Notifying The Client - IBM BladeCenter PS700 Technical Overview And Introduction

4.4.4 Notifying the client

After a Power Systems server has detected, diagnosed, and reported an error to an
appropriate aggregation point, it notifies the client and, if necessary, the IBM Support
Organization. Depending upon the assessed severity of the error and support agreement, this
could range from a simple notification to having field service personnel dispatched to the
client site with the correct replacement part.
Client Notify events
When an event is important enough to report, but does not indicate the need for a repair
action or the need to call IBM service and support, it is classified as Client Notify. Clients are
notified because these events might be of interest to an administrator. The event might be a
symptom of an expected systemic change, such as a network reconfiguration or failover
testing of redundant power or cooling systems. This includes the following examples:
Network events such as the loss of contact over a Local Area Network (LAN)
Environmental events such as ambient temperature warnings
Events that need further examination by the client, but these events do not necessarily
require a part replacement or repair action
Client Notify events are serviceable events by definition because they indicate that something
has happened that requires client awareness in the event they want to take further action.
These events can be reported back to IBM at the client's discretion.
Call home
A correctly configured POWER processor-based system and BladeCenter AMM can initiate a
call from a client location to the IBM service and support organization with error data, server
status, or other service-related information. A call home invokes the service organization in
for the appropriate service action to begin, automatically opening a problem report and, in
certain cases, dispatching field support. This automated reporting provides faster and
potentially more accurate transmittal of error information. Although configuring a call home is
optional, you are strongly encouraged to configure this feature to obtain the full value of IBM
service enhancements.
Note: Call home is used generically to indicate automatically contacting IBM service. The
actual method is through an Internet connection. BladeCenter AMM and individual blades
do not have modem capability.
Vital product data (VPD) and inventory management
Power Systems store VPD internally, which keeps a record of how much memory is installed,
how many processors are installed, manufacturing level of the parts, and so on. These
records provide valuable information that can be used by remote support and service
representatives to assist in keeping the firmware and software on the server up-to-date.
The BladeCenter AMM also collects VPD on the individual blades and the components of the
BladeCenter chassis. This information is used by support representatives to understand the
complete BladeCenter/blade environment
IBM problem management database
At the IBM support center, historical problem data is entered into the IBM Service and
Support Problem Management database. All of the information related to the error along with
any service actions taken by the service representative are recorded for problem
management by the support and development organizations. The problem is then tracked
and monitored until the system fault is repaired.
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IBM BladeCenter PS700, PS701, and PS702 Technical Overview and Introduction