**************************************************************** | | | IBM Concurrent Keyboard, Video and Mouse (cKVM) | | Version 1.4.11.38e | | | | (c) Copyright International Business Machines Corporation | | 2007. All rights reserved. | | | | US Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication | | or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with | | IBM Corp. | | | | Note: Before using this information and the product it | | supports, read the general information under "NOTICES AND | | TRADEMARKS" in this document. | | | | Updated 19 September 2007 | **************************************************************** CONTENTS 1.0 Overview 2.0 Installation and Setup Instructions 2.1 Installation instruction for Linux 2.2 Installation instruction for Windows 2.3 Installation troubleshooting tips 3.0 Configuration 4.0 Execution information 5.0 Web sites and phone support 5.1 Web sites 5.2 Software service and support 5.3 Hardware service and support 6.0 Notices and trademarks 7.0 Disclaimer 1.0 Overview -------------------------- 1.1 Product description Concurrent Keyboard, Video and Mouse (cKVM) provides access to server blades keyboard, video, mouse and mass storage functions simultaneously. Each blade that has a cKVM card installed can be viewed and controlled remotely. 1.2 Supported Operating Systems This feature requires server blades running these versions of operating systems or later: Windows 2003 Server RedHat Enterprise Linux version 4 Suse Linux Enterprise Server version 9 2.0 Installation and Setup Instructions ----------------------------------------- cKVM is supported on the following blades with the following firmware levels or greater: Machine type: HS21 - 8853 AMM/Telco: BPET26E / BBET26E BMC: BCBT29D BIOS: BCE116B Broadcom: 1.5.3 Machine type: HS21 XM - 7995 AMM/Telco: BPET26E / BBET26E BMC: MJBT06D BIOS: MJE107B Broadcom: 1.5.3 Machine type: LS21/41 - 7971/7972 AMM/Telco: BPET26E / BBET26E BMC: BABT25A BIOS: BAE122D Broadcom: 1.5.3 The flash utilities(lflash and wflash) are capable of flashing the cKVM card under Linux or Windows respectively. To flash the cKVM from a Linux operating system, you must ensure that the following package is installed on the operating system:- - Open IPMI driver This package is included in rhel3/4/5 and sles9/10 and is also available from http://sourceforge.net/projects/openipmi/ To flash the cKVM from a Windows operating system, you must ensure the following packages are installed on the operating system:- - OSA IPMI driver - IBM Mapping Layer for OSA IPMI These packages may be downloaded from IBM Support Web Site: http://www.ibm.com/support 2.1 Installation instructions for Linux 1. From an xterm window, execute the ibm_fw_ckvm_a-1.4.11.38e_linux-_32-64.sh on your system. 2. If the extract to directory option is used, then, execute lflash or lflash64 with the -k option: "lflash -k" or "lflash64 -k" The lflash tool will automatically start flashing the cKVM firmare. 3. Once the flash is complete, cKVM is automatically reset. You can see the new version appear in the web-browser GUI VPD firmware version. This will take a few minutes to flash the image. 2.2 Installation instruction for Windows 1. Run the self extracting executable file : ibm_fw_ckvm_a-1.4.11.38e_windows-_32-64.exe 2. If the extract to directory option is used, then, execute wflash or wflash64 with the -k option: "wflash -k" or "wflash64 -k" The wflash tool will automatically start flashing the cKVM firmare. 3. Once the flash is complete, cKVM is automatically reset. You can see the new version appear in the web-browser GUI VPD firmware version. This will take a few minutes to flash the image. 2.3 Installation troubleshooting tips The recommended mode for flashing a cKVM option card is to disable cKVM in the user interface and use legacy mode KVM. cKVM card will not function during flashing. If the cKVM card is flashed over remote control with an active cKVM session the session will be terminated when the flash operation is started. A cKVM internal network error message will appear. Should this occur, you can start a legacy KVM session to the flashed blade to view the flashing progress. You must wait for the flash operation to complete before attempting to switch to the blade with cKVM mode. 3.0 Configuration ----------------- Both cKVM and legacy KVM can be configured to have up to 4 KVM users per blade or to limit the number to just one user per blade. This parameter is set to allow up to 4 users by default and may be changed from the AMM user interfaces. For example, on the web interface there is a check box on the Remote Control page under "Remote Control Settings" to allow multiple sessions per blade. 4.0 Execution Information ------------------------- A blade with a cKVM option card installed can also operate in "legacy kvm mode". To run in legacy mode you must disable cKVM operation for that blade from a user interface. For example, from the Web interface select the Remote Control page and click the Concurrent KVM Configuration link. Select the blades to disable and click the Disable Concurrent KVM link. To enable the cKVM option cards use the same procedure but click the Enable Concurrent KVM link. The Remote Control applet indicates which mode a blade is running with the letter "D" for Digital video or "A" for analog video. The indicator is located next to the Refresh KVM List button on the Remote Control client application. Limitations and issues with cKVM - Serial over Lan (SOL) sessions disconnect in high traffic If SOL sessions disconnect while under high traffic conditions, set the Retry Count and Retry Interval to higher values. For example, on the web interface select the Serial Over LAN page and Serial Over LAN Configuration. Set Retry Count to 5 and Retry Interval to 500ms. - Remote Drive cannot copy files over 2GB This is a limitation in the current implementation. - Mounting second CD When mounting CD devices, there can be cases where the first CD of a series works fine but the second fails. This may be because the label of the second CD was not read properly by the operating system. Unmount the first disk before mounting the second disk to work around this problem. - Installing Operating Systems using cKVM Operating System installations are not supported using this version of cKVM. 5.0 Web information and support phone numbers --------------------------------------------- IBM Support Web Site: http://www.ibm.com/support IBM BladeCenter Web Site: http://www.ibm.com/systems/bladecenter/ If you have any questions about this update, or problems applying the update, go to the following Directory of Worldwide Contacts at URL: http://www.ibm.com/planetwide 6.0 Notices and trademarks -------------------------- The following terms are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both: IBM BladeCenter Advanced System Manager xSeries? System x Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both. Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. 7.0 Disclaimer -------------- THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. IBM DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND MERCHANTABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT. BY FURNISHING THIS DOCUMENT, IBM GRANTS NO LICENSES TO ANY PATENTS OR COPYRIGHTS.