Sun Fire[TM] 12K/15K/E20K/E25K: Testing a single slot 0 board with no slot 1 board in a domain

Asset ID:	1-71-1007568.1
Update Date:	2011-05-23
Keywords:

Solution Type Technical Instruction Sure

Solution 1007568.1 : Sun Fire[TM] 12K/15K/E20K/E25K: Testing a single slot 0 board with no slot 1 board in a domain

Applies to:

Sun Fire 12K Server
Sun Fire E20K Server
Sun Fire E25K Server
Sun Fire 15K Server
All Platforms

Goal

Before putting a replacement or new System Board into a production environment, you should run high level hardware HPOST tests against that board and components to confirm its sanity.

To reduce domain downtime while doing these hardware tests, a method for testing this new or replacement hardware is to configure the board in its own "test" domain for extended HPOST testing.

The method below can be used to test a single Slot0 board (System Board) in a "test" domain without a Slot1 (IO or maxcpu) board in the configuration. After successful testing has completed, the new or replacement board can be dynamically reconfigured (DR'ed) into the production domain with confidence that it does not contain bad hardware.

Solution

Testing a slot 0 board in a domain with no slot 1 board can be done. The following steps will guide you through doing this. The example uses the unused domain 'R' and tests system board SB15.

Edit the postrc file for domain R ($SMSETC/config/R/.postrc) to contain the three postrc directives shown below. Make certain the file has world readable permissions (chmod 644) and remove this temporary postrc file when your work is completed.

level 64
no_ioadapt_ok
no_obp_handoff

NOTES:

hpost should not be run manually from the command line.
Sun strongly encourages post level 64 or higher be run on newly inserted hardware. If new memory is inserted level 96 or higher is advised

In order to perform the test:

% addboard -d R -c assign SB15
% setkeyswitch -d R on

Powering on: CSB at CS1
Already powered on: CSB at CS1
Powering on: CSB at CS0
Already powered on: CSB at CS0
Powering on: EXB at EX15
Already powered on: EXB at EX15
Powering on: CPU at SB15
Already powered on: CPU at SB15
NOTE: There are no Slot 1 system boards assigned to this domain.
Significant contents of .postrc (domain)
/etc/opt/SUNWSMS/SMS1.5/config/R/.postrc:
no_ioadapt_ok
no_obp_handoff
level 64
no_obp_handoff in .postrc. COD CPU license requests will be skipped
to facilitate offline hardware testing.
.
.
stage final_config: Final configuration...
Skipping OBP handoff as requested
Key to resource status value codes:
=Unknown       p=Present       c=Crunched      _=Undefined     m=Missing
i=Misconfig     o=FailedOBP     f=Failed        b=Blacklisted   r=Redlisted
x=NotInDomain   u=G,unconfig    P=Passed        ==G,lockstep    l=NoLicense
e=EmptyCasstt
CPU_Brds:  Proc  Mem P/B: 3/1 3/0  2/1 2/0  1/1 1/0  0/1 0/0
Slot  Gen  3210        /L: 10  10   10  10   10  10   10  10     CDC
SB15:  P   PPPP            PP  PP   PP  PP   PP  PP   PP  PP      P
Exitcode = 36: Non-configuration special hpost mode successful
POST (level=64, verbose=20) execution time 66:48
[5304] Domain failed by hpost: ecode=36
Resetting and deconfiguring: CPU at SB15
Resetting and deconfiguring: EXB at EX15
Powering on: CSB at CS0
Powering on: CSB at CS1
%

How do you determine if the tested Systemboard is OK: checkout the listed status value codes at the very end of the POST run. You will see only 1 Systemboard, which is what you expect when testing a single board.

Do not be fooled by the following side-effects of having no_obp_handoff in domain R's .postrc file:

your message file will report setkeyswitch to have failed:

Apr 30 08:34:54 2006 s4u-12ka-sc0 setkeyswitch[20826]-R(): [5304 78389629078374 
ERR KeyswitchUtls.cc 1963] Domain failed by hpost: ecode=36

regardless the POST test result, showboards will report Unknown in the Test Status column, this is caused the PCD not being updated with the test result; showboards is querying the PCD, hence the unknown test status:

   Location Pwr Type of Board Board Status Test Status Domain
   -------- --- ------------- ------------ ----------- ------
   SB15     On  CPU           Assigned     Unknown     R

Product
Sun Fire 15K Server
Sun Fire 12K Server
Sun Fire E25K Server
Sun Fire E20K Server

Internal Section

Additional References:

See the Sun Fire 15K POST .postrc Command Reference Page
Utilize the TSC Starcat Web Page
See Document 1001038.1 for more details about running hpost from command line
See Document 1012012.1 for help decoding hpost exit codes (ecode)

Keywords: HPOST, slot0, slot1, DR, diagnostic, post, test, 12k, 15k, 20k, 25k

Previously Published As 47497

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