Bootable Disk or Not????

[Nikee Reddy]

Hello,

Can someone please tell me how to find out a disk is a bootable disk or not?

lvlnboot -v command will tell us which disks are bootable, but I would like to know if there is any other command?

Thanks.

Regards,
Nikee

[Pete Randall · Accepted solution]

Other than SEA IPL at the ISL boot prompt, I don't think so, Nikee.


Pete

[Chris Vail]

At reboot time, you can interrupt the boot process by pressing any key, and execute the Processor Dependant Code (PDC). One command there is SEA (or search). This will list out all the boot devices, including CD/DVD or tape.




Chris

[John Poff]

Hi,

I guess you could do a lifls on the disk to see if it has a LIF area and the contents if it does, but I'm not sure if that would really tell you if it is a valid bootable disk.

lifls -l /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0

JP

[Elena Leontieva]

Nikee,


# setboot
Primary bootpath : 0/0/1/1.2.0
Alternate bootpath : 0/0/2/0.2.0

Autoboot is ON (enabled)
Autosearch is ON (enabled)

# echo "boot_string/S" | adb -k /stand/vmunix /dev/kmem
boot_string:
boot_string: disk(0/0/1/1.2.0.0.0.0.0;0)/stand/vmunix

[Sridhar Bhaskarla]

Hi Nikee,

Apart from lvlnboot, you have two commands lifls and lifcp to find out the LIF information.

lifls /dev/dsk/c1t6d0

Should print out the contents of the LIF area.

lifcp /dev/dsk/c1t6d0:AUTO -

Should print the auto string. In a mirror environment it is usually set to "hpux -lq(;0)/stand/vmunix".

-Sri

[Nikee Reddy]

Hello Folks,

Thanks for the answers.

How about if I create a physical disk using the following command:

#pvcreate -B /dev/rdsk/c4t4d0

Is there any way that I can find out that the disk c4t4d0 has been created using "-B" option???

Thanks.

Best regards,
Nikee

[Steven E. Protter]

if done proprerly boot disks will show up clearly marked as such in lvlnboot -v

command output.

Example

[1811]# lvlnboot -v
Boot Definitions for Volume Group /dev/vg00:
Physical Volumes belonging in Root Volume Group:
/dev/dsk/c1t2d0 (0/0/1/1.2.0) -- Boot Disk
/dev/dsk/c6t8d0 (0/4/0/0.8.0.255.6.8.0)
/dev/dsk/c2t2d0 (0/0/2/0.2.0) -- Boot Disk
Boot: lvol1 on: /dev/dsk/c1t2d0
/dev/dsk/c2t2d0
Root: lvol3 on: /dev/dsk/c1t2d0
/dev/dsk/c2t2d0
Swap: lvol2 on: /dev/dsk/c1t2d0
Dump: lvol2 on: /dev/dsk/c1t2d0, 0



Notice the two boot disks.

[Nikee Reddy]

Hello Steven,

Lvlnboot -v command will not show until you add the disk to the volume group vg00.

Thanks,
Nikee

[Steven E. Protter]

Part of the full procedure which I'm posting for reference is to extend the volume group.

Here goes:

pvcreate -B /dev/rdsk/c1t0t0

mkboot /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0

mkboot -a "hpux -lq (;0)/stand/vmunix" /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0

vgextend /dev/vg00 /dev/dsk/c1t0d0

lvextend -m 1 /dev/vg00/lvol1 /dev/dsk/c1t0d0

repeat for relavent lv's

lvlnboot -r /dev/vg00/vol3

lvlnboot -d /dev/vg00/lvol2

lvlnboot -b/dev/vg00/lvol1

lvlnboot -R

lvnboot -v

setboot
settboot -a 52.1.0 (adjust for reality)


As I said, if you did the entire procedure right, INCLUDING extending the volume group lvlnboot -r will show you if everything is right.

SEP

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Nikee:

With regard to your last question, "Is there any way that I can find out that the disk c4t4d0 has been created using "-B" option???":

I seem to recall that if you do not 'pvcreate -B' then when you proceed to apply the 'mkboot' sequences to deposit the LIF, 'mkboot' "complains" of insufficient space. This is because the '-B' option of 'pvcreate' organizes a LVM header differently for a boot disk than for a non-boot disk.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Patrick Wallek]

Another thing you can look at is the number of PEs available on each disk. When you do a 'pvcreate -B' it alloacted 1 physical extent on the disk to hold the boot information. When you do a 'vgdisplay -v' the disks that had a 'pvcreate -B' will show up as having 1 PE LESS available than the other disks of the same size.

This will not necessarily tell you whether or not the disk it bootable, but it is another clue.