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Asset ID: 1-77-1019604.1
Update Date:2011-02-17
Keywords:

Solution Type  Sun Alert Sure

Solution  1019604.1 :   On Certain Sun Enterprise, Blade, and Netra Servers, TOD may Advance as Much As One Second Every Fifteen Minutes  


Related Items
  • Sun SPARC Enterprise T5220 Server
  •  
  • Sun SPARC Enterprise T5240 Server
  •  
  • Sun Netra CP3260 ATCA Blade Server
  •  
  • Sun Blade T6320 Server Module
  •  
  • Sun Netra T5220 Server
  •  
  • Sun SPARC Enterprise T5140 Server
  •  
  • Sun SPARC Enterprise T5120 Server
  •  
Related Categories
  • GCS>Sun Microsystems>Sun Alert>Criteria Category>Availability
  •  
  • GCS>Sun Microsystems>Sun Alert>Release Phase>Resolved
  •  
  • GCS>Sun Microsystems>Sun Alert>Criteria Category>Data Loss
  •  

PreviouslyPublishedAs
242106


Bug Id
<SUNBUG: 6676309>, <SUNBUG: 6667409>, <SUNBUG: 6682970>, <SUNBUG: 6674205>

Product
Sun SPARC Enterprise T5120 Server
Sun SPARC Enterprise T5220 Server
Sun SPARC Enterprise T5140 Server
Sun SPARC Enterprise T5240 Server
Sun Blade T6320 Server Module
Sun Netra CP3260 ATCA Blade Server
Sun Netra T5220 Server

Date of Resolved Release
17-Sep-2008

On Certain Sun Enterprise, Blade, and Netra Servers, TOD may Advance as Much As One Second Every Fifteen Minutes

1. Impact

On Sun SPARC Enterprise servers T5120, T5220, T5140 T5240, Sun Blade server T6320, and Sun Netra T5220 and CP3260 Servers, the "Time-of-Day" (TOD) on the system may advance as much as one second every fifteen minutes. Solaris and user applications (ie database applications) which use Solaris TOD may be adversely affected in that event timestamps may be incorrect, potentially affecting data integrity.

2. Contributing Factors

This issue can occur on the following platforms:

SPARC Platform
  • Sun SPARC Enterprise T5120 and T5220 Servers with firmware revision prior to 7.1.3.d (without patch 136932-02)
  • Sun SPARC Enterprise T5140 and T5240 Server with firmware revision prior to 7.1.3.d (without patch 136936-03)
  • Sun Blade T6320 with firmware revision prior to 7.1.0.g (without patch 136933-04)
  • Netra T5220 with firmware revision prior to 7.1.3 (without patch 136934-02)
  • Netra CP3260 with firmware revision prior to 7.1.3.a (without patch 136935-01)
Note: x86 platform systems are not affected by this issue.

To determine the Firmware revision on the system, log into the Service Processor or CMM as 'root' and run the following:

-> show /HOST

If a Service Processor /CMM admin account has been created, then log in to that account and run the following:

sc> showplatform

and

sc> showhost

3. Symptoms

Solaris' TOD will advance faster than standard clock as much as one second every fifteen minutes.  This means it can advance 90 seconds in a 24 hour period.  This could cause database entries to have incorrect timestamps, which may affect data integrity.

Due to "spread spectrum" enabled in the hardware clock, the sys-tick frequency VBSC passed on to Solaris does not match the clock frequency, causing an inaccurate calculation of Solaris time resulting in clock drifts of more than the acceptable parameter of less than 2 seconds a day.

4. Workaround

(For Sun SPARC Enterprise T5120 and T5220 Servers only)

To work around the described issue, edit "/etc/system" to include/change the following parameters:

If it is a 1.2GHz system, set:

sys_tick_freq=1165379275

If it is a 1.4GHz System, set:

sys_tick_freq=1415103392

then run "init 0" and reboot Solaris.

To determine if the system is 1.2GHz or 1.4GHz you can review SP console logs for the POST report which will list the speed.

Also, prtdiag -v in Solaris will indicate the speed, as in the following:

Sys 166 MHz, CPU 1415 MHz, Mem 332 MHz

The Solaris TOD drift will no longer occur after "/etc/system" is edited and 'init 0' is run and the Solaris reboot takes place.

5. Resolution

This issue is addressed on the following platforms:

SPARC Platform
  • Sun SPARC Enterprise T5120 and T5220 Servers with firmware 7.1.3.d (as delivered in patch 136932-02 or later)
  • Sun SPARC Enterprise T5140 and T5240 Servers with firmware 7.1.3.d (as delivered in patch 136936-03 or later)
  • Sun Blade T6320 with firmware revision 7.1.0.g (as delivered in patch 136933-04 or later)
  • Netra T5220 with firmware revision 7.1.3 (as delivered in patch 136934-02 or later)
  • Netra CP3260 with firmware revision 7.1.3.a (as delivered in patch 136935-01 or later)

This Sun Alert notification is being provided to you on an "AS IS" basis. This Sun Alert notification may contain information provided by third parties. The issues described in this Sun Alert notification may or may not impact your system(s). Sun makes no representations, warranties, or guarantees as to the information contained herein. ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. BY ACCESSING THIS DOCUMENT YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SUN SHALL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT ARISE OUT OF YOUR USE OR FAILURE TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. This Sun Alert notification contains Sun proprietary and confidential information. It is being provided to you pursuant to the provisions of your agreement to purchase services from Sun, or, if you do not have such an agreement, the Sun.com Terms of Use. This Sun Alert notification may only be used for the purposes contemplated by these agreements.

Copyright 2000-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara, CA 95054 U.S.A. All rights reserved.


Modification History
15-Oct-2008: Clarification to FW version listed in Contributing Factors and Resolution sections


References

<SUNPATCH: 136932-02>
<SUNPATCH: 136936-03>
<SUNPATCH: 136933-04>
<SUNPATCH: 136934-02>
<SUNPATCH: 136935-01>

Internal Comments
Please send technical questions to the following email:
sunalert-tech-questions@sun.com
and CC the following persons:
Internal Contributor/Submitter
Internal Eng Responsible Engineer
Internal Services Knowledge Engineer

Internal Contributor/submitter
donald.palko@sun.com, josline.thompson@sun.com, howard.mcgee@sun.com

Internal Eng Responsible Engineer
josline.thompson@sun.com

Internal Services Knowledge Engineer
david.mariotto@sun.com

Internal Eng Business Unit Group
SSG NSN (Netra Systems and Networking), NSG (Network Systems Group), SSG ES (Enterprise Systems)

Internal Escalation ID
1-23403629

Internal Resolution Patches
136932-02, 136936-03, 136933-04, 136934-02, 136935-01

Internal Sun Alert & FAB Admin Info
15-Sep-2008, david m: draft created, send for review
17-Sep-2008, david m: review completed, send to publish

Internal Sun Alert & FAB Admin Info
15-Sep-2008, david m: draft created, send for review
17-Sep-2008, david m: review completed, send to publish
15-Oct-2008, david m: minor modification to FW revision listed in CF and RES. per customer request

References

SUNPATCH:136932-02
SUNPATCH:136933-04
SUNPATCH:136934-02
SUNPATCH:136935-01
SUNPATCH:136936-03

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