HP-UX Reference (11i v1 05/09) - 5 Miscellaneous Topics (vol 9)

v
vpmon(5) vpmon(5)
NAME
vpmon - virtual partition monitor
SYNOPSIS
/stand/vpmon [-a][-i
][-D database-filename][vpmon-subcommand]
DESCRIPTION
Virtual Partitions (vPars) allows a user with root privileges to divide hardware resources on a single hard
partition into two or more virtual partitions. This is accomplished through a software layer called the Vir-
tual Partition Monitor (
vpmon) that logically resides between the operating system and the firmware.
vpmon controls the ownership of the hardware resources. In order to be minimally operational, each parti-
tion must contain at least one CPU, a boot hard disk, enough memory to run HP-UX, and at least one PCI
slot if an external LAN connection is needed. Each partition will run its own copy of the operating system,
providing software fault and namespace isolation.
User-specified partition information is stored in a file called the Virtual Partition database (the default is
/stand/vpdb ). This information is read by
vpmon during boot.
There are several arguments that may be passed to
vpmon when it is booted from the Initial System
Loader (ISL>) prompt. Depending on the arguments, it can either enter the interactive mode, indicated
by the MON> prompt or continue with loading the virtual partitions. The MON> prompt is also called the
vpmon command prompt.
Booting the vPars Monitor
In a system without vPars installed, at the ISL prompt, the secondary system loader,
hpux, loads the ker-
nel
/stand/vmunix as follows:
ISL> hpux /stand/vmunix
With vPars installed, at the ISL prompt, the secondary system loader, hpux
, loads vpmon as follows:
ISL> hpux /stand/vpmon
Options
vpmon supports the following options:
-a Boot all virtual partitions that have the autoboot attribute set.
-i Cause vpmon to enter into interactive mode. The interactive mode is the default when no
options are given. The interactive mode will also occur without the -i flag if the system boot
processor is not assigned to any active partition, no partitions are specified, or there is no valid
partition database.
-D database-filename
Boot the virtual partitions using an alternate partition database file. The default partition data-
base file is /stand/vpdb .
Operands
vpmon supports the following operands:
vpmon-subcommand
One of these commands, cat, getauto, lifls, ls, monadmin , readdb, reboot, scan,
toddriftreset , vparinfo,orvparload, as described in the following sections.
VPARS MONITOR COMMANDS
The commands that may be issued from the vpmon command prompt are classified as either vPars monitor
management commands or vPars monitor information lookup commands.
Name
vparload - load and activate one or more partitions
Synopsis
vparload [-p partition-name [-B boot-device][-b kernel-path][-o boot-options] ] |[
-auto|-all]
Description
The
vparload command can be used to load and activate one or more partitions. If vparload fails to
boot a virtual partition from the primary boot path, then further boot actions will be decided based on the
HP-UX 11i Version 1: September 2005 − 1 − Hewlett-Packard Company Section 5−−407