16.2 The Reconfiguration Process | HP Certified: HP-UX System Administration

The HP-UX kernel may be configured using the command line method or SAM. First, you will see how to do it using the command line. The SAM method will be presented at the end of the chapter. The kernel reconfiguration process may be divided into the following phases.

Preparing a New System Configuration File

The kernel configuration file is /stand/system . Whenever you need to build a new kernel, you need to prepare a new configuration file. The best way is to build a configuration file from the running kernel using the system_prep command and then make changes to it. See the examples of system_prep on the following pages. Before starting the kernel build process, you should look at the existing kernel parameters. The sysdef command analyzes the running system and shows its tunable parameters. A typical output of the command follows .

 #  sysdef  NAME            VALUE    BOOT     MIN-MAX     UNITS   FLAGS acctresume          4       -    -100-100             - acctsuspend         2       -    -100-100             - allocate_fs_swapmap 0       -        -                - bufpages        26214       -       0-        Pages   - create_fastlinks    0       -        -                - dbc_max_pct        10       -        -                - dbc_min_pct        10       -        -                - default_disk_ir     0       -        -                - dskless_node        0       -       0-1               - eisa_io_estimate  768       -        -                - eqmemsize          19       -        -                - file_pad           10       -       0-                - fs_async            0       -       0-1               - hpux_aes_override   0       -        -                - maxdsiz         16384       -       0-655360  Pages   - maxfiles         1024       -      30-2048            - maxfiles_lim     2048       -      30-2048            - maxssiz          2048       -       0-655360  Pages   - maxswapchunks    2111       -       1-16384           - maxtsiz         16384       -       0-655360  Pages   - maxuprc          1000       -       3-                - maxvgs             20       -        -                - msgmap       67043328       -       3-                - nbuf            26780       -       0-                - ncallout         7016       -       6-                - ncdnode           150       -        -                - ndilbuffers        30       -       1-                - netisr_priority    -1       -      -1-127             - netmemmax           0       -        -                - nfile           12690       -      14-                - nflocks           200       -       2-                - ninode          11464       -      14-                - no_lvm_disks        0       -        -                - nproc            7000       -      10-                - npty              300       -       1-                - nstrpty           300       -        -                - nswapdev           10       -       1-25              - nswapfs            10       -       1-25              - public_shlibs       1       -        -                - remote_nfs_swap     0       -        -                - rtsched_numpri     32       -        -                - sema                0       -       0-1               - semmap      314507264       -       4-                - shmem               0       -       0-1               - shmmni           1024       -       3-1024            - streampipes         0       -       0-                - swapmem_on          1       -        -                - swchunk          2048       -    2048-16384   kBytes  - timeslice          10       -    -1-2147483648 Ticks  - unlockable_mem  14200       -       0-        Pages   -

From the sysdef output you find out what the values of tunable kernel parameters on your system are. After finding these values, you are in a better position to decide what changes are needed. In addition, you may want to see a list of hardware attached to your system before adding or deleting any device drivers. For this purpose you use the ioscan command. A part of the output from the ioscan command is shown below.

 #  ioscan -f  Class       I  H/W Path     Driver      S/W State   H/W Type     Description ============================================================================= bc          0               root        CLAIMED     BUS_NEXUS bc          1  8            ccio        CLAIMED     BUS_NEXUS    I/O Adapter ba          0  8/0          GSCtoPCI    CLAIMED     BUS_NEXUS    PCI Bus Bridge lan         5  8/0/1/0      gelan       CLAIMED     INTERFACE    HP 1000Base-SX ba          1  8/4          GSCtoPCI    CLAIMED     BUS_NEXUS    PCI Bus Bridge lan         6  8/4/1/0      gelan       CLAIMED     INTERFACE    HP 1000Base-SX ba          2  8/8          GSCtoPCI    CLAIMED     BUS_NEXUS    PCI Bus Bridge lan         0  8/8/1/0      btlan4      CLAIMED     INTERFACE    PCI(10110009) lan         1  8/8/2/0      btlan4      CLAIMED     INTERFACE    PCI(10110009) ba          3  8/12         GSCtoPCI    CLAIMED     BUS_NEXUS    PCI Bus Bridge lan         2  8/12/1/0     btlan4      CLAIMED     INTERFACE    PCI(10110009) lan         3  8/12/2/0     btlan4      CLAIMED     INTERFACE    PCI(10110009) bc          2  10           ccio        CLAIMED     BUS_NEXUS    I/O Adapter ext_bus     0  10/0         c720        CLAIMED     INTERFACE    GSC Wide SCSI target      0  10/0.1       tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE disk        0  10/0.1.0     sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 target      1  10/0.2       tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE disk        1  10/0.2.0     sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 target      2  10/0.3       tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE disk        2  10/0.3.0     sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 target      3  10/0.4       tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE disk        3  10/0.4.0     sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 target      4  10/0.5       tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE disk        4  10/0.5.0     sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       Quantum XP34361 target      5  10/0.6       tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE disk        5  10/0.6.0     sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST15150 target      6  10/0.7       tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE ctl         0  10/0.7.0     sctl        CLAIMED     DEVICE       Initiator bc          3  10/4         bc          CLAIMED     BUS_NEXUS    Bus Converter tty         0  10/4/0       mux2        CLAIMED     INTERFACE    MUX ext_bus     1  10/8         c720        CLAIMED     INTERFACE    GSC SCSI target      7  10/8.7       tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE ctl         1  10/8.7.0     sctl        CLAIMED     DEVICE       Initiator ba          4  10/12        bus_adapter CLAIMED     BUS_NEXUS    Core I/O Adapte ext_bus     3  10/12/0      CentIf      CLAIMED     INTERFACE    Parallel Interf ext_bus     2  10/12/5      c720        CLAIMED     INTERFACE    Built-in SCSI target      8  10/12/5.0    tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE tape        0  10/12/5.0.0  stape       CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP      C1537A target      9  10/12/5.2    tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE disk        6  10/12/5.2.0  sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       TOSHIBA CD-ROM target     10  10/12/5.7    tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE ctl         2  10/12/5.7.0  sctl        CLAIMED     DEVICE       Initiator lan         4  10/12/6      lan2        CLAIMED     INTERFACE    Built-in LAN ps2         0  10/12/7      ps2         CLAIMED     INTERFACE    Keyboard/Mouse bc          4  10/16        bc          CLAIMED     BUS_NEXUS    Bus Converter bc          5  12           ccio        CLAIMED     BUS_NEXUS    I/O Adapter bc          6  14           ccio        CLAIMED     BUS_NEXUS    I/O Adapter ext_bus     4  14/8         c720        CLAIMED     INTERFACE    GSC add-on target     11  14/8.0       tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE disk        7  14/8.0.0     sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 target     12  14/8.1       tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE disk        8  14/8.1.0     sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 target     13  14/8.2       tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE disk       23  14/8.2.0     sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 target     14  14/8.3       tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE disk       24  14/8.3.0     sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 target     15  14/8.7       tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE ctl         3  14/8.7.0     sctl        CLAIMED     DEVICE       Initiator target     16  14/8.11      tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE disk       25  14/8.11.0    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       26  14/8.11.1    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       27  14/8.11.2    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       28  14/8.11.3    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       29  14/8.11.4    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       30  14/8.11.5    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       31  14/8.11.6    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       32  14/8.11.7    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 target     17  14/8.12      tgt         CLAIMED     DEVICE disk       33  14/8.12.0    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       34  14/8.12.1    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       35  14/8.12.2    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       36  14/8.12.3    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       37  14/8.12.4    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       38  14/8.12.5    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       39  14/8.12.6    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 disk       40  14/8.12.7    sdisk       CLAIMED     DEVICE       SEAGATE ST34572 processor   0  32           processor   CLAIMED     PROCESSOR    Processor processor   1  34           processor   CLAIMED     PROCESSOR    Processor processor   2  36           processor   CLAIMED     PROCESSOR    Processor processor   3  38           processor   CLAIMED     PROCESSOR    Processor memory      0  49           memory      CLAIMED     MEMORY       Memory

Similarly, you can use the lanscan command to view the network interfaces installed in your computer. You can also use the -C option with the ioscan command to find information about a particular class of devices. For example, you can type: ioscan -fC disk to obtain an ioscan of only the disk devices. After getting this information, create a new configuration file with the following two steps.

Go to the directory /stand/build using the cd command.
```
 cd /stand/build 
```
Use the system_prep command to create a new system file from the running system.
```
 /usr/lbin/sysadm/system_prem -s system 
```

Once this system file is created in the /stand/build directory, edit it to make the appropriate changes. A typical system file is as follows.

 * Drivers and Subsystems CentIf CharDrv DlkmDrv GSCtoPCI arp asp autofsc beep btlan4 c720 ccio cdfs clone core diag0 diag2 dlkm dlpi dmem echo fc fcT1 fcT1_fcp fc_arp fcgsc fcgsc_lan fcms fcp fcp_cdio fcparray fcpdev ffs gelan hp_apa hpstreams inet ip kload klog lan2 lasi ldterm lv lvm mux2 netdiag1 netqa nfs_client nfs_core nfs_server nfsm nms nuls pa pci pckt pipedev pipemod prm ps2 ptem ptm pts rawip sad sc sctl sdisk sio stape stcpmap strlog strpty_included strtelnet_included tcp telm tels timod tirdwr tlclts tlcots tlcotsod token_arp tun udp ufs uipc vxadv vxbase wsio * Kernel Device info dump lvol * Tunable parameters STRMSGSZ        65535 dbc_max_pct     10 dbc_min_pct     10 maxfiles        256 maxswapchunks   2113 maxuprc         500 maxusers        64 msgmap          258 msgmax          65536 msgmnb          65536 msgmni          200 msgseg          8192 msgtql          256 nfile           11500 ninode          11500 nproc           7000 npty            300 nstrpty         300 semmni          600 semmns          600 semmnu          600 semume          600

The first part shows the drivers and subsystems included in the kernel. Remove any drivers you don't need. You can make a decision while referring to the output of the ioscan command. Also remove any subsystem that is not required. The second part is the dump device information. The third part is the kernel tunable parameters. You may want to change any value here. After you are done with the changes, save the system file and move on to the next step of compiling the kernel.

Compiling the Kernel

To build a new kernel, you use the mk_kernel command.

 /usr/sbin/mk_kernel -s ./system

The mk_kernel command uses master and library files from the /usr/conf directory. Files for any additional modules are expected to be in the /stand/system.d directory. If the kernel rebuild process is successful, the newly built kernel executable file is created in the /stand/build directory with the name vmunix_test .

Installing New Kernel and Configuration Files

As you already know, the default HP-UX kernel and system files are in the /stand directory with the names vmunix and system , respectively. You need to copy the new kernel and the system files into their default locations. But before that, you must create a backup copy of the existing working kernel. This is required so you can boot from the previous kernel if the new kernel fails to boot the system. You can back up the previous kernel and install the new kernel using the following sequence of commands.

 mv /stand/system /stand/system.old mv /stand/vmunix /stand/vmunix.old mv /stand/build/system /stand mv /stand/build/vmunix_test /stand/vmunix

Now the previous kernel is saved with name vmunix.old and can be used in case of emergency.

Rebooting the System

After building and installing the new kernel, you can reboot the system. This is necessary because the new kernel does not load until you reboot. If all goes well, your system will reboot with the new kernel. Use sysdef to make sure that the changes have taken place.

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