HP NetServer AA 4000 Service manual

HP NetServer AA
Solution
Administrator’s Guide
HP Part Number 5969-5962
Printed in April 2000

ii
Notice
The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.
Hewlett-Packard makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not
limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable forerrors contained hereinor forincidental orconsequential
damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.
Hewlett-Packard assumes no responsibility for the use or reliability of its software on
equipment that is not furnished by Hewlett-Packard.
This document contains proprietary information that is protected by copyright. All rights are
reserved. No part of this document may be photocopied, reproduced, or translated to another
language without the prior written consent of Hewlett-Packard Company.
TRADEMARK NOTICE
Assured Availability, ComputeThru, Computing for the long run, Constant Computing,
Endurance, Marathon Assured, MIAL, SplitSite, and the Marathon logo are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Marathon Technologies Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries.
BackOffice, the BackOffice logo, Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, and Windows NT are either
registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other
countries.
All other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective companies or organiza-
tions.
Software Revision
The revision of the software that this document supports is Revision 3.0.0-B1.

iii
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1 —Introduction
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
HP NetServer AA Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
HP NetServer AA Server Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
HP NetServer AA Server Hardware Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Endurance Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 2 —HP NetServer AA Overview
Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Virtual Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Redirected Video and the CE Desktop Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
HP NetServer AA Boot Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
HP NetServer AA Characteristics During the CE Boot Process. . . . . . 20
IOP Multi-Boot Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
HP NetServer AA Component States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Server States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
CE Operating System States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
CE States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
IOP States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Interconnect States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
MIC Port State Display Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Mirrored Disk States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Network Connection States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Keyboard/Pointer States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Other HP NetServer AA Component States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Monitoring the HP NetServer AA Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
HP NetServer AA Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Contents
iv
Chapter 3 —Redirected Video and the CE Desktop Application
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
CE Video During Boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Redirected Video Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
CE Video Drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Video Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Some Remote Control Applications Not Supported on the CE . . . . . . 40
Recommendations for Efficient Use of Redirected Video . . . . . . . . . 40
Using the CE Desktop Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Launching the Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Running the CE Desktop Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Setting Video Resolution and Refresh Frequency. . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Chapter 4 —Endurance Manager
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Starting the Endurance Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Endurance Manager Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Administration Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Device Status Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Last Mirror Copy Status Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Display and Control Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Options Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
View Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Tools Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Help Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Using Endurance Manager on a Remote Workstation. . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Security Features for Remote Use of Endurance Manager . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 5 —Commands
Issuing Endurance Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Verifying Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

v
Contents
Command Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
CE1 or CE2 Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
CE_O/S Shutdown Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
ESI Enable Operation Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
IL12 Enable Operation Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
IOP1 and IOP2 Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
IOPn.DatagramService Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
IOPn.Diskx Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
IOPn.Dsl Show Configuration Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
IOPn.Ethernetx Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
IOPn.EthernetProvider Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
IOPn.EventProvider Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
IOPn.InputProvider Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
IOPn.Monitor Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
IOPn.ScsiProvider Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Management Show Computer Information Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Server Shutdown Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Tuple Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Chapter 6 —Configuration Utility
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Starting the Endurance Configuration Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Using the Endurance Configuration Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Display Device Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Remove Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Change CE Ethernet Adapters Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Commit Configuration Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Verifying Device Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Chapter 7 —Tools and Utilities
MIC BIOS Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Using the MIC BIOS Setup Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Contents
vi
MTCFLASH Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Running MTCFLASH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
MTCCPYNT Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Running MTCCPYNT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
MTCEINFO Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Making an MTC Diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
MTCLOG Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
MTCCONS (Endurance Manager Console Commands). . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Chapter 8 —Managing Faults
Fault Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Diagnosing Faults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Isolating Faults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Correcting Faults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Chapter 9 —Maintenance
Rebooting an IOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Shutting Down an IOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Shutting Down a Tuple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Shutting Down a CE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Shutting Down the CE Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Rebooting the Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Shutting Down the Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Replacing an Interconnect Fiber Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Replacing the IL Cable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Replacing an IOPx.Ethernet Cable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Replacing a MIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Removing a MIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Installing a New MIC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Replacing an IOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Removing an IOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Preparing a New IOP for Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

vii
Contents
Installing a New IOP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Replacing a CE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Updating MIC BIOS, FPGA, and Microcode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Replacing a Failed Ethernet Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Installing the Replacement Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Configuring the Replacement Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Reconfiguring a Public Ethernet Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Updating an Ethernet Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Adding a Windows NT Service Pack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
For the CE Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
For an IOP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Uninstalling a Windows NT Service Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Replacing a Failed Mirrored Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Partitioning the Replacement Mirrored Disk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Reenabling Faulted Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Appendix A —MIC Specifications and LEDs
Marathon Interface Card (MIC) Specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
MIC LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Appendix B —Endurance Boot Flow Charts
Glossary
Index

ix
Tables
1-1 HP NetServer AA Server Benefits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1-2 HP NetServer AA Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2-1 Multi-Boot Options for IOPs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2-2 Server States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2-3 CE Operating System States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2-4 CE States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2-5 IOP States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2-6 Interconnect States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2-7 MIC Port State Display Lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2-8 Mirrored Disk States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2-9 Network Connection States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2-10 Keyboard/Pointer States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2-11 States of Other HP NetServer AA Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2-12 Monitoring Tools for the HP NetServer AA Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2-13 Event Log Icons and Message Severity Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3-1 Recommendations for Efficient Use of CE Video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3-2 Video Mode Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4-1 Endurance Manager Main Window Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4-2 Administration Window Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4-3 Endurance Manager Color Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4-4 Device Status Windows Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4-5 Endurance Manager Options Affecting the Device Status Window . . . . . . . . 58
4-6 Last Mirror Copy Status Window Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4-7 Endurance Manager Options Affecting the Last Mirror Copy Status Window . . . 60
4-8 Display and Control Window Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4-9 Options Window Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4-10 View Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4-11 Tools Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4-12 Help Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5-1 Accessing Endurance Manager Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5-2 Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
5-3 CE1 or CE2 Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5-4 CE Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
5-5 ESI Data Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5-6 IOP1 and IOP2 Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
5-7 IOPn.DatagramService Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
5-8 DatagramService Parameter Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5-9 DatagramService Port Counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5-10 DatagramService Port Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Tables
x
5-11 IOPn.Diskx Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5-12 IOPn.Ethernetx Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5-13 Ethernet Port Counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5-14 Ethernet Show Port Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5-15 IOPn.EthernetProvider Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5-16 Ethernet Provider Parameter Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
5-17 Ethernet Provider Counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
5-18 IOPn.EventProvider Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5-19 Event Provider Dropped Event Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5-20 IOPn.InputProvider Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
5-21 InputProvider Counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
5-22 InputProvider Input Device States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5-23 IOPn.Monitor Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5-24 Monitor Client Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5-25 Monitor Configuration Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
5-26 MIC Interconnect Status Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
5-27 Monitor Parameter Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
5-28 IOPn.ScsiProvider Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
5-29 Tuple Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
6-1 Endurance Configuration Utility Devices and Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
6-2 Endurance Configuration Utility Button Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
6-3 SCSI Parameter Mappings in the Windows NT Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
7-1 MIC BIOS Setup Window Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
7-2 Creating the MTC Diskette for Running MTCFlash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
7-3 MTCFLASH Tool Switches and Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
7-4 MTCCONS Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
7-5 Summary of MTCCONS Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
8-1 Diagnosing Faults. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
9-1 Interconnect Fiber Cable Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
9-2 Considerations for Configuring a Replacement Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
9-3 Endurance Manager Commands to Reenable Components . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
A-1 MIC Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
A-2 MIC Fiber Cable Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
A-3 Firmware LED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
A-4 Fiber LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

xi
Figures
1-1 HP NetServer AA Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1-2 HP NetServer AA Server Physical versus Logical View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2-1 Interconnect Paths in the HP NetServer AA Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2-2 The Virtual Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2-3 Overview of IOP Boot Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2-4 Overview of CE Boot Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4-1 Endurance Manager Main Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4-2 Endurance Manager Administration Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4-3 Device Status Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4-4 Last Mirror Copy Status Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4-5 Display and Control Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4-6 Options Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6-1 Endurance Configuration Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
7-1 MIC Setup Screen with MIC Identity Unknown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7-2 MIC Setup Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
7-3 MIC Setup Confirmation Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
A-1 MIC LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
B-1 IOP Boot Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
B-2 CE Boot Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

xiii
This guide describes the use and maintenance of the HP NetServer AA server from Hewlett-
Packard.
Audience
This guide is written for experienced network administrators and technical personnel
responsible for installing, configuring, administering, and managing network server hardware
and software, including MicrosoftWindows NT, as well as users of HP NetServer AA
servers.
Documentation Set
The documentation set includes:
•HP NetServer AA Solution Installation Guide that describes how to install your server.
•HP NetServer AA Solution Administrator’s Guide that describes the server and its related
applications. This guide also includes information about how to monitor and manage your
server.
•HP NetServer AA Solution Messages that lists and describes all messages. HP NetServer
AA Solution Messages is not shipped in printed form. It is available online only using the
HP NetServer AA Solution CD-ROM.
•HP NetServer AA 6200 Solution Release Notes (Release 3.0 Service Pack 1) that describe
release-specific information, including installation requirements, operational information,
and known product limitations that are not documented elsewhere in the documentation
set. You should read the Release Notes before installing and using the server.
All the documentation is available online using the HP NetServer AA Solution CD-ROM that
was shipped with your HP NetServer AA Solution kit.
Preface

Preface
xiv
Conventions
The following conventions are used in the documentation set:
Unless noted otherwise, all cross-references are to chapters and pages within this book.
Convention Description
Italics,
Courier font
Indicates a variable that you replace in a path name or command
Bold, Courier
font
Indicates actions or commands that you must type. For example, type A:\ETX
Courier font Represents examples of screen text. For example, scsiid = 0, 1.
Bold Is used to:
•Emphasize important information.
•Indicate menu, pathname, or button selections.
•Indicate actions you perform.
Italics Is used to:
•Highlight the state of the server component.
•Refer to manual, chapter, or section titles.
Blue text (Available only in online documentation.) Indicates a hyperlink (cross-reference to
another section of the documentation set). Clicking on the link takes you to the
appropriate place in the documentation set.
Caution Is used to indicate procedures you should not perform or situations you should avoid in
order to avoid personal injury.
Warning Is used to indicate procedures or actions that could cause file or data corruption, loss of
data, or damage to server components.

xv
Preface
For Customer Support and Warranty Information
Refer to the Warranty & Support for Your HP NetServer booklet supplied with your NetServer
for information relating to warranty or customer support.

Preface
xvi

1
This chapter describes the HP NetServer AA server, the server with ComputeThru TM
technology that enables the server to continue computing even when system components fail.
This chapter provides a conceptual overview of the server, introduces HP NetServer AA
terminology, and describes the components of a server.
This chapter contains the following sections:
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
HP NetServer AA Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
HP NetServer AA Server Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Endurance Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1 Introduction

Chapter 1 Introduction
2
Introduction
HP’s NetServer AA server is a fault tolerant Microsoft Windows NT server that provides
Constant ComputingTM, mirrored data storage, and uninterrupted network access. The server
integrates standard Intel Pentium-based systems, standard Windows NT operating system, and
HP’s patented technology to offer a fault tolerant server that runs Windows NT-compatible
applications.
The server providescontinuous computing for your Windows NT serverand its applications by
providing redundant CPU processing and memory. It ensures data redundancy by mirroring
server data across independent storage systems. These functions provide uninterrupted support
for the server applications and network activities by eliminating the server downtime usually
associated with failed I/O controllers, Ethernet adapters, disk drives, and loss of network
connectivity. The server provides fault tolerance, with No Touch RecoveryTM should a failure
occur, while remaining transparent to application software.
Because the server includes SplitSiteTM support, you can use the server as a real-time “hot site”
by mirroring data in different geographic locations. This protects yourdata fromminor business
interruptions, such as power failures, while providing maximum site disaster protection.
Additionally, SplitSite can provide offsite data storage for your server.
The server detects events and reports any events, including state changes and faults, to the
Windows NT event logs or displays them as they occur on Windows NT blue screens during the
text phase of boot or when a CE is being deconfigured. Events are also reported in pop-up
windows; and, for messages that pertain to the monitoring of the server, events can be displayed
in windows on the Endurance Manager. Using third-party alarm notification tools, you can
configure the server to notify you when targeted events occur.
The server includes the Endurance Manager, a complete server management solution. The
EnduranceManager is a graphicaluser interface(GUI) based management tool that enables you
tomonitorand manage the server.Thistoolincludesbothlocal andremotemanagementsupport
for the server.
The key benefits of using the server are listed in Table 1-1.

3
Chapter 1 Introduction
Table 1-1 HP NetServer AA Server Benefits
Benefit Description
Redundant, fault tolerant
processing and I/O subsystem The server uses redundant hardware and Endurance software to ensure that your server remains operational even in the event of a failed
processor, a memory failure, an I/O failure (even those associated with I/O
controllers), a disk drive failure, or a failed Ethernet adapter.
SplitSite Support The server implements SplitSite technology that enables you to locate
your server across different geographic locations. This real-time “hot site”
provides a complete range of data protection from minimal business
interruptions (such as power failure) to maximum disaster protection.
Continuous network connectivity The CE maintains continuous network connectivity by detecting any
network adapter or connectivity failures. If a failure occurs, the redundant
network connection continues processing all network traffic. This ensures
that server network connections are maintained without loss of network
traffic or client connectivity.
Support for multiple network
connections The server can support multiple Ethernet connections or connections to multiple networks to provide additional network redundancy and network
traffic control.
Industry-standard hardware
platform The server uses industry-standard Pentium II and Pentium III-based system hardware. This reduces the cost of initial ownership and enables
you to redeploy these systems if you upgrade your server.
Run unmodified, shrink-wrapped
applications The server can execute any Windows NT-compatible application. This means that you do not have to generate support for any special APIs or
scripts to enable your application to run on the server.
Automatic mirroring In a server, the data on mirrored devices is automatically maintained,
ensuring that data are current.
Automatic fault detection and
reporting The server detects, isolates, and reports all events, including general status, state changes, and faults. Most messages are logged to the
Windows NT event logs, while others are displayed as they occur in
Windows NT blue screens, pop-up windows, or in a window in the
Endurance Manager.
Transparent switchover The software constantly monitors the server for events. If a server
component fails, the server transparently uses that component’s redundant
counterpart. This maintains data and user access without any loss of
service to applications.

Chapter 1 Introduction
4
Automatic reconfiguration When a fault condition occurs, or after that fault is corrected and the failed
component is returned to service, the server automatically reconfigures
and, if needed, synchronizes the components affected by the fault. This
can include CPU processing, including CPU memory; the server’s
operating system and associated applications; and any system data,
including data stored on mirrored devices. The redundancy of the
components in the server is transparently restored after most failures.
Local and remote management The server includes a complete server management tool, the Endurance
Manager. This tool has a GUI from which you can monitor and configure
your server. You can use Endurance Manager locally or at a remote
Windows NT server.
Event reporting Note: Most detected events and failures are reported and logged into the
Windows NT event log. This enables log entries to be viewed locally
or remotely using standard Windows NT procedures. Events are
easily identified because they have a unique identifier. Because
standard event reporting is implemented, you can integrate standard
third-party alarm notification applications to help manage your
server.
Note: Other detected events are displayed in Windows NT blue screens, in
pop-up windows, or in a window on the Endurance Manager as they
occur. For complete documentation of messages, refer to the online
book HP NetServer AA Solution Messages.
Online repair You can repair and replace many hardware components while the server
remains online and operational.
Table 1-1 HP NetServer AA Server Benefits (Continued)
Benefit Description