Enabling Boot On SAN for A500 + SD3200 HP/9000 Server

[FOREST Michel]

Hello,

The goal is to switch from "SCSI internal disk" boot to "DS8300 disk" boot thru the SAN.

I searched many ressources on the Web but didn't find something really relevent.

I run HP-UX 11.11 on PA-RISC :
model : 9000/800/A500-5X
FC card A5158
and
model : 9000/800/SD32000
FC card A6795

The SD32000 is my target system (production) and the A500 is my sandbox.

I begin the operation on my A-Class server as "sandbox" :
Upgrade PDC to 43.50 (latest version)
Allocate a 32G disk on the DS8300
mirror the current vg00 to the new PV (pvcreate -B, mkboot -a "hpux -lq", lvlnboot, ...)

Now, at the reboot here is the situation :
search (sea) command effectively list all the cards (2 SCSI internal for intrernal disk, 1 SCSI for the DDS tape, 2 FC card)
when I select the correct PATH (bo P5 in my case) to boot on the FC card, the console stop with message :
-----------------------
Booting...
Failed to initialize.

ENTRY_INIT
Status = -7

Failed to initialize.
-----------------------

I'm back to the menu...

If someone have good information's either :
- on the Boot On SAN for A-Class and Superdome
- or this specific boot error (-7)

I'll enjoy :o)

++
Michel

[George N]

Hello, why do you want to boot from SAN? There are many disadvantages in booting from SAN, and many advantages to stay booting from local internal disk. Booting from SAN is a bad idea for most environments...

[Tim Nelson]

Some tips or maybe other solutions found through here. There is a reference to reviewing the Fibre HBA doc that may also lead someewhere.

http://docs.hp.com/en/7408/HPUXSANBootWP_final_v2_update.pdf

[Torsten.]

HBA and array must be supported for boot.



You cannot search the SAN from boot menu.

Boot up to hpux and use "setboot" to set the boot path.

[FOREST Michel]

Hello all,

Thank you for your answers.
Next week, I'll install 2x A6795 FC card (listed in the white paper as supported/compatible with boot on SAN)

I'll let you know if it solve the issue or not.

Just FYI, I tried to turn the SAN disk as PRImary (thru setboot) and let the server reboot without interact and it finally boot on the SCSI disk defined as alternate (right now I suppose it's because I use A5158 FC card whitch is not listed in the white paper).

Have a nice WE
++
Michel