Configuring an nPartition and Virtual Partitions for Auto-Booting
The
two vPars are now configured and running properly. However, the boot
sequence for the vPar monitor and the two vPars requires manual
interaction. This may not be obvious because the vparstatus output shown in Listing 12
indicates that both of the vPars have the auto attribute set. However,
additional configuration steps are necessary for two reasons. First,
each vPar's auto attribute is used by the vPar monitor, not the
firmware of the server where vPars are running. Therefore, firmware
must be set to automatically boot independent of the vPars' attributes.
Secondly, the vPar monitor must be invoked in such a manner as to
automatically boot all vPars whose auto attribute set. If you don't
configure these settings, the vPars will require manual interaction
during booting.
The
vPar architecture allows the monitor to be booted from the boot disk of
any of the vPars. No one vPar is the “master” vPar. Even if the disk
that is used as the primary boot device for the monitor experiences a
hardware failure, the worst-case scenario is the loss of a single vPar.
The vPar monitor can be booted from another vPar's boot disk and the
configuration will be the same as if it was booted from the original.
The following steps are required for an nPartition and the contained vPars to be booted automatically.
1. | Configure the auto attribute for each vPar that should be automatically booted. This can be done through vparcreate, vparmodify, or setboot.
By default, vPars will be set to automatically boot. In most cases,
this step involves ensuring that the default value hasn't been changed.
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2. | Set primary and alternate boot paths in stable storage. Use either parmodify or the firmware interfaces directly to set the boot paths.
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3. | Modify the AUTO file for each boot device to boot the vPar monitor. The vPar monitor must be directed to boot all of the vPars. The mkboot command is used to modify the AUTO file from the vPar that owns the boot device.
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4. | Configure firmware to automatically boot from the specified boot paths. This step must be performed from the firmware interface.
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note
In a vPar environment, the setboot command does not affect the boot paths used by firmware to boot the vPar monitor. Instead, the setboot command only affects the boot paths for the local vPar.
Listing 13 shows the nPartition status for zoo6. Notice that the primary, alternate, and HA alternate boot paths are set to the same boot devices configured for the zoo24 and zoo25 vPars. The parmodify
command can be used to set the boot paths when they have not already
been set using the nPartition commands or the firmware interfaces for
the nPartition.
Listing 13. nPartition Status with Boot Paths
# parstatus -V -p 6
[Partition]
Partition Number : 6
Partition Name : zoo6
Status : active
IP address : 0.0.0.0
Primary Boot Path : 6/0/6/0/0.2.0
Alternate Boot Path : 6/0/8/0/0.8.0
HA Alternate Boot Path : 6/0/9/0/0.8.0
PDC Revision : 35.3
IODCH Version : 5C70
CPU Speed : 552 MHz
Core Cell : cab0,cell6
[Cell]
CPU Memory
OK/ (GB)
Hardware Actual Deconf/ OK/
Location Usage Max Deconf Connected To
========== ============ ======= ========= ===================
cab0,cell6 active core 4/0/4 2.0/ 0.0 cab0,bay1,chassis1
[Chassis]
Core Connected Par
Hardware Location Usage IO To Num
=================== ============ ==== ========== ===
cab0,bay1,chassis1 active yes cab0,cell6 6
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After setting the
boot paths used by firmware, each of the boot disks must be configured
to load the vPar monitor. Notice that in Listing 14, the primary boot device for zoo24 is shown in the ioscan output. The raw disk device is used as an argument to the mkboot command. The mkboot command shown at the end of the listing modifies the AUTO file on the specified disk. The AUTO file is used when booting and in this case boot the vPar monitor. Also note that the –a
argument is passed to the vPar monitor. This argument causes the vPar
monitor to boot all of the vPars whose auto attribute is set. The mkboot
command must be executed on the vPar that owns the respective boot
devices. In this example, only the nPartition's primary boot device for
the zoo6 nPartition is owned by the vPar zoo24.
Listing 14. Set Primary Boot Disk to Auto Boot vPar Monitor (from zoo24)
# ioscan -funC disk
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type
=============================================================
disk 0 6/0/6/0/0.2.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE
/dev/dsk/c3t2d0 /dev/rdsk/c3t2d0
disk 1 6/0/6/0/0.4.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE
/dev/dsk/c3t4d0 /dev/rdsk/c3t4d0
disk 2 6/0/6/0/0.6.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE
/dev/dsk/c3t6d0 /dev/rdsk/c3t6d0
# mkboot -a "hpux /stand/vpmon -a" /dev/rdsk/c3t2d0
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To achieve the highest level of availability, the nPartition's alternate and HA alternate devices must also have their AUTO file set to automatically boot the vPar monitor. Since the zoo25 vPar owns both of the zoo6 nPartition's alternate and HA alternate boot devices, the mkboot command is executed for both of those devices from the same vPar. The mkboot
commands are identical except for the path of the target device, and
the firmware boots the monitor in the same fashion regardless of the
physical boot device.
Listing 15. Set Alternate Boot Disks to Auto Boot vPar Monitor (from zoo25)
# ioscan -funC disk
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type
=============================================================
disk 3 6/0/8/0/0.8.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE
/dev/dsk/c5t8d0 /dev/rdsk/c5t8d0
disk 4 6/0/9/0/0.8.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE
/dev/dsk/c6t8d0 /dev/rdsk/c6t8d0
# mkboot -a "hpux /stand/vpmon -a" /dev/rdsk/c5t8d0
# mkboot -a "hpux /stand/vpmon -a" /dev/rdsk/c6t8d0
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The nPartition's
primary, alternate, and HA alternate boot devices have been properly
configured to boot the vPar monitor and all of the vPars. The final
step is configuring firmware to automatically boot from these boot
paths. Listing 16
shows the boot console handler (BCH) firmware commands for setting the
boot order and actions. This sequence of commands tells the firmware to
attempt to boot from the nPartition's primary, HA alternate, and
alternate boot paths, in that order. The value at the end of each of
the commands specifies the action to take if booting from a given path
is unsuccessful. The value 2 specifies that the firmware should continue on to the next path when booting fails. The value 1
specifies that firmware should return to BCH upon failure to boot. In
this case, firmware is configured to attempt booting from all three
booth paths and return to BCH only if all three are unsuccessful.
Listing 16. Set Firmware Path Flags to Automatically Boot
Configuration Menu: Enter command > pf PRI 2
Primary Boot Path Action
Boot Actions: Boot from this path.
If unsuccessful, go to next path.
Configuration Menu: Enter command > pf HAA 2
HA Alternate Boot Path Action
Boot Actions: Boot from this path.
If unsuccessful, go to next path.
Configuration Menu: Enter command > pf ALT 1
Alternate Boot Path Action
Boot Actions: Boot from this path.
If unsuccessful, go to BCH.
Configuration Menu: Enter command >
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All of the steps necessary for automatically booting the nPartition and the contained vPars have been completed. The nPartition zoo6
will automatically boot the vPar monitor and pass the vPar monitor the
appropriate flag to indicate that it should automatically boot all
vPars. Listing 17 shows the fully automatic boot process.
Listing 17. Example Automatic Booting of Virtual Partition Monitor and Virtual Partitions
Firmware Version 35.3
Duplex Console IO Dependent Code (IODC) revision 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) Copyright 1995-2002, Hewlett-Packard Company, All rights reserved
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cab/ Cell ------- Processor -------- Cache Size
Cell Slot State # Speed State Inst Data
---- ---- ------------ --- -------- ----------- ------ ------
6 0/6 Active 0 552 MHz Active 512 KB 1 MB
1 552 MHz Idle 512 KB 1 MB
2 552 MHz Idle 512 KB 1 MB
3 552 MHz Idle 512 KB 1 MB
Primary Boot Path: 6/0/6/0/0.2
Boot Actions: Boot from this path.
If unsuccessful, go to next path.
HA Alternate Boot Path: 6/0/9/0/0.8
Boot Actions: Boot from this path.
If unsuccessful, go to next path.
Alternate Boot Path: 6/0/8/0/0.8
Boot Actions: Boot from this path.
If unsuccessful, go to BCH.
Console Path: 6/0/0/0/0.0
Attempting to boot using the primary path.
-------------------------------------------------------------
To discontinue, press any key within 10 seconds.
10 seconds expired.
Proceeding...
Initializing boot Device.
Boot IO Dependent Code (IODC) Revision 0
Boot Path Initialized.
HARD Booted.
ISL Revision A.00.43 Apr 12, 2000
SL booting hpux /stand/vpmon -a
Boot
: disk(6/0/6/0/0.2.0.0.0.0.0;0)/stand/vpmon
679936 + 190216 + 17306888 start 0x23000
[MON] Booting zoo25...
[MON] Booting zoo24...
[MON] Console client set to zoo25
[MON] zoo25 loaded
[MON] Console server set to zoo24
[zoo25]
[MON] zoo24 loaded
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