HP-UX Virtual Partitions Administrator Guide (includes A.05.09) (5900-2188, March 2012)

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)” (page 135).
• 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
32 How vPars and Its Components Work