mkpart(1M)mkpart(1M)NAMEmkpart - Partition Configuration Tool for Origin
SYNOPSISmkpart [-p <partid> -m <brick> ... [-m <brick> ...] ...] ... [-F]
mkpart [-i] [-F]
mkpart [-l]
mkpart [-n]
mkpart [-h]
DESCRIPTIONmkpart is the partition administration tool for the Origin 3000 series of
servers. It provides the System Administrator with capabilities to list
current partitions, re-configure the system into multiple partitions, and
to re-initialize, or unpartition, the system.
You must have superuser privilege to use this command. If the system is
configured as CAP_NO_SUPERUSER, you must have effective capabilities of
CAP_SHUTDOWN, CAP_DEVICE_MGT and CAP_SYSINFO_MGT.
All the affected partitions have to be rebooted in order to change the
system to the new partition scheme.
A multi brick Origin 3000 system can be divided into multiple independent
units for the purposes of booting different kernels on them. These
systems can be power cycled independently even though they are connected
by the NUMAlink interconnect. The kernels can detect the presence of
other partitions by using low level hardware support. A partition is
identified by its partition id, partid and a brick is identified by its
brick id, brick. A partition consists of a set of bricks that satisfy the
following conditions:
The route between any 2 nodes within a partition must be fully within
that partition and not route through any other partition.
There is a direct route between any 2 partitions and does not route
through any other partition.
The partition should encompass the entire machine or is a power of 2
bricks.
For example, in an 8 brick system,
Partition 1 = Bricks 001c10, 001c13, 001c16, 001c21
Partition 2 = Bricks 001c24, 001c29, 001c32, 001c35
After mkpart has successfully set up the system for the new partition
config, it asks the user for permission to shutdown all the affected
partitions. The command automatically shuts down all the affected
partitions if permission is given by the user. If not, the new partition
setup is effective after the next reboot. After reboot, the system comes
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back to the system maintenance menu with the new partition config.
The mkpart command options are:
-l List all the active partition configurations to standard
out.
-n Prints the current partition.
-p partid Specifies the partition id for the new configuration. The
order of the -m and -p options is significant (see the
EXAMPLES section below).
-m brick ... Specifies the brick ids that make up the partition. The -m
option should be specified after a -p option. All the brick
ids should be separated by spaces. The order of the -m and
-p options is significant (see the EXAMPLES section below).
-i Set the partition id of all bricks to 0. On the next reboot
the system will be coalesced to include all bricks.
-h Prints a usage message.
-F Forces override of all sanity checks. The command sets up
partitioning as given and tries to reboot the system. This
option should be used with caution. The user of the command
should know about the consequences of wrong usage of this
option.
EXAMPLES
To partition an 8 brick system into 2 partitions of 4 bricks each:
mkpart-p 1 -m 001c10 001c13 001c16 001c21 \
-p 2 -m 001c24 001c29 001c32 001c35
NOTES
The term brick in this document refers to a C-brick.
The eoe.sw.partition software package must be installed for the mkpart
command to function.
The partition id of 0 has a special meaning in the OS and cannot be used
on a partitioned system. Valid partition ids can be any number between 1
and 63, both included.
DIAGNOSTICS
The mkpart command does not respond to the interrupt key. This is
because the partitioning information may be in a inconsistent state which
may cause problems on a reboot.
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The mkpart command performs certain sanity checks on the partition config
required by the user. It uses the partitioning information currently
available to do this. Under certain conditions, these checks cannot
proceed without input from the user. These are in addition to the three
checks mentioned previously.
All the bricks must be included in any command line. If a set of modules
are left out because they will not be affected, the mkpart command
automatically includes them and asks the user if it is OK.
Partition ids must be unique and a brick can be included in 1 partition
only.
The mkpd daemon must be running on all partitions for mkpart to work. If
this is not the case, the mkpart command may terminate with a message to
the user to check the router connectivity manually. The user should
manually check if all the required conditions for partitioning is
satisfied and use the -F option to force partitioning. The command
appears to take a while for executing. This is because it needs to
communicate with every daemon in the system many times. The mkpd daemon
records some of its messages in the SYSLOG file.
WARNINGS
The mkpart command is not intended for casual use. If used incorrectly,
it can completely freeze all partitions in the system and prevent it from
even booting the PROM. Silicon Graphics strongly recommends that this
command be used with the co-ordination of the System Administrators of
all the current partitions.
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