nPartition Administrator's Guide, Second Edition

• Setting Core Cell Choices
To set core cell choices for an nPartition use the parmodify -p# -r# -r#... command
to specify up to four core cell choices in priority order for a specified nPartition (-p#, where
# is the partition number).
From Partition Manager Version 1.0 select the nPartition, use the nPartition→Modify
nPartition action, Core Cell Choices tab.
From Partition Manager Version 2.0 select the nPartition, use the nPartition→Modify
nPartition action, Set Cell Options tab, and use the Core Cell Choice column to set
priorities.
On an HP 9000 server you can use the BCH Configuration menu COC command to set core
cell choices. On an HP Integrity server you can use the EFI Shell rootcell command to
set core cell choices.
Also see “Setting nPartition Core Cell Choices” (page 194).
• Setting nPartition Boot Paths
On HP Integrity servers boot paths can be listed and configured only from the local nPartition.
From HP-UX use the setboot command to configure the local nPartition boot paths, or
use the parmodify -p# -b... -s... -t... command to set boot paths for a specified
nPartition (-p#, where # is the partition number).
On an HP 9000 server you can use the BCH Main menu PATH command to configure boot
paths. On an HP Integrity server you can use the EFI Shell bcfg command to configure boot
paths.
Also see “Configuring Boot Paths and Options” (page 155).
For more details and summaries see Table 6-1 (page 166).
Basics of nPartition Booting and Resetting
This section gives a brief overview of the boot process for cells and nPartitions and lists the main
nPartition boot commands and tasks.
For more details see Chapter 5 (page 87).
Boot Process for Cells and nPartitions
The nPartition boot process, on both HP 9000 servers and HP Integrity servers, includes two
phases: the cell boot phase and the nPartition boot phase.
1. Cell Boot Phase of the nPartition Boot Process The cell boot phase occurs when cells are
powered on or reset. The main activities that occur during the cell boot phase are
power-on-self-test activities. During this phase each cell operates independently of all other
cells in the complex. Cells do not necessarily proceed through this phase at the same pace,
because each cell may have a different amount of hardware to test and discover, or cells
might be reset or powered on at different times. The main steps that occur during the cell
boot phase are:
a. A cell is powered on or reset, and the cell boot-is-blocked (BIB) flag is set.
BIB is a hardware flag on the cell board. When BIB is set, the cell is considered to be
inactive.
b. Firmware on the cell performs self-tests and discovery operations on the cell hardware
components. Operations at this point include processor self-tests, memory tests, I/O
32 Getting Started with nPartitions