New Attention Indicator Behavior

updated for
September 2001

The fruled command and Partition Manager now blink the attention indicators (LEDs) on HP Superdome cells and I/O chassis rather than illuminating them in a steady-on state, as was the case with the original 11i release.

Likewise, on HP rp7410 and rp8400 servers, the fruled command and Partition Manager behaviors are to blink cell attention indicators. (HP rp7410 and rp8400 servers do not provide user-controllable I/O chassis or cabinet-level attention indicators.)

In addition, the SAM (/usr/sbin/sam) and Partition Manager utilities now blink PCI slot attention LEDs for procedures that involve locating PCI slots. Both HP Superdome and HP rp8400 servers support this PCI slot attention indicator usage.

For example, the fruled -o -c2 command now causes cell 2’s attention indicator to blink. On HP Superdome servers, the fruled -o -i0/1/3 command blinks the attention indicator for cabinet 0, I/O bay 1, chassis 3.

The /usr/bin/rad command still provides the same functionality for managing PCI card slot attention indicators. You should use the rad -f attention #-#-#-# command to blink the attention LED when locating the specified slot (#-#-#-#). See rad(1M) for options.

Benefits

These changes conform to the PCI Hot-Plug specifications for attention indicator states and meanings, as detailed in the following table:

Table 4-4 Attention Indicator (LED) States and Meanings

Attention LED State	Meaning
OFF	Normal; not selected, normal operation.
ON	Attention; operational problem. Supported for PCI card slot LEDs only. Service is required; problems have been identified with the component.
BLINKING	Locate; user requested to locate hardware. User has selected the hardware for use in a service operation.

 

Impact

These changes affect all current HP hard-partitionable servers and will be implemented for all future HP hard-partitionable servers, as well. (Note that only Superdome servers were supported by HP-UX releases with the old behavior.)

However, it wasn’t until the HP-UX 11i June 2001 release that SAM and Partition Manager started to blink PCI slot attention indicators during tasks involving PCI cards or card slots. As a result, sites that have HP Superdome servers running both the original HP-UX 11i release and the HP-UX 11i June 2001 (or later) release can have attention indicators at different states (steady-on and blinking).

	NOTE: These changes do not affect the behavior of the HP rp7410, rp8400 or HP Superdome cabinet “attention” lights, which are not user-controllable. These changes also do not affect HP Superdome cabinet number LCD behavior.

Documentation

Details about how the new fruled and Partition Manager affect cell and I/O chassis attention indicators are provided in the fruled(1) manpage, the HP System Partitions Guide, and the Partition Manager online help.

The rad command, whose functionality has not changed, is documented in the rad(1M) manpage.