Fast introduction into installing an Ignite-UX install server for HP-UX.

Remember ILO2 Virtual Media is terrible slow! Put all HP-UX ISO on a NFS server, extract the contents into folders and export the file system. Mount the NFS share on your HP-UX server, for example:

# mount -F nfs ius025:/export/iso-images/hpux /mnt

Now install Ignite-UX. You can find the Ignite-UX depots on the HP-UX 11.31 OS DVD #3. Or use the NFS share, which was created above.

# swinstall -s /mnt/os3

Mark Ignite-UX-11-31 (or IGNITE for all OS versions).
Go to Actions -> Install…

Reboot !

After reboot mount the NFS share with the extracted ISO contents again. Check free space on your /var file system. 16 GB should be enough. Run following commands:

# make_depots -r B.11.31 -s /mnt/os1
# make_depots -r B.11.31 -s /mnt/os2
# make_depots -r B.11.31 -s /mnt/os3
# make_depots -r B.11.31 -s /mnt/app1
# make_depots -r B.11.31 -s /mnt/app2
# /opt/ignite/bin/make_config -c  /var/opt/ignite/data/Rel_B.11.31/core_cfg –s \
 <ip>:/var/opt/ignite/depots/Rel_B.11.31/core
# manage_index -a -f /var/opt/ignite/data/Rel_B.11.31/core_cfg -r B.11.31

Check if the NFS server daemon is running. If not enable it. The same procedure for tftpd . If you are using an external DHCP server with PXE capabilities you don’t need to enable BOOTP on the Ignite-UX server. By default you don’t need to change the settings in /etc/inetd.conf.

Setup PXE with Ignite-UX settings on a Microsoft DHCP server.

The most important settings are Option 66 Boot Server which should point to the Ignite-UX server and the Boot File Option 67 which should contain “/opt/ignite/boot/nbp.efi“.

That’s it ! Now you should be able to boot the Integrity VM over network and run the HP-UX setup.

I’m running the latest release of HP-UX 11.31 on a HP Integrity BL860c blade server. Between the well know 11.11 release of HP-UX and the latest version of HP-UX 11.31 there are lots of changes. The most important change is the entire move from SAM to the HP System Management Homepage (SMH). With the SMH you can configure your HP-UX system very comfortable with a web-based user interface. Another important enhancement is Integrity Virtual Machines! With Integrity VM you can easily virtualize HP-UX, Windows and Linux on a HP Integrity server. Today I want to show you a little bit about these two nice and powerful features. And you can see that HP-UX is not an old and complicated UNIX operating system. It’s comfortable, powerful and offers lot’s of functionality. But nobody is writing about it. It’s time to change this.

After setup of HP-UX it’s important to check the network settings. The hostname should be in /etc/hosts, your /etc/resolv.conf should have the right entries and of course you need a /etc/nsswitch.conf. Copy /etc/nsswitch.files to /etc/nsswich.conf and modify the following lines:

hosts: 		files dns
ipnodes:	files dns

These network setting are very important, otherwise you could have several problems.

Let’s go installing Integrity VM.

Insert the HP-UX Application DVD #1 into your DVD drive or ILO Virtual Media.

Logon to your HP-UX system with enabled X11 forwarding!

$ ssh -X root@hpux

Find the DVD drive.

# ioscan -fnC disk 

Class     I  H/W Path     Driver S/W State   H/W Type     Description
=====================================================================
disk      1  0/3/0/0/0/0.1.0.0.0.0.1  sdisk   CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP      HSV200
                         /dev/dsk/c3t0d1     /dev/dsk/c3t0d1s2   /dev/rdsk/c3t0d1    /dev/rdsk/c3t0d1s2
                         /dev/dsk/c3t0d1s1   /dev/dsk/c3t0d1s3   /dev/rdsk/c3t0d1s1  /dev/rdsk/c3t0d1s3
disk      0  0/3/0/0/0/0.1.1.0.0.0.1  sdisk   CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP      HSV200
                         /dev/dsk/c1t0d1     /dev/dsk/c1t0d1s2   /dev/rdsk/c1t0d1    /dev/rdsk/c1t0d1s2
                         /dev/dsk/c1t0d1s1   /dev/dsk/c1t0d1s3   /dev/rdsk/c1t0d1s1  /dev/rdsk/c1t0d1s3
disk      3  0/3/0/0/0/1.1.0.0.0.0.1  sdisk   CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP      HSV200
                         /dev/dsk/c7t0d1     /dev/dsk/c7t0d1s2   /dev/rdsk/c7t0d1    /dev/rdsk/c7t0d1s2
                         /dev/dsk/c7t0d1s1   /dev/dsk/c7t0d1s3   /dev/rdsk/c7t0d1s1  /dev/rdsk/c7t0d1s3
disk      2  0/3/0/0/0/1.1.1.0.0.0.1  sdisk   CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP      HSV200
                         /dev/dsk/c5t0d1     /dev/dsk/c5t0d1s2   /dev/rdsk/c5t0d1    /dev/rdsk/c5t0d1s2
                         /dev/dsk/c5t0d1s1   /dev/dsk/c5t0d1s3   /dev/rdsk/c5t0d1s1  /dev/rdsk/c5t0d1s3
disk      5  255/1/0.0.0  sdisk   CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP      Virtual CD-ROM
                         /dev/dsk/c8t0d0   /dev/rdsk/c8t0d0 

Mount the DVD and start the installation of Integrity VM.

# mount /dev/dsk/c8t0d0 /mnt
# swinstall -s /mnt

Select VMKernelSW

Select Actions -> Install

The system reboots.

Insert the HP-UX Application DVD #2 and install the user interface for Integrity VM.

# mount /dev/dsk/c8t0d0 /mnt
# swinstall -s /mnt 

Select VMMGR

Select Actions -> Install

On my HP BL860c Integrity blade server I need to disable Hyperthreading. Otherwise Integrity VM won’t run and you get the following error message:
Error: An error occurred communicating with WBEM: CIM_ERR_FAILED CIM_ERR_FAILED: @1:An internal error has occurred.

# /usr/sbin/setboot -m off
# reboot

Done!

Now copy your HP-UX installation ISO images to /var/opt/hpvm/ISO-images/hpux and then have some fun with the SMH.

I created two 100 GB LUNs with Command View EVA and presented the LUNs to the HP-UX system.

Start you web browser and go to http://hpux:2301

You will be redirected to the SMH and you have to log in with root credentials. In my case I use the root account. It’s a test system.

Select Tools and you see what you can manage everything with the SMH.

I created a volume group to associate the previous generated LUNs. Select Tools → Disk and File Systems → Volume Groups → Create VG…

After you have successfully created a new Volume Group with both LUNs you can create a Logical Volume for the virtual machine.

As you can see I selected “Enable striping” ! Above I create two EVA LUNs and assoicated each LUN to an EVA controller. So I can utilize all host ports and the entire cache of my EVA ! That promise lots of performance.

If you finished creating the Logical Volume, let’s build a Link Aggregate with two free NICs. Go to Tools → Network Interfaces Configuration → Auto Port Aggregation → Create Link Aggregate

With Virtual Connect I cannot create a LACP based link aggregation. So I choose Mode “Manual” and under Advanced Options I selected “LB_PORT” as Load Distribution Algorithm.

Everything easy right now, isn’t it? And you are working with a powerful and mission critical operating system. Unbelieveable!

You have done all prerequisites for the virtual machine. Let’s create a “Virtual Switch” and the “Virtual Machine” himself.

Go to Tools → Integrity Virtual Machines Management → Integrity Virtual Machines Manager

Continue the following screen by clicking OK

Select Virtual Switches → Create → Virtual Switch…

Let’s create the virtual machine, go to Virtual Machines → Create → Virtual Machine…

Preferr AVIO devices! They offers more performance. I use it for storage and networking, except the DVD drive.

After your virtual machine is created successfully, change to a shell.

Start the virtual machine with:

# hpvmstart -P ius022

Join the console with:

# hpvmconsole -P ius022

Enter CO and you can see your virtual machine booting into HP-UX setup.

To change the ISO images during setup, break the console session with <Ctrl>+B, enter EJ for eject and follow the instructions. Type IN for insert, select the ISO image and go back to console with CO to continue the setup procedure. The HP-UX installation with local ISO image should be finished very fast.

So, that’s it ! Enjoy your fresh installed HP-UX virtual machine.

As mentioned above HP-UX isn’t a complicated operating system. You can do lot’s of things with the SMH. HP-UX is well documented, too… I hope you enjoyed my little introduction to HP-UX 11.31 on HP Integrity servers. More on HP-UX will follow soon.

Die aktuelle Version von HP-UX wird jetzt schon auf 3 DVDs ausgeliefert! Besonders auffällig sind die vielen Änderungen an der HP System Management Homepage. Das macht HP-UX inzwischen besonders komfortabel und leicht wartbar. Was sich sonst noch so getan hat, werde ich in den nächsten Wochen und Monaten bestimmt herausfinden. Eins ist aber gewiss, mir macht HP-UX seit je her irre Spaß.

Doch jetzt hat sich das Blatt gewendet. Endlich wieder UNIX ! Wie es der Zufall wollte habe ich eine tolle Chance wahrgenommen und mein c-Class Blade System um einen HP BL860c Integrity Blade bereichert. Endlich wieder zurück bei meinem HP Anfängen ! Rock solid lautete und lautet immer noch das Motto. HP und HP-UX eine echt tolle Kombination. Vielleicht nicht so geeky wie ein OpenSolaris, aber ein sehr berechenbares und solides System. Der BL860c Integrity Blade Server hinterlässt auch sonst einen sehr guten Eindruck und wie es der Teufel will, passt mein neuer Trend hervorragend zu den ganzen Neuankündigungen von HP. Die neue Superdome 2 ist Blade basierend und auch sonst bekennt sich HP zunehmend zu Integrity Servern im Blade Format.

Lange Rede, kurzer Sinn. Bilder sprechen bekanntlich mehr also Worte:

Und hier noch eine kleiner Shell Auszug:

# machinfo

CPU info:

  1 Intel(R) Itanium 2 9000 series processor (1.4 GHz, 12 MB)

          399 MT/s bus, CPU version C2

          2 logical processors (2 per socket)

Memory: 8161 MB (7.97 GB)

Firmware info:

   Firmware revision:  04.11

   FP SWA driver revision: 1.18

   IPMI is supported on this system.

   BMC firmware revision: 5.35

Platform info:

   Model:                  "ia64 hp server BL860c"

   Machine ID number:      0f359b84-f36b-475e-9135-3db023101da8

   Machine serial number:  VCX0000003

OS info:

   Nodename:  ius021

   Release:   HP-UX B.11.31

   Version:   U (unlimited-user license)

   Machine:   ia64

   ID Number: 0255171460

   vmunix _release_version:

@(#) $Revision: vmunix:    B.11.31_LR FLAVOR=perf