MP [console] firmware upgrade

This is definitely an exciting day for me. I never expected that my wish will come true. (Be careful what you wish for) Of course, this change gave me a scare. I thought I was done. My last day on this work. But as they say, "Ang masamang damo, matagal mamatay!". Earlier during the change, when I got the error, I felt both excited and "nerbyos"! But, hey, if it is my time, so be it. Nah, I won't go down that easy. I followed the procedure specified in the SOP but after a reboot, I was not able to switch to root user. I thought I missed changing the root password. My first action was to try to boot to single user mode:

1. Interrupt the booting sequence
2. Type boot in the command prompt
3. Interact with ISL/IPL, answer "Y/yes"
4. When in ISL prompt, key-in hpux -is to boot to single user mode

I was thinking of changing the root password but I'm not too sure of the effect. I tried to copy the original root file from /tcb/files/auth/r/, which I made a backup but, then I'm getting an error that `cp` as unknown command (Any thought on this?). Hmmm, now this started to scare me a bit. But wait, how about booting it in rc level 1? OK, I entered init 1 in the CLI. Critical FSes were mounted and several processes were ran but, I was kicked out of the console access. Deym, it's useless, I just lost my root access.

I went for another reboot, this time, in consultation with my TL, I booted to default run level - 4 (specific for this environment; default rc level for HP-UX is 3, by the way). Great news! E-trust is up. I can switch to privileged user. I re-copied the root file, then change the password according. to SOP. Rebooted and waited for the server again to go to run level 2. Rc 2, here we go.

[user1@server1:/home/user1]
$ su - root
Password:
su: Unknown id: root

[user1@server1:/home/user1]
$ sesu -
System call not loaded.
Password:
su: Unknown id: root

[user1@server1:/home/user1]
$ grep -i root /etc/passwd
"root entry here..."

[user1@server1:/home/user1]
$ who -r
. run-level 2 Apr 10 05:54 2 0 S


I asked our security team to fix this, I mean run the E-trust so I can switch to privilege user, and then stop it, again, so I can proceed with the patching. Then patching goes... smoothly. Unknown to me, after the "autoreboot", the firmware got updated. And failed. And halted the system! OMG! Escalation, please assist! I handed over the console access to my L3 from which he tried to reset the box. But it seems, it has no effect. BTW, MP for rp4440 is built-in. We have no choice but to call on the onsite DM. I guess, he did a hard reboot and made a workaround to fix the MP issue. And whoala, the box is up! After some system validations, got the application team to start the SAP and Oracle.

Here's something greek (onsite DM):

Prior to updating the iLO MP firmware a MP reset needs to occur via the "XD-R" command in order to free up enough contiguous memory.

server1] MP:CM> xd
XD
Diagnostics Menu:
Non destructive tests:
P - Parameter checksum
I - I2C access (get BMC Device ID record)
L - LAN access (PING)
M - Modem selftests
Destructive tests:
R - Restart MP

Enter menu item or [Q] to Quit: r
r
Confirm? (Y/[N]): y
y
MP is now being reset...

MP MAIN MENU:
CO: Console
VFP: Virtual Front Panel
CM: Command Menu
CL: Console Log
SL: Show Event Logs
HE: Main Help Menu
X: Exit Connection
server1] MP>

A separate comment by HPCE (?):

In the procedure prior applying patch update, a reset of MP is needed to free up memory space on MP and permit firmware writing. BUT as the MP was not reachable, I guess it was not possible to perform the reset? Now the MP firmware is probably not updated, but you can do the MP upgrade on-line by using a FTP file.

New lesson learned! I need to read more about this. Perhaps consult Aadee. And for the SAP team's wrong template? Rejected!