Boot a system using a boot disk intalled by another system

[Kim Tran_4]

I would like to use a server to ignite a series of XP array disks. This XP array disk is accessible by multiple servers. My purpose is to have many OS disks available. When user requests a system with a clean OS, I just match the disk with the system, change the netconf, hosts files, reboot and hand it to the user.
I try the idea. It works with systems of exact same model. With systems of different models, boot fails to find the bootpath even though these two systems has same hwpath, (different device file names though). Do you think that there will be a way to fix this issue? Or is it something impossible? If it is undoable, what are the reasons? Thanks.

[Steven E. Protter]

I would solve it with software.

Take a low use server, hang some disk off of it and use it as an nfs repository.

what goes in?

make_net_recovery images.

Every HP server or client backs up his configuration once a week. If the boot disk dies, you replace, boot off the Ignite server and rebuild the system quickly and easily.

You've identified the problems with carrying around a disk. I can't see how thats going to work.

Why can't it be done?

1) You can't control customization. The /etc/rc.config.d/netconf file is different on each machine.
2) Mac addresses are different with every NIC card.
3) As you identified it, unlike systems have differnt hadware path and information is stored on the disk to make it bootable that is unique to each system.

You probably can keep boot disks sitting on the array just waiting to be booted off of. You might create these with mirror/ux mirroring and have your systems be dual boot, local disk primary SAN secondary. That depends on whether your system supports that kind of boot.

SEP

[Patrick Wallek]

The reason it is failing is because the /dev/dsk/c?t?d? are different. The VG00 is initially built and now the device files don't match.

You should be able to solve it by booting into LVM mainteancne mode and going through proceude that Sridhar outlines in this post:

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=744022

[Sridhar Bhaskarla · Accepted solution]

Hi,

It may not work always if you try to boot the bootdisk of one model with another. You may have some luck booting an N-class with a L-class but not a K-class system. So, you may have to prepare a disk per each model. You may have to follow the procedure that I outlined in the following thread in order for you to have a completely operational system.

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=744022

-Sri

[Kim Tran_4]

Thanks for your responses. One critical point: how to boot into LVM maintenance mode from EFI (IA box). I get to the Shell> prompt and pick a file system (fs0), but it just boots the system with "hp -lm" and does not let me interact with the LVM as in the PA box like Patrick and Sridhar suggest. Thanks.

[Sridhar Bhaskarla]

I have to pass on this as I haven't touched an IPF system yet. But from what I understood so far from the documentation is that once you are in 'EFI shell', you can run 'map' and find out the entry corresponding to your bootdisk and boot from it and it does allow LVM maintenance mode.

Check out docs.hp.com.

-Sri
PS: 0 points please.