Technical data
Boot and Reset Overview for nPartitions
Boot Process for nPartitions, Cells, and HP-UX
HP System Partitions Guide: Administration for nPartitions—rp7410
EMSP—schwartz@rsn.hp.com
124
Each nPartition goes through the following process, from power on to
booting HP-UX:
1. Power On or Reset
The boot process starts when any of the following events occurs:
• A partition is reset or rebooted.
• The entire server complex is powered on.
• Power is turned on for components in the partition (such as cells).
2. Processor Dependent Code (PDC)
The monarch processor on each cell runs its own copy of the PDC
firmware.
a. The boot-is-blocked (BIB) flag is set for the cell.
The BIB flag remains set until the service processor (GSP or MP)
clears it, allowing the cell to boot as part of an nPartition.
b. Another flag is set for the cell, indicating that the service
processor can post a new copy of the complex profile to the cell.
The cell’s complex profile is updated later in the boot process, after
it completes self-tests.
3. Power-On Self-Test (POST)
Each cell performs self-tests that check the processors, memory, and
firmware on the cell.
If a component fails self-tests, it is deconfigured and if possible the
cell continues booting.
Following this step, all components in the cell are known and are
tested and the cell reports its hardware configuration to the service
processor.
4. I/O Discovery
Each cell performs I/O discovery and configures I/O busses, including:
any system bus adapter (the SBA for an I/O card cage) and its local
bus adapters (LBAs, one per PCI card slot in the card cage).
Following this, any I/O busses connected to the cell are known and
configured by the cell.
HP Restricted / DRAFT
DRAFT NOV 2001