topic Re: /stand/bootconf in Operating System - HP-UX

/stand/bootconf

Con O'Kelly — Fri, 06 Jun 2003 03:47:01 GMT

Hi

I am currently doing an audit of our systems. All the systems have a mirrored root disk and have been configured to boot from the alternate if necessary
i.e I have checked output of lvlnboot -v, setboot, lifls & lifcp commands.
However I have noticed that only the primary disk has an entry in the /stand/bootconf file.
Is it normal just to see an entry for the primary boot disk in this file?
I'd be grateful for any advice on the implications of this. I haven't come across any steps to update this file when creating boot disks etc.

Thanks for the help.

Cheers
Con

Re: /stand/bootconf

V.Tamilvanan — Fri, 06 Jun 2003 04:06:38 GMT

Hi,
It is normal only.In all of my Root mirrored systems I have only one entry.
There is no need to update this file.
hth
-tamil

Re: /stand/bootconf

steven Burgess_2 — Fri, 06 Jun 2003 04:09:05 GMT

Hi

Have a read of

man bootconf

The file contains the path of the primary bootdisk and is created when configuring disk with pvcreate -B option

HTH

Steve

Re: /stand/bootconf

Con O'Kelly — Fri, 06 Jun 2003 04:57:15 GMT

Hi
Thanks for the replies.

Steve
I read the man page for bootconf and it states
"This file contains the address and disk layout type of the systems boot devices".
I'm curious as to why my alternate disk does not appear as it was also created with pvcreate -B.
I think you're right about only the primary boot disk being listed but where is this stated.

I just want to be 100% sure I haven't missed anything when I complete my audit.

Thanks for the help.

Cheers
Con

Re: /stand/bootconf

Con O'Kelly — Tue, 10 Jun 2003 01:17:33 GMT

Hi

Sorry, I wanted to repost this question as I noticed Bill was on the forums & was hoping he or anyone else might be able to clarify what /stand/bootconf shows. Is it just a systems primary boot device?
Thanks.

Cheers
Con

Re: /stand/bootconf

Sridhar Bhaskarla — Tue, 10 Jun 2003 01:33:21 GMT

Hi Con,

bootconf is a simple text file that will have information about the boot disks. This is a reference file used by utilities like make_tape_recovery, some of the postinstall scripts in the core OS packages,Diagnostic packages etc., to find the boot disks and update the utilities accordingly.

If your bootconf file is having wrong information, you can manually update it. The syntax is

l /dev/dsk/c0t6d0
l /dev/dsk/c1t6d0

Where both the above are boot disks configured in LVM.

-Sri

Re: /stand/bootconf

Con O'Kelly — Tue, 10 Jun 2003 02:36:14 GMT

Thanks for the reply Sridhar. Sorry to labour the point on what is probably a trivial issue now but I'm still a bit confused as to why only one boot disk appears in the /stand/bootconf file. Do you have to manually edit this file for every boot device? As I stated all my systems have only a single entry when every system has been setup with an alternate boot disk.

Thanks for any clarification.

Cheers
Con

Re: /stand/bootconf

Sridhar Bhaskarla — Tue, 10 Jun 2003 03:30:11 GMT

Hi Con,

This file is created during the OS installation basically by the checkinstall script of OS-Core.KERN-RUN fileset. Since mirroring would not be done by that time, it will update the file with only one disk found with 'lvlnboot' command.

Check
/var/adm/sw/products/OS-Core/KERN-RUN/checkinstall and bootlif_funcs scripts for more information.

However, later if there are any patches related to KERN-RUN are installed, it may get updated automatically.

This does not pose any problem under normal circumstances. However, during the installs of Diagnostics etc., where it is required to update the boot information, they will use this file to find the boot disks. So, not having information about the mirror disk may leave it un-updated with the patched utilities.

-Sri

Re: /stand/bootconf

John Dvorchak — Tue, 10 Jun 2003 03:50:32 GMT

Don't assign me any points for this as I am just summerizing what others are telling you but I am not sure you are getting the answer you want:

1. The file is created at install. Since the root drives are not mirrored at the time, there is only one enty in the /stand/bootconf file.

2. Yes you have to manually edit this file and add any other boot devices. This is to insure that subsequent patches, upgrades etc. know where the boot drives are.

3. Good practices would prevail here and you should make sure that all of your systems have all of their boot drives appear in /stand/bootconf but you will manually or programatically have to add them.

Re: /stand/bootconf

Con O'Kelly — Tue, 10 Jun 2003 04:01:27 GMT

Thanks for the replies, it took a while to drum it into my head!
Sridhar, thanks for persevering & the explanation.

John, that's a great summary & helped my understanding. I appreciate your time & it does deserve points.

Cheers
Con