Managing Superdome Complexes: A Guide for HP-UX System Administrators

Planning Superdome Configurations
Building Blocks and Definitions
Appendix A310
NOTE In a booted partition that has more than one viable core cell, the only
core I/O card that is active is the core cell’s.
How the Core Cell is Selected. If a partition has more than one viable core
cell, PDC (Processor Dependent Code) decides when the partition is booting
which cell should be the core cell. It does this on the basis of a prioritized list
which is part of the Partition Configuration Data maintained by the GSP. If PDC
detects any problem with the first cell on the list or its I/O, PDC will choose the
second cell on the list; if both of these are faulty and there is a third, it will
choose the third, and so on. If all the cells in the list are faulty (or there are no
cells in the list) PDC will check all the cells in the partition that have core I/O
(starting with the lowest- numbered cell) until it finds a viable core cell or it has
exhausted all the possibilities.
You can use Partition Manager (parmgr) to modify this list, and so designate
which should be the primary, secondary or later choice for the core cell; but
normally you should accept Partition Manager’s defaults unless you have a
particular reason not to.
See also “Partitions, Cells and I/O Chassis” on page 333.