Booting an Operating System
5-5
The auto_action environment variable is set to halt by default. In this case, at system
restart (power-up, reset, or init command), the SRM console software will display the
system self-test and display the SRM console prompt to accept commands.
If you set the auto_action environment variable to boot, at system restart, the SRM
console software will display the system self-test and then automatically boot the
operating system according to the default boot parameters you defined.
For OpenVMS and DIGITAL UNIX systems, you can return to the SRM console once
the system has booted by typing Ctrl/P. This halts the operating system on the boot
processor and displays the SRM console prompt.
For Windows NT systems, setting auto_action to boot causes the SRM console to
display the system self-test and start the AlphaBIOS firmware, which will proceed to
the boot screen, as described in Section 5.5.1. (See directions in Section 8.2 for
switching back to the SRM console from the AlphaBIOS firmware or from Windows
NT.)
