topic Re: BL860c i2 boot problem in BladeSystem - General

BL860c i2 boot problem

Domen Setar — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:34:29 GMT

Hi Admins,

I have very strange problem on my BL860c i2 server. I have installed OpenVMS V8.4 on it using SAN disk as a system disk. I can see this disk on EFI shell via four path as fs0, fs1, fs2 and fs4. I can boot the system using command: fs0:\EFI\VMS\VMS_LOADER.EFI.

But when the system is booted and I want to configure boot device using sys$manager:boot_options command procedure I get a result:
Device Not Found

So I'm not able to define boot disk.
Any idea what is wrong or how to reset EFI to default settings?

I have appended a screen log of my problem.

Best regards

Domen

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

The Brit — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 12:33:27 GMT

Hi Domen,
These are only suggestions, since I dont have any i2 servers. I am running VMS 8.4 on a bl860c (old) however;

1. When the boot_options script asks for device name, enter "?". Now enter the device name exactly as listed (including the ":") As I said this is just a suggestion which probably wont make any difference, since the script appears to succeed in adding the entry. I am assuming that when you boot back to the "Boot Manager" screen, either the entries are not there, or when you try to boot from them you get the "device not found" message.

2 I am not sure if this applies for Fibre channel disks, however; If you go to the shell, and change to fs0:\EFI\VMS, do you have the normal executables available??, i.e. VMS_SHOW, VMS_BCFG, etc.

If you do, try VMS_SHOW device, and see if it lists your FC disk. If it does, then you can probably set up a boot option at the shell level using

vms_bcfd boot add 1 -fl 0,0 ""

3. You didn't say how you got the OS onto the SAN disk, I assume that you booted the Media CD and installed directly from there.
If this is the case, then

a. boot the CD again.
b. Once you are up, check the devices, and if necessary run "sysman io auto/log"
c. set default to sys$manager, and run Boot_Options from there to create the boot option on $1$dga3:.

then shutdown and reboot to the boot manager.

If you could capture this session and post it, that would be helpful.

thanks

Dave.

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

Domen Setar — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 12:49:53 GMT

Hi Dave,

I already did everything what you suggested without any success. I think that there must be a bug somewhere there.

Regards

Domen

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

The Brit — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:27:05 GMT

It is very curious that the node will boot using the the VMS_Loader, but that the Boot_Options Script will not create a valid boot option.

Can you confirm

1. that you did install from CD
2. That you tried creating boot option when booted from the CD.

Q. What Make/Model storage subsystem are you using??

Another suggestion. boot from CD and then Run SetBoot on $1$DGA3.

i.e. $ Set Bootblock $1$dga3: (accept defaults.)

then try recreate boot_option.

Another suggestion. Does your blade have any internal disks?? If you do,

1. boot the cd.
2. Mount the SAN disk (read-only)
3. backup/image from the SAN disk to the Internal disk.
4. dismount internal then
a) run "Set Bootblock "
b) run Boot_Options to create a boot option for booting the internal disk

Dave

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

The Brit — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:48:06 GMT

Domen,
just noticed in your attachment,

HP Smart Array P410i Controller (version 3.26) 1 Logical Drive
Currently the controller is in RAID mode.

I dont know if this is the cause of your problem, because I dont know enough about it and I dont have Smart Array Controllers, however, I have seen a lot of conversations in this group about "RAID Mode". It might be worth checking out.

Dave.

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

The Brit — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:52:37 GMT

It might need to be in HBA mode. But I cant help you with achieving that!

Sorry

Dave.

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

Domen Setar — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:58:09 GMT

I switched to RAID mode because of making RAID0+1 with my local disks. I will try to change this. I now how to do it.
Thank you for a good idea.
I'll inform you about success.

regards

Domen

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

Domen Setar — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 12:48:29 GMT

Hi,

I switched from RAID to HBA mode. No difference, it doesn't work.

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

The Brit — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:55:55 GMT

I am out of ideas, however I would suggest that you post this problem on the OpenVMS Forum. There are some pretty smart guys there, and an increasing number are blade-savvy.

Dave.

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

Ana M. García Olivencia — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:50:23 GMT

Hi Domen.

I have exactly the same problem. Have you solved it?.

Thanks in advance.

Regards.

Ana

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

The Brit — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:52:19 GMT

Try the following sequence.

1. Boot from the Distribution CD.
2. Go DCL commands.

$$$ Show Device dga
[make sure you can see the device you want to boot from]

$$$ set boot
$$$ @sys$manager:boot_options
[set up the boot option normally, when it asks for the device name enter ?, and then type in the device name exactly as it appears in the list.]
[once the boot option is set up, select option 5, (validate), and let it validate all boot options in the list.]
[if all of the options validate OK, then try shutdown and boot normally from new SAN disk.]

Can you cut and paste the whole session and attach it so that we can see what you see.

Dave.

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

Ana M. García Olivencia — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:27:32 GMT

I have a problem with the 'SET' command:
NOTE: I have booted from a SAN disk /DGA6484) with a copy of the OpenVMS distribution CD.
.....
Enter CHOICE or ? for help: (1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/?) 8

WARNING --

The normal OpenVMS startup procedure has not executed.
Some commands and utilities will not work as documented.
HP does not support PRODUCT INSTALL and other
PRODUCT operations in this environment.

Enter DCL commands -- Enter "LOGOUT" when done.
When you enter "LOGOUT" a message will be displayed saying
"Process SA_STARTUP_DCL logged out at ",
and you will be returned to the menu.

$$$ sh dev d

Device Device Error Volume Free Trans Mnt
Name Status Count Label Blocks Count Cnt
DAD0: Online 0
$1$DGA1: () Online 0
$1$DGA2: () Online 0
$1$DGA3: () Online 0
$1$DGA4: () Online 0
$1$DGA5: () Online 0
$1$DGA6: () Online 0
$1$DGA7: () Online 0
$1$DGA8: () Online 0
$1$DGA9: () Online 0
$1$DGA6484: () Mounted wrtlck 0 I64084 1770316 50 1
$$$ set boot $1$DGA1:
%EFI-E-BADPARAM, bad parameter

$$$
.....

It's curious that, although the documentation says that you must use the 'BOOT_OPTIONS' procedure with the operating system started to define the SAN boot disks and not the efi maintenance menu, this last one is the only one that works.

If I compare two entries at the boot menu, one that works and the other one not working, the difference is:

WORKING (defined from the maintenance manager menu)
Boot0015
PcieRoot(0x30304352)/Pci(0x5,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Fibre(0x50001FE150244799,0x1000000000000)/HD(1,GPT,E7DBA961-56EF-11E0-B039-AA000400FEFF)/\EFI\VMS\VMS_LOADER.EFI

NOTWORKING (from BOOT_OPTIONS.COM)
DGA1 -BOOT COMPLETO- OpenVMS 8.4
FGA0.5000-1FE1-5024-4799
PcieRoot(0x4D1A055)/Pci(0x5,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Fibre(0x50001FE150244799,0x1000000000000)/HD(1,GPT,E7DBA961-56EF-11E0-B039-AA000400FEFF)/\efi\vms\vms_loader.efi

The differences are the capital letter at the loader file and the strings 0x30304352 and 0x4D1A055.

Any other ideas or tries?

Thanks in advance.

Ana

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

The Brit — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:29:34 GMT

My mistake, I forgot one small detail, you need to mount the target disk before you can run the "set boot" command.

example:

SYSTEM>> show dev dka

Device Device Error Volume Free Trans Mnt
Name Status Count Label Blocks Count Cnt
$100$DKA100: (TABBUD) Online 0
$100$DKA200: (TABBUD) Online 0
SYSTEM>> set boot $100$dka100:
%EFI-E-BADPARAM, bad parameter
SYSTEM>> set boot $100$dka100
%EFI-E-BADPARAM, bad parameter

Now MOUNT the Disk

SYSTEM>> mount/over=id $100$dka100:
%MOUNT-I-MOUNTED, System_14Jan mounted on _$100$DKA100: (TABBUD)
SYSTEM>> set boot $100$dka100:
SYSTEM>>

After executing the "set boot", run "BOOT_OPTIONS" to create the boot entry, and also "VALIDATE" the new entries.

Good Luck,

Dave.

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

Domen Setar — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:37:11 GMT

Hi Ana,

In my case ths sollution was very easy. I have to install latest UPDATE patch on the OpenVMS. After that everything works fine.

Regards

Domen

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

Domen Setar — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:37:47 GMT

Install latest UPDATE patch on OpenVMS.

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

Ana M. García Olivencia — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 11:14:37 GMT

Thanks all for your help.

Regards.

Ana

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

Tom O'Toole — Wed, 18 May 2011 18:38:28 GMT

Same problem here. The distribution for 8.4 crates worthless boot_options (with i2 blades, at least). It's not that easy to install the latest update, considering you can't boot.

Also the console is very slow.

Re: BL860c i2 boot problem

Domen Setar — Thu, 19 May 2011 05:03:51 GMT

Hi Tom,

You can boot. But you must use EFI shell to manually enter your boot command. After booting system (and network) works normal.
I also noticed slow response at the console.
But somehow the issue was solved by installing latest update.

Regards

Domen