Release Date: May 26, 2020
This release is only supported for the IBM FlashSystem V9000 storage enclosure, Machine Types and Models (MTM) 9846-AE3 and 9848-AE3.
IBM FlashSystem V9000 product resources guide users through the various features and components of the storage system, including usage and troubleshooting guides. To read about this storage system and learn how to use or troubleshoot, see IBM Knowledge Center for IBM FlashSystem V9000 or visit the IBM Redbooks® website for the IBM FlashSystem V9000 Product Guide.
The following explains the bug severity ranking used for key fixes and in the Release history:
| Severity | Description | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | Recommended upgrade for all users as soon as possible. | |||
| S2 | Recommended upgrade for all users at the next scheduled maintenance window | |||
| S3 | Recommended upgrade at the next scheduled maintenance window only for users experiencing the issue. All others may consider this to be an S4. | |||
| S4 | Upgrade at the next scheduled maintenance window. May be performed at the discretion of the user if the issue is having a negative impact. | |||
| S5 | Upgrade is not necessary. This would include a mostly cosmetic or minor annoyance fix. |
The current release is a Program Temporary Fix (PTF) release for IBM FlashSystem V9000 customers and includes important fixes.
After initial configuration of the hardware is complete, IBM strongly recommends that you make sure that your IBM FlashSystem firmware is up-to-date. Visit IBM Fix Central using the link below to see if any updates are available for your system.
The following fixes are made available with release 1.6.1.2. To view fixes from earlier releases, see the Release history. Available firmware releases are listed on IBM Fix Central. For issue severity definitions, see the Bug severity legend.
S1
FLASH-29637 - A mitigation was added for the interface controllers to prevent system outages due to internal hardware failure.
S2
FLASH-29640 - An "invalid" health reading should not fail a flash module.
Vulnerabilities in Java (CVE-2019-2989 and CVE-2019-2964) have been remediated in this release.
For more information on these vulnerabilities, see IBM's security bulletin: Security Bulletin: Vulnerabilities in Java affect the IBM FlashSystem 900 (CVE-2019-2989 and CVE-2019-2964)
The following information lists the features that come with the 1.6 release of IBM FlashSystem V9000 product.
The following are features of all 1.6 releases and are therefore included in the latest release:
The following are features of all 1.5 releases and are therefore included in the latest release:
Users with virtualized storage on SVC versions 8.1.0.2 or 8.1.1.0 who are considering upgrading to 8.1.1.1 must update using special instructions detailed here. See Fix Central for these releases.
Beginning with release 1.6.1.0, when using a fully qualified domain name or DNS shortname containing a "_" (underscore), a blank page or http error 400 is displayed while attempting to launch the management GUI. This change complies with the RFC1035 specification for domain names. See this article for details.
To stay up-to-date on current known issues, workarounds, downloads, and other documentation from support, please ensure that you have subscribed to My Notifications.
| Protocol | Description |
|---|---|
| SCSI-SAM-3 | SCSI Architecture Model (v3) |
| SCSI-SPC-3 | SCSI Primary Commands (V3) |
| SCSI-SBC-2 | SCSI Block Commands (V2) |
| SCSI-FCP-3 | Fibre Channel (FC) Protocol (V3) |
| SCSI-SRP | SCSI RDMA Protocol |
| FC-PH-3 | FC Physical and Signaling Interface (V3) |
| FC-AL-3 | FC Arbitrated Loop (V2) |
The following sections include a list of all fixes and improvements for previous FlashSystem V9000 releases.
Release Date: November 11, 2019
The following issues were fixed in release 1.6.1.1:
FLASH-28268 - Collecting flash module LED status should not cause a node failover to stall. (S1)
FLASH-29113 - Improve error recovery handling in rare data loss during a loss of access event. (S1)
FLASH-29272 - Link instability on direct attached link up can lead to login stalls. (S4)
FLASH-29146 - Remediate multiple vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel which affect IBM FlashSystem V9000 (CVE-2019-11479, CVE-2019-11478, and CVE-2019-11477). More information is available on these vulnerabilities through the following security bulletin: Security Bulletin: Multiple Vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel affect the IBM FlashSystem models V840 and V9000
Release Date: June 28, 2019
The following issues were fixed in release 1.6.1.0:
FLASH-29023 - After one system battery is successfully replaced, replacing the second battery will cause it to come up in a degraded state. (S2)
FLASH-28505 - Rare timing condition can cause a loss of access after a flash module communication error. (S2)
FLASH-26930 - Internal communication errors could cause an interface controller to be unable to perform RAID reconstruct and validation operations until reset. (S2)
FLASH-28280 - Collection of support logs or failure of a system component during a system upgrade could cause the upgrade to stall with a possible loss of access. (S2)
FLASH-28833 - The event with ID 085081 and description "Array storage is critically low on available physical space" should not be able to be manually marked as fixed. (S4)
FLASH-28793 - Minor issues with LDAP management GUI panel. (S5)
FLASH-28351 - The event with ID 988011 and description "Array storage is low on available space" should be able to be manually marked as fixed. (S5)
FLASH-28683 - The management GUI dashboard includes an inaccurate Japanese translation for the word "ratio." (S5)
FLASH-28051 - Upload folder does not yield directory pop up on management GUI System Update page when using Chrome browser. (S5)
FLASH-27725 - Some label stats are showing "undefined" on the management GUI performance page when creating custom charts. (S5)
FLASH-27076 - Fast array validation tool cannot be turned off while in progress. (S5)
FLASH-28611, 27717, 26996, 26556 - Remediate multiple vulnerabilities in Java which affect IBM FlashSystem V9000 (CVE-2018-12547, CVE-2018-2180, CVE-2018-1517, and CVE-2018-2783). More information is available on these vulnerabilities through this link: Security Bulletin: Multiple Vulnerabilities in Java affect IBM FlashSystem V9000
FLASH-29146 - Remediate a vulnerability in Java which affects IBM FlashSystem 900 (CVE-2019-2602). More information is available on this vulnerability through this link: Security Bulletin: A vulnerability in Java affects IBM FlashSystem V9000.
FLASH-27878 - Remediate a vulnerability in IBM FlashSystem 900 service assistant GUI. (S4)
FLASH-27479 - Remediate a vulnerability in Apache Tomcat which affects IBM FlashSystem V9000 (CVE-2018-11784). More information is available on this vulnerability through this link: Security Bulletin: A vulnerability in Apache Tomcat affects IBM FlashSystem V9000
FLASH-27632 - Remediate a vulnerability in OpenSLP which affects IBM FlashSystem V9000 (CVE-2017-17833). More information is available on this vulnerability through this link: Security Bulletin: A vulnerability in OpenSLP affects IBM FlashSystem V9000
Security Bulletin: Multiple Vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel affect IBM FlashSystem V9000
Release Date: April 16, 2019
The following issue was fixed in release 1.6.0.1:
FLASH-28538 - AE3 systems upgraded to 1.6.0.0 from 1.5.0.0 - 1.5.2.4 firmware versions will not have additional compression space management functionality initialized, which makes it more difficult for a system that runs out of space to be properly cleaned enough to exit WRITE PROTECT mode. (S1)
Release Date: February 26, 2019
The following issues were fixed in release 1.6.0.0:
FLASH-27058 - Ensure that an out of space event will be raised again when appropriate after being marked as fixed. (S3)
FLASH-27034 - Reduce chance for power spike on flash modules. (S3)
FLASH-27209 - Neighborhood view shows an informational event as a system alert. (S4)
FLASH-26913 - Add array used effective capacity to lsarray CLI output. (S4)
FLASH-26882 - Add flash module physical and effective capacity to lsdrive CLI output. (S4)
FLASH-26888 - Improve low and out of space management when a compression-capable enclosure is managed by SVC. (S4)
FLASH-27296 - Several improvements made to GUI storage capacity displays. (S5)
FLASH-27260 - Several improvements made to GUI progress indicators. (S5)
FLASH-27209 - Neighborhood view shows an informational event as a system alert. (S5)
FLASH-27097 - GUI performance dashboard should provide guidance to the user on the projected physical capacity usage. (S5)
FLASH-26954 - Fix various browser-specific issues with the user management GUI. (S5)
FLASH-26857 - Several improvements made to GUI performance charts. (S5)
FLASH-26622 - Detailed array information needs to be provided in support logs. (S5)
FLASH-24927 - Multiple wording improvements should be made to GUI fix procedures. (S5)
Release Date: April 29, 2019
The following issues were fixed in release 1.5.2.5:
FLASH-27558 - Under rare circumstances, stalled commands are not properly recovered which can lead to a loss of access. (S2)
FLASHHW-752 - Flash modules will now always detect corrupted write data before returning status, preventing the possibility of multiple bad data pages on a single RAID stripe. (S3)
FLASH-28108 - Make potential physical capacity usage of volumes with compression more clear. (S3)
FLASH-27912 - Ensure that an Out of Space event will be raised again when appropriate after being marked as fixed. (S3)
FLASH-28225 - Improve low and out of space management when a compression-capable enclosure is managed by SVC. (S4)
FLASH-26883 - Add flash module physical and effective capacity to the management GUI. (S4)
FLASH-26882 - Add flash module physical and effective capacity to lsdrive CLI output. (S4)
FLASH-26913 - Add array used effective capacity to lsarray CLI output. (S4)
FLASH-27980 - Add support for SSL protocol 4. (S4)
FLASH-28238 - The GUI System export button yields a communication error. (S5)
FLASH-27097 - The GUI performance dashboard should provide guidance to the user on the projected physical capacity usage. (S5)
FLASH-28051 - Clicking the upload folders on the GUI Update System wizard does not yield a Browse pop up for Chrome users. (S5)
FLASH-27491 - Remediate a vulnerability which affects IBM FlashSystem 900 (CVE-2018-1775). More information is available on this vulnerability through the following security bulletin: Security Bulletin: A vulnerability affects the IBM FlashSystem 840 and 900
FLASH-29207 - Remediate a vulnerability in HTTP which affects IBM FlashSystem 900.
Release Date: October 15, 2018
The following issues were fixed in release 1.5.2.1:
FLASH-26705 - AE3 flash modules may erroneously present to be in low health. (S2)
FLASH-26997 - During upgrade or normal operation, reset of hardware communication parameters could cause a flash module to fail. (S2)
FLASH-26068 - In rare cases, AE3 flash modules could decrease in performance. (S3)
FLASH-27034 - Reduce chance for power spike on flash modules. (S3)
FLASH-26428 - There is potential for a canister warmstart and failover resulting in an internal error. (S4)
FLASH-26774 - When expanding a VDisk using the GUI, values over 1000 are not allowed. (S4)
FLASH-26274 - Remote support collection of snap may report as failed upon first attempt. (S5)
FLASH-26438 - Collecting logs using the Service Assistant GUI may not allow the user to save the file to their local computer. (S5)
FLASH-26310 - Repeated attempt to collect logs using the Service Assistant GUI may fail. (S5)
Release Date: June 19, 2018
The following issues were fixed in release 1.5.1.2:
FLASH-26391, 26388, 26117 - Improve timing to prevent erroneous flash module failures which in rare cases can lead to an outage. (S2)
FLASH-26480 - For InfiniBand (IB) systems only, upon upgrading to 1.5.1.0 or 1.5.1.1, system interface ports have assigned default port IP addresses. See Known Issues for more information. (S4)
Release Date: April 23, 2018
The following issues were fixed in release 1.5.1.1:
FLASH-26141, 26098, 26140, 26097, 26136, 25935, 26138, 26137, 26186, 26139- Remediate multiple vulnerabilities which affect IBM FlashSystem V9000 including CVE-2018-1433, CVE-2018-1434, CVE-2018-1438, CVE-2018-1461, CVE-2018-1462, CVE-2018-1463, CVE-2018-1464, CVE-2018-1465, CVE-2018-1466, and CVE-2018-1495. More information is available via the following security bulletins:
FLASH-26174 - The GUI fix procedure for battery event 1114 should account for a battery already having completed its hardware update. (S4)
FLASH-26192, 26253 - Reduce superfluous support log messages. (S5)
Release Date: February 21, 2018
The following issues were fixed in release 1.5.1.0:
FLASH-23975 - Remediate multiple vulnerabilities in GNU Bash (CVE-2016-0634, CVE-2016-7543, and CVE-2016-9401).
FLASH-25689 - Support packages collected in 1.5.0.0 do not include all relevant information. (S2)
FLASH-25146 - If a rebuild task takes too long, interfaces may not be prompted to perform a reset recovery. (S2)
FLASH-25651 - Allow special characters in passwords when logging in with the management GUI. (S3)
FLASH-25562 - Users with firmware could log in using a username entered with additional asterisks and the correct password. (S3)
FLASH-25655 - Prevent certain 509 node boot up errors. (S3)
FLASH-25380 - Remote support assistance configuration may not remain consistent after FRU canister replacement. (S3)
FLASH-25465 - Configuration recovery with SKLM encryption could not finish successfully. (S3)
FLASH-25053 - Increase number of interface controller rebuild tracking structures by 4 times to prevent running out under extreme cases. (S3)
FLASH-25458 - If a rebuild task takes too long, interfaces may not be prompted to perform a reset recovery. (S3)
FLASH-25164 - In the very unlikely event of not having enough rebuild tracking structures, the interface controller will now properly return the SCSI BUSY status, which will indicate the command needs to be retried. (S3)
FLASH-25374 - Manual data recovery should not require a manual change to restore cluster information. (S4)
FLASH-25558 - The 3D system view in the management GUI does not display correctly with some levels of the Chrome browser. (S5)
FLASH-25977 - Display logical capacity used in the user management GUI. (S5)
FLASH-25979 - All failed drives should no longer be powered off due to invalid temperature readings. (S5)
FLASH-25778 - SNMP output for port ID starts at 1 instead of 0. (S5)
FLASH-25797 - The CLI command lssra fails to execute on a canister that has been removed and reseated. (S5)
FLASH-25845 - While mapping volumes to a host using the GUI, a 'Loading' message should be presented rather than 'No items found.' (S5)
FLASH-25814 - A loading message on the GUI Dashboard should be center-aligned. (S5)
FLASH-25799 - Improve loading time for the GUI Dashboard. (S5)
FLASH-25387, 35385 - Improve wording for Service IP GUI panel. (S5)
FLASH-25386 - User name login for the GUI should not allow spaces. (S5)
FLASH-25375 - The 'Failed to connect to Key Server' event with ID 86008 and error code 1785 presents the 'Object Types' as 'UKNOWN'. (S5)
FLASH-25847 - The lsenclosurecanister CLI command reports a canister as offline when it is missing. (S5)
Use the following sections to perform firmware upgrades for your systems to the current release.
Warning: Please read all the instructions below before upgrading.
If you are upgrading to this release and your system is healthy, you can perform a Concurrent Code Upgrade (CCU). A CCU is a non-disruptive upgrade and is the preferred upgrade method. For general instructions on performing upgrades, refer to the FlashSystem Knowledge Center.
The following upgrade paths are supported for this release.
| From | To | |
|---|---|---|
| 1.5.0.x | --> | 1.6.1.2 |
| 1.5.1.x | --> | 1.6.1.2 |
| 1.5.2.x (Do not upgrade from 1.5.2.8) | --> | 1.6.1.2 |
| 1.6.0.x | --> | 1.6.1.2 |
| 1.6.1.x | --> | 1.6.1.2 |
CCU is a non-disruptive upgrade, which means that the system remains online throughout the process and that you can continue to access data normally. As a precaution, it is recommended that the upgrade occur during a time of reduced traffic. During the upgrade, the interface adapters in each canister are taken offline temporarily to be upgraded. This might impact performance or throughput. The impact is more noticeable under heavy load conditions. With a properly configured multi-path configuration, access to your data is always maintained.
To ensure a successful, non-disruptive upgrade, you should verify that your interface ports are all online and all the system hardware is functioning normally. Ideally, you should have the following:
lsenclosurebattery or the management GUI under Monitoring --> Systems to verify battery status. Note: If the battery status is 'reconditioning,' the firmware upgrade will not be allowed to start until after reconditioning completes. If the battery status is 'reconditioning required,' then you may proceed with the upgrade and perform reconditioning on the battery later. Note also that battery reconditioning can take up to 24 hours to complete. Running the ugprade test utility is a required step before concurrent upgrade in firmware versions after 1.2.0.11. The utility checks for problems in the system that might prevent the upgrade from completing successfully and either warns the user or blocks the user from proceeding. IBM Support recommends that all users planning to upgrade run the utility a full day in advance so that any issues called out by the utility can be remedied without delaying the planned upgrade.
To view checks that the upgrade utility makes before an upgrade, see the the release notes for the latest upgrade test utility posted along with each available firmware package on IBM Fix Central.
Important: Before you begin the upgrade, we recommend that you perform a backup of your data and a backup of the FlashSystem configuration. To back up the configuration, log into the cluster management IP address and issue the following command using admin-level authority:
svcconfig backup
Optionally, you can copy the configuration backup file from the FlashSystem to your workstation using secure copy (scp) on Linux or PuTTY secure copy (pscp.exe) on Windows as in the following examples:
(Using Linux)
scp superuser@cluster_ip:/dumps/svc.config.backup.* .
(Using Windows)
pscp -unsafe superuser@cluster_ip:/dumps/svc.config.backup.* .
Note: Do not ignore the periods shown above at the end of each command. In addition, replacement of italicized descriptions within angle brackets with appropriate information is required.
Posted along with the release notes and upgrade files on Fix Central are md5sum text files. These files exist for each update file so that the user can verify that the update file was downloaded correctly.
It is highly recommended that the upgrade be performed using the web-based cluster management interface known as the management GUI. Instructions are available for performing a CCU in IBM Knowledge Center. Search for 'IBM FlashSystem V9000,' then navigate to Upgrading the system. Included is information on retrieving software packages, using the update test utility, and automatically updating using either the GUI or the CLI.
Use the following sections to troubleshoot problems that may occur during the upgrade process.
If the upgrade takes more than two hours to complete, it may have stalled. Upgrade status is viewed by issuing lsupdate CLI command or by going to Settings --> System --> Update System in the GUI.
Both show a 'Stalled' status. In most cases, this can be resolved by aborting the upgrade and reattempting the upgrade after the system downgrades to its original level.
To abort the upgrade, issue the applysoftware -abort CLI command or click the 'Stop Upgrade' button in the GUI.
After the system is downgraded, you can reattempt your upgrade from the GUI or CLI. If the upgrade stalls repeatedly or if you have alerts which cannot be cleared, contact IBM Support.
You may get a battery or quorum alert during upgrade due to required reconfiguration. These alerts should be automatically cleared when the upgrade is completed. They may be visible from the Events view of the management GUI if the filter is set to 'Show All,' but they should no longer appear in the Recommended Actions, Unfixed Messages, or Alerts views. If you see unfixed battery or quorum alerts after an upgrade is complete, contact IBM Support.
If the upgrade has failed or stopped due to a hardware failure, you will see the 'Hardware Failed' status.
If you suspect a hardware failure, issue the lsupdate command to confirm the state of your system. This command shows that the system is in a hardware_failed state and the event log contains a 'System upgrade suspended' event. You may resume the upgrade by issuing the applysoftware -resume -force command for the following conditions:
lsenclosurebatteryIf the upgrade cannot be resumed or you have other alerts which cannot be cleared, contact IBM Support.
The battery reconditioning feature calibrates the gauge that reports the amount of charge on the batteries.
On systems that have been installed for 10 months or more or systems that have experienced several power outages, the recommendation to run 'battery reconditioning' will appear in the event log shortly after upgrading.
This is normal. Use the management GUI to run a DMP for this error or see the FlashSystem Knowledge Center to view how to properly issue the chenclosureslot command in reference to this issue.
Use the following link to access the Knowledge Center page for battery reconditioning.
Call IBM at 1-800-IBM-SERV (1-800-426-7378). To find contact information for a specific region, visit the IBM directory of worldwide contacts.
The following information reflects changes made to this document.
| Revision number | Description | Date | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Original version. | May 26, 2020 | |||
| 1.1 | Known issue added. | June 8, 2020 | |||
| 1.2 | Security remediation added. | July 13, 2020 | |||
| 1.3 | Added FLASH-29207 to the release history under the 1.6.1.1 release. | December 17, 2020 | |||
| 1.4 | "Do not upgrade from 1.5.2.8" added to the supported upgrade paths table. | March 15, 2021 |
IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. These and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with the appropriate symbol, indicating US registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available here.
The following terms are trademarks of other companies:
Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies.