Description
This incident indicates that the IBM Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) Mapping Layer is not needed with the currrent IPMI driver in use.
The IBM IPMI Mapping Layer is a user-mode library (a DLL) that provides the Application Programming Interface (API) for IBM platform management tools, Level-2 IBM Director Agent, and Level-1 IBM Director Core Services to communicate with the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) through the OSA/Avocent IPMI device driver or the Microsoft IPMI device driver.
IBM platform management tools that use the IBM IPMI Mapping Layer include Advanced Settings Utility (ASU), Dynamic System Analysis (DSA), Electronic Service Agent (ESA), WFlash/LFlash (firmware flashing utility) and others.
The IBM IPMI Mapping Layer for OSA/Avocent IPMI driver is a separate download that requires a separate installation. See the "Additional information" section for more information about downloading and installing the software.
The IBM IPMI Mapping Layer for Microsoft IPMI driver is different software. Any tool that uses this driver bundles the driver as part of its package; there is no need to download or install the driver separately.
Microsoft IPMI driver is required on IBM systems running Windows Server 2008 or later, and is automatically installed. On selected IBM systems, such as the IBM System x 3950 M2, the Microsoft IPMI driver might be required for Windows Server 2003 R2, to use some platform-specific management tools. Check the "Additional information" section that follows for compatibility of IBM systems, the operating system, and the IPMI driver.
The OSA/Avocent IPMI driver and the Microsoft IPMI driver are not meant to coexist on the same system. To keep the Microsoft IPMI driver, the OSA/Avocent IPMI driver must be uninstalled. The OSA/Avocent IPMI driver instantiates a hidden device for the BMC. Consult Microsoft documentation to learn how to show hidden devices on the Device Manager, and to learn how to uninstall a device driver.
Causes
On Windows Server 2008 or later, the native Microsoft IPMI driver is used in the place of the OSA/Avocent IPMI driver; and the IBM IPMI Mapping Layer for Microsoft IPMI driver is bundled with each IBM platform management tool; therefore there is no need for the IBM IPMI Mapping Layer to be present explicitly.
The residual presence of the extra IBM IPMI Mapping Layer might be due to an upgrade from an earlier version of Windows, or because of the previous use of the software with the OSA/Avocent IPMI driver.
Implications
While there might not be a problem with having the extra IBM IPMI Mapping Layer software present on a system, it is recommended that you remove the extra IBM IPMI Mapping Layer software as a good housekeeping practice.
Resolutions
To remove the extra IBM IPMI Mapping Layer, simply remove or rename the DLL (IBMSP6W.DLL) from the designated location -- %SystemRoot%\system32 or %SystemRoot%\SysWOW64 (for 64-bit systems).
Additional information
To troubleshoot issues with the IBM IPMI Mapping Layer, visit the "IBM System x support search" Web site, select Troubleshooting for "Task", select the appropriate values for "Product Family," "Machine type," and "Operating system"; type IPMI Mapping Layer in the "Search for" field, and click Search. In the resulting list, follow the links to read through appropriate articles and to follow the instructions in the articles. For BladeCenter x86 blade servers, visit the IBM BladeCenter support search Web site and follow similar steps.
For the compatibility matrix between IBM System x systems and Windows, consult IBM ServerProven System x and xSeries compatibility - Microsoft. For BladeCenter x86 blade servers, consult IBM ServerProven Compatibility for BladeCenter products.
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