HP-UX System Administrator's Guide: Overview HP-UX 11i v3 (B3921-90011, September 2010)

Server Nomenclature
When describing servers, cell boards, or other components capable of holding processor chips,
HP now uses the nomenclature xP/yC, where x refers to the maximum number of processors
the item can hold, and y refers to the maximum number of cores the item can hold.
Examples:
• A server defined as a 1P/1C server (representing one processor/one core) is the simplest of
all functional configurations. It contains one, single-core processor.
• A server capable of holding four cell boards, each containing eight dual-core processors is
a 32P/64C server. Each cell board is an 8P/16C cell board.
New Device File Format for Addressing Storage
HP-UX 11i version 3 introduces a new device file format that enables many new features, such
as:
• Allows you to establish multiple hardware paths to disk and other mass storage devices
using a single device special file.
• Allows the kernel to automatically bypass failed hardware paths without having to change
the device’s associated device special file.
• Allows you to relocate (logically or physically) a disk device to a new hardware location
without having to change its device special file.
Online Activation and Deactivation of PCI Cards
HP-UX 11i version 3 expands your ability to replace hardware components on a running instance
of HP-UX without having to shut down or reboot.
PCI Cards
With HP-UX 11i version 3 you can:
• Add PCI / PCI-X cards to a running instance of HP-UX.
• Replace a PCI / PCI-X card (with one of the same type) in a running instance of HP-UX (for
example, if a card is not working properly).
• Delete a PCI / PCI-X card from a running instance of HP-UX.
The cards and their associated drivers must support OL* operations (most do). There are also
other important considerations when adding and removing PCI cards. For complete details on
PCI / PCI-X Online operations, see the Interface Card OL* Support Guide (Part Number 5992–1723).
Long User and Group Names
In HP-UX 11i version 3, User and Group names can be up to 255 characters long, and group
names can now be all numeric. For information about configuring users and groups, see HP-UX
System Administrator’s Guide: Configuration Management.
CAUTION: Be careful, when using the new long names, to insure that all systems needing to
interact with a server that uses long user/group names are capable of using the long names.
Servers using older versions of HP-UX or servers using non-HP-UX operating systems might
not be compatible with this feature.
Concurrent Dump
When an HP-UX system panic (crash) occurs, a memory dump is usually written to disk so that,
if necessary, an analysis can be done to determine what caused the crash.
1
On servers with very large amounts of memory, the process of writing memory contents to disk
can take a very long time. If you have multiple devices configured for memory dump, HP-UX
1. Whether or not a crash dump is written to disk is configurable.
HP-UX 11i Version 3 Highlights 19