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

Virtual Consoles
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” (page 52).
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