HP-UX Virtual Partitions Administrator Guide (includes A.05.07) (5900-1229, September 2010)

CAUTION:
• When you set the mode to vPars for the first time on a system, you must use vparenv.
When a vPars database does not exist on a system, first boot into nPars (standalone) mode,
create the vPars database, and then use vparenv -m vPars to switch the mode to vPars.
If vparconfig reboot vPars is used and vparenv -m vPars has not previously been
executed on the system, it may not be possible to boot vPars.
• Changing the mode to vPars should be performed using vparenv instead of vparconfig
whenever possible.
NOTE:
• When the system is at the EFI shell prompt in vPars mode, you can use either one of the
following commands to reset the nPartition:
— EFI_Shell> parconfig reset
— EFI_Shell> fsx:
fsx:\> vparconfig reboot vPars
The standard EFI Shell command reset should not be used to reset the system or nPartition
when it is in vPars mode.
• If the desired mode is not set, you will not be able to boot into that mode. For example, you
will not be able to boot the vPars Monitor (/stand/vpmon) when you are in nPars mode.
Likewise, you will not be able to boot into standalone mode when you are in vPars mode.
• On an Integrity system which has vPars software installed but does not have the correct
firmware version installed, you will see the following behavior depending upon the mode
of operation:
— If the current mode is nPars, booting vmunix works as expected. Booting vpmon exits
with an unsupported environment message.
— If the current mode is changed to vPars using vparenv or vparconfig, the hpux
loader does not allow boot of either the vpmon or vmunix. In this case, you should use
vparconfig to change mode back to nPars and reboot the system. You should then
install the required firmware. See the HP-UX Virtual Partitions Ordering and Configuration
Guide for information on the required firmware.
EFI Boot Disk Paths, including Disk Mirrors, and vparefiutil (Integrity
Only)
On PA-RISC systems, the bootloader can boot a disk using only the hardware path of the disk.
However, on Integrity systems, the bootloader requires the EFI path. On Integrity systems running
vPars, the vPars database contains the initial hardware path to EFI path mappings; on boot of a
virtual partition, the vPars Monitor transparently provides the EFI path from the vPars database
to the bootloader so that a virtual partition can boot.
The EFI path changes whenever the boot area changes on the disk. During the initial creation of
the vPars database, during the installation of an OS using vparboot -I, and during the execution
of the setboot command, the EFI paths are updated in the vPars database.
However, beyond the above situations, whenever the EFI path of an existing boot disk changes
or an additional boot disk is added, including adding a boot disk mirror, the EFI mappings within
the vPars database need to be updated. Otherwise, the virtual partition may not boot. Note that
using vparmodify to change a boot path in the vPars database does not update the EFI path in
the vPars database.
130 vPars Monitor and Shell Commands