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HP-UX servers have a special terminal or window
called a console that allows special control and displays system error
messages. With vPars, each virtual partition has its own virtual console. On Integrity, the console is virtualized
by firmware (and therefore, there is no vcs driver). On PA-RISC, for
each partition, its console I/O is sent to its vcn (Virtual CoNsole)
driver. From the vcn driver, the console I/O is sent to the vPars
Monitor. From the vPars Monitor, the console I/O is sent to the vcs
(virtual console slave) driver of the partition that owns the hardware
console port. Finally, the vcs driver sends the console I/O to the
physical hardware console. It is this vcs driver that manages the
console I/O to the actual hardware console port. When the partition that owns the hardware console
port is not running, the vPars Monitor takes over the management of
the I/O to the hardware console port, so you will still have access
to the virtual console displays. You can access the console port as you would on
any non-vPars server, for example, through a dumb terminal or lan
console. Then, to cycle between the virtual console displays of the
various partitions, press Ctrl-A. Each virtual partition has an 8K circular buffer
for console output. If not already displayed, the vPars Monitor copies
this 8K buffer to the console when you press Ctrl-A. | | | |  | CAUTION: (A.03.xx only) The first virtual partition that
you create must own the LBA (local bus adapter) that contains the
physical hardware console port. For an example, see “Assigning the Hardware Console LBA”. | | | | |
| | | |  | NOTE: Note the following when using virtual consoles:ioscan output On a PA-RISC system, the ioscan output for vcn and vcs drivers show a value of NO_HW in the S/W State column. This is normal. On an Integrity system, the vPars virtual console
is truly virtual and will not show up in an ioscan. You can see this with the vparstatus -m command: # vparstatus -m
Console path: No path as console is virtual
Monitor boot disk path: 13.0.11.1.0.8.0
Monitor boot filename: /stand/vpmon
Database filename: /stand/vpdb
Memory ranges used: 0x0/232611840 Monitor
0xddd6000/688128 firmware
0xde7e000/1384448 Monitor
0xdfd0000/33751040 firmware
0x10000000/134213632 Monitor
0x7fffe000/8192 firmware
0x8a0ff000000/16777216 firmware |
Potential for Lost Output Because the console output is a circular buffer,
output beyond the 8K is overwritten and lost. Active Console I/O when Multiple Virtual Partitions are Booted It is not deterministic which virtual partition
will be active with the physical console when multiple virtual partitions
are booted. Switchover Pause with Shutting Down When the virtual partition that owns the hardware
console port is shut down, there will be a pause of console output
(the system is not hung) as console I/O management
switches over from the virtual partition to the vPars Monitor. Console
output resumes automatically after the pause. You will not lose any
console output. During the switchover period, no console input is
accepted. For rp7400/N4000 and rp5470/L3000 servers, the
pause can be from ten to twenty seconds. For Superdome and other nPartitionable
servers, the switchover pause can be minutes, depending on the amount
of memory owned by the virtual partition that owns the hardware console
port. Pause when Booting from Tape The system may appear but is actually not hung
when booting from tape due to the increased time it takes to load
a kernel from tape instead of from disk. Switchover Pause during the Crash State Whenever the virtual partition that owns the hardware
console port is in the crash state, the switchover
pause will occur and remain as long as the virtual partition is in
this crash state. For more information on
the crash state, see the vparstatus(1M) manpage and “Commands: Displaying vPars Monitor and Resource Information
(vparstatus)”. GSPdiag1 Device File The GSPdiag1 device file (/dev/GSPdiag1) can only be accessed from the virtual partition that contains the
console hardware port. Terminal Emulation To avoid display problems, be sure that the terminal setting of the
GSP on the vPars server matches the terminal or terminal emulator
that you are using to access it. For details on how to do this, see “Setting the GSP Terminal Type”. Ignored Keyboard Input (A.03.xx only) There is one known case where the virtual console
will ignore keyboard input (data sent to the console continues to
be displayed; only keyboard input is ignored). This occurs when the
virtual partition that owns the hardware console port is down and
the CPU with the lowest hardware path is not assigned to any virtual
partition. When this CPU is migrated to a running virtual partition,
the console will not accept any keyboard input. You can do either of the following to resolve
the problem: From a running partition,
reset the partition that owns the hardware console port by executing vparreset -p target_partition -h, where target_partition is the partition that owns the hardware console port. From a running partition,
boot the partition that owns the hardware console port by executing vparboot -p target_partition, where target_partition is the partition that owns the hardware console port
If no other virtual partitions are accessible,
you must reboot the server or nPartition in order to regain console
input. Toggling Past the vPars Monitor Prompt (A.03.xx only) When the monarch CPU of the server is not assigned
to any partition, you will see the vPars Monitor prompt. Press Ctrl-A to cycle to the console window of the next partition.
| | | | |
nPartition Logs | |
On an nPartition server running vPars, all virtual
partitions within an nPartition share the same console device: the nPartition’s console. Thus, an nPartition’s
console log contains console I/O for multiple virtual partitions.
Further, since the vPars Monitor interface is displayed and accessed
through the nPartition’s console, vPars Monitor output is also
recorded in the nPartition’s console log. There is only one
vPars Monitor per nPartition. The server chassis logs record
nPartition and server complex hardware events. The chassis logs do
not record vPars-related configuration or vPars boot events (PA-RISC
only); however, the chassis logs do record HP-UX “heartbeat”
events. The server chassis logs are viewable from the GSPs Show Chassis
Log menu. For more information, see the Help within the GSPs online
help. The vPars Monitor event logs record only vPars events; it does not contain any nPartition chassis
events. For more information, see vparstatus(1M). Also, for a given nPartition, the Virtual Front
Panel (VFP) of the nPartition’s console displays an OS heartbeat
whenever at least one virtual partition within the nPartition is up. MCA (Machine Check Abort) Logs on Integrity Systems | |
An MCA is a CPU interrupt
that occurs when the CPU discovers that it can not continue reliable
operation. An MCA can result from either a hardware problem (such
as an uncorrectable data error in memory or on a system bus) or from
a software error (typically, in a driver). In most cases when an MCA
occurs, the system stops normal processing and takes an OS memory
dump if possible. The firmware also automatically logs data that can
be used by HP tools to analyze the cause of the MCA. On reboot, this
data is read from firmware and saved in “MCA logs”. Two different types of MCAs can occur. On an Integrity
nPartition running vPars, the first type will only affect one virtual
partition and is called a “local MCA”. The second type
will affect all the virtual partitions in an nPartition and is called
a “Global MCA”. |
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