Compaq ProLiant 8000 Specification sheet

White Paper

<none>

January 2000

11N8-0100A-WWEN

Prepared by:

Industry Standard Server Division

Compaq Computer Corporation

Contents

What Is NMI Crash Dump........... 3

Compaq Automatic Server

Recovery (ASR) ........................ 4

Initiating a NMI Crash Dump

Under NetWare............................ 6

Initiating a NMI Crash Dump

Under SCO OpenServer 5

and SCO UnixWare 7 .................. 6

How to Set Up NMI Crash

Dump Under Windows NT 4.0.... 7

Microsoft Software .................... 7

Compaq Software ..................... 8

How to Set Up NMI Crash

Dump Under Windows 2000 ...... 8

Microsoft Software (subject

to change) ................................. 8

Compaq Software (subject to

change) ..................................... 9

Where Is the Crash Dump

Button located? ........................ 10

ProLiant 8000.......................... 10

ProLiant 8500.......................... 11

Compaq ProLiant Server NMI

Crash Dump Feature

Abstract: This document provides a description of the Compaq

ProLiant Class Computer Systems implementation of NMI-based

Crash Dump facilities. This facility can be beneficial to system

administrators in their root cause failure analysis.

NMI Crash Dump allows customers to obtain critical diagnostic

information in the event of system lock-ups and other failures. Both

user-initiated and automatic crash dump support is presented.

Compaq ProLiant Server NMI Crash Dump Feature 2

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Notice

THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE AND

IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT

OF THE USE OF THIS INFORMATION REMAINS WITH RECIPIENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL

COMPAQ BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,

PUNITIVE, OR OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION,

DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, OR LOSS OF

BUSINESS INFORMATION), EVEN IF COMPAQ HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF

SUCH DAMAGES.

The limited warranties for Compaq products are exclusively set forth in the documentation accompanying

such products. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting a further or additional warranty.

This publication does not constitute an endorsement of the product or products that were tested. The

configuration or configurations tested or described may or may not be the only available solution. This test

is not a determination of product quality or correctness, nor does it ensure compliance with any federal,

state, or local requirements.

Compaq, NonStop, Deskpro, Compaq Insight Manager, Systempro, Systempro/LT, ProLiant, ROMPaq,

QVision, SmartStart, NetFlex, QuickFind, PaqFax, and ProSignia are registered with the United States

Patent and Trademark Office.

ActiveAnswers, Netelligent, Systempro/XL, SoftPaq, Fastart, QuickBlank, and QuickLock are trademarks

and/or service marks of Compaq Computer Corporation.

Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Microsoft

Corporation.

Intel, Pentium, and Xeon are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation.

Other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective

companies.

Compaq ProLiant Server NMI Crash Dump Feature

White Paper prepared by Industry Standard Server Division

First Edition (January 2000)

Document Number 11N8-0100A-WWEN

Compaq ProLiant Server NMI Crash Dump Feature 3

11N8-0100A-WWEN

What Is NMI Crash Dump

Non-Maskable Interrupt (NMI) Crash Dump is a diagnostic mechanism. It allows for crash dump

files to be created in situations when a system is hung and not able to respond to traditional debug

mechanisms.

Crash dump analysis is an essential part of diagnosing reliability problems such as hangs in

operating systems, device drivers, and applications. Many crashes will freeze a system in such a

way that your only recourse is to do a hard reset-(i.e. power cycle the system). Since resetting the

system erases any information that would support an analysis of the problem, it is desirable for

the system to be able to perform a memory dump before a hard reset is performed. A dump

switch and the associated support in Windows NT, Windows 2000, NetWare, SCO OpenServer 5,

and SCO UnixWare 7 provide this function.

Figure 1: NMI Crash Dump Issue Resolution Events

The dump switch can be used to diagnose software failures by forcing the operating system to

invoke the non-maskable interrupt (NMI) handler and generate a crash dump log. The crash dump

log can provide critical information for root-cause analysis that may be difficult or impossible to

obtain through other means

A user initiates a Non Maskable Interrupt (NMI) event by pressing the dump switch. The NMI

can allow a hung system to become responsive enough to generate a crash dump log.

WARNING: Using the NMI Crash Dump switch on a functioning system (using any operating

system) will cause the unit to abruptly fail. This is the designed functionality of the NMI Crash

Dump Switch. Thus, is should never be used during normal operation.

Compaq has enhanced Automatic Server Recovery (ASR) handling for situations where an

automated crash dump may be desired. ASR detects a lockup and normally provides a system

reset. ASR can be configured to generate the Crash Dump NMI instead of a reset. This will allow

for a crash dump file to be written prior to a system reset.

The Compaq health (systems management) driver must be loaded in order to properly

differentiate an NMI caused by the dump switch from a PCI SERR NMI. The dump switch

operates even if the health driver is not loaded.

The NMI Crash Dump switch may not work in all situations: after another NMI has already

occurred in the system, when the OS crash handler is incapable of running properly, following

some hardware failures, and when ASR is in progress, for example.

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Compaq Automatic Server Recovery (ASR)

ASR provides a means to recover from a lockup caused by either the software or the hardware.

The feature consists of a hardware countdown timer and a software driver, which periodically

refreshes the countdown timer. If the driver fails to report in and refresh the timer, the ASR

hardware timer normally resets the machine.

When configured for NMI Crash Dump, in Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, SCO OpenServer 5

and SCO UnixWare 7 ASR initiates the NMI Crash Dump instead of resetting the machine

ASR does not cover cases where the operating system or applications may be executing in an

indeterminate state. These cases would require the system administrator to intervene and initiate

the NMI with the crash dump button.

Note: All Compaq systems require the Compaq health (systems management) driver to support

ASR.

NMI Dump

Button

Compaq Sysmgmt Driver

(ASR Refresh)

Crash Dump/Mass

Storage Driver

Crash dump file

NMI

ASR Timer

Compaq Hardware

(NMI Tracker)

Hardware Abstraction Layer

Figure 2: Simplified Block Diagram of NMI Crash Dump Architecture

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Table 1. Highlights and Benefits of the NMI Crash Dump Feature

NMI Product Highlights NMI Product Benefits

Microsoft Software The Microsoft Hardware Abstraction

Layer (HAL) is enhanced to support

NMI Crash Dump. This enhancement

is now standard in the Microsoft HAL

delivered with Microsoft NT 4.0

Service Pack 4 or later. No special

installation requirements are needed

Allows user level settings for a crash

dump file generation to be obeyed.

NetWare Part of the core operating system. No

special installation requirements.

Customer may specify the target file

location with NetWare 5. Customer

may select to dump all memory or

skip the cache memory in NetWare 4

and NetWare 5.

SCO UnixWare 7

SCO OpenServer 5

Part of the core operating system. No

special installation requirements

unless customer wishes to configure

to ASR crash dump file generation.

Allows user level settings for an ASR

crash dump file generation.

Compaq Hardware Push button switch is added to

Compaq Servers to create a NMI.

Available on the Compaq ProLiant 8000

and 8500.

A push button switch is connected to

a Compaq hardware device that

causes a NMI (PCI SERR) and

initiates the crash dump file creation

as described above.

Compaq Software Components are updated to provide

the enhanced ASR NMI functionality

to display Integrated Management

Log of the events and the new

messages for the Integrated

Management Display.

This function is dependent upon the

Compaq System Management drivers

being installed. The device drivers are

distributed with the Compaq

Windows NT SSD.

Note: Novell support is on the

Novel SSD. UnixWare support is on the

EFS.

Note: The push button switch that is connected to the Compaq hardware device is a user-initiated

event and may be initiated at any time. This feature does not require any software to generate the

NMI.

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Initiating a NMI Crash Dump Under NetWare

1. User presses the NMI Crash Dump push button switch which will present the user with a

abend screen.

2. Depending on the version of NetWare, you may see either an ABEND (Abnormal END)

screen or a NetWare debugger screen.

a) From the ABEND screen, press “Y” to create a core dump

b) From the debugger, type the command “.c” (dot-c) to initiate a core dump

3. Note that the core dump file will be saved on the C: drive (typically C:\COREDUMP.IMG).

An adequate amount of free space must be available on the C: drive to store the entire core

dump file, which can be as large as the memory installed in the system.

4. Under some circumstances, you may have to force entry into the NetWare debugger. Press

shift-alt-shift-esc to enter the debugger, then use the “.c” command to initiate a core dump.

Initiating a NMI Crash Dump Under SCO

OpenServer 5 and SCO UnixWare 7

1. User presses the NMI Crash Dump push button switch. The core dump will be written

automatically to the swap area. The size and regions of the core dump are determined by

operating system specific features. The user should refer to SCO System Administration

documentation for information regarding tuning the SCO operation system for generating a

core dump.

Note: If the SCO Kernel Debugger is loaded, then the user will be at the SCO Kernel Debugger

command prompt when either the button is pressed or the system management (cpqw) driver is

configured to generate a crash dump for ASR events. The user can usually just quit the SCO

Kernel Debugger to generate a crash dump.

2. When the systems comes back up, the user is prompted if they want to save the dump to a

file. The following information will be required for further analysis of the core dump:

•The Kernel that was running at the time (/stand/unix)

•The Crash Dump file

•For SCO UnixWare 7, the entire contents of the /etc/conf/mod.d directory at the time of

the crash should be captured (i.e. a tar file).

Note: Users must save all of the information listed above immediately on the subsequent boot. If

not then there may not be enough information available to perform a detailed analysis of the

problem. Additionally, if the swap area is smaller than the physical memory installed in the

system a selective Crash Dump will be generated. This usually includes kernel memory space.

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3. To enable the automatic generation of a core dump if an ASR event occurs, the Compaq

Health (System Management) driver, cpqw, needs to be configured as follows:

•The Health (System Management) driver from the Compaq Extended Feature Set (EFS)

version 5.34 (for Sco OpenServer 5) or version 7.34 (For SCO UnixWare 7) must be

installed. A later version is also acceptable.

•Edit the /etc/conf/pack.d/cpqw/space.c. file and locate the variable:

cpqw_ASR_create_crash_dump in this file

•Change the assigned value from “DISABLED” TO “ENABLED”

•Relink the UNIX kernel in the usual way and reboot the server to activate the new setting

How to Set Up NMI Crash Dump Under

Windows NT 4.0

Microsoft Software

1. User installs Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 4 or higher.

2. User enables crash dump support through normal Control Panel mechanisms.

3. User enables auto restart support through normal Control Panel mechanisms.

4. User sets the Windows NT registry:

Enabling NMI Crash Dump:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl\NMICrashDu

mp = (DWORD)1

Disabling NMI Crash Dump:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl\NMICrashDu

mp = (DWORD)0

WARNING: Before making changes in the Registry, Compaq recommends that you make a

copy of the system settings. This will allow you to restore the system setting if there are errors.

Compaq ProLiant Server NMI Crash Dump Feature 8

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Compaq Software

1. Requires Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 4.0 or higher.

2. User installs Compaq NT SSD 2.13A or higher.

Note: Nearly all Compaq servers support ASR NMI with the exception of the ProLiant 400 and

the ProSignia 720. The ProLiant 8500 is supported by Compaq NT SSD 2.13A available with

SmartStart 4.30 or higher. The ProLiant 8000 is supported by Compaq NT SSD 2.14A available

with SmartStart 4.40 or higher.

3. User sets the Windows NT registry:

Enabling ASR NMI Crash Dump:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Sysmgmt\Parameters\Featu

reASR = (DWORD)0xe11

Disabling ASR NMI Crash Dump:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Sysmgmt\Parameters\Featu

reASR = (DWORD)0

How to Set Up NMI Crash Dump Under

Windows 2000

Microsoft Software (subject to change)

1. User installs Microsoft Windows 2000.

2. User enables crash dump support through normal Control Panel mechanisms.

3. User enables auto restart support through normal Control Panel mechanisms.

4. User sets the Windows NT registry:

Enabling NMI Crash Dump:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl\NMICrashDu

mp = (DWORD)1

Disabling NMI Crash Dump:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl\NMICrashDu

mp = (DWORD)0

Compaq ProLiant Server NMI Crash Dump Feature 9

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Compaq Software (subject to change)

1. User installs Compaq NT SSD 5.x (all versions have full support).

2. User sets the Windows NT registry.

Enabling ASR NMI Crash Dump:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\cpqasm\Parameters\Featur

eASR = (DWORD)0xe11

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\cpqcsm\Parameters\Featur

eASR = (DWORD)0xe11

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\cpqss\Parameters\FeatureA

SR = (DWORD)0xe11

Disabling ASR NMI Crash Dump:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\cpqasm\Parameters\Featur

eASR = (DWORD)0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\cpqcsm\Parameters\Featur

eASR = (DWORD)0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\cpqss\Parameters\FeatureA

SR = (DWORD)0

Compaq ProLiant Server NMI Crash Dump Feature 10

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Where Is the Crash Dump Button located?

Note: The NMI Crash Dump button hardware will generate a PCI SERR under all Operating

Systems. Initiating core memory dumps may be attainable under each individual OS.

ProLiant 8000

NMI Crash Dump Button

Figure 3: NMI Crash Dump Button Located in the ProLiant 8000 PCI Compartment

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