mkpart(1M)

NAME
     mkpart - Partition Configuration Tool for Origin

SYNOPSIS
     mkpart [-p <partid> -m <brick> ... [-m <brick> ...] ...] ... [-F]
     mkpart [-i] [-F]
     mkpart [-l]
     mkpart [-n]
     mkpart [-h]

DESCRIPTION
     mkpart 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
     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.

     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.