Tag Archives: Hardware

Recommended BladeSystem Firmware Installation Order

28/09/2011 – 14:15

For HP c-class BladeSystem Enclosures if there is an OS installed to the blade, update the firmware in the following recommended order: Update the firmware of the server blades Update the firmware of the Onboard Administrators Now reboot the systems Update any offline-only firmwares like Emulex or QLogic adapters Update the firmware of the Virtual [...]

By Viktor Balogh | Posted in Hardware, Servers | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Hardware testing with cprop

30/06/2011 – 10:46

In the last post I showed you how to investigate a hardware issue with cprop, a tool for the newer Itanium systems. Now I show you how to start a health test for a specific hardware component. These health test options are only enabled in cprop if the specific component supports health test. First we [...]

By Viktor Balogh | Posted in Hardware, Monitoring, Servers | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

cstm not supported on Tukwila Blades

28/06/2011 – 10:12

The newer HP blade servers based on a ‘i2′ processor like the BL860c i2 cannot be queried with the cstm command. For this matter there is a new tool called cprop available. cprop gives you information about various hardware, software and network components. Here’s the syntax: # /opt/propplus/bin/cprop command [option] And here is a list [...]

By Viktor Balogh | Posted in Hardware, Monitoring, Servers | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Understanding the server model numbering

02/06/2011 – 14:49

There are many hints hidden behind a server model number, here is a quick help to find some of these. The name of a rack-mountable server always starts with either “rp….” or “rx….”. That is what the “r” shows you: its meant to operate in a rack. The second character shows the platform: p stands [...]

By Viktor Balogh | Posted in Hardware, Servers | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

About Single Bit Errors

05/05/2011 – 12:42

If you notice a similar message in syslog: Jan 20 12:49:05 EMS [1827]: —— EMS Event Notification —— Value: “MAJORWARNING (3)” for Resource: “/system/events/memory/192″ (Threshold: >= ” 3″) Execute the following command to obtain event details: /opt/resmon/bin/resdata -R 119734274 -r /system/events/memory/192 -n 119734277 -a

By Viktor Balogh | Posted in Hardware, Messaging, Monitoring, Servers | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

Using hpvmconsole trough the physical console

07/04/2011 – 14:35

I am pretty sure that there are many who had hard times using hpvmconsole trough the physical console. Normally, you should press ^B (that’s Cntrl+B) to return from the console to the Management Port Main Menu. This works the same way even on a virtual machine’s console, if you are connected with hpmconsole. The trouble [...]

By Viktor Balogh | Posted in Servers, Virtualization | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Interpreting an HP serial number

24/03/2011 – 14:54

For a long time I thought that HP serial number have no special meanings. Recently I have found a document which helps interpreting these cryptic codes. A serial number is not to be confused with the part number. A part number helps if you need to replace an FRU like a disk or FC HBA, [...]

By Viktor Balogh | Posted in Hardware, Resource management | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Some thoughts about mediainit – low level formatting and why it mustn’t be done

02/01/2011 – 14:40

mediainit is neither required nor recommended for most modern disks. In fact, mediainit might damage some (semi-)modern disks. Even the most basic SCSI disks today have a built-in defect management system in the disk firmware/hardware level,  so the OS normally sees the disk as having zero defects. The primary purpose of mediainit was to detect [...]

By Viktor Balogh | Posted in HP-UX system administration, Servers, Storage, System Internals | Also tagged , , | Comments (2)

HP terms – supported vs. unsupported

20/12/2010 – 15:15

In HP speak, “supported” and “works” are not synonymous. They have different meanings: Supported, known to work –> warm fuzzies all around Supported, not known to not work –> an HPite may be in trouble Supported, known to not work –> an HPite is in trouble Unsupported, known to work –> lucky today, unlucky tomorrow? [...]

By Viktor Balogh | Posted in HP-UX general, Other | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Find out the disk we were booted from

15/12/2010 – 15:15

Here is a quick way to read directly from the running kernel from which disk the system was started: # echo “boot_string/S” | adb /stand/vmunix /dev/kmem boot_string: boot_string:    disk(0/1/1/0.0.0.0.0.0.0;0)/stand/vmunix # ioscan -H 0/1/1/0.0.0 H/W Path     Class                   Description ================================================ 0/1/1/0.0.0                  disk    HP 73.4GMAS3735NC #

By Viktor Balogh | Posted in Hardware, HP-UX, System Internals | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)