Ubuntu Manpage: ndctl-activate-firmware - activate staged firmware on memory devices

NAME

       ndctl-activate-firmware - activate staged firmware on memory devices

SYNOPSIS

ndctl activate-firmware [<bus-id> <bus-id2> ... <bus-idN>] [<options>]

Some persistent memory devices run a firmware locally on the device / "DIMM" to perform
tasks like media management, capacity provisioning, and health monitoring. The process of
updating that firmware typically involves a reboot because it has implications for
in-flight memory transactions. However, reboots can be costly for systems that can not
tolerate extended downtime.

The kernel detects platforms that expose support for runtime-firmware-activation (FWA).
The ndctl update-firmware stages new firmware binaries, but if the platform supports FWA
it will additionally arm the devices for activation. Then ndctl activate-firmware may
attempt to activate the firmware live. However, if the platform indicates that the memory
controller will be taken off-line for the duration of the update "activate_method ==
suspend" then the default policy for firmware activation is to inject a truncated
hibernate cycle to freeze devices and applications before the hard quiesce is injected by
the platform, and then resume the system.

DANGER the activate-firmware command includes a --force option to tell the driver bypass
the hibernation cycle and perform the update "live". I.e. it arranges for applications and
devices to race the platform injected quiesce period. This option should only be used
explicit knowledge that the platform quiesce time will not trigger completion timeout
violations for any devices in the system.

EXAMPLES

       Check for any buses that support activation without triggering an activation:

           # ndctl activate-firmware all --dry-run
           ACPI.NFIT: ndbus1: has no devices that support firmware update.
           nfit_test.1: ndbus3: has no devices that support firmware update.
           e820: ndbus0: has no devices that support firmware update.
           [
             {
               "provider":"nfit_test.0",
               "dev":"ndbus1",
               "scrub_state":"idle",
               "firmware":{
                 "activate_method":"suspend",
                 "activate_state":"idle"
               },
               "dimms":[
                 {
           ...

       Check that a specific bus supports activation without performing an activation:

           # ndctl activate-firmware nfit_test.0 --dry-run --force
           [
             {
               "provider":"nfit_test.0",
               "dev":"ndbus2",
               "scrub_state":"idle",
               "firmware":{
                 "activate_method":"suspend",
                 "activate_state":"idle"
               },
               "dimms":[
           ...
           ]

       The result is equivalent to ndctl list -BFDu upon successful activation.

       The ndctl list command can also enumerate the default activation method:

           # ndctl list -b nfit_test.0 -BF
           [
             {
               "provider":"nfit_test.0",
               "dev":"ndbus2",
               "scrub_state":"idle",
               "firmware":{
                 "activate_method":"suspend",
                 "activate_state":"idle"
               }
             }
           ]

OPTIONS

       -n, --dry-run
           Perform all actions related to activation including honoring --idle and --force, but
           skip the final execution of the activation. The overrides are undone before the
           command completes. Any failed overrides will be reported as error messages.

       -I, --idle
           Implied by default, this option controls whether the platform will attempt to increase
           the completion timeout of all devices in the system and validate that the max
           completion timeout satisfies the time needed to perform the activation. This
           validation step can be overridden by specifying --no-idle.

       -f, --force
           The activation method defaults to the reported "bus.firmware.activate_method"
           property. When the method is "live" then this --force option is ignored. When the
           method is "reset" no runtime activation is attempted. When the method is "suspend"
           this option indicates to the driver to bypass the hibernate cycle to activate
           firmware. in the bus When the reported "activate_method" is "suspend" the kernel
           driver may support overriding the suspend requirement and instead issue the
           firmware-activation live. CAUTION this may lead to undefined system behavior if device
           completion timeouts are violated for in-flight memory operations.

       -v, --verbose
           Emit debug messages for the firmware activation procedure

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2016 - 2020, Intel Corporation. License GPLv2: GNU GPL version 2
       http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html. This is free software: you are free to change and
       redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

NAME

SYNOPSIS

EXAMPLES

OPTIONS

COPYRIGHT

SEE ALSO