Selecting Your OpenVMS Console for the Integrity Server System

Decide what console you want to use. Depending on your system configuration, OpenVMS can use one of the following types of consoles:

Be sure you select the console you want to use. OpenVMS uses a default console that you might not want to use. Select only one console type. Selecting more than one type might bring unexpected results.

Power on the system. If using an MP serial port, log in to MP and access EFI. If you are setting the system serial port as your system console, skip to the next step. If you are setting the MP serial port as your system console, and you have just powered on your Integrity server, the MP console interface prompts you to log in. (By default, both user name and password are set to Admin. For security purposes, you should change the password immediately. See your hardware documentation for more information.)

	NOTE: To see the MP login user name and password prompts, you might need to press Enter one or more times on your console keyboard. If this does not work, then try pressing Ctrl/B. If you see only the MP password prompt, press the Enter key to get to the MP login prompt. If the login prompt still fails to appear, the system might be powered off. (When you powered on the system, you might have pressed the power button twice, which turns it on and then off.) If you see a message similar to the following, another user has the console (only one user can write to the console although multiple users can view it). [Read only - use Ctrl-Ecf for console write access] To gain control of the console from the other user, press Ctrl/E, release the key combination, and then immediately type the letters cf. Alternatively, you can have the other user log off. Note that the system will not work if it has MP firmware older than version E02.22. For information about updating the MP firmware, see “Firmware on Integrity Server Systems”.

When the MP> prompt is displayed, move to the EFI interface by using the co (console mode) command.

On Integrity servers without nPartitions, the co command brings you directly to the EFI Boot Manager screen; if you do not enter a command before the EFI countdown timer expires (10 seconds by default), the EFI Shell> prompt is displayed. (When the operating system is running, the co command brings you to the console port of the operating system.)

On cell-based servers, unless you are using a single-partition user account, the co command first brings you to a console menu that lists the available nPartitions. Select the appropriate nPartition to access the EFI Boot Manager console for that nPartition. The following example shows a console menu (menus and displays such as this may vary from system to system):

   Partitions available:
 
       #   Name
      ---   ----
       1)   MIA1
       2)   MIA2
       3)   TESTING
       4)   LAN
       5)   AMYS
       6)   ACCNTS
       Q)   Quit
 
      Please select partition number:
 

If the co command results in a screen that is unexpected or difficult to interpret, pressing Enter might help. If you are at an EFI submenu instead of the main menu, navigate to the main menu by exiting from the submenu and any subsequent submenus until you return to the EFI main menu.

For more information about determining which nPartition to access, see the HP System Partitions Guide, Administration for nPartitions or the appropriate hardware documentation.

Access the initial EFI boot menu. When you power on the Integrity server or move to console mode from MP, the EFI Boot Manager begins loading. Several messages should indicate so. If you are using the MP serial port and you do not see any messages, the system might be powered off (MP is "alive" even when the system is powered off, as long as the power cord is connected). Make sure you power on the system. Wait until you see the EFI Boot Manager screen with the boot menu. The default menu option is highlighted, as shown in the following example of a boot menu.

	NOTE: The appearance of EFI Boot Manager screens and menus differ from version to version of the firmware. This boot menu example is what might be seen with the latest version of the EFI firmware.

Access the EFI Boot Configuration menu. From the initial EFI boot menu, select the Boot Configuration option (or, in some versions of EFI, the Boot Option Maintenance Menu). To move to an option, use the up or down arrow key. (With some terminal emulators, you might have to use the letter v to scroll down or the caret (^) to scroll up.) Press Enter to toggle the selection. If you do not select an option within the default 10-second countdown, EFI moves to the default option—the EFI Shell in the example given in step 3, in which case the EFI Shell> prompt is displayed. Exit the EFI Shell to return to the Boot Configuration menu. If lines from the preceding screen linger to obscure the EFI Shell prompt, press Enter to bring the EFI Shell prompt into view.

Configure the Console Input, Console Output, and Console Error Devices. If you have the latest EFI firmware, select the Console Configuration option from the Boot Configuration menu to list the console input, console output, and console error device options. Some versions of EFI list the three console device options directly in the Boot Option Maintenance Menu. Configure each of the console options one at a time, as follows:

	NOTE: For OpenVMS, the input, output, and error console all must point to the same serial-line console device. New systems might be shipped with multiple devices selected for each of the console types, so you must make sure only one device is selected for each. If you see an error message mentioning multiple device path instances for the console input or output device, perform the steps outlined in this procedure to select a single console only. OpenVMS does not support booting using a USB keyboard or a VGA graphics display device. The system might boot with these devices but you does not display any visible indication that the system is booting. You might receive a warning when the system begins to boot. You might also see other errors in later stages of the boot. Additionally, you might lose output that you normally see during booting.

1. Select the Console Input Device. EFI displays a list of devices available for console input. Select only one device from this list, and deselect any unused devices. The following is a sample list of devices, annotated with explanatory text below the list. (This example shows the devices for an entry-class Integrity server; the procedure and display differ on cell-based servers.)

   System Serial Port		These four lines indicate any of the valid devices that you can define for the console using the system serial port. Any line that has the letters Uart but not the letters Pci is one of the system serial ports. Notice the lines are almost identical except for the text following the VenMsg portion, which indicates the terminal emulation protocol. Thus, each of the four entries is the same device with different emulation protocols.
   MP Console		These four lines (the HWP lines) appear only on systems that have an MP port. Any lines that include both Uart and Pci are MP serial port devices. As with the serial port devices, these four lines are the same device with different emulation protocols.
   VGA Device		This is the graphic console device. Do not select this. OpenVMS does not support VGA graphics as a console output device for booting.

   Select a device using the protocol appropriate for your terminal emulator (in most cases, VT100+ is the best choice). Remember that you should select only one device line. OpenVMS does not operate if more than one device is selected.

2. Save your settings to NVRAM.

3. Select the Console Output Device. Repeat steps a and b to configure the console output device. Select the same device selected for the console input device.

4. Select the Console Error Device. Repeat steps a and b to configure the console error device (also referred to as the standard error device). Select the same device selected for the console input and output devices.
   

Perform a Cold Reset if required. Your system might require a cold reset. Newer versions of EFI do not require a cold reset. See your hardware documentation for more information.