Sun Fire 6800 Server
 
Sun Fire E6900 Server
 
Sun Fire E2900 Server
 
Sun Fire V1280 Server
 
Sun Fire 4800 Server
 
Sun Fire E4900 Server
 

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Applies to:

Goal

Description

UltraSPARC IV+ (USIV+ or Ultra Sparc Four Plus) System Board upgrade requirements for Sun Fire v1280, E2900, 4800, E4900, 6800, or E6900 servers.

The upgrade requirements for the Sun Fire[TM] Midrange System product line and the USIV+ System Boards are available on a component by component basis from the Sun System Handbook. To determine what is required for such an upgrade, you can refer to each of the individual component pages to get all of the information necessary to prepare for the upgrade process.

There are three (3) types of USIV+ boards available: 1500MHz, 1800MHz, and 1950MHz.

The purpose of this document is to combine all of the individual component resources into one quick reference guide.  This reference guide will provide information on what requirements must be met prior to installing any any USIV+ board into a Sun Fire[TM] Midrange System. It is important to note the following with regards to USIV+ and these systems:

• Sun Fire 3800 and 4810 servers do NOT support USIV+ so they are excluded from this document.
• Sun Fire 4800 and 6800 servers support USIV+ with upgrades.
• Sun Fire 4900 servers support USIV+ 1500MHz native and 1800, 1950 MHz with upgrades.
• Sun Fire 6900 servers support USIV+ 1500 & 1800MHz native.
• Sun Fire E2900/V1280 servers support USIV+ 1500 native.

This document also describes three additional topics which are:

• Solaris Operating System Requirements
• Upgrade Procedure Recommendations
• Utilizing USIV+ in Domains

Solution

Solaris OS & System Controller Application (ScApp) Requirements

1. Domain Operating System (OS) must be Solaris 9 09/05 s9u8, or Solaris 10 HW1.

• Solaris 8 (any revision) does not support USIV+ boards.
• Support for USIV+ using Solaris 9 09/04 s9u7 and a specific set of patches was qualified by Engineering.

2. System Controller minimum version is ScApp 5.19.1. for 1500MHz USIV+, 5.20.1 for 1800MHz USIV+ and 5.20.4 for 1950MHz.

Sun Fire 4800 Requirements

1. Domain OS and ScApp requirements listed above.

2. Upgrade the system Power Supply Units (PSUs).

• 1500MHz USIV+ Boards require pn 300-1596 or 300-1931 (A185)
• 1800MHz and 1950MHz USIV+ Boards require pn 300-1837 (A213)
• Mixed PSUs in the same platform is not a supported configuration except when performing this USIV/USIV+ PSU upgrade procedure.

3.Upgrade Fan Trays (FTs).

• 1500MHz USIV+ Boards require pn 540-6738, 540-6739, and 540-6740
• 1800MHz and 1950MHz USIV+ Boards require pn 540-1134, 541-1135, and 541-1136
• Mixed FTs in the same platform is not a supported configuration except when performing this USIV/USIV+ FT upgrade procedure.

Sun Fire 4900 server

1. Domain OS and ScApp requirements listed above.

2. No hardware upgrades are necessary to support USIV+.

• From the factory, the 4900 system comes with all required hardware components to support 1500MHz USIV+ boards.
• 1800MHz and 1950MHz have the same requirements as the list for the 4800 above.

Sun Fire 6800 server

1. Domain OS and ScApp requirements listed above.

2. Upgrade Power Supply Units.

• USIV+ (1500MHz & 1800MHz) Boards require pn 300-1595 (A184), 300-1930 (A184), or 300-1836 (A212).
• USIV+ 1950 requires 300-1836 (A212)
• ScApp 5.20.1 had a restriction requiring A212 PSUs, but the restriction was "lifted" for 1500MHz & 1800MHz boards in 5.20.2 and higher.
• Mixed PSUs in the same platform is not a supported configuration except when performing this USIV/USIV+ PSU upgrade procedure.

3. Upgrade EMI Gasket.

• The gaskets needed are included in the upgrade kit, X6800-USIV-KIT or X6800-USIV-KIT-Z.

4. Upgrade Level 2 Repeaters (RPs) if intending to configure 4 domains with USIV+.

• V2 RPs are NOT a requirement to operate USIV+ boards.
• V2 RPs ARE a requirement (in addition to at least ScApp 5.20.1) in order to operate USIV+ boards in dual domains per partition (all 4 domains on 6800/E6900).
• The V2 RP is pn 501-7594.

is required to allow 1800MHz USIV+ boards because this kit contains the A212 PSUs which ScApp 5.20.1 was restricted to use.

• If running > ScApp 5.20.1, the PSU restriction was lifted, and the upgrade kits, X6800-USIV-KIT or X6800-USIV-KIT-Z contain the required components necessary to support all boards currently released (up to 1800MHz USIV+).
• The V2 RP upgrade kit, XE6900-FP-SWITCH-Z, includes all 4 RPs needed to allow all 4 domains to be configured using USIV+ boards if ScApp is >5.20.1. Prior to this ScApp and RP version, USIV+ boards were restricted to a single domain per partition configuration (Domains A & C only).
• To enable 4 domains support following hardware and ScApp upgrade, utilize the setupplatform command options usiv+ and dual-domains as detailed in the Using UltraSPARC IV+ System Boards in Domains from the Sun Fire Midrange Systems Firmware 5.20.1 Release Notes (applicable for newer releases of 5.20.x ScApp too).
• Be aware of FAB <Document:1017415.1> The Performance Impact Of Configuring Two Domains In a Single Partition Can Be More Significant When Using UltraSparc IV+ Processors as it relates to V2 Repeaters.

Sun Fire 6900 server

1. Domain OS and ScApp requirements listed above.

2. No hardware upgrades are necessary to support USIV+.

• From the factory, the E6900 system comes with all required components to support 1500MHz.
• 1800MHz USIV+ boards will require ScApp 5.20.1 and 1950MHz USIV+ requires PSU 300-1836 (A212) available in upgrade kit XE6900-USIV+KIT-Z and ScApp 5.20.4.

3. Upgrade Level 2 Repeaters (RPs) if intending to configure 4 domains with USIV+.

• V2 RPs are NOT a requirement to operate USIV+ boards.
• V2 RPs ARE a requirement (in addition to at least ScApp 5.20.1) in order to operate USIV+ boards in dual domains per partition (all 4 domains on 6800/E6900).
• The V2 RP is pn 501-7594.

Sun Fire E2900/V1280 server

1. Domain OS and ScApp requirements listed above.

2. Remove the Left Input Air Filter per the instructions detailed in Alert <Document:1021703.1>.

3. No hardware upgrades are necessary. to support USIV+

• From the factory, the E2900/V1280 systems comes with all required components to support 1500MHz USIV+ boards.
• 1800MHz boards require Scope 5.20.1 and A209 PSU's and the 1950MHz require 5.20.4, the A209 PSU and the removal of the filter in the left hand door.
• The A209 PSU's are available in the current upgrade kit, XE2900-USIV+KIT-Z.

Upgrade Procedure Recommendations

1. The new hardware is dependent on the OS and ScApp firmware so you should update these first.  Use the following steps:

1. Update the firmware (flashupdate or lom -g) on the SCs and boards as detailed in the install.info file contained in the firmware patch.
2. Reboot the SCs as required by the firmware update process.
3. Upgrade the domain OS as needed (refer to Solaris Installation/Upgrade documentation).
4. Shut down the domain after the upgrade process has been completed.
5. Power off the platform.

2. If this is a 6800 system, power off the platform and install the EMI Gaskets.

• Refer to Sun Fire 6800 System EMI Gasket Installation Guide for the UltraSPARC IV Upgrade.

3. Upgrade the power supplies (and fan trays if 4800).

• Refer to Sun Fire 6800/4800 Systems Power Supply and Fan Tray Upgrade Guide.

4. Power the platform back on.

5. If on a 4800/4900/6800/6900 system, configure the system to support USIV+ boards.

• Run the command setupplatform -p usiv+ on the SC and answer TRUE to enable USIV+ support in the partitions.
• If V2 RPs have been installed and you will be running USIV+ in dual domains per partition (6800/E6900 only), run the command setupplatform -p dual-domains and answer TRUE for the partitions to be enabled for this support.

6. Verify firmware versions on all boards are at the same firmware level and upgrade the firmware as needed.

7. Assign and configure USIV+ boards to domains and test them.

1. Install the new System Boards either using DR operation or when the domains are still shut down.
2. Consider increasing POST level to max diags since the hardware is new, and either use DR to perform testing on the single board or use setkeyswitch on to POST the entire domain.
3. Monitor for any errors in POST related to the new boards.

Refer to Sun Fire High-End and Midrange Systems CPU/Memory Board Installation Guide (pdf).

Utilizing USIV+ in Domains

ScApp "setupplatform" Command Parameters

# setupplatform -p usiv+

• In ScApp 5.19.0 firmware the parameter usiv+ was added to allow UltraSPARC IV+ support.
• Prior to V2 RP availability (and ScApp 5.20.1), this setting restricted USIV+ support to domains A and C only (single domain per partition).

# setupplatform -p dual-domains

• In ScApp 5.20.1 firmware the parameter "dual-domains" was added to lift the single domain per partition restriction if V2 RPs were installed.

The following 2 examples illustrates the introduction of UltraSPARC IV+ system boards into domain environments without ensuring USIV+ support is provisioned for the domain concerned:

Introducing a USIV+ based SB into a domain using DR w/o ensuring USIV+ support

Introducing a USIV+ based SB into a domain using a keyswitch operation w/o ensuring USIV+ support

To address the above USIV+ support condition on the domain concerned, execute the setupplatform command with the usiv+ option (although, it must be noted that the changes desired will only take place while all domains in the affected partitions are off):

The above initiation of US IV+ based system board support on domain A will provide the necessary foundation for the introduction of any USIV+ based system boards into the domain A environment:

References

• Sun Fire High-End and Midrange Systems UltraSPARC IV+ (1.95 GHz) CPU/Memory Board Upgrade Requirements PDF
• Sun Fire High-End and Midrange Systems UltraSPARC IV+ 1.8 GHz CPU/Memory Board Upgrade Requirements PDF
• Sun Fire High-End and Midrange Systems UltraSPARC IV+ CPU/Memory Board Upgrade Requirements PDF
• Sun Fire 6800/4800 Systems Power Supply and Fan Tray Upgrade Guide

Internal Information:

Sun Fire E2900/V1280 ScApp and Filter recommendations:

• Customer Ready: <Document:1021703.1>
• Internal Only: <Document:1021064.1>

Previously Published As 83102

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