Chapter 6. Using The Online And Standalone Diagnostics; Operating Considerations For Online And Standalone Diagnostics - IBM pSeries 630 6C4 Service Manual

Chapter 6. Using the Online and Standalone Diagnostics

The AIX diagnostics consist of online diagnostics and standalone diagnostics.
Attention: To run online diagnostics on a partition, the AIX operating system must be installed on that
partition. If the AIX operating system is not installed, use the standalone diagnostic procedures.
Online diagnostics, when they are installed, reside with AIX in the file system. They can be booted:
v In single user mode (referred to as service mode)
v To run in maintenance mode (referred to as maintenance mode)
v To run concurrently with other applications (referred to as concurrent mode)
Standalone diagnostics must be booted before they can be run. If booted, the diagnostics have no access
to the AIX error log or the AIX configuration data.
Does the system have AIX diagnostics preinstalled?
Yes If there is an HMC attached to the system, go to "Operating Considerations for Online and
Standalone Diagnostics".
If an HMC is not attached to the system, go to "Running the Online Diagnostics in Service Mode
with No HMC Attached" on page 355.
No If there is an HMC attached to the system, go to "Standalone Diagnostics Operations" on
page 357.
If an HMC is not attached to the system, go to "Running the Standalone Diagnostics from
CD-ROM with No HMC Attached" on page 358.
If standalone diagnostics will be run from a NIM server, go to "Running Standalone Diagnostics
from a Network Installation Management (NIM) Server" on page 360. If an HMC is not attached to
the system, follow the directions for a full system partition.

Operating Considerations for Online and Standalone Diagnostics

Note: When possible, run online diagnostics in service mode. Online diagnostics perform additional
functions compared to standalone diagnostics. Running online diagnostics in service mode ensures
that the error state of the system that has been captured in NVRAM is available for your use in
analyzing the problem. The AIX error log and certain SMIT functions are available only when
diagnostics are run from the disk drive.
Consider the following items before using the diagnostics:
v Standalone diagnostics can run on systems configured for either a full (or single) system partition or a
multiple partitioned system. When running in a multiple partitioned system, the device from which you
are booting standalone diagnostics must be made available to the partition dedicated to running
standalone diagnostics. This might require moving the device from the partition that currently contains
the boot device (for example, the CD-ROM or network adapter connected to the NIM server that has a
standalone diagnostic image) to the partition used to run standalone diagnostics. For partitions running
AIX levels lower that 5.2, if you move devices, reboot both source and destination partitions. For more
information, see "Standalone Diagnostics Operations" on page 357.
v When diagnostics are installed, the device support for some devices might not get installed. If this is the
case, that device does not display in the diagnostic test list when running disk-based diagnostics.
v When running diagnostics in a partitioned system, diagnostics will work only with the resources that
were assigned to that partition. You must run diagnostics in the partition containing the resource that
you want to test.
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