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nPartition Administrator's Guide > Chapter 5 Booting and Resetting nPartitions

Overview of nPartition System Booting

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This section provides an overview of the nPartition system boot process for HP 9000 servers and HP Integrity servers.

On cell-based HP servers, system resources are configured into one or more nPartitions. Each nPartition includes the cells (with processors and memory) assigned to it and the I/O that is connected to those cells.

An nPartition can boot and reboot independently of any other nPartitions in the same server complex. Each nPartition runs its own firmware and has its own system boot environment. nPartitions provide hardware and software fault isolation: a reset, TOC, or MCA in one nPartition does not affect any other nPartition in most cases.

Each nPartition is effectively an independent system that follows the boot processes outlined in the following lists. Boot Overview for Cell-Base HP 9000 Servers shows an overview of the boot process on HP 9000 servers (PA-RISC systems). Boot Overview for Cell-Based HP Integrity Servers shows an overview of the boot process on HP Integrity servers (Itanium® 2-based systems).

Also refer to “Boot Process for Cells and nPartitions” for details.

Boot Overview for Cell-Base HP 9000 Servers. Cell-based HP 9000 servers have PA-RISC processors and have the following boot process:

  1. PDC Self Test

  2. PDC Boot

  3. Boot Console Handler (BCH, a menu-driven boot environment)

  4. Initial System Loader (ISL)

  5. Secondary System Loader (hpux)

  6. HP-UX Operating System

Boot Overview for Cell-Based HP Integrity Servers. Cell-based HP Integrity servers have Intel® Itanium® processors and have the following boot process:

  1. Processor Abstraction Layer (PAL)

  2. System Abstraction Layer (SAL)

  3. Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)

  4. EFI Boot Manager (menu-driven boot environment)

    1. EFI Shell (command-driven boot environment)

    2. EFI Scripts and Applications

      EFI scripts and EFI applications can be initiated from either EFI Boot Manager or EFI Shell.

  5. Operating System Loader

    The following OS loaders are supported on HP Integrity servers. OS loaders can be initiated from the EFI Boot Manger or the EFI Shell.

    1. HPUX.EFI Loader

      Loader for the HP-UX operating system.

    2. ELILO.EFI Loader

      Loader for Red Hat Enterprise Linux or SuSE Linux Enterprise Server.

    3. vms_loader.efi Loader

      Loader for HP OpenVMS I64.

    4. ia64ldr.efi Loader

      Loader for Microsoft Windows Server 2003. ia64ldr.efi must be initiated from EFI Boot Manager (not from the EFI Shell).

Boot Process Differences for nPartitions on HP 9000 servers and HP Integrity servers

The following lists, “HP Integrity Server Booting” and “HP 9000 Server Booting”, describe system boot features and differences on HP Integrity and HP 9000 servers.

HP Integrity Server Booting. This list describes system boot features on cell-based HP Integrity servers.

  • The nPartition system boot environment is the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI): the EFI Boot Manager menu and the EFI Shell.

  • The autoboot process is configured by the EFI autoboot setting and the order of items in the boot options list.

    The boot options list can include:

    • First boot option: configured using the setboot -p... or parmodify -b... command.

    • Second boot option: configured using the setboot -h... or parmodify -s... command

    • Third boot option: configured using the setboot -a... or parmodify -t... command.

  • Each operating system has its own OS loader.

    • The HP-UX OS loader is HPUX.EFI, which supports hpux(1M) loader options.

      You can issue hpux loader commands from the HPUX> prompt.

    • The HP OpenVMS I64 loader is vms_loader.efi.

    • The Microsoft® Windows® loader is ia64ldr.efi and it is invoked only from the EFI Boot Manager.

    • The loader for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SuSE Linux Enterprise Server is ELILO.EFI.

      You can issue ELILO loader commands from the "ELILO boot" prompt.

  • The EFI system boot environment includes an ACPI configuration setting that must be set properly for the OS being booted: either HP-UX, OpenVMS I64, Windows, or Linux. For details see “ACPI Configuration Value—HP Integrity Server OS Boot”.

HP 9000 Server Booting. This list describes system boot features on cell-based HP 9000 servers.

  • The nPartition system boot environment is the Boot Console Handler (BCH).

  • The autoboot process is configured using boot device paths (PRI, HAA, ALT) and path flags.

    • PRI boot path: configured using the setboot -p... or parmodify -b... command.

    • HAA boot path: configured using the setboot -h... or parmodify -s... command

    • ALT boot path: configured using the setboot -a... or parmodify -t... command.

  • The HP-UX B.11.11 OS loaders are ISL and hpux. Issue commands from the ISL> prompt.

Types of Booting and Resetting for nPartitions

HP cell-based servers provide two special types of reboot and reset for managing nPartitions: performing a reboot for reconfig, and performing a shutdown for reconfig.

The following list summarizes all types of booting, rebooting, and resetting that are supported for HP nPartition systems. See the “Reboot for Reconfig” and “Shutdown for Reconfig State” items for a discussion of these nPartition-specific boot processes.

NOTE: You can perform the Windows shutdown tasks either by using the shutdown command or by using the Start->Shut Down action.
  • Reboot. A reboot shuts down the operating system and reboots the nPartition. On HP 9000 systems, only the active cells in the nPartition are reset. On HP Integrity systems, all cells are reset.

    To perform a standard reboot of an nPartition use the HP-UX shutdown -r command, the Windows shutdown /r command, the Linux shutdown -r time command, or the OpenVMS: @SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN with an automatic system reboot.

  • Halt. A halt shuts down the operating system, halts all processing on the nPartition, and does not reboot.

    To halt the operating system use the HP-UX shutdown -h command.

    To reboot an nPartition that was halted from HP-UX use the RS command from the service processor Command menu.

    Halting the system is supported only on HP 9000 servers. On HP Integrity servers the effect of the shutdown -h command or its Windows and Linux equivalents is to perform a shutdown for reconfig (see “Shutdown for Reconfig State” in this list). On HP OpenVMS servers, shutting down without rebooting halts OpenVMS but does not perform a shutdown for reconfig.

  • Reset. A reset resets the nPartition immediately. On HP 9000 systems, only the active cells in the nPartition are reset. On HP Integrity systems all cells are reset.

    You can reset an nPartition using the REBOOT command from the BCH interface, the reset command from the EFI Shell, or the RS command from the service processor Command menu.

    The RS command does not check whether the specified nPartition is in use or running an operating system—be certain to correctly specify the nPartition.

    NOTE: On HP Integrity servers you should reset an nPartition only after all self tests and partition rendezvous have completed. For example, when the nPartition is inactive (all cells are at BIB) or is at EFI.
  • Boot an nPartition from the Service Processor (GSP or MP). A boot initiated from the service processor boots an inactive nPartition past the shutdown for reconfig state to allow it to become active.

    To boot an inactive nPartition, use the BO command from the service processor Command menu.

    The cells assigned to the nPartition proceed past boot-is-blocked (BIB), rendezvous, and the nPartition boots to the system boot environment (BCH or EFI).

  • Reboot for Reconfig. A reboot for reconfig shuts down the operating system, resets all cells assigned to the nPartition, performs any nPartition reconfigurations, and boots the nPartition back to the system boot environment (BCH or EFI).

    To perform a reboot for reconfig of the local nPartition, use the HP-UX shutdown -R command, Windows shutdown /r command, or the Linux shutdown -r time command. To perform a reboot for reconfig from OpenVMS I64 running on an nPartition, issue @SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN.COM from OpenVMS, and then enter Yes at the "Should an automatic system reboot be performed" prompt.

    All cells—including any inactive cells and all newly added or deleted cells—reset and the nPartition is reconfigured as needed. All cells with a "y" use-on-next-boot setting participate in partition rendezvous and synchronize to boot as a single nPartition.

    After you assign a cell to an nPartition, or remove an active cell from an nPartition, you can perform a reboot for reconfig of the nPartition to complete the cell addition or removal.

    If an nPartition is configured to boot an operating system automatically, it can do so immediately following a reboot for reconfig.

  • Shutdown for Reconfig State. Putting an nPartition into the shutdown for reconfig state involves shutting down the operating system (as required), resetting all cells assigned to the nPartition, performing any nPartition reconfigurations, and keeping all cells at a boot-is-blocked (BIB) state, thus making the nPartition and all of its cells inactive.

    On HP rx7620, rx7640, rx8620, and rx8640 servers, you can configure the OS shutdown for reconfig behavior for each nPartition to either power off hardware or keep cells at BIB. See “ACPI Softpowerdown Configuration—OS Shutdown Behavior” for details.

    To put an nPartition into the shutdown for reconfig state use the shutdown -R -H HP-UX command, the shutdown /s Windows command, or the Linux shutdown -h time command. To perform a shutdown for reconfig of an nPartition running OpenVMS I64: first issue @SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN.COM from OpenVMS and enter No at the "Should an automatic system reboot be performed" prompt, then access the MP and, from the MP Command Menu, issue the RR command and specify the nPartition that is to be shutdown for reconfig.

    From system firmware, to put an nPartition into the shutdown for reconfig state use the RECONFIGRESET command from the BCH interface, the reconfigreset command from the EFI Shell, or the RR command from the service processor Command menu.

    To make an nPartition boot past shutdown for reconfig, use either the BO command or the PE command from the service processor Command menu.

    • For an inactive nPartition whose cells are at BIB, use the BO command from the service processor Command menu. The BO command makes the nPartition active by allowing its cells to boot past BIB, rendezvous, and boot to the system boot environment (BCH or EFI) and, if configured, automatically boot an operating system.

    • For an nPartition whose cells have been powered off, use the PE command to power on the nPartition hardware.

  • TOC: Transfer-of-Control Reset. When you initiate a transfer-of-control reset, the service processor immediately performs a TOC reset of the specified nPartition, which resets the nPartition and allows a crash dump to be saved.

    If crash dump is configured for an OS on an nPartition, then when you TOC the nPartition while it is running the OS, the nPartition performs a crash dump and lets you select the type of dump.

    To perform a TOC reset, use the TC command from the service processor Command menu. HP nPartition systems do not have TOC buttons on the server cabinet hardware.

    From the Windows SAC, you can initiate a crash dump by issuing the crashdump command at the SAC> prompt

    From HP OpenVMS I64, you can cause OpenVMS to dump system memory and then halt at the P00>> prompt by issuing the RUN SYS$SYSTEM:OPCRASH command. To reset the nPartition following OPCRASH, access the nPartition console and press any key to reboot.

System Boot Configuration Options

This section briefly discusses the system boot options you can configure on cell-based servers. You can configure boot options that are specific to each nPartition in the server complex.

HP 9000 Boot Configuration Options

On cell-based HP 9000 servers the configurable system boot options include boot device paths (PRI, HAA, and ALT) and the autoboot setting for the nPartition. To set these options from HP-UX, use the setboot command. From the BCH system boot environment, use the PATH command at the BCH Main menu to set boot device paths, and use the PATHFLAGS command at the BCH Configuration menu to set autoboot options. For details issue HELP command at the appropriate BCH menu, where command is the command for which you want help.

HP Integrity Boot Configuration Options

On cell-based HP Integrity servers you must properly specify the ACPI configuration value, which affects the OS startup process and on some servers can affect the shutdown behavior. You also can configure boot device paths and the autoboot setting for the nPartition. Details are given in the following list.

  • Boot Options List. The boot options list is a list of loadable items available for you to select from the EFI Boot Manager menu. Ordinarily the boot options list includes the EFI Shell and one or more operating system loaders.

    The following example includes boot options for HP OpenVMS, Microsoft Windows, HP-UX, and the EFI Shell. The final item in the EFI Boot Manager menu, the Boot Configuration menu, is not a boot option. The Boot Configuration menu allows system configuration through a maintenance menu.

    EFI Boot Manager ver 1.10 [14.61] Please select a boot option HP OpenVMS 8.2-1 EFI Shell [Built-in] Windows Server 2003, Enterprise HP-UX Primary Boot: 4/0/1/1/0.2.0 Boot Option Maintenance Menu Use ^ and v to change option(s). Use Enter to select an option
    NOTE: In some versions of EFI, the Boot Configuration menu is listed as the Boot Option Maintenance menu.

    To manage the boot options list for each system use the EFI Shell, the EFI Boot Configuration menu, or operating system utilities.

    At the EFI Shell, the bcfg command supports listing and managing the boot options list for all operating systems except Microsoft Windows. On HP Integrity systems with Windows installed the \MSUtil\nvrboot.efi utility is provided for managing Windows boot options from the EFI Shell. Likewise on HP Integrity systems with OpenVMS installed the \efi\vms\vms_bcfg.efi and \efi\vms\vms_show utilities are provided for managing OpenVMS boot options.

    The EFI Boot Configuration menu provides the Add a Boot Option, Delete Boot Option(s), and Change Boot Order menu items. (If you must add an EFI Shell entry to the boot options list, use this method.)

    Operating system utilities for managing the boot options list include the HP-UX setboot command and the HP OpenVMS @SYS$MANAGER:BOOT_OPTIONS.COM command.

    The OpenVMS I64 installation and upgrade procedures assist you in setting up and validating a boot option for your system disk. HP recommends that you allow the procedure to do this. Alternatively, you can use the @SYS$MANAGER:BOOT_OPTIONS.COM command (also referred to as the OpenVMS I64 Boot Manager utility) to manage boot options for your system disk. The OpenVMS I64 Boot Manager (BOOT_OPTIONS.COM) utility is a menu-based utility and is easier to use than EFI. To configure OpenVMS I64 booting on Fibre Channel devices, you must use the OpenVMS I64 Boot Manager utility (BOOT_OPTIONS.COM). For more information on this utility and other restrictions, refer to the HP OpenVMS for Integrity Servers Upgrade and Installation Manual.

    For details refer to the following sections.

  • Autoboot Setting. You can configure the autoboot setting for each nPartition either by using the autoboot command at the EFI Shell, or by using the Set Auto Boot TimeOut menu item at the EFI Boot Option Maintenance menu.

    To set autoboot from HP-UX, use the setboot command.

  • ACPI Configuration Value—HP Integrity Server OS Boot. On cell-based HP Integrity servers you must set the proper ACPI configuration for the OS that will be booted on the nPartition.

    To check the ACPI configuration value, issue the acpiconfig command with no arguments at the EFI Shell.

    To set the ACPI configuration value, issue the acpiconfig value command at the EFI Shell, where value is either default, windows, or single-pci-domain. Then reset the nPartition by issuing the reset EFI Shell command for the setting to take effect.

    The ACPI configuration settings for the supported OSes are in the following list.

    • HP-UX ACPI Configuration: default. On cell-based HP Integrity servers, to boot or install the HP-UX OS, you must set the ACPI configuration value for the nPartition to default.

      For details refer to “ACPI Configuration for HP-UX Must Be default”.

    • HP OpenVMS I64 ACPI Configuration: default. On cell-based HP Integrity servers, to boot or install the HP OpenVMS I64 OS, you must set the ACPI configuration value for the nPartition to default.

      For details refer to “ACPI Configuration for HP OpenVMS I64 Must Be default”.

    • Windows ACPI Configuration: windows. On cell-based HP Integrity servers, to boot or install the Windows OS, you must set the ACPI configuration value for the nPartition to windows.

      For details refer to “ACPI Configuration for Windows Must Be windows”.

    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ACPI Configuration: single-pci-domain or default. On cell-based HP Integrity servers, to boot or install the Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS, you must set the ACPI configuration value for the nPartition to either single-pci-domain or default.

      • On HP rx7620 servers, rx8620 servers, or Integrity Superdome (SD16A, SD32A, SD64A), the ACPI configuration must be set to single-pci-domain.

      • On HP rx7640 servers, rx8640 servers, or Integrity Superdome (SD16B, SD32B, SD64B), the ACPI configuration must be set to default.

      For details refer to “ACPI Configuration for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Must Be single-pci-domain or default”.

    • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server ACPI Configuration: single-pci-domain or default. On cell-based HP Integrity servers, to boot or install the SuSE Linux Enterprise Server OS, you must set the ACPI configuration value for the nPartition to single-pci-domain or default.

      • On HP rx7620 servers, rx8620 servers, or Integrity Superdome (SD16A, SD32A, SD64A), the ACPI configuration must be set to single-pci-domain.

      • On HP rx7640 servers, rx8640 servers, or Integrity Superdome (SD16B, SD32B, SD64B), the ACPI configuration must be set to default.

      For details refer to “ACPI Configuration for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server Must Be single-pci-domain or default”.

  • ACPI Softpowerdown Configuration—OS Shutdown Behavior. On HP rx7620, rx7640, rx8620, and rx8640 servers, you can configure the nPartition behavior when an OS is shut down and halted. The two options are to have hardware power off when the OS is halted, or to have the nPartition be made inactive (all cells are in a boot-is-blocked state). The normal OS shutdown behavior on these servers depends on the ACPI configuration for the nPartition.

    You can run the acpiconfig command with no arguments to check the current ACPI configuration setting; however, softpowerdown information is displayed only when different from normal behavior.

    To change the nPartition behavior when an OS is shut down and halted, use either the acpiconfig enable softpowerdown EFI Shell command or the acpiconfig disable softpowerdown command, and then reset the nPartition to make the ACPI configuration change take effect.

    • acpiconfig enable softpowerdown. When set on HP rx7620, rx7640, rx8620, and rx8640 servers, acpiconfig enable softpowerdown causes nPartition hardware to be powered off when the OS issues a shutdown for reconfig command (for example, shutdown -h or shutdown /s).

      This is the normal behavior on HP rx7620, rx7640, rx8620, and rx8640 servers with a windows ACPI configuration setting.

      When softpowerdown is enabled on HP rx7620, rx7640, rx8620, and rx8640 servers, if one nPartition is defined in the server, then halting the OS powers off the server cabinet including all cells and I/O chassis. On HP rx7620, rx7640, rx8620, and rx8640 servers with multiple nPartitions, halting the OS from an nPartition with softpowerdown enabled causes only the resources on the local nPartition to be powered off.

      To power on hardware that has been powered off, use the PE command at the management processor Command menu.

    • acpiconfig disable softpowerdown. When set on HP rx7620, rx7640, rx8620, and rx8640 servers, acpiconfig disable softpowerdown causes nPartition cells to remain at a boot-is-blocked state when the OS issues a shutdown for reconfig command (for example, shutdown -h or shutdown /s). In this case an OS shutdown for reconfig makes the nPartition inactive.

      This is the normal behavior on HP rx7620, rx7640, rx8620, and rx8640 servers with an ACPI configuration setting of default or single-pci-domain.

      To make an inactive nPartition active, use the management processor BO command to boot the nPartition past the boot-is-blocked state.

  • Boot Modes on HP Integrity nPartitions: nPars and vPars Modes. On cell-based HP Integrity servers, each nPartition can be configured in either of two boot modes:

    • nPars Boot Mode

      In nPars boot mode, an nPartition is configured to boot any single operating system in the standard environment. When an nPartition is in nPars boot mode, it cannot boot the vPars monitor and therefore does not support HP-UX virtual partitions.

    • vPars Boot Mode

      In vPars boot mode, an nPartition is configured to boot into the vPars environment. When an nPartition is in vPars boot mode, it can only boot the vPars monitor and therefore it only supports HP-UX virtual partitions and it does not support booting HP OpenVMS I64, Microsoft Windows, or other operating systems. On an nPartition in vPars boot mode, HP-UX can boot only within a virtual partition (from the vPars monitor) and cannot boot as a standalone, single operating system in the nPartition.

    CAUTION: An nPartition on an HP Integrity server cannot boot HP-UX virtual partitions when in nPars boot mode. Likewise, an nPartition on an HP Integrity server cannot boot an operating system outside of a virtual partition when in vPars boot mode.

    To check or set the boot mode for an nPartition on a cell-based HP Integrity server, use any of the following tools as appropriate. Refer to Installing and Managing HP-UX Virtual Partitions (vPars), Sixth Edition, for details, examples, and restrictions.

    • parconfig EFI shell command

      The parconfig command is a built-in EFI shell command. Refer to the help parconfig command for details.

    • \EFI\HPUX\vparconfig EFI shell command

      The vparconfig command is delivered in the \EFI\HPUX directory on the EFI system partition of the disk where HP-UX virtual partitions has been installed on a cell-based HP Integrity server. For usage details, enter the vparconfig command with no options.

    • vparenv HP-UX command

      On cell-based HP Integrity servers only, the vparenv HP-UX command is installed on HP-UX systems that have the HP-UX virtual partitions software. Refer to vparenv(1m) for details.

    NOTE: On HP Integrity servers, nPartitions that do not have the parconfig EFI shell command do not support virtual partitions and are effectively in nPars boot mode.

    HP recommends that you do not use the parconfig EFI shell command and instead use the \EFI\HPUX\vparconfig EFI shell command to manage the boot mode for nPartitions on cell-based HP Integrity servers.

    Refer to Installing and Managing HP-UX Virtual Partitions (vPars), Sixth Edition, for details.

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