The following sections describe how to set up
automatic booting, set and show the default boot device, modify boot
parameters, and create a bootable OpenVMS Alpha system disk using
the Writeboot utility.
A.2.1 Setting the System for Automatic Booting |
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Alpha computers can boot automatically from a
designated boot device. When you installed the OpenVMS Alpha operating
system, you designated the system disk as the default boot device.
Section A.2.2 describes
how to change the default boot device.
Alpha computers can boot automatically from the
default boot device under the following conditions:
When you first turn on
system power
When system power comes
on after a power failure
After you shut down the
system (if you enter Y when the shutdown procedure asks whether an
automatic reboot should be performed)
After a bugcheck or system
crash
If the system halts under
program control
Set the system to boot automatically by performing
one of the following steps:
| IF ... | THEN GO TO... |
|---|
The OpenVMS Alpha operating system is running | Step 1 |
The OpenVMS Alpha operating system is not running | Step 4 |
Log
in to the SYSTEM account.
Enter
the following command and press Enter:
Answer
the questions displayed by the system. When the procedure asks whether
an automatic reboot should be performed, press Enter for NO. When the procedure is finished, it displays the following
message:
Halt
the system by pressing either Ctrl/P or Halt. (See Section A.3.1 for more information about how to halt
your Alpha computer.)
If
you have an SMP system with multiple CPUs, enter the following command
at the console prompt (>>>) to stop the other CPUs:
Enter
the following command to show whether the system has been set to boot
automatically:
The system displays one of the following:
Enter
the SET AUTO_ACTION command if you want to change the automatic booting
behavior. HP recommends that AUTO_ACTION be set to RESTART. This
forces the system to attempt to write a crash dump to the dump file,
and after the dump write completes, the system tries to reboot itself
automatically. For example, the following command sets the system
to reboot automatically:
>>> SET AUTO_ACTION RESTART |
After
you set this variable, HP recommends that you set the boot device
and operating system flags as well, using the SET BOOTDEF_DEV and
SET BOOT_OSFLAGS commands described in the following sections.
A.2.3 Setting Boot Flag Parameters |
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By default, when you boot the operating system,
the flags parameter is set to 0. If you want to define parameters
to enable specific functions during the booting process, use the SET
BOOT_OSFLAGS console command.
The following is a list of values you can specify
with the SET BOOT_OSFLAGS command.
|
| |
|
 | NOTE: HP recommends that you keep the BOOT_OSFLAGS parameter at the
default value 0 unless you have a specific need to change it (for
example, to troubleshoot a system boot problem). |
|
| |
|
| Hexadecimal
Value | System Response |
|---|
1 | Allows a conversational boot (the system displays the SYSBOOT> prompt). |
2 | Maps XDELTA to a running system. |
4 | Stops the boot procedure at the initial system breakpoint. |
8 | Performs a diagnostic bootstrap. |
10 | Stops the boot procedure at the bootstrap breakpoints. |
20 | Omits header from secondary bootstrap image. |
80 | Prompts for the name of the secondary bootstrap file. |
100 | Halts the system before the secondary bootstrap. |
2000 | Marks corrected read data error pages as bad. |
10000 | Displays extensive, detailed debug messages during the boot
process. |
20000 | Displays selected user-oriented messages during the boot process. |
The following examples show how to use the SET
BOOT_OSFLAGS command:
The following command
specifies the root directory as 0 and the parameter as 1, which sets
the system to perform a conversational boot from the [SYS0] directory
when you enter the BOOT command:
The following command
specifies the root directory as 1 and the parameter as 0, which sets
the system (for example, the second host in a two-system DSSI OpenVMS
Cluster configuration) to boot from the [SYS1] directory (instead
of [SYS0]) when you enter the BOOT command:
The following example
specifies the root directory as 0 and the parameters as 1, 2, 4, and
20000 (for a total hexadecimal value of 20007). As a result, when
you enter the BOOT command, the system performs a conversational boot
from the [SYS0] directory with XDELTA, stops at the initial system
breakpoint, and displays relevant user messages.
>>> SET BOOT_OSFLAGS 0,20007 |
To display the parameters you have just set, use
the SHOW BOOT_OSFLAGS command. For example:
>>> SHOW BOOT_OSFLAGS
BOOT_OSFLAGS = 0,20007 |
Now that the boot parameters have been set, to
boot the system using the parameters you have specified, simply type
BOOT or B at the prompt (>>>).
A.2.4 Writing a New Boot Block |
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The boot block is block 0 of the system disk.
It contains the size and location of the primary bootstrap image
(APB.EXE) used to boot the system. If you suspect that the boot block
on your system disk is invalid, you can use the Writeboot utility
(WRITEBOOT.EXE) to write a new boot block.
The Writeboot utility is copied to your system
disk during the installation procedure. It enables you to create
a bootable OpenVMS Alpha system disk from one that was originally
created by one of the following methods:
A nonimage backup of an
Alpha system disk (possibly corrupting the boot block)
A nonimage restore of
an Alpha system disk from an image save set
The Writeboot utility also enables you to rewrite
the boot block of an OpenVMS Alpha system disk to point to a new version
of the OpenVMS Alpha primary bootstrap file (APB.EXE) that you have
previously copied to the disk. (Note that the file must be contiguous.)
|
| |
|
| NOTE: The file must be contiguous and movefile operations on the file
must be disabled. If the file is not contiguous, use the DCL command
COPY/CONTIGUOUS (or similar) to re-create a contiguous version of
the file. To disable movefile operations, use the DCL command SET
FILE/NOMOVE. This prevents bootstrap failures that could result
from the normal and expected operations of disk defragmentation tools. |
|
| |
|
To start the Writeboot utility, enter the following
command:
$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:WRITEBOOT |
The utility prompts you as follows:
Update VAX portion of boot block (default is Y):
Update Alpha portion of boot block (default is Y): |
Answer N (NO) to the VAX prompt. If you answer
Y (YES) to update the Alpha boot block, the utility prompts you for
the Alpha boot file:
Specify device-name:[VMS$COMMON.SYSEXE]APB.EXE
in response to this prompt, where device-name indicates the device on which the system disk is mounted. The utility
writes the specified information to the boot block on the system disk.
For more information, see the HP OpenVMS System Manager's
Manual, Volume 1: Essentials.
