values, the next step involves applying the criteria that have non-default values. Search criteria with default values are ignored. The relationship among the remaining non-default criteria and the possibly narrowed search range is specified by the search operation. Therefore, it follows that the search criteria is limited in its scope. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOW TO USE: Download the SoftPaq to a directory on your target computer. The SoftPaq is a .tgz file with a file name based on the SoftPaq Number. Run this command to extract the files from the .tgz file: tar -zxvf *.tgz Place the firmware image file (*.bin) on a TFTP server that is network-accessible from the switch you wish to update. Use the switch's command line interface (CLI) to update the firmware. Alternately, the switch's serial console may be used to update the firmware. See the switch's User Guide for detailed instructions. Refer to the Softpaq README file for installation instructions and firmware information. (C) Copyright 2004 Hewlett-Packard Development Group, L.P. Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies