Table of contents

Introduction

I get a great deal of satisfaction from upgrading a system to a newer release. In this article, I will demonstrate upgrading an IBM i operating system running on IBM Power 9009-42G server (Power9 processor with EP5H feature) from V7R3 to V7R4. Even if you want to upgrade to newer versions, the procedure hasn’t changed much over the years. You only need to adapt to a few changes depending on your system’s characteristics, such as whether it is a production environment.

Upgrade map

graph TD
    A[Steps to upgrade IBM i] --> ZB(Prerequisites) --> ZBA[Partition identification] --> ZBB[Firmware/Processor]
    A --> B(Prior-upgrade) --> BA[Problem records] --> BB[Check SST] --> BC[Check console HMC] --> BD[Update MGTOOLS] --> BE[System verifications]
    A --> C[Pre-upgrade] --> CA[Save system information] --> CB[PRUV N°1] --> CC[Check secondary language] --> CD[Download OS/Lang image] --> CE[Download PTF packages] --> CF[Download license keys]
    A --> D[Prepare installation] --> DA[Create image catalog] --> DB[Add additional space] --> DC[Change system values] --> DD[Check IPL attributes] --> DE[PRUV N°2] --> DF[Final preparation]
    A --> E((Upgrade)) --> EA[Restricted state] --> EB["IPL (reboot)"]
	  A --> F[Post-upgrade] --> FA[Status verification] --> FB[Install secondary language ] --> FC[Apply license keys] --> FD[Change system values] --> FE[Update MGTOOLS] --> FF[Install PTF packages]
	  
	  style A fill:#ffcccc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
	  style ZB fill:#cce5ff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
	  style B fill:#cce5ff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
	  style C fill:#cce5ff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
	  style D fill:#cce5ff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
	  style E fill:#cce5ff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
	  style F fill:#cce5ff,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
	  style ZBA fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
	  style ZBB fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style BA fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style BB fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style BC fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style BD fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style BE fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style CA fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style CB fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style CC fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style CD fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style CE fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style CF fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style DA fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style DB fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style DC fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style DD fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style DE fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style DF fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style EA fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style EB fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style FA fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style FB fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style FC fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style FD fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style FE fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
		style FF fill:#ccffcc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px

Prerequisites

Before we can plan for an upgrade, we need to check few things.

V5R3 V5R4 V6R1 V7R1 V7R2 V7R3 V7R4 V7R5 V7R6 N+1
Power 5 ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌
Power 6 ❌ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌
Power 7 ❌ ❌ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌
Power 8 ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Power 9 ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ❌ ❌
Power 10 ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ❌
Power 11 ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅

Partition identification

select MACHINE_TYPE, MACHINE_MODEL, PARTITION_ID, SERIAL_NUMBER
from QSYS2.SYSTEM_STATUS_INFO

LXQIhxxc2J.png

Firmware/Processor

DSPSYSVAL SYSVAL(QPRCFEAT) → Processor feature

1qP4mzezbW.png

DSPFMWSTS → Display Firmware Status

hYjgFIeAnD.png

For detailed recommendations about hardware requirements, we can check FLRT report

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Make sure that UAK (Update Access Key) is not expired to perform firmware upgrade

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