mkpart(1M)
mkpart - Partition Configuration Tool for Origin
As shipped in IRIX 6.5. First release of IRIX 6.5.
NAME mkpart - Partition Configuration Tool for Origin SYNOPSIS mkpart [ -f <cfgfile> ] mkpart [ -F ] [ -p <partid> ] [ -m <modid> ... ] [ -p <partid> ] [ -m <modid> ... ] mkpart [ -F ] [ -l ] [ -init ] mkpart [ -a ] [ -d <partid> ] DESCRIPTION mkpart is the partition administration tool for Origin Systems. It provides the System Administrator with capabilities to list current partitions, re-configure the system into multiple partitions, re- initialize all partition ids, and to re-activate or de-activate partitions. 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 module Origin System can be divided into multiple independent units for the purposes of booting different kernels on them. These systems can be power cycled independently eventhough they are connected by the craylink 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 module is identified by its module id, modid. A partition consists of a set of modules 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 modules. For example, in a 4 module system, with each rack having consequtive module ids, Partition 1 = Module 1 and Module 2 Partition 2 = Module 3 and Module 4 Modules 1 and 3 cannot be in the same partition due to the first restriction. This system cannot be divided into 4 partitions of 1 module each without Xpress links. 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 maintenence menu with the new partition config. The mkpart command options are: -l List all the active partition configurations to standard out. The format of the command output looks like the contents of the cfg_file associated with the -f option. The active partitions are those that have XPC configured and running on them. -f cfg_file The new config info is taken from the file cfg_file. This file consists of a set of lines with each line representing a partition. The format of this line is: partition: <partid> = module: <modid> [<modid> ...] The -f option should not be used if partition id and module id is specified on the command line. -p partid Specifies the partition id for the new configuration. This is complementary to the -f option. The -p option should not be used if the -f option is chosen. -m modid ... Specifies the module ids that make up the partition. The -m option should be specified after a -p option. All the module ids should be separated by spaces. -d De-activate partition <partid>. The kernel deletes all internal information about this partition. This option does not need a re-boot of the system. -a Re-discover all partitions. Detect new partitions that have been powered on or previously de-activated partitions. This option does not need a re-boot of the system. -init Set the partition id of all modules to 0. On the next reboot the system will be coalsced to include all modules. -help 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 a 4 module system into 2 partitions of 2 modules each: mkpart -p 1 -m 1 2 -p 2 -m 3 4 or edit a file, part.cfg with the following lines: partition: 1 module: 1 2 partition: 2 module: 3 4 and run mkpart -f part.cfg FILES /etc/config/mkpart.config stores info about permitted configs in a format that mkpart can understand. This file is cannot be edited by the user. NOTES The mkpart command needs the partition, xpc and cl modules to be configured into the OS. The partition id of 0 has a special meaning in the OS. The system administrator should avoid the use of partition id 0 when partitioning the system. The partition id 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 modules 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. The partition id should be in the range 0 to 63. Partition ids must be unique and a module can be included in 1 partition only. Systems with meta routers need a different set of checks compared to the normal systems. The mkpart command warns the user of this. Partitioning needs the ASIC HUB to be of REV 5 or more. If all HUBs are not at the required level, the user is warned of this. 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. The mkpbe is a backend utility used by mkpart. It should not be used by the user from the command line. The mkpart command uses the rexec facilities of the systems to set up partitions. The system should have atleast 1 network interface configured between the partitions. If there is no external network available, if_cl, the craylink TCP driver, should be configured. The list of partition configs supported by IRIX array software is stored in an encoded form in /etc/config/mkpart.config. If the required config does not look like a supported config a warning message is printed. SEE ALSO clshmctl(1), clshmd(1). 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.