boot_hppa - hppa system bootstrapping procedures
System starts
When powered on, after a panic, or if the system is rebooted
via
reboot(8) or shutdown(8), the hppa firmware (``PDC'') will
proceed to its
initialization, and will boot an operating system if autoboot is enabled.
Boot process description [Toc] [Back]
System boot blocks are provided as a ``LIF'' (Logical Interchange Format)
archive, either on a disk device, or via the network, using
the bootp or
rboot protocols, depending on the PDC version. A small mkboot(8) utility
is provided for combining primary boot and a number of images (OS kernels
or standalone binaries) into one ``LIF'' volume suitable for
booting.
PDC concepts [Toc] [Back]
If autoboot is enabled, the PDC will attempt to boot from
the specified
``boot path'' value. If no ``boot path'' has been specified, the PDC
will then scan for bootable devices and boot from the first
found, after
a few seconds allowing the user to interrupt the boot process. If autoboot
is disabled, the PDC will enter interactive mode, after
an optional
device scan. In all cases, it is possible to enter interactive mode by
holding the escape key during the selftests, or when prompted to do so to
abort the current operation, unless the PDC has been configured in
``secure mode''.
ISL interaction [Toc] [Back]
``ISL'' stands for ``Initial System Loader'' and is the
boot(8) program
in OpenBSD. On all versions of the PDC except for the 712
and 725 models
the ``boot'' command (see below) will be followed by the
question:
``Interact with IPL (Y, N, or Cancel)?>'' where a positive
answer will
invoke an interactive prompt in the boot(8) program later
and negative
will thus suppress it. A cancellation will abort the boot
process.
On the 712 and 725 models firmware an additional ``isl'' argument should
be given to the ``boot'' command to invoke the boot(8) interactive
prompt. With the default behaviour being a non-interactive
boot process.
Old PDC operation [Toc] [Back]
This version is used on the following models: 705, 7x0,
715/33/50/75,
725/50/75, 735, 755. There are two levels of interactive
commands in
this version. The first level is a short menu:
b) Boot from specified device
s) Search for bootable device
a) Enter Boot Administration mode
x) Exit and continue boot sequence
Select from menu:
which provides the following commands:
b boot from a device found during the scan, either
with its
short ``P#'' form, or a complete name specification. For example,
to boot from the SCSI disk with id 6 off
the built-in
(first) controller, one would enter b scsi.6.0.
s rescan for bootable devices.
a enter the second part of interactive mode.
x resume an interrupted boot sequence.
The ``Boot Administration'' mode, recognizable with its
BOOT_ADMIN>
prompt, controls the various boot options. The complete
list of commands
depends on the machine and PDC version. The following list
only mentions
commands impacting the boot process.
AUTOSELECT Displays or changes the autoboot setting.
If autoselect
is set to ``on'', the PDC will always
attempt to
boot the first bootable device found in
this order:
1. Boot device path setting.
2. SCSI devices connected to the
built-in SCSI
controller, the highest ID numbers being
preferred.
3. Network rboot server (see also
rbootd(8)).
4. Other SCSI devices connected to
secondary
controllers, the highest ID
numbers being
preferred.
If the primary path setting defines a
bootable device,
no device scan will occur.
BOOT Boots off the specified device. It is
similar to the b
command from the short menu above. The
``primary'' and
``alternate'' path settings may be booted
with boot pri
and boot alt respectively.
PATH Displays or changes the boot and console
devices. The
boot device is defined as the ``primary''
path, and another
setting may be stored as the ``alternate'' path
for rescue purposes. For example, to define the primary
boot path to the SCSI disk with ID 5
connected to
the built-in controller, one would enter
path primary
scsi.5
When invoked without parameters, path will
list the
various path settings.
Modern PDC operation [Toc] [Back]
Machines equipped with 7100LC, 7200 or 7300LC CPU types are
usually
blessed with a different kind of PDC. There is only one interactive
mode, with a BOOT_ADMIN> prompt, which provides both boot
settings and
commands. The complete list of commands depends on the machine and PDC
version. The following list only mentions commands impacting the boot
process.
auto boot Displays or changes the autoboot setting.
If auto
boot is set to ``on'', the PDC will always attempt to
boot. The booted device chosen will depend on the
auto search setting.
auto search Displays or changes the device scan setting. If auto
search is set to ``on'', the PDC will attempt to boot
the first bootable device found in this
order:
1. Boot device path setting.
2. SCSI devices connected to the
built-in SCSI
controller, the highest ID
numbers being
preferred.
3. Network bootp server (see also
dhcpd(8)).
4. Other SCSI devices connected
to secondary
controllers, the highest ID
numbers being
preferred.
If auto search is set to ``off'' and the
primary boot
path points to a bootable device, no device scan will
occur.
Note that setting auto search to ``on''
will force autoboot,
regardless of the auto boot value.
boot Boots off the specified device. The
``primary'' and
``alternate'' path settings may be booted
with boot
pri and boot alt respectively.
path Displays or changes the boot and console
devices. The
boot device is defined as the ``primary''
path, and
another setting may be stored as the
``alternate''
path for rescue purposes. For example,
to define the
primary boot path to the SCSI disk with
ID 5 connected
to the built-in controller, one would enter path pri
scsi.5.
When invoked without parameters, path
will list the
various path settings.
Boot process options [Toc] [Back]
The OpenBSD hppa boot loader program is extensively described in a separate
document, boot(8).
Abnormal system termination [Toc] [Back]
If the system crashes, it will enter the kernel debugger,
ddb(4), if it
is configured in the kernel. If the crash occurred during
initialization
and the debugger is not present or is exited, the kernel
will halt the
system. If the crash occurred during normal operation and
the debugger
is not present or is exited, the system will attempt a dump
to the configured
dump device (which will be automatically recovered
with
savecore(8) during the next multi-user boot cycle), and after the dump is
complete (successful or not) the kernel will attempt a reboot.
/bsd default system kernel
boot.lif network bootstrap and kernel combined
image
/usr/mdec/cdboot primary bootstrap for ``cd9660'' file
system
/usr/mdec/xxboot primary bootstrap for ``ffs'' file system
/usr/mdec/boot system bootstrap (usually also installed
as /boot)
ddb(4), boot(8), dhcpd(8), halt(8), init(8), rbootd(8), reboot(8),
savecore(8), shutdown(8)
OpenBSD 3.6 October 16, 2002
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