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11iv3 Boot from alternate disk

 
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ben10_1
Regular Advisor

11iv3 Boot from alternate disk

It may be a basic question, but I have to post it here.

While trying to boot from the alternate mirrored disk I got the following failure:

"Starting: HP-UX Alternate Boot: 0/1/1/0.0x1.0x0
(C) Copyright 1999-2008 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
All rights reserved
HP-UX Boot Loader for IPF -- Revision 2.037
Press Any Key to interrupt Autoboot
\EFI\HPUX\AUTO ==> boot vmunix
Seconds left till autoboot - 0
AUTOBOOTING...Could not open file vmunix to check for a directory
Could not open vmunix
loading failed"

However if try the following the server boot normally:
"HPUX> hpux -lq"

1- How can I make the server boot successfully from the alternate as it does for the primary?
2- Any help to understand why "hpux -lq" solve the alternate boot issue?

Any document that you may find useful are welcome.

Thank you.
11 REPLIES 11
g3jza
Esteemed Contributor
Solution

Re: 11iv3 Boot from alternate disk

Hi,
the -lq option to boot (LVM-quorum) simply means, that more than 50% of the disks needs to be present, in order for the system to boot. So when you get into situation, when your 1 disk fails, your other alternate boot disk just won't boot automatically without the "-lq" option.

You can update the AUTO file (/efi/hpux/auto) to contain the "-lq" string:

Use the 'efi_cp' to copy the desired file to a file in /tmp, edit the temporary file with 'vi', and return it back to the EFI system partition with 'efi_cp':

#efi_cp -d /dev/rdisk/diskX_p1 -u /efi/hpux/auto /tmp auto

#vi /tmp/auto (the line should contain "boot vmunix -lq")

#efi_cp -d /dev/rdisk/diskX_p1 /tmp/auto /efi/hpux/auto








g3jza
Esteemed Contributor

Re: 11iv3 Boot from alternate disk

also much easier would be:

mkboot -a ├в boot vmunix -lq├в /dev/rdisk/diskX_p1

Set this flag to both of your boot disks....
g3jza
Esteemed Contributor

Re: 11iv3 Boot from alternate disk

mkboot -a "boot vmunix -lq" /dev/rdisk/diskX_p1

Torsten.
Acclaimed Contributor

Re: 11iv3 Boot from alternate disk

>> Could not open vmunix


The disk is likely not properly mirrored, because the system cannot find the kernel.


Boot up again and check the mirror (lvdisplay -v ...; lvlnboot -v).

Hope this helps!
Regards
Torsten.

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ben10_1
Regular Advisor

Re: 11iv3 Boot from alternate disk

After executing the below command the system can now boot from the Alternate without any intervention.

efi_cp -d /dev/rdisk/diskX_p1 /tmp/auto /efi/hpux/auto

After checking my old documentation I figure out that the command that I have previously executed was:

efi_cp ├в d /dev/rdsk/c2t1d0s1 /tmp/auto /efi/hpux/auto

This may give an answer.

Thank you.
ben10_1
Regular Advisor

Re: 11iv3 Boot from alternate disk

For g3jza,

Just to confirm, if I did get you well:

HPUX needs to boot normally MORE THAN 50% of the disks.

In our case 1 disk has failed, so 50% of the disks are down, in this case -lq option is needed to boot normally.

Thank you.

Torsten.
Acclaimed Contributor

Re: 11iv3 Boot from alternate disk

this is not the reason.

there is no kernel!

follow my advise!

Hope this helps!
Regards
Torsten.

__________________________________________________
There are only 10 types of people in the world -
those who understand binary, and those who don't.

__________________________________________________
No support by private messages. Please ask the forum!

If you feel this was helpful please click the KUDOS! thumb below!   
g3jza
Esteemed Contributor

Re: 11iv3 Boot from alternate disk

ben:

>
HPUX needs to boot normally MORE THAN 50% of the disks.

In our case 1 disk has failed, so 50% of the disks are down, in this case -lq option is needed to boot normally.

-lq is to override the LVM-quorum, which means, that in order for the system to boot, it needs to have in vg00 more than 50% of the disks. So in your case, as you have lost one disk of 2, that's exactly 50% of disks available and system would not boot without the -lq flag.

But as Torsten is saying, you should make sure the failed disk gets replaced as soon as possible and get it mirrored.
ben10_1
Regular Advisor

Re: 11iv3 Boot from alternate disk

Now, I did replace the failed disk and I did the mirroring configuration, and I can find my data as expected, and I can boot from any disk I want.

However when booting from the alternate disk I receive messages on the console showing:

vgsync: Couldn't resynchronize volume group "/dev/vg00"

I did:
#vgchange -a y /dev/vg00
Volume group "/dev/vg00" is already active in requested mode

Is this critical, any lead or idea to solve this?

Thank you.