Interface Card OL* Support Guide

Online Addition
When you add an interface card online, first determine whether the new card is compatible with
the system. Each OL* capable PCI slot provides a set amount of power. The card to be added
cannot require more power than is available. Some systems may have only one slot per bus with
sufficient power.
The card must also operate at the slot's bus frequency. For more information, see “Frequency
Mismatch” (page 23).
Before you add a card to the system, the appropriate driver for that card must be configured in
the kernel. In most cases, the added card is the same type as a card already in the system, and
the driver is already in the kernel. Kernel configuration is accessible through kcweb. If the
required driver is not present, a reboot is required to load the driver. You can then ass the card
while the system is down, or add it online after rebooting. A reboot may not be needed if the OS
version supports Dynamic Loadable Kernel Modules (DLKM).
• If the necessary driver is not present you can load it manually.
• If the driver is static and not configured in the kernel, then the card cannot be added online.
Online Replacement
IMPORTANT: Online replacement (OLR) of a LAN card in a Serviceguard cluster fails because
the Critical Resource Analysis (CRA) performed as part of the OLR operation returns
CRA_SYS_CRITICAL. You will encounter this problem whether you use the Peripheral Device
Tool (pdweb) or the HP-UX olrad command.
To fix this problem, apply patch PHNE_35894.
NOTE: You can apply patch PHNE_35894 without a reboot.
On a system to which patch PHNE_35894 has been applied, you will be able to perform online
replacement of hot-swappable cards (without bringing down the cluster). For detailed information,
see “Replacing LAN or Fibre Channel Cards” in chapter 8 of Managing Serviceguard, available at
http://docs.hp.com/en/ha.html#Serviceguard.
NOTE: If for some reason you need to proceed without patch PHNE_35894, you must follow the
“Off-Line Replacement” procedure under “Replacing LAN or Fibre Channel Cards” in chapter
8 of Managing Serviceguard.
For more information about this issue, see SR # 8606472298 (JAGag27186).
When replacing an interface card online, you must use an identical replacement card. This is
referred to as like-for-like replacement. Using a similar but not identical card can cause
unpredictable results. For example, a newer version of the target card with identical hardware
can use an updated firmware version that may conflict with the current driver. If a new card is
not acceptable, pdweb will report that the card cannot be resumed, the Attention Button method
will result in the slot not being powered up, and olrad will return an error.
During the replacement process, the driver instance for each port on the target card runs in a
suspended state. I/O to the ports is either queued or failed while the drivers are suspended.
When the replacement card comes online, the driver instances resume normal operation. Each
driver instance must be capable of resuming and controlling the corresponding port on the
replacement card.
The PCI specification enables a single physical card to contain more than one port. Attempting
to replace a card with another card that has more ports can result in the additional ports being
claimed by other drivers if an ioscan occurs when slot power is on.
Online Deletion
When deleting an interface card online, you do not need to consider card compatibility.
Planning and Preparation 21