For anyone running OpenVMS on Itanium BL860's

[The Brit]

I am trying to figure out how to add the SAN boot parameters to the profile of an OpenVMS blade server.
I am pretty sure that I am running the latest version of the VC manager software (1.31).

In Virtual Connect Manager I open the profile, and under "FC SAN Connections" I click on "Show Fibre Channel Boot Parameters"
OK; Now as far as it goes, it seems fairly straight forward;

1. Under "SAN Boot" I select "Primary" for Port 1 and "Secondary" for Port 2.
2. Under "WWPN" I enter the WWID for the Storage controller, (Not exactly sure where to get that!) and
3. Under LUN # I enter the LUN number presented from the Storage sub-system, (not to be confused with UDID, or OS Unit ID, I presume). I assume that I have to talk to the storage manager to get this,

unless?

when I add the boot option at the VMS level using the "BOOT_OPTIONS" script, the entry (or entries, since there are 8 - one for each available path) is of the form:

1 V8.3-1H1 SAN Sys Disk FGB0.5000-1FE1-5000-4538 -fl 0,0
$1$DGA160 PCI(0|8|0|1) Fibre(50001FE150004538,Lun1000000000000)

so does the information in parenthesis equate to the (
A second question (which is equally, if not more important) is, How do I specify the VMS boot flags in the profile parameters? Clearly, if the node which owns the profile is a cluster node, then the boot information must include the "Root" info.

thanks

Dave.

[John Shortt · Accepted solution]

Dave,

The boot parameters are EFI variables, along with the flags to indicate the appropriate root for boot disks. All EFI variables are now stored in the domain (in the profile for a given slot) when enabled in VC 1.31 and future versions. In other words, if you have a domain that is storing boot parameters, then they will be there.

Two ways to see what devices are available (or currently configured) is to use the Boot Options Utility or at EFI directly (map command shows file systems). If using boot options, you'll get an output like this:

EFI Boot Options list: Timeout = 20 secs.

Entry Description Options
----- ---------------------------------------------------------- -------------
1 $1$dga11002 FGB0.5000-1FE1-5001-934C -fl 4,0
$1$DGA11002 PCI(0|4|0|1) Fibre(50001FE15001934C,Lun8000000000000)
2 $1$dga11002 FGB0.5000-1FE1-5001-9348 -fl 4,0
$1$DGA11002 PCI(0|4|0|1) Fibre(50001FE150019348,Lun8000000000000)
3 $1$dga11002 FGA0.5000-1FE1-5001-934D -fl 4,0
$1$DGA11002 PCI(0|4|0|0) Fibre(50001FE15001934D,Lun8000000000000)
4 $1$dga11002 FGA0.5000-1FE1-5001-9349 -fl 4,0
$1$DGA11002 PCI(0|4|0|0) Fibre(50001FE150019349,Lun8000000000000)
5 EFI Shell [Built-in]
VenHw(d65a6b8c-71e5-4df0-d2f009a9)

If you have installed VMS at least once and are using FC, which is all that matters for this feature. If you look at entry 1, which is the primary for this Blade, you see the WWPN "FGB0.5000-1FE1-5001-934C" which you enter in the profile as "primary" and then you see the LUN value "8" in this case that you enter as well. You can then enter a secondary path, which in this case is "FGB0.5000-1FE1-5001-9348" same LUN sinde it is a shared cluster disk.

Thus, the answer to your question is yes, the port # and LUN value are in the parenthesis. Once you've set up your profile(s) and the VC domain is error free, the boot flag containing the root "4" in my example will be copied into the domain and copied into the servers EFI variable area along with any other variables. If I was to remove this Blade and replace it with another, it would assume the profile information and boot to LUN 8, root 4, at the same path. If I was to move this profile to another slot, it would then attempt to boot from root 4, LUN 8, etc.

If the list I show was current, and you wanted to make entry 3 the Primary boot path, you define it in the profile, and before the Blade boots, EFI will rearrange the entries to match the profile if necessary. Once you have at least a Primary defined in the profile, VC and EFI will stay in sync, no matter how the variables are updated (at the Shell prompt or Boot Options for example).

We've tested this thoroughly, so if you find something isn't working as advertised, please let us know. As you indicate, you must have VC 1.31 or later.

Hope this helps,

john

[The Brit]

Thank you John.

Your reply was exactly the information I was looking for. In the 4 days since my post we were gradually zeroing in on the solution (kinda like water going down a drain), and had reached the realization that it was related to the EFI environment variables.
In anycase, it was nice to get a confirmation.

thanks again.

Dave