Configuring HP-UX For Peripherals

Chapter 3 67

Conﬁguring Interface Cards

Planning to Conﬁgure an Interface Card

— Keep a current copy of output from /usr/sbin/ioscan -f, for a

total picture of your system's conﬁguration, including use of

hardware slots and conﬁgured device drivers.

NOTE The HP Precision Bus (HP-PB) backplane is a slot-priority based system.

The higher the slot number in which a card is installed, the higher the

card's priority for gaining access to and communicating over the

backplane. Thus, a card installed at slot 10 has a higher priority than a

card at slot 1.

• Observe HP recommendations regarding hardware

limitations and requirements.

— Do not exceed recommended cabling lengths or maximum number

of peripheral devices connected to an interface card. Note, these

limitations vary widely depending on bus trafﬁc, kind of I/O, and

system. For explicit information, consult “Maximum

Conﬁgurations” or other HP-published conﬁguration guidelines.

— Take care that total power consumption of all voltages does not

exceed card-cage limitations.

— Terminate SCSI devices as required. (See “SCSI Signal

Termination”, later in this chapter, for explanation of SCSI

terminators.)

• If desired, install application software before physically

installing the card. Use the /usr/sbin/swinstall command and

then reboot the system.

• Warn users in advance that you plan to bring the system down for

installation. On a multiuser system, you can use the wall (1M)

command.

• Do not connect or disconnect a device while the system is

running. Do not turn power on or off to a mass storage device

connected to a powered-up system. Doing so could result in data

corruption or a system panic.

Maximum Conﬁgurations

Depending on interface, multiple peripheral devices can be connected to

any interface card. However, because maximum device connections are