Whats a dynamic reconfiguration?
On s6800/e12K/e15K/e25K systems we may dynamically reconfigure CPU/memory boards, I/O boards and PCI on I/O boards with dynamic reconfiguration. The process is on-line and there is no interruption in the OS during this reconfiguration. This is useful when you want to replace a faulty system board on the system or configuring a system board from one domain to another domain.
Prerequisites
Before starting to remove the system board we have to make sure that it does not contains permanent memory (kernel memory). Usually when you have a system with multiple system boards, one system board will have a permanent memory while others won’t.
To check if the CPU/memory board has a permanent memory
# cfgadm -av | grep permanent SB2::memory connected configured ok base address 0x1e000000000, 16777216 KBytes total, 2001200 KBytes permanent
As you can see the System board SB2 contains permanent memory. It’s always better to do the dynamic reconfiguration when the system is running with minimum load.
Steps involved in Dynamic reconfiguration
1. Logically remove the baord (unconfigures, disconnects and powers off the domain) :
# cfgadm -v -c disconnect SB2
Another way of removing the board is using the deleteboard command :
/opt/SUNWSMS/bin/deleteboard -c unassign SB2
2. Physically remove the system board from the system. Make sure the amber LED on the board is on before removing the system board. You can also check for the platform messages for this.
3. Physically install the new board and power it on :
/opt/SUNWSMS/bin/poweron SB2
4. Logically add the new board into the system :
/opt/SUNWSMS/bin/addboard -d domain -c configure SB2
Or you can also use the cfgadm command to do the same :
# cfgadm -v -c configure SB2