nPartition Administrator's Guide, Second Edition

6 Creating and Configuring nPartitions
This chapter has procedures for creating, configuring, and managing nPartitions on
Hewlett-Packard servers that support them.
For an introduction to nPartition features, see Chapter 1 (page 15).
For nPartition configuration requirements and recommendations, see Chapter 3 (page 61).
Tools for Configuring nPartitions
You can configure and manage nPartitions using the tools listed here.
• Service Processor (MP or GSP) Menus
Service processor menus provide a complex-wide service interface that can allow access to
all hardware and nPartitions.
See “Command Reference for Service Processor Commands” (page 80).
• EFI Boot Manager and EFI Shell
On HP Integrity servers only, the EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) Boot Manager and
Shell are the methods for interacting with an nPartition before it has booted an operating
system.
See “Command Reference for EFI Shell Commands” (page 81).
• Boot Console Handler (BCH) Menu Commands
On PA-RISC servers, the BCH interface is the method for interacting with an nPartition
before it has booted an operating system.
See “Command Reference for BCH Menu Commands” (page 84).
• nPartition Commands
HP nPartition commands allow you to configure, manage, and monitor nPartitions and
hardware within a server complex.
The Enhanced nPartition Commands also can remotely manage complexes based on the HP
sx1000 chipset or HP sx2000 chipset.
See “Commands for Configuring nPartitions” (page 19) for details.
• Partition Manager (/opt/parmgr/bin/parmgr)
Partition Manager provides a graphical interface for managing and monitoring nPartitions
and hardware within a server complex.
See “Partition Manager” (page 22).
Task Summaries for Creating and Configuring nPartitions
Table 6-1 describes the main nPartition configuration tasks and provides brief summaries and
references for detailed procedures.
You can perform the tasks in Table 6-1 “nPartition Configuration Task Summaries” using various
tools, including the service processor (MP or GSP), Boot Console Handler (BCH, available only
on PA-RISC servers), Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI, available only on HP Integrity servers),
nPartition commands, or Partition Manager (/opt/parmgr/bin/parmgr).
See “Tools for Configuring nPartitions” (page 165) for details.
Tools for Configuring nPartitions 165