HP-UX Kernel Configuration Commands

These are a set of system administration commands to configure, build and manage new kernels with all associated kernel components, and individual DLKM modules.

The public interface for kernel configuration:

HP-UX Kernel Configuration (KC) commands run native on Itanium-based systems, including DLKM Phase 1 support. In addition, they have been enhanced to support the following new kernel features:

New Boot Loader based on MFS (Memory File Storage)
KC commands have been modified to set up the appropriate kernel-specific links for the boot loader.
Boot-Time-Loading of Kernel Modules (BTL DLKM)
KC commands are enhanced to support configuring and managing BTL modules. The module-specific configuration attributes Supported Loading Phases and Configured Loading Phase are added and supported throughout the KC commands.
Kernel ID String
config(1M) now generates a kernel ID string (KIS) each time a new kernel is linked. This ID is used to uniquely associate distributed kernel files on disk with a specific kernel image. KRS uses the generated KIS to identify its initialization files associated with a kernel at boot-up. DLKM uses the KIS to identify the location of the symtab file at boot-up, and to initialize the module load path associated with the running kernel.

New or Changed Kernel Configuration Command Options or Features

config(1M) and mk_kernel(1M)

No change to the command line.
Configuration of BTL modules is supported.
config(1M) generates the Kernel ID string (KIS) to associate all kernel components to a specific main kernel file.
config(1M) generates module registration information and kernel-specific persistent information in KRS format.
The kernel component set goes beyond the main kernel file and the DLKM directory. The KRS file described above is generated.
The DLKM directory is re-named /stand/dlkm.KIS (link to old /stand/dlkm is maintained for backward compatibility)

kmadmin(1M)

New option (-b) is added to set the Configured Loading Phase of a registered module.
Configured Loading Phase is now kept in KRS, and you can get/set it using kmadmin to one of the following phases:
- BOOT1
- BOOT2
- INIT
- AUTO
The /etc/loadmods file is supported only for backward compatibility, and can only be used to set Configured Loading Phase to INIT. Users should migrate to kmadmin interface.
Output information and format is enhanced to display new attributes:
- module version (0.0.0 for traditional, 0.1.0 for modular)
- Configured Loading Phase

kminstall(1M)

New option (-s) is added to silence WARNING messages.

kmmodreg(1M)

New option (-a) is added to schedule asynchronous unregistration of a kernel module (on next system shutdown).
New option (-n) is added to un-schedule the asynchronous unregistration of a kernel module.

kmpath(1M)

New administration command
This command can be used to retrieve the name/path of the main kernel file of the currently running kernel, and to retrieve information about the kernel component set, like the KIS, and the DLKM directory.

kmsystem(1M)

New option (-b) is added to set the Planned Loading Phase of a module prior to a kernel or module configuration.
Output information and format is enhanced to display:
- module version
- Planned Loading Phase information

kmtune(1M)

No change to the command line.
Output information and format is enhanced to display module version information, and to be forward compatible with Dynamic Tunables feature included in HP-UX 11i and planned for later releases.

kmupdate(1M)

A new option (-d) is added to remove a specified kernel and its associated component set.
This command was enhanced to initiate the process of creating and populating the /stand/boot.KIS directory with all the links that are necessary for the MFS boot loader to be able to find all the necessary kernel components at boot time.




	NOTE: This implies that kmupdate is a required step in order to ensure the successful boot of a newly generated kernel.

master(4)

A new section is added to the modular master file (see master(4)) to describe the supported loading phases of a kernel module, which now includes:

BOOT1: Module supports loading at phase 1 of boot sequence
BOOT2: Module supports loading at phase 2 of boot sequence
RUN: Module supports loading at run time.

system(4)

A new section is added to the modular system file (see system(4)) to tailor the planned loading phase of a module, which includes:

BOOT1: Valid if BOOT1 is a supported loading phase
BOOT2: Valid if BOOT2 is a supported loading phase
AUTO: Auto-load or demand load. Valid if RUN is a supported loading phase
INIT: Load at init time. Valid if RUN is a supported loading phase

Kernel Configuration Documentation

The following new manual pages have been added:

kmpath(1M)
system(4) - this file format used to be embedded in the config(1M) manual page

The following existing manual pages have been changed:

White papers can be found at the docs.hp.com web site.