Release Notes for STM on HP-UX 11.00 (September 2001)

• Overview
• Documentation
• Changes
  • Changes to User Interface and Platform
  • General Changes to Tools
  • Changes to Specific Tools
• Known Problems
• Defect Reporting
• SD Product Structure

These release notes cover the September 2001 release of Support Plus for HP-UX 11.00 running on S800/S700 systems.

NOTE: As of the September 1999 release, the name of the Diagnostic/IPR Media has been changed to Support Plus. In addition, the format has changed so that there is a separate CD-ROM for each version of the operating system (HP-UX 10.20 and HP-UX 11.0).

Overview

The Support Tools Manager (STM) provides a complete set of online support tools for HP-UX systems, enabling you to verify and troubleshoot PA-RISC system hardware, and to examine system logs.

STM offers several tool types, including information tools, verifiers, exercisers, expert tools, firmware update tools, diagnostics and utilities.

Installed with STM (as of IPR 9902) are the EMS Hardware Monitors, an important tool for maintaining system availability. The EMS hardware monitors allow you to monitor the operation of a wide variety of hardware products and be alerted immediately if any failure or other unusual event occurs. For more information, see /usr/sbin/stm/Rel_NOTES.HWE.

Documentation

For the latest and most complete information on STM and EMS Hardware Event Monitors, see the Web page "Diagnostics":

  http://docs.hp.com/hpux/diag/

At this site, you will find Overviews, Tutorials, Quick Reference Cards, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and much other material.

Changes

The online Support Tools Manager (STM) was enhanced and updated for the current release.

Changes to User Interface and Platform

• Fixed problem with the STM User Interface (UI), whereby user files created throughout the UI were created with rw-rw-rw permissions. For example, if the user saved a log file from the file viewer, it would be created with these permissions. Now these files will be saved with rw-rw-r-- permissions. This problem was temporarily fixed for the June 01 release. This is a more global fix.
• Fixed problem with mstm shortcut help, whereby mstm would occasionally exit with a SIGSEGV error.
• Modified STM platform to map NEC iStorage 4000/2000/1000 disks as an NEC Array, so they will be ignored by the SCSI Disk Monitor (disk_em). In addition, added an entry in the xref file so that no tools will be shown to be available for these devices.:w
• JAGad73874
  Fixed problem with xstm, whereby xstm would report a SIGSEGV error and exit when the Filter->Set command was selected in text map mode.
• Fixed a problem with false reporting of connection failures by audit system. There was a debug facility in the diagnostics and monitors that would attempt to connect to a port to output debug trace information. This caused the audit system (audsys) to see lots of connection failures. This change eliminates the connection attempts when debugging is not going on.
• Fixed a problem with cclogd (chassis code log daemon) that occurred on the March 01 and June 01 diagnostic releases, whereby messages from this daemon were not displayed and an error message would report: correct version of message catalog does not exist. The cclogd daemon is only supported on A-Clas, N-Class, and Superdome computers, so only those machines are affected by this problem.
• JAGad72005
  Fixed the "within 24 hours (or deallocation time range)" criteria from 13.5111 hours to 24 hours in the memlogd daemon.
  Intended behavior of memlogd: when a single-bit error re-occurs within 24 hours, memlogd will deallocate the page on which the error is located (by entering into the PDT table, if there is a PDT table on the system, and request the OS to not to use that page).
  Before the fix: when memlogd detected an error re-occurring within 13.511 hours, memlogd will deallocate the page on which the error is located but it will not deallocate the page on which the error is located if the error re-occurred after 13.5111 hours.
  After the fix: when memlogd detected an error re-occurring within 24 hours, memlogd will deallocate the page on which the error is located.

• JAGad67440
  Rewrote the error message that memlogd logs in the memlogd activity log when the PDT table is full. The new message is more accurate and helpful.
  BEFORE:

  Attempt to add entry to the Page Deallocation Table failed.
  
  Possible Cause(s)/Recommended Action(s)
     The Page Deallocation Table (PDT) may not be enabled.  In most cases, 
  the PDT should be enabled (Inform your HP representative).  However, 
  the PDT should only be enabled if the system is on HP-UX 10.0 or above, 
  otherwise, it won't be able to handle double-bit errors.
  
     Internal application error.
  

  AFTER:

  The Page Deallocation Table (PDT) is full.
  
  Possible Cause(s)/Recommended Action(s)
  
     The Page Deallocation Table has reached its threshold for the maximum 
  number of pages deallocated.  Troubleshoot for failed memory component. 
  (Inform your HP representative).
  
     Internal application error.
  

• JAGad67514
  Fixed a problem with memlogd, whereby all the errors in the Page Deallocation Table (PDT) were not inserted into the memlog file during memlogd initialization. (Note: PDT entries may not be able to isolated down to the DIMM.)
  Background:
  When the PDT contains new entries (entered by the firmware during selftest that are not currently in the memlog file, memlogd was supposed to enter these PDT entries into its memlog file during initialization; however, with the previous memlogd, if there was a match between an entry in the PDT and an entry in the memlog file, all the new entries in the PDT following that would not be entered into the memlog file. The fix to this problem is to add all the new entries in the PDT that are not already in the memlog file into the memlog file during memlogd initialization

• JAGad67534
  Fixed problems with page states/status reported by memlogd.
  • Enhanced memlogd to distinguish page states displayed by memlogd in the memlog file more correctly.
    Background:
    In the previous memlogd, there was no page state to indicate whether an error was successfully entered into the PDT table or not, because if an error was NOT entered into the PDT table and OS could not deallocate the page, the page status in the memlog file would show: "pending: page could not be obtained"
    However, if an error WAS entered into the PDT table but OS could not deallocate the page, the page status in the memlog file would also show: "pending: page could not be obtained"
    Hence, one could not tell if PDT is successful or not, unless the user could look at the PDT entries from the memory information module. So, added a new page state to indicate the case when an error is not entered into the PDT table: "pending: page could not be entered into PDT"
  • Enhanced memlogd to show page status more accurately.
    Background:
    In the previous memlogd, if an error was entered into the PDT table and memlogd was restarted (either by restarting memlogd and system reboot), it assumed that those entries are OS-deallocated -- but this may not be true because if the pages belong to the kernel, they can not be OS-deallocated and that we cannot tell if the OS was rebooted or if memlogd was restarted; hence, added a check for page status which is executed each time memlogd restarts.

• JAGad45063, JAGad69327
  This enhancement was partially implemented in the June 01 release. In the Sept 01 release, the enhancement is fully implemented.
  Enhanced diagmond so that it can be configured to only accept connections and requests from the local system -- any requests from a remote system will be rejected. The new configuration parameter is in the /var/stm/config/sys/diagmond.cfg file. It is called LOCAL_ONLY_ENABLE. If it is set to 1, only local connections are allowed. If it is set to 0, local and remote connections are allowed. By default, it is set to 0.

  NOTE: Once the file is changed, the user must go into the UI and run the RereadUUTConfigFile command to cause the new values to be re-read.

  If a remote connection is attempted with diagmond configured in this manner, a message will logged in the system activity log, as follows:

  Tue Feb 27 15:31:09 2001:
  System is configured only to accept requests from
  the local host. Rejecting a request from a non-local
  host.  Message was sent from system name
  (magnumpi.rose.hp.com) at IP address (15.8.134.7)
  with system port number (52175).
  

  The remote UI will behave exactly as if diagmond itself was not running on the system to which it is trying to connect. The only difference is that the message displayed, and logged into the UI activity log, that will have an additional cause of the remote system being configured to not accept remote connections. The modified message is listed below:

  An unexpected error was encountered while attempting to retrieve the
  host info for hostname (XXXXX).
  This could be due to either of the following conditions:
  
  1) The support tool daemon "diagmond" may not be running on that system.
     Use the STM Startup command (in the administration menu under the
     file menu.)
  
  2) The support tool daemon "diagmond" on that system may be configured
     to only allow local connections. Check the value of the configuration
     parameter LOCAL_ONLY_ENABLE in the /var/stm/config/sys/diagmond.cfg
     file on that system.
  
  3) The IP address for the system may be invalid or may not be associated
     with a valid host.  Use a valid IP address.
  
  4) Networking may be incorrectly configured on one of the systems involved.
     Verify networking by comparing 'nslookup `hostname`' with the output
     of ifconfig of the LANs identified by lanscan.
  
  More details may be available in the System Activity Log and in the
  syslog on that system.
  It may be necessary to access these using the Local Unit Under Test (UUT)
  logs (in the administration menu under the file menu.)
  

General Changes to Tools

• JAGad44671
  Modified libraries used by several tools to change the way that the System Serial Number is reported. Previously, if the platform could have a serial number that was available programmatically but was not set, it would report "unavailable":

  System Serial Number............: unavailable
  

  With this change, the serial number would be reported as "not set":

  System Serial Number............: not set
  

  If the platform does NOT have a serial number that is available programmatically, it will continue to say "unavailable" as it previously did.

Changes to Specific Tools

• Information tools:
  • JAGad49061
    Fixed a problem with the Information tool, which would not complete successfully when run on the 1000 Base-xx LAN interface card (A4926A). Sample error message:

    Attempt to retrieve identification information
    from the device failed due to the device not
    supporting the request.
    

• Exerciser tools:
  • JAGad55415
    Fixed a problem with the SCSI Disk Exercise tool, whereby the tool would experience a segmentation fault, signal(11), and finish unsuccessfully when the tool is run on an SC10 external disk.
• Verifier tools:
  • JAGad64167
    Fixed a problem with all verifiers, whereby a misleading entry was made in the verifier's activity log when a verifier is run with the option for timed execution (rather than loop execution).
    BEFORE:
    

    Wed Apr 25 14:25:57 2001:    The tool will execute for !.
    

    AFTER (sample):
    

    Wed Apr 25 14:25:57 2001:    The tool will execute for 1 minute(s).
    

  • JAGad55415
    Fixed a problem with the SCSI Disk Verify tool, whereby the tool would experience a segmentation fault, signal(11), and finish unsuccessfully when the tool is run on an SC10 external disk.
• Diagnose tools:
  • N/A
• Firmware update tools:
  • N/A
• Expert tools:
  • JAGad63532
    Fixed problem with the Expert Tool for SCSI CD, whereby the tool would fail when the verify function is selected. Sample error text:

    Attempt to retrieve user input for the test options FAILED
    due to an unknown and unexpected problem (!).
    Verify command completed with errors (FAILED).
    

  • JAGad64024
    Fixed an incorrect message logged by the CPU Expert tool to its activity log after a PID (process ID) assignment had been successfully made.
    BEFORE:
    

    PID Assignment encountered an internal error. 
    The get_assign_options routine returned an 
    UNSUCCESSFUL status. The PID Assignment was
    UNSUCCESSFUL.
    

    AFTER:
    

    The PID Assignment was SUCCESSFUL.
    

  • Fixed a problem with the CPU expert tool, whereby the tool can de-activate a CPU marked for deconfiguration but cannot re-activate a CPU marked for deconfiguration.

  • JAGad48507
    Fixed problem with the Expert Tool for FC60, whereby an existing option to the tool to "automatically fix parities errors" during the FC60 parity scan could corrupt otherwise good data.
    Fix: Removed the "Repair Parity Scan" option from the STM UI (Expert Tool->Tests->Parity Scan).
    Background: If data and parity do not match with this option, the parity will always be changed to match the data (according to LSI), when in fact we do not know which one is in error. Thus, there is a 50/50 chance of corrupting otherwise good data.
    STM does provide a warning, stating that parity will be changed to match the data, but it was decided that this does not sufficiently capture the potential seriousness of the situation. Instead, it was decided to eliminate the option. Then, if a parity error is found, the customer should be alerted to call HP for support and/or restore the affected LUN from backup.
  • JAGad48007
    Fixed a problem with the Expert Tool for FC60 whereby during a parity scan of a LUN, the Logical Block Addresses of detected errors are not correct.
• Logtool:
  • N/A
• Utilities:
  • JAGad48375
    Fixed a problem with the cstm version of copyutil, whereby a backup device could not be selected. The problem does not occur in xstm.
  • New utility: mca (machine check analyzer). This utility analyzes the contents of an HPMC tombstone file generated from a Superdome or hp server rp8400 (900/800/S16K-A, "Keystone") system. It is primarily targeted for HP support personnel.
    The mca utility can be run on HP-UX 11.00 or 11i. It is a port of the Windows HPMC Superdome Analyzer currently available to HP support personnel. For more information, see the man page on "mca".
    NOTE: This utility is not part of the STM platform, but is a standalone utility located in /usr/sbin/diag/contrib .
  • New utility: Management Processor (MP) chassis code decoder. The decoder is composed of three tools: cc_translator, cclogview, ccux2hex. It is primarily targeted for HP support personnel. For more information, see the man pages on these tools.
    NOTE: These tools are not part of the STM platform, but are standalone programs located in /usr/sbin/diag/contrib .

: Monitoring Changes for disc30, sdisk and disk array devices

As of IPR 9902 (Feb 99 release), there has been a change to the way that monitoring is done for disc30, sdisk and the HA Disk Array Models 10, 20, and 30FC.

Formerly, the "diaglogd exec" programs (pdisc30_exec, pharaymon_exec, and psdisk_exec) handled driver error entries for these devices.

As of IPR 9902, these programs have been deleted and their functionality is now provided by the EMS Hardware Monitors.

If you had customized the configuration files for the diaglogd exec programs (disk30_exec.cfg, sdisk_exec.cfg, and haraymon_exec.cfg) you may wish to re-configure the EMS Hardware Monitors to achieve the same results.

Defect Reporting

Use CHART to report defects in STM. The project name is diag.stm.tools.hpux for individual tools, and diag.stm.ui.hpux for the user interface. If you don't have access to CHART, contact an HP representative to enter a defect for you.

SD Product Structure

The product number for STM is B4708AA.

SD PRODUCT: Sup-Tool-Mgr
   Description: On-line Diagnostic System (Series 800/700)

   SD SUB-PRODUCT: Manuals
   Description: Support Tools Manager Manual Pages

      FILESET: STM-MAN
         Description: S800/S700 STM Manual Pages

      FILESET: STM-SHLIBS
         Description: S800/S700 STM Shared Libraries

      FILESET: STM-UI-RUN Corequisite Filesets: STM-SHLIBS
         Description: S800/S700 STM User Interface
         
      FILESET: STM-UUT-RUN  Corequisite Filesets: STM-SHLIBS
         Description: S800/700 STM Unit Under Test Runtime 

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