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TC000604TB

Remote-Flash Redundant ROM

The ProLiant 8500 server is equipped with a Remote-flash Redundant ROM that improves

manageability. Using the Compaq Remote ROM Flash Utility, administrators can flash the system

ROMs for a wide range of Compaq servers, locally or across the network. The Remote ROM Flash

Utility is a combination of components that allows administrators to upgrade the system ROMs on

servers from a single point of execution. The ROM upgrades can either be flashed individually or

batched together to perform multiple ROM upgrades in a single step. The following components

are used in the ROM flash process:

• User interface. The user interface is command-line driven and allows administrators to tailor

functionality to a specific environment.

• System ROM Flash Service. The System ROM Flash Service allows the user interface to

perform essential functionality on remote servers for the ROM upgrade process, including

remote system shutdown, mounting, and unmounting the system partition.

• Compaq System Configuration Utility. The latest version of the Compaq System

Configuration Utility is integrated within the Compaq Remote ROM Flash Utility. Parts of this

utility have been enhanced to allow flawless firmware upgrades.

• ROMPAQ Utility and image files. Generally, any version of the ROMPaq Utility and image

files can be used. The latest ROMPaq Utility and images are available from the Compaq

website at www.compaq.com/support/files/server/ROMPAQ/index.html. It is possible to

maintain a common collection of ROM images in a particular directory on the local

administrative client or on a shared resource.

All of these components work together to deliver an easy-to-manage solution for administrators

who need to manage large-scale ROM upgrades, like those required for a year 2000 update, or a

few ROM upgrades at a time.

Compaq Remote-flash Redundant ROM provides a unique redundancy feature that helps ensure

system availability. During the ROM flash process, it is possible for a problem to occur.

Typically, a failure during the ROM flash would shut down the server and require the administrator

to replace the ROM. This could be a significant problem if, for example, the flash were scheduled

for a time when the administrator was unavailable. Theoretically, the server could be down for

hours until the administrator became available to manage the situation. Compaq’s unique

redundancy feature helps ensure system availability because it gives the system the ability to

recover the last known good system ROM in the event that the current system ROM is corrupted.

When a ProLiant 8500 server leaves the factory, both system ROMs contain the same image.

Through subsequent boots of the server, if integrity errors are detected by the boot block, the

system will automatically launch the redundant image and continue the POST process. If the

redundant ROM is launched, the user will see an error message identifying the faulty system ROM.

Auto-Default ROM Configuration

When a ProLiant 8500 server is first powered on, the system ROM detects the unconfigured state

of the hardware and provides default configuration settings for most devices. By providing this

initialization, the system can run Diagnostics and other software applications before running the

normal SmartStart and System Configuration applications.

If the user inserts a System Configuration, Diagnostics, or SmartStart CD in the CD-ROM drive

before powering on the server, the system ROM will boot using that CD. If the system ROM does

not detect one of these CDs, the user will be prompted for the intended OS. The system will reboot

if any OS-dependent configurations have changed with the new OS selection. If the selected OS-