Igniting NON-vPAR into a VPAR world......

[Christopher Hildrum_1]

All -

Thanks ahead of time. I will be consolidating some servers (all 11.11) onto two rp7420s using the vPAR technology. I know the best way is to use Ignite, but need a little high level assistance.

If I am reading correctly, I need to have the vPAR software installed onto each server before I use ignite (on the vPAR mahcine) inorder to migrate them.

The existing servers already have the vPAR software installed, so I assume if I Ignite to new machine it should work. Any gotchas I may need to be aware of ?

I also have one server that is not a vPAR machine - what do I need to do with this one ?

Thanks -
Chris

[Todd McDaniel_1]

You are going to have some hardware problems. since the non-vpar box has no knowledge of the architechure.

I would load a base of the OS on the VPAR first then use the ignite to overwrite it and add your host related information.

You will have to alter the hardware and it may give you some problems.


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You might be better served to tar all important files then move over to the Vpar after having loaded the OS there first.

[curt larson_1 · Accepted solution]

i'd suggest that you ignite your non vpar system first.
install the vpars software
configure your vpars
ignite the other vpars

to ignite vpars you need a version of winstall in ignite that is relocateable.

on your ignite server do:
elfdump -r /opt/ignite/boot/WINSTALL | fgrep -i relocation

if no output is supplied from the above command then winstall is not relocatable and won't work with vpars.

there is a relocatable winstall file that comes with the vpars software. so you can copy it from one of your vpared systems or from the depot you use for the vpar software on your ignite server.

never tried this, but if you ignite a non vpar system and install the vpar software at the same time, it just might work if vpars are already set up.

and you need to use the vparboot command to ignite a vpar, so it would seem that at least one vpar needs to be created before you can ignite other vpars

maybe someone with more experience can provide additional info

[Alzhy]

If your existing servers are runnning on PA8700 systems AND already running the DEC2003 Release of 11i OR patched with at least the DEC2003 GOLD/HWE then you're all set. You can simply add vPars 3.01 software on those existing environments. Then move the disks and HBA's (LAN and I/O) over to the their rp7420 designated vPar slots. Once moved over to the rp840.. fix the OS disks (you may need to boot -lm ) so they boot properly non-vPar mode. Once you've ensured that each bootdisk environment boots cleanly - go boot up on what will become your 1st vPar's bootdisk (prefereably the one that will own the CoreIO PATHS.. ie console). Then do your vPar configurations while booted off (non-vpar mode) using vparcreate command. Reboot again on the same bootdisk and interact with ISL and boot VPMON and load your first vPar. Once your 1st vPar is completely loaded.. do configuration checks on the other vPars and boot them up (vparbooot -p vparname).. YOU MUST BE KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT FIXING BOOTPATHS USING THIS APPROACH.

The other approach if you will want your vPar environments to be fresh OS installs would be to create an Ignite Server that also has the vPars software (and requisites) as also available during Ignitions. Using this approach .. you will need to ignite your nPar first and use the bootdisk that will be the 1st vPar's boot disk. Once you've completed the ignition of the nPar .. boot off that disk and create your vPar configuration. Reboot again and boot to vPmon and load that 1st vPar. From that 1st vPar, ignite/build the other vPars using the command:

vparboot -p vparname -I aa.bb.cc.dd,/opt/ignite/boot/WINSTALL

As you've done in your initial vPar (nPar ignite) ignition -- tab over to the software selections and pick the vPars software and patches..

HTH.

And here is a link to vPars Documentation as well:

http://docs.hp.com/hpux/onlinedocs/T1335-90012/T1335-90012.html

[Christopher Hildrum_1]

Thanks again to all of you. First of all I was wrong - the existing vPARs are really nPARs - so more work needs to be done.

I am able to provide more information:

On first server:
Core partition will be small and will be only the ignite server so I can utilized the DVD and DAT drives for make images, depots etc.

The first partition I will add to this machine has the Dec. 2003 patch bundle installed and all data is on the SAN. Sounds like I can install vpar software to this machine, configure, and restore if needed . I am beginning to think it might be better to create a fresh install, move over the SAN disks and go from there.

On second server:
The core partition will be the Oracle database server in which they want a fresh install. I plan on using the base Image from the Ignite server I created on server1.

The third machine that is not part of a the nPAR/vPAR world is 11.00. They need to clean up and migrate this anyway. So I should be able to create a new vPAR for them to do a copy/tar/etc for the data.

Anything else I should consider?

Thanks again for all of your help.

Also - I purchased the hp-ux virtual partitions book awhile ago - been very helpful and is a much better reource than the online guides.

[Alzhy]

Beforehand, have a worksheet of sorts depicting for wach vPar -- your boot paths, IO paths, network paths, memory allocation , etc..


If you have FC-HBAs, SAN and Arrays that's fully supported including booting, then you're life will be even easier.

Just install OS+vPar software & Patches to what will become your 1st vPar's OS disk. Then, just "dd" over to the other 2 disks that will become bootdisks of your other 2 vPars.

Boot off your 1st vPar's bootdisk in non-vPar mode, create your vPar configuration (vparcreate), reboot to ISL, boot VPMON and boot your 1st vPar..

Boot the other vPars (vparboot .. options) to boot into maintenance mode, fix bootconf, blank LAN.... etc. etc..

[Christopher Hildrum_1]

Nelson -

As you've done in your initial vPar (nPar ignite) ignition -- tab over to the software selections and pick the vPars software and patches..


How do I get this recognized on the Ignite server? - I am having some difficulty.

Thanks -
Chris

[Alzhy]

It should be in the vPar documentation but really it's just "adding" the vpar software to be part of your Ignite Server's list of available software..

[Christopher Hildrum_1]

I have the software installed as depots. But how to I see it in the configuration - I need to register it somehow ?

[Alzhy]

Yes you need to "register" it in your Ignite server. I just could not remember it off the top of my head right now.. but it should be in the vPar Guide as well as Ignite-UX documentation..