HP-UX Virtual Partitions Release Notes vPars A.05.01 July 2007 Documentation Web Site: http://docs.hp.com Manufacturing Part Number : T1335-90080 E0707 U.S.A. © Copyright 2007 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
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1 vPars Release Notes What is in this Document This document covers the vPars A.05.01 release. The first chapter covers • • • • What’s New Customer-Requested Fixes in this Version vPars Documents Ordering vPars The second chapter covers • • • • Required Patches Virtual Partition Checklist Mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars in vPars A.05.
vPars Release Notes What’s New in this Version of vPars (A.05.01) What’s New in this Version of vPars (A.05.01) This section describes what’s new in this version of vPars. For a comparison on existing vPars version, see the “vPars Version Comparisons” chapter in the document HP-UX Virtual Partitions Administrator’s Guide. • New Titles for HP-UX Systems Administration Documents Coincidental with the HP-UX 11.31 Release, some titles of HP-UX administration documents have changed.
vPars Release Notes What’s New in this Version of vPars (A.05.01) For more information, see the A.05.01 Resources chapter in the HP-UX Virtual Partitions Administrator’s Guide. NOTE • Dynamic memory migration requires the firmware revisions indicated in the HP-UX Virtual Partitions Ordering and Configuration Guide. I/O Resources Managing I/O resources has not changed since A.04.xx. However, some I/O cards may be unsupported, especially in a mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars environment.
vPars Release Notes What’s New in this Version of vPars (A.05.01) For a primer on setting hyperthreading, see the A.05.01 Resources chapter in the HP-UX Virtual Partitions Administrator’s Guide. For complete information on hyperthreading, see the nPartitions Administrator’s Guide. NOTE • In order to work in a vPars environment, hyperthreading requires the firmware revisions indicated in the HP-UX Virtual Partitions Ordering and Configuration Guide.
vPars Release Notes What’s New in this Version of vPars (A.05.01) — PCI Error Recovery Product Note — PCI Error Recovery Support Matrix • Obsoleted Servers The servers that are not nPartitionable are no longer supported with vPars A.05.01, but they will continue to be supported with vPars A.03.xx and A.04.xx.
vPars Release Notes Customer-Requested Fixes in This Version Customer-Requested Fixes in This Version This section lists the customer-requested fixes in this version of vPars. For detailed information, see the HP ITRC at http://itrc.hp.com. • JAGaf17843 adds logging of vPars configuration changes to /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log. • JAGaf49995 corrects real-time clock handling in vPars. • JAGaf68955 corrects a vPars console hang using terminal emulators.
vPars Release Notes vPars Documents vPars Documents This section lists the official vPars documents. All documents, including additional topic-specific papers related to using vPars, are available at the HP Documentation web site at http://docs.hp.com/hpux/11i/index.html#Virtual%20Partitions. • HP-UX Virtual Partitions Release Notes (this document) This describes what’s new as well as known problems for a specific vPars release.
vPars Release Notes Ordering vPars Ordering vPars Product Numbers vPars A.04.01 and later have different product numbers than vPars A.03.xx and earlier: T1335CC T1335BC T1335AC vPars A.05.xx for HP-UX 11i v3 (11.31) vPars A.04.xx for HP-UX 11i v2 (11.23) vPars A.03.xx for HP-UX 11i v1 (11.11) Software Depot You can order this release of vPars from the HP Software Depot at: http://www.hp.
2 Read Before Installing This section contains helpful information that you should read before installing vPars, including the following: • Required Patches and Patch Bundles • Virtual Partition Checklist • Mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars Environments in vPars A.05.
Read Before Installing Patches and Patch Bundles Patches and Patch Bundles For vPars A.05.01 systems, you must install patch PHSS_36739 if you plan to use the vPars dynamic memory migration feature. This patch fixes JAGag43006 (“Memory got removed from an active partition during memory OLA”). CAUTION PHSS_36739 must be installed on vPars A.05.01 systems when using the vPars dynamic memory migration feature.
Read Before Installing vPars Checklist vPars Checklist This section is a brief checklist of common but significant items that you should check while performing your vPars setup. Firmware Checklist ✓ Check Server Firmware: Please check the HP-UX Virtual Partitions Ordering and Configuration Guide for the required server firmware. For the non-nPartitionable systems, please note that firmware upgrades must be done outside of the vPars environment (in standalone mode).
Read Before Installing Mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars Environments in vPars A.05.xx Mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars Environments in vPars A.05.xx This section is included in Chapter 3 of the HP-UX Virtual Partitions Administrator’s Guide document but is duplicated here so that users are aware of this when using a mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars environment. Beginning with vPars A.05.01, you can have a mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars environment. A mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars environment allows you to have a vPars A.05.
Read Before Installing Mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars Environments in vPars A.05.xx Features The following features work from all virtual partitions: • legacy vPars functions This includes dynamic CPU migration, except where noted below. • HP-UX functions All the corresponding HP-UX features associated with an HP-UX 11i release continue to work. Note that, as in a normal OS instance, an 11.31-only feature will not work in an 11.23 OS-instance.
Read Before Installing Mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars Environments in vPars A.05.xx It is possible to perform add/delete memory operations on virtual partitions running A.04.xx, as long as the target virtual partition is in the down state. Note that the vparmodify command must be executed on a virtual partition running vPars A.05.xx. The following features are not allowed in a mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars environment: • HT ON Because hyperthreading is an 11.
Read Before Installing Mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars Environments in vPars A.05.xx Feature Summary The following table highlights the above rules for having a mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars environment: Table 2-2Feature Summary Feature vPars A.05.xx instances vPars A.04.xx instances Minimum vPars Version A.05.01 A.04.
Read Before Installing Mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars Environments in vPars A.05.xx Booting Summary Because only the vPars A.05.01 Monitor supports a mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars environment, and because only HP-UX 11.31 supports HT ON/OFF, the following is true when booting a mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars environment: Table 2-3Boot Attempts and Result HT Setting is... OFF Monitor Booted is.. A.05.01 A.04.02 ON A.05.01 A.04.02 18 Monitor Boot Result is...
Read Before Installing Mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars Environments in vPars A.05.xx Determining the Version in a Mixed HP-UX 11i v2/v3 vPars Environment In addition to using the normal HP-UX commands to determine the OS version of a specific OS instance, you can use vparstatus -P to determine the vPars version of a specific virtual partition as well as the vPars version of the vPars Monitor which is booted. You cannot determine the OS or vPars version from the summary output of vparstatus.
Read Before Installing Switching Modes between vPars and nPars on Integrity Systems Switching Modes between vPars and nPars on Integrity Systems This section regarding modes and the new vPars commands for use on Integrity systems is included in Chapter 5 of the HP-UX Virtual Partitions Administrator’s Guide document but is duplicated here so that users are aware of this when using Integrity systems.
Read Before Installing Switching Modes between vPars and nPars on Integrity Systems Shell:> parconfig nPars Shell:> parconfig reset Note: Remember to issue a parconfig reset after setting the mode. parconfig nPars only sets the mode to nPars. You must issue the parconfig reset to reset the system so that it boots into nPars mode. Note: parconfig does not support switching to vPars mode. In other words, you can use parconfig to set the mode to nPars, but you cannot use parconfig to set the mode to vPars.
Read Before Installing Switching Modes between vPars and nPars on Integrity Systems 22 Chapter 2
3 Known Problems and Workarounds This section describes the critical known problems of which you should be aware before installing this version of vPars. For information on specific defects, see the HP ITRC at http://itrc.hp.com.
Known Problems and Workarounds evacd Daemon Monopolizes CPU During Tape Archiving evacd Daemon Monopolizes CPU During Tape Archiving Related JAG or Patch ID Number JAGag27792 Applicable on ❏ vPars A.05.01 Description The evacd daemon can monopolize CPU resources on a small virtual partition configured with float memory. On such a system with a workload that exhausts the file cache, the workload may run more slowly than expected. A backup to tape such as make_tape_recovery is one such workload.
Known Problems and Workarounds System panic on virtual partition with float memory System panic on virtual partition with float memory Related JAG or Patch ID Number JAGag27643, JAGag28785 Applicable on ❏ vPars A.05.01 Description Rarely, a system panic may occur on a virtual partition configured with float memory. This panic may occur when the system is under high memory pressure, or when running an application that performs remap operations.
Known Problems and Workarounds Software Configuration Error During HP-UX Install on Virtual Partitions Software Configuration Error During HP-UX Install on Virtual Partitions Related JAG or Patch ID Number JAGag27323 Applicable on ❏ vPars A.05.01 Description During the installation of HP-UX on a virtual partition, an error may occur during the configuration of the iCOD software product.
Known Problems and Workarounds Deletion of float memory fails with asyncdsk driver Deletion of float memory fails with asyncdsk driver Related JAG or Patch ID Number JAGag03862 Applicable on ❏ vPars A.05.01 Description Many applications, such as databases, use the asyncdsk driver to lock down memory for I/O transfers. As of this writing, the asyncdsk driver does not support memory deletion.
Known Problems and Workarounds Deletion of float memory fails with asyncdsk driver availability, please check the IT Resource Center Web site at http://itrc.hp.com and search the technical knowledge base using the keyword JAGag03862.
Known Problems and Workarounds On PA Servers, Booting a Fibre Channel Tape Device May Cause the Target Virtual Partition to Hang On PA Servers, Booting a Fibre Channel Tape Device May Cause the Target Virtual Partition to Hang Related JAG or Patch ID Number JAGaf09885 Applicable on ❏ ❏ vPars A.05.01 on PA vPars A.04.03 on PA Description If you attempt to boot a virtual partition using a Fibre Channel tape device that has been configured using the :TAPE attribute, the target virtual partition may hang.
Known Problems and Workarounds A Virtual Partition Remains in Load State with sx2000 Chipset A Virtual Partition Remains in Load State with sx2000 Chipset Related JAG or Patch ID Number JAGaf88969 Applicable on ❏ ❏ vPars A.05.01 on Integrity vPars A.04.02, A.04.03 on Integrity Description On Integrity systems running the sx2000 chipset and Intel Itanium 2 single-core processor with 9 MB cache, a virtual partition remains in the load state for at least 30 seconds and does not complete its boot process.
Known Problems and Workarounds A Virtual Partition Remains in Load State with sx2000 Chipset • Update the server firmware to the latest version. See the HP-UX Virtual Partitions Ordering and Configuration Guide for firmware version details. or • If the virtual partition remains in the load state (you can use vparstatus to verify the state), perform the following: 1. Issue a hard reset using vparreset to the virtual partition.
Known Problems and Workarounds System Activity Events Reported Through IPMI by EMS System Activity Events Reported Through IPMI by EMS Related JAG or Patch ID Number JAGaf62654 Applicable on ❏ ❏ ❏ vPars A.05.01 vPars A.04.xx on Integrity vPars A.04.xx on PA Description In a vPars environment, system activity events are decoded and reported on all virtual partitions.
Known Problems and Workarounds System Activity Events Reported Through IPMI by EMS Workaround Note that in a vPars environment, when system events are reported via EMS either from system firmware or an OS instance, the system events are decoded and reported on all virtual partitions. The OS instance that is shown as sending the event is not necessarily indicative of the actual virtual partition that encountered the problem.
Known Problems and Workarounds Virtual Partition Does Not Boot After Root Mirror is Created Virtual Partition Does Not Boot After Root Mirror is Created Related JAG or Patch ID Number JAGaf54464 Applicable on ❏ ❏ vPars A.05.01 on Integrity vPars A.04.xx on Integrity Description A virtual partition does not boot from its mirror root disk because there is no longer a valid EFI to hardware path mapping in the vPars database.
Known Problems and Workarounds Virtual Partition Appears to Hang After Typing control-s Virtual Partition Appears to Hang After Typing control-s Related JAG or Patch ID Number JAGae98555 Applicable on ❏ ❏ ❏ vPars A.05.01 on PA vPars A.04.xx on PA vPars A.03.xx on PA Description While a virtual partition is shutting down, panicking, or booting, typing control-s to suspend its console output may cause the virtual partition to stop making forward progress. The virtual partition may appear to hang.
Known Problems and Workarounds Configuring an Ultra2 or Ultra160 Card with vparutil Configuring an Ultra2 or Ultra160 Card with vparutil Related JAG or Patch ID Number JAGaf00411 Applicable on ❏ ❏ ❏ vPars A.05.01 on PA vPars A.04.xx on PA vPars A.03.xx on PA Description On the nPartitionable servers, using the vparutil command to configure an Ultra2 or Ultra160 SCSI card can cause the virtual partition that owns the SCSI card to fail to boot.
Known Problems and Workarounds System Resets During a Crash Dump Due to Watchdog Timer System Resets During a Crash Dump Due to Watchdog Timer Related JAG or Patch ID Number JAGae79790 Applicable on ❏ ❏ ❏ vPars A.05.01 on PA vPars A.04.xx on PA vPars A.03.xx on PA Description During a crash dump of a virtual partition, hardware heartbeats are delayed long enough such that the watchdog timer is triggered. If the watchdog timer has been configured to reset, then the entire system is reset (TOC).
Known Problems and Workarounds System Resets During a Crash Dump Due to Watchdog Timer -> Automatic System restart will be updated. Current Triggering alert levels are: 13 Do you want to modify them? (Y/[N]): n Automatic System Restart configuration has been updated GSP Host Name: keira GSP> On nPartitionable servers, use the following procedure: GSP> cm Enter HE to get a list of available commands GSP:CM> ar This command modifies the automatic system restart configuration of the selected partition.
Known Problems and Workarounds Topology of A5158A Changes from Fabric to Public Loop After the Virtual Partition Reboots Topology of A5158A Changes from Fabric to Public Loop After the Virtual Partition Reboots Related JAG or Patch ID Number JAGaf15533 Applicable on ❏ ❏ ❏ vPars A.05.01 on PA vPars A.04.xx on PA vPars A.03.xx on PA Description When the A5158A is connected to the Brocade 2800 or 12000 switch, the topology of the A5158A changes after the virtual partition reboots.
Known Problems and Workarounds Topology of A5158A Changes from Fabric to Public Loop After the Virtual Partition Reboots brocade01:admin> switchshow switchName: brocade01 switchType: 2.4 switchState: Online switchMode: Native ... port 0: -- No_Module port 1: -- No_Module port 2: -- No_Module port 3: sw Online F-Port 50:06:0b:00:00:10:23:fa port 4: sw Online F-Port 50:06:0b:00:00:00:f4:28 ... The switch information after the reboot shows: brocade01:admin> switchshow switchName: brocade01 switchType: 2.
Known Problems and Workarounds Topology of A5158A Changes from Fabric to Public Loop After the Virtual Partition Reboots TL Chip Revision No is PCI Sub-system Vendor ID is PCI Sub-system ID is Topology = = = = 2.3 0x00103c 0x000006 PTTOPT_FABRIC ...
