HP-UX servers have a special terminal or window called a console
that allows special control and displays system error messages.
Because servers have a limited number of PCI slots, you may not
want to allocate one serial port for use as a console port for each
partition you create.
With vPars, each virtual partition has its own virtual
console. For each partition, its console I/O is sent
to its vcn (Virtual CoNsole) driver. From the vcn driver, the console
I/O is sent to the monitor. From the monitor, the console I/O is
sent to the vcs (virtual console slave) driver of the partition
that owns the hardware console port. Finally, the vcs driver sends
the console I/O to the physical hardware console. It is this vcs driver
that manages the console I/O to the actual hardware console port.
When the partition that owns the hardware console port is
not running, the vPars monitor takes over the management of the
I/O to the hardware console port, so you will still have access
to the virtual console displays.
You can access the console port as you would on any non-vPars
server, for example, through a dumb terminal or lan console. Then,
to cycle between the virtual console displays of the various partitions,
press Ctrl-A.
Each virtual partition has an 8K circular buffer for console
output. If not already displayed, the monitor copies this 8K buffer
to the console when you press Ctrl-A.
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 | NOTE: Note the following when using virtual consoles:Active Console
I/O when Multiple Virtual Partitions are Booted It is not deterministic which virtual partition will be active
with the physical console when multiple virtual partitions are booted. Switchover
Pause with Shutting Down. When the virtual partition that owns the hardware console
port is shut down, there will be a pause of console output (the
system is not hung) as console I/O management
switches over from the virtual partition to the vPars monitor. Console
output resumes automatically after the pause. You will not lose
any console output. During the switchover period, no console input
is accepted. For rp7400/N4000 and rp5470/L3000 servers, the pause can be
from ten to twenty seconds. For Superdome and other nPartition-able servers,
the switchover pause can be minutes, depending on the amount of
memory owned by the virtual partition that owns the hardware console
port. Switchover Pause during the Crash State Whenver the virtual partition that owns the hardware console
port is in the crash state, the switchover
pause will occur and remain as long as the virtual partition is
in this crash state. For more information
on the crash state, see the vparstatus (1M) manpage and “Obtaining
Monitor and Hardware Resource Information”. Toggling Past the Monitor Prompt When the monarch CPU of the server is not assigned to any partition,
you will see the monitor prompt. Press Ctrl-A to
cycle to the console window of the next partition. GSPdiag1 device file The GSPdiag1 device file (/dev/GSPdiag1) can only be accessed from the virtual partition that
contains the console hardware port. Terminal Emulation To avoid display
problems, be sure that the terminal setting of the GSP on the vPars
server matches the terminal or terminal emulator that you are using
to access it. For details on how to do this, see “Setting
the GSP Terminal Type”. Ignored Keyboard Input There is one known case where the virtual console will ignore keyboard
input (data sent to the console continues to be displayed; only
keyboard input is ignored). This occurs when the virtual partition
that owns the hardware console port is down and the CPU with the
lowest hardware path is not assigned to any virtual partition. When
this CPU is migrated to a running virtual partition, the console
will not accept any keyboard input. You can do either of the following to resolve the problem: From a running partition, reset the
partition that owns the hardware console port by executing vparreset -p target_partition -h, where target_partition is the partition
that owns the hardware console port. From a running partition, boot the partition that
owns the hardware console port by executing vparboot -p target_partition, where target_partition is the
partition that owns the hardware console port
If no other virtual partitions are accessible, you must reboot
the server or hard partition in order to regain console input.
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Logs
on a nPartition Server |
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On a nPartition server running vPars, all virtual partitions
within a nPartition share the same console device: the nPartition's
console. Thus, a nPartition's console log contains
console I/O for multiple virtual partitions. Further, since the
vPars monitor interface is displayed and accessed through the nPartition's
console, vPars monitor output is also recorded in the nPartition's
console log. There is only one monitor per nPartition.
The server chassis logs record nPartition
and server complex hardware events. The chassis logs do not record
vPars-related configuration or vPars boot events; however, the chassis
logs do record HP-UX "heartbeat" events. The server chassis logs
are viewable from the GSP's Show Chassis Log menu. For
more information, see the Help within the GSP's online
help.
The vPars monitor event logs record
only vPars events; it does not contain any nPartition chassis events.
For more information, see vparstatus(1M).
Also, for a given nPartition, the Virtual Front Panel (VFP)
of the nPartition's console displays an OS heartbeat whenever
at least one virtual partition within the nPartition is up.
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