BOOT_HPPA64(8) OpenBSD System Manager's Manual (HPPA64) BOOT_HPPA64(8)NAMEboot_hppa64 - hppa64 system bootstrapping procedures
DESCRIPTION
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
System boot blocks are provided as a ``LIF'' (Logical Interchange Format)
archive, either on a disk, tape or CD-ROM device, or via the network,
using the bootp protocol. 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
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
``ISL'' stands for ``Initial System Loader'' and is the boot(8) program
in OpenBSD. On all versions of the PDC 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.
With the default behaviour being a non-interactive boot process.
PDC operation
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
The OpenBSD hppa boot loader program is extensively described in a
separate document, boot(8).
Abnormal system termination
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.
FILES
/bsd default system kernel
/bsd.rd standalone installation kernel, suitable for disaster
recovery
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)
SEE ALSOddb(4), boot(8), dhcpd(8), halt(8), init(8), reboot(8), savecore(8),
shutdown(8)OpenBSD 4.9 May 31, 2007 OpenBSD 4.9
