Introduction to DR

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Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR) enables you to logically attach and detach system boards to and from the operating system without incurring machine downtime. DR is used in conjunction with Hot Swap, which is the process of physically removing or inserting a system board. You can use DR to:

Add a system board upgrade
Modify the domain configuration on the Ultra Enterprise 10000 system
Remove a faulty system board

If a system board is being used by the operating system, you must detach it before you can power it off and remove it. After a new or upgraded system board is inserted and powered on, you may attach it to the operating system.

You can execute DR procedures through the Hostview GUI program (see hostview(1M)) and the dr(1M) shell application. DR supports the following operations:

DR Attach--Logically attaches a system board to the operating system running in a domain. A system board is logically attached when its resources--processors, memory, and I/O adapters--are configured into the system and are available to the system. The system board must already be present in the system, powered on, and not a member of a domain. Normally, you attach a system board after it is inserted and powered on by your service provider, or after it is detached from another domain.

DR Detach--Logically detaches a system board from the operating system. A system board is logically detached when its resources--processors, memory, and I/O adapters--are removed from the system configuration and are no longer available to the domain. Normally, you detach a system board to either move it to another domain or prepare it for removal via Hot Swap by your service provider.

While DR operations are being performed within a domain, messages regarding status or exceptions are written to the system message buffer (/var/adm/messages) and the SSP message files

($SSPOPT/adm/host/messages and $SSPOPT/adm/messages) by dr_daemon(1M) and the operating system. These messages, in addition to those displayed by Hostview and the dr(1M) shell application, are useful for determining the status of DR requests.

Note - Only one DR operation per platform can be active at any time. A DR operation that is partially completed and then dismissed within one domain does not prevent a subsequent DR operation from being started in a different domain. A partially completed DR operation must be finished before a subsequent DR operation is permitted in the same domain.