Perform the following steps:
1. Log in as superuser (root).
2. Create an archive of the SMS environment in the default location.
Remind students to stop SMS software first with the/etc/init.d/sms stopcommand, do the backup, and then use the /etc/init.d/sms startcommand.
Command used:_____________
Default archive location:_______________
3. Verify that the archive was created.
What is the name of the newly created SMS archive?
_______________
If the system controller backup operation failed, where would you find information about the failure?
________________________
4. Notify your instructor that the archive has been stored.
Note – Because the system controller archives can only be restored one at a time, your instructor will demonstrate restoring an archive to the system controller.
What command must you use to restore the system controller archive? ___________________________
If the system controller restore operation fails, where can you look to find the reason for the failure?
_______________________________
Wait until each lab group has completed the SMS backup, and then demonstrate the SMS restore operation using one of the student group’s backup archive.
Exercise Summary
?
!
Discussion – Take a few minutes to discuss what experiences, issues, or discoveries you had during the lab exercise.
Manage the discussion based on the time allowed for this module, which was provided in the “About This Course” module. If you do not have time to spend on discussion, highlight just the key concepts students should have learned from the lab exercise.
● Experiences
Ask students what their overall experiences with this exercise have been. Go over any trouble spots or especially confusing areas at this time.
● Interpretations
Ask students to interpret what they observed during any aspect of this exercise.
● Conclusions
Have students articulate any conclusions they reached as a result of this exercise experience.
● Applications
Explore with students how they might apply what they learned in this exercise to situations at their workplace.
Exercise Solutions
Following are task solutions for this exercise.
Task 1 – Configuring Administration Groups
Perform the following steps:
1. Log in to the system controller as the assigned username.
2. Use suto become root temporarily.
3. Add your new user account to the domain administrator group for your assigned domain by using thesmsconfigcommand.
4. Exit out of the root identity.
5. Test your new administrative login account by logging in to the system controller and running domain administration SMS
commands applicable to domain administration tasks, such as the showdevicesand showobpparamscommands.
What privileges will users in the platform administrator group have?
The platform administrator group identified as the platform administrator group provides configuration control, a means to get environmental status, the ability to assign boards to domains, power control, and other generic service processor functions. In summary, the platform administrator group has all platform privileges excluding domain control and access to
installation and service commands.
What privileges will users in the domain administrator group have?
The domain administrator group provides the ability to access the console of its respective domain as well as perform other operations that affect, directly or indirectly, the respective domain. Therefore, the domain administrator group can perform domain control, domain status, and console access, but cannot perform platform-wide control or platform-resource allocation.
What privileges will users in the platform operator group have?
The platform operator group has a subset of platform privileges. This group has no platform control other than being able to perform power control.
Therefore, this group is limited to platform power and status privileges.
What privileges will users in the platform service group have?
The platform service group possesses platform service command privileges
Task 2 – Monitoring the Platform
Perform the following steps:
1. Use suto temporarily become root
2. Assign your assigned username to the platform administration group using the smsconfigcommand.
3. Exit out of the root identity.
4. Run the appropriate command to view the current state of the ACLs and domains.
Write the commands you used. showplatform
Record the current ACL configuration for your assigned domain in the spaces provided.
Slot 0: The answer varies.
Slot 1: The answer varies.
5. Use the appropriate command to display the assignment information and status for all the components in the platform.
Write the command you used. showboards
Record your the boards currently assigned to your domain.
The answer varies.
Record the boards that are currently available.
The answer varies.
Record the slots that are currently empty.
The answer varies.
6. Use the appropriate command to display the blacklist status of each component in your assigned domain. If your domain does not have a board currently assigned to it, view the components of another domain.
Write the command you used. showcomponent
7. Use the appropriate command to display the platform environmental information.
Write the command you used. showenvironment What type of information appears?
SLOT/FRUID, DEVICE, SENSOR, VALUE, UNIT, AGE, and STATUS.
8. Use the appropriate command to display the logs associated with your assigned domain.
Write the command you used.showlogs -d #
Task 3 – Configuring Domain ACLs
Use the appropriate command to configure the ACL for your assigned domain to allow access to your currently assigned system resources only.
Write the command you used.
setupplatform -p available -d domain SB# IO#
What command can you use to verify the command worked?
showplatform -d #
Explain the differences in the output of the last command from the first time that the command was run.
The answer varies.
Task 4 – Updating Flash PROM Images
Perform the following step to flash PROM image updates on a system board
1. Obtain the host name and path location of the flash PROM image updates from your instructor.
The answer varies.
2. Perform a flash PROM update on the system board in your assigned domain.
Commands used:flashupdate -f ftp://hostIP/path sc
Task 5 – Backing Up and Restoring the SMS Environment
Perform the following steps:
1. Log in as superuser (root).
Create an archive of the SMS environment in the default location.
Command used:smsbackup
Default archive location:/var/tmp 2. Verify that the archive was created.
What is the name of the newly created SMS archive?
sms_backup.X.X.cpio
If the system controller backup operation failed, where could you find information about the failure?
/var/sadm/system/logs/smsbackup
3. Notify your instructor that the archive has been stored.
Note –Because the system controller archives can only be restored one at a time, your instructor will demonstrate restoring an archive to the system controller.
What command must you use to restore the system controller archive? smsrestore filename
If the system controller restore operation fails, where can you look to find the reason for the failure?
/var/sadm/system/logs/smsrestore
Configuring Sun Fire HES Domains
Objectives
Upon completion of this module, you should be able to:
● Describe the characteristics of a Sun Fire HES domain
● List the information required to create a new domain
● Create a new Sun Fire HES domain from the system controller
● Explain the structure of a Sun Fire HES OpenBoot PROM device tree
● Describe how to locate CPUs, memory banks, and I/O interface cards given their device tree address
● Prepare and initialize a new domain from the system controller
● Configure the Solaris OS after installing it on the Sun Fire HES domain
● Perform the default configuration for Network Time Protocol (NTP) in a domain
● Assess domain configuration using standard Solaris OS utilities
Relevance
Present the following questions to inspire the students and get them thinking about the issues and topics presented in this module. While they are not expected to know the answers to these questions, the answers should be of interest to them and inspire them to learn the material presented in this module.
?
!
Discussion –In this module, you learn about Sun Fire HES domains. You also learn how to configure a domain, customize the domain’s OpenBoot PROM, and load the Solaris OS. The following questions are relevant to understanding what this module is all about:
● What is a Sun Fire HES domain?
● How many domains does a Sun Fire HES support?
● How is the Sun Fire HES OpenBoot PROM device tree different from other Sun server platforms?
● How does installing the Solaris OS in Sun Fire HES domains differ from other Sun servers?
● How does Multipathing I/O increase the RAS capability of the Sun HES domains?
Additional Resources
Additional resources – The following references provide additional details on the topics described in this module:
● Sun Microsystems, Inc. Network Time Protocol User’s Guide, part number 805-0078.
● Solaris OS installation documentation.
● Solaris OS release notes for the version of the Solaris OS you are installing.
● Man pages for the commands and files.
● Sun Microsystems, Inc. System Management Services 1.4 Reference Manual, part number 817-3057-10.
● Sun Microsystems, Inc. System Management Services 1.4 Administrator Guide, part number 817-3056-10.
URL Resources – Refer to the following URL for additional detail and up-to-date documentation relating to the Sun Fire HES:
http://sunsolve.Sun.COM/handbook_pub/Systems/SunFire15K /SunFire15K.html
Architecture Overview
The Sun Fire HES is organized into multiple administration and service layers. Each layer provides a set of tools to configure, monitor, service, and administer various aspects of the machine. Figure 5-1 shows each layer and its relationship to the overall Sun Fire HES.
Figure 5-1 OpenBoot PROM and Solaris OS
This module describes the Sun Fire HES domain. It describes Sun Fire HES-specific issues concerning the OpenBoot PROM and the Solaris OS layers. In this module, you map physical devices to the OpenBoot PROM device tree and the Solaris OS logical devices. You also learn how to configure a domain and install the Solaris OS.
URL Resources –Refer to the following URL for additional detail and most up-to-date Sun Fire HES software and firmware documentation:
http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/hardware/docs/
Servers/High-End_Servers/Sun_Fire_15K/index.html Applications
Solaris Operating
System
OpenBoot PROM
System controller environment
Platform hardware
Domain
Exploring Sun Fire HES Domains
The Sun Fire HES can be divided into multiple servers called domains.
Domains are based on assigned system board slots. Each domain runs its own Solaris OS instance and handles its own workload. Properly
configured domains do not depend on each other and are isolated on the Sun Fireplane interconnect, which ensures that a panic in one domain does not affect the other domains in the server.
Before configuring the system, administrators must determine the number of domains and how to configure domains.
Static and Dynamic Domain Configuration
There are two implementations of domain configurations: static domain configuration and dynamic domain configuration. Static configuration adds and removes boards in an inactive domain. Dynamic domain configuration adds or removes boards in an active domain. The
administration group to which you are assigned determines whether you can perform static domain configuration or dynamic domain
configuration. A platform administrator can only configure domains statically, while a domain administrator can configure domains both statically and dynamically depending on the ACLs assigned to the domain. This module describes configuring and managing domains statically.
Note – Dynamic domain configuration is described in Module 6,
“Exploring Dynamic Reconfiguration.”
Domain Configuration
The Sun Fire HES supports up to 18 domains. Domains are referenced as A through R. You do not need to create domains on the Sun Fire HES; the domains have already been established. You must assign system resources (system boards and I/O boards) to each domain that you intend to use.
This logical assignment of system resources to each domain is done by setting the configuration parameters in the system controller. When the configuration has been set and the domain is initialized, this logical grouping sets a physical crossbar switch that isolates a domain’s resources on the centerplane. This is referred to as a dynamic system domain (DSD).
DSDs are determined by the domain configuration table in the platform configuration database (PCD). The PCD resides on the system controller’s hard disk drive. The domain table controls how the system board slots are logically partitioned into domains. The PCD represents the intended domain configuration, regardless if the expander is populated. Thus, the configuration can include both empty and populated slots.
The system controller supports commands that let you logically group system boards into domains. You can create and delete domains without interrupting the operation of other domains. You can use domains for many purposes, such as testing a new operating system version or setting up a development and testing environment in a domain. If you use a domain to do this, and problems occur, the rest of your system is not affected. You can also configure several domains to support different departments, with one domain per department. You can temporarily reconfigure the system into one domain to run a large job over the weekend.
Domain Configuration Unit
A DCU is a unit of hardware that can be assigned to a single domain;
DCUs are the hardware components from which domains are constructed.
The Sun Fire HES DCUs are:
● Slot 0 boards – CPU/memory boards
● Slot 1 boards – Sun Fire HES I/O assemblies and MaxCPU boards
Sun Fire HES hardware requires at least one of each type of board, one containing CPUs and memory, and at least one of the I/O board types in each configured domain. Centerplane support boards, expander boards, and the system controller are not DCUs.
When Slot 0 and Slot 1 boards are configured within a common expander board and are in different domains, it is called a split expander. The expander board keeps transactions separate for each system board.
Because split-expander hardware is shared between two domains, its failure brings down both domains.
Note – When you create a split expander configuration, the Slot 0 and Slot 1 boards must time-share the interface to the centerplane. This time-sharing results in each board using every other clock cycle, which causes a degradation in performance. Avoid this type of configuration, if possible.
Domain Configuration Requirements
You can create a domain out of any group of system boards, provided the following conditions are met:
● The domain must contain at least one system board and I/O board that are not used in another domain.
● The domain must have at least one network interface.
● The domain must have sufficient memory to support the operating system and applications.
● The name (tag) you give the new domain must be unique (as specified in theaddtagcommand).
● The domain must have an idprom.imagefile, which was shipped to you by the factory.
● At least one boot disk must be connected to the domain. If a domain does not have its own disk, at least one network interface must exist so that you can boot the domain from the network.
Note –The domain should contain enough physical resources to meet the requirements of the planned work load. Prior to constructing the domain,
Configuring Static Domains
A domain can be configured by the platform administrator or by the assigned domain administrator. If you are configuring a domain as the domain administrator, you must consider the ACL for that domain. The platform administrator is not restricted by a domain’s ACL. If a system resource is already in use (active) by another domain, the System Management Services (SMS) software does not let you manage that resource until it is released by the administrator of that domain or by the platform administrator.
Note – The command examples referenced in this section are based on SMS 1.4 software revision. While accurate at the time of this writing, the commands’ syntax and screen output might vary as new software and hardware is released. Always refer to the latest System Management Services (SMS) Reference Manual for Sun Fire HESfor the most current information.
There are six SMS commands available for naming domains, managing boards in a domain, and setting domain boot parameters:
● The addtagcommand
● The deletetagcommand
● The addboardcommand
● The deleteboardcommand
● The moveboardcommand
● The setobpparamscommand
Note –Theaddboard,deleteboard, andmoveboardcommands work on static and dynamic domains. You must know the state of the domain and DCU before executing these commands. If these commands are run on a dynamic domain, they invoke a DR operation on one or more domains.
Use theshowboardscommand to get the DCU status before proceeding.
URL Resources – Refer to theSystem Management Services (SMS) 1.4 Reference Manual for Sun Fire HES Systems at the following URLsfor additional details and the most current documentation.
● http://sunsolve.Sun.COM/handbook_pub/Systems/SunFire15K/
docs.html
● http://webhome.eng/starcatdocs/
Note – The examples in this section are based on configuring domains statically. These commands are referenced again as Dynamic
Reconfiguration (DR) commands when DR is described in Module 6,
“Exploring Dynamic Reconfiguration.”
The addtag Command
Use theaddtagcommand to optionally tailor the name of the domain to your specifications. (The default naming scheme is A through R.) The addtagcommand creates an alias name for established domain names. It is important to note that the name assigned to a domain using theaddtag command is not the same as the Solaris OS host name; although it is a good practice to keep host name and tag name the same. You must have platform administrator privileges to run this command.
The syntax of the addtagcommand is:
addtag -d domain_indicator new_tag
Options and Parameters
The options and parameters for this command are:
● -d domain_indicator – Specifies the domain using:
● domain_id– Indicates the ID for a domain. Valid domain_ids are A–R and are not case sensitive.
● domain_tag– Specifies the current name assigned to the domain using the addtagcommand.
● new_tag– Indicates the new name you want to give to the domain.
It should be unique among all Sun Fire HES domains.
The example in ‘‘Using Domain Tags’’ on page 5-11 shows the assignment of the nameAjaxto Domain A, and then verifying the result with the showplatformcommand. The rest of the output that follows has been truncated.
Using Domain Tags
When a domain has a tag, that tag can be used as an alternative to the normal single-letter designation. The single letter can still be used as well.
The output of certain commands will show only the tag, if it exists.
Adding a tag does notaffect the directory names in the SMS software directory structure. Directories that are domain specific are still named with the single-letter designation.
testcat-sc0% addtag -d A Ajax testcat-sc0% showplatform
Available Component List for Domains:
=====================================
Available Component List for domain Ajax:
SB3 IO3
Stress that the tag name and the host name arenot the same thing, although it is a good practice is to name them the same.
The deletetag Command
The deletetagcommand removes the domain tag associated with the domain. You must have platform administrator privileges to run this command.
The syntax of the deletetagcommand is:
deletetag -d domain_indicator [-q][-y|-n]
Options and Parameters
The options and parameters for this command are:
● -d domain_indicator – Specifies the domain using:
● domain_id– Indicates the ID for a domain. Valid domain_ids are A–R and are not case sensitive.
● domain_tag– Specifies the current name assigned to the domain using the addtagcommand.
● -n– Automatically answers no to all prompts. Prompts appear unless used with the -qoption.
● -q– Quiet; suppresses all messages to stdoutincluding prompts.
When used alone, the-qoption defaults to the -noption for all prompts. When used with either the -yor the -noption, the-q option suppresses all user prompts and automatically answers with eitheryornbased on the option chosen.
● -y– Automatically answers yes to all prompts. Prompts appear unless used with the -qoption.
An example of thedeletetagcommand is:
testcat-sc0% deletetag -d A
Domain[A] is currently set to: Ajax.
Are you sure you want to delete the tag (yes/no)? yes testcat-sc0%