Sun Microsystems Sun Fire V480, Administration Manual

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24 Sun Fire V480 Server Administration Guide • February 2002
The power subsystem is monitored in a similar fashion. Polling the power supply
status registers periodically, the monitoring subsystem indicates the status of each
supply’s DC outputs.
If a power supply problem is detected, an error message is displayed on the system
console and logged in the
/var/adm/messages
file. Additionally, LEDs located on
each power supply are illuminated to indicate failures.
Automatic System Recovery
The system provides for automatic system recovery (ASR) from the following types
of hardware component failures:
■
CPUs
■
Memory modules
■
PCI buses and cards
■
FC-AL subsystem
■
Ethernet interface
■
USB interfaces
■
Serial interface
The ASR features allow the system to resume operation after experiencing certain
non-fatal hardware faults or failures. Automatic self-test features enable the system
to detect failed hardware components and an auto-configuring capability designed
into the system’s boot firmware allows the system to unconfigure failed components
and restore system operation. As long as the system is capable of operating without
the failed component, the ASR features will enable the system to reboot
automatically, without operator intervention.
During the power-on sequence, if a faulty component is detected, the component is
effectively disabled and, if the system remains capable of functioning, the boot
sequence continues. In a running system, some types of failures (such as a processor
failure) can bring down the system. If this happens, the ASR functionality enables
the system to reboot immediately if it is possible for the system to run without the
failed component. This prevents a faulty hardware component from keeping the
entire system down or causing the system to crash repeatedly.
Note –
ASR functionality is not enabled until you activate it. Control over the
system’s ASR functionality is provided by a number of OpenBoot PROM commands
and configuration variables. For additional details, see “About Automatic System
Recovery” on page 63.