Failure During Boot Process - IBM RS/6000 Enterprise Server M80 Service Manual

Failure During Boot Process

During the boot process, either initially after system power-on or upon reboot after a system failure, the
service processor monitors the boot progress. If progress stops, the service processor can re-initiate the
boot process (reboot) if enabled to do so. The service processor can re-attempt this process according to
the number of retries that has been set in the Reboot/Restart Policy Setup Menu.
Failure During Normal System Operation
When the boot process completes and control transfers to the operating system (OS), the service
processor can monitor operating system activity (see the Set Surveillance Parameters option in the
Service Processor Setup Menu). If OS activity stops due to a hardware- or software-induced failure, the
service processor can initiate a reboot/restart process based on the settings in the Service Processor
Reboot/Restart Policy Setup Menu and the OS automatic restart settings (see the operating system
documentation).
If you are using the AIX operating system, the menu item under SMIT for setting the restart policy is
Automatically Reboot After Crash (True/False). The default is false. When the setting is true, and if the
service processor parameter "Use OS-Defined Restart Policy" is yes (the default), the service processor
takes over for AIX to reboot/restart after a hardware or surveillance failure.
Service Processor Reboot/Restart Policy Controls
The operating system's automatic restart policy (see operating system documentation) indicates the
operating system response to a system crash. The service processor can be instructed to refer to that
policy by the Use OS-Defined Restart Policy setup menu.
If the operating system has no automatic restart policy, or if it is disabled, then the service processor
restart policy can be controlled from the service processor menus. Use the Enable Supplemental Restart
Policy selection.
Use OS-Defined restart policy - The default setting is yes. This causes the service processor to refer to
the OS automatic restart policy setting and take action (the same action the operating system would take if
it could have responded to the problem causing the restart).
When this setting is no, or if the operating system did not set a policy, the service processor refers to
enable supplemental restart policy for its action.
Enable supplemental restart policy - The default setting is no. If set to yes, the service processor
restarts the server when the operating system loses control and either:
The Use OS-Defined restart policy is set to no.
OR
The Use OS-Defined restart policy is set to yes and the operating system has no automatic restart
policy.
The following table describes the relationship among the operating system and service processor restart
controls:
OS Automatic
reboot/restart
after crash setting
None
None
None
None
388
Service Guide
Service processor to use
OS-Defined
restart policy?
No
No
1
Yes
1
Yes
Service Processor Enable
supplemental restart
policy?
1
No
Yes
1
No
Yes
System response
Restarts
Restarts