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Example Using SMS To Choose Boot Device

Question & Answer


Question

Needing to boot from a specific disk, use SMS to select the boot device.

Answer

This is an example of booting into SMS mode on a pSeries machine in order to select a device to boot from.

To enter SMS mode, you can either press 1 when prompted by the system, or if the host is an LPAR attached to an HMC you can select the LPAR, pull down Operations -> Activate, then select Advanced -> Boot Mode -> SMS

To use 1 to get into SMS, press it when you see this screen:

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1 = SMS Menu 5 = Default Boot List
8 = Open Firmware Prompt 6 = Stored Boot List


Memory Keyboard Network SCSI Speaker

At that time SMS will start up from firmware:

PowerPC Firmware
Version SF240_358
SMS 1.6 (c) Copyright IBM Corp. 2000,2005 All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Main Menu

1. Select Language
2. Setup Remote IPL (Initial Program Load)
3. Change SCSI Settings
4. Select Console
5. Select Boot Options
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Navigation Keys:

X = eXit System Management Services
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type menu item number and press Enter or select Navigation key: 5

Press 5 to select boot options

 PowerPC Firmware
Version SF240_358
SMS 1.6 (c) Copyright IBM Corp. 2000,2005 All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Multiboot
1. Select Install/Boot Device
2. Configure Boot Device Order
3. Multiboot Startup

Press 1 to select the boot device

 PowerPC Firmware
Version SF240_358
SMS 1.6 (c) Copyright IBM Corp. 2000,2005 All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Select Device Type
1. Diskette
2. Tape
3. CD/DVD
4. IDE
5. Hard Drive
6. Network
7. List all Devices

At this point you can either choose a specific boot device or let the firmware probe for all bootable devices. If 7 is chosen it will report back on any bootable adapters, and list any disks that are found to have an AIX boot image on them.

 PowerPC Firmware
Version SF240_358
SMS 1.6 (c) Copyright IBM Corp. 2000,2005 All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Select Device
Device Current Device
Number Position Name
1. - Virtual Ethernet
( loc=U9133.55A.105C2EH-V10-C2-T1 )
2. 1 SCSI 107374 MB FC Harddisk, part=2 (AIX 6.1.0)
( loc=U787B.001.DNWG2AB-P1-C2-T1-W200400a0b833530d-L0 )
3. 4 SCSI 107374 MB FC Harddisk, part=2 (AIX 6.1.0)
( loc=U787B.001.DNWG2AB-P1-C2-T1-W200500a0b833530d-L1000000000000 )

In this example I have chosen "List all Devices", and after probing it finds 2 SAN-attached disks and one virtual Ethernet adapter. In this case hdisk0 is the disk in position 1 and hdisk1 is the disk in position 4.

Choosing device number 3 to boot from hdisk1, this menu will appear:

 PowerPC Firmware
Version SF240_358
SMS 1.6 (c) Copyright IBM Corp. 2000,2005 All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Select Task

SCSI 107374 MB FC Harddisk, part=2 (AIX 6.1.0)
( loc=U787B.001.DNWG2AB-P1-C2-T1-W200500a0b833530d-L1000000000000 )

1. Information
2. Normal Mode Boot
3. Service Mode Boot

To boot the system into Normal Mode (multiuser) choose option 2, or choose option 3 to boot into Diagnostics Mode or exit Diagnostics to Single User Mode.

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Document Information

Modified date:
17 June 2018

UID

isg3T1011805