C H A P T E R  3

Using the hd Utility on Windows 2003

This chapter describes how to use the hd utility, also known as hdtool, on Windows Server 2003 in 32-bit and 64-bit mode. The hd utility is a hard drive mapping tool used to determine the logical-to-physical device mapping and can be used on many x64 servers.

This chapter includes the following sections:


Installing the hd Utility on Windows

For instructions on installing the utility, see Installing the hd Utility and follow this procedure.

procedure icon  To Install the hd Utility on Windows

  1. From the /windows/w2k3/tools/hdtool directory of the Tools and Drivers CD or CD image, get the w2k3_hd1.0x_pkg.zip file.

  2. Unzip the file and move to the appropriate Program directory.

procedure icon  To Remove hd Utility on Windows


Running the hd Utility on Windows

You use the utility to get a logical-to-physical mapping of the devices. This mapping can help you to administer the system, manage the hard drives, and troubleshoot the server.

The hd utility output enables you to locate all the disks visually based on the physical topology of the Sun Fire X4500/X4540 server drives by providing a color-coded hard drive location map. The hd utility has the following features:

The hd utility maps the drives and produces output that can help you to identify empty slots and drives that have not been enumerated.

The following are sample output that displays the hard drive’s physical slot number, logical name, and status:


--------------------------------------SunFireX4540------Rear------------------
 3:     7:     11:     15:     19:     23:     27:     31:     35:     39:     43:     47: 
drive3 drive7  drive11 drive15 drive19 drive23 drive27 drive31 drive35 drive39 drive43 drive47
^++    ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++ 
2:     6:     10:     14:     18:     22:     26:     30:     34:     38:     42:     46: 
drive2 drive6  drive10 drive14 drive18 drive22 drive26 drive30 drive34 drive38 drive42 drive46 
^++    ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++ 
1:     5:      9:     13:     17:     21:     25:     29:     33:     37:     41:     45: 
drive1 drive5  drive9  drive13 drive17 drive21 drive25 drive29 drive33 drive37 drive41 drive45 
^++    ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++ 
0:     4:      8:     12:     16:     20:     24:     28:     32:     36:     40:     44: 
drive0 drive4  drive8  drive12 drive16 drive20 drive24 drive28 drive32 drive36 drive40 drive44 
^b+    ^b+     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++     ^++ 
--------------*------------------*----SunFireX4540----*---Front-----*---------

The Sun Fire X4500/X4540 server comes with six controllers, each supporting up to eight SATA drives, for a total of 48 SATA drives.

The drive number is the Windows logical drive number as used by the Windows diskpart application and the Windows Disk Management software. You can access the Windows Disk Management software from Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management.

A Sun Fire X4500/X4540 server with 48 drives is the only supported configuration.

On the Sun Fire X4500 server, the boot device nodes are the following:

These are the bootable drives, and the operating system must be installed on one of these drives.

On the Sun Fire X4540 server, the boot device nodes are the following:

The hd output can also help you with identifying empty slots and drives that have not been recognized by the Windows operating system.


Starting the hd Utility Command Line

To use hd utility, choose Start > All Programs > Sun HD Tool > hdtool.

Start a command prompt and run the hd utility:

> hd

If a command prompt is started, type:

cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Sun\hd"



Tip - For better viewing, widen the screen to 95 or 110 in size. Move and right-click the mouse on the left top corner of the hdtool command prompt to choose Command Prompt > Properties > Layout > Window Size > Width > "110".




hd Command Options and Parameters

Use the hd command to determine the status of a hard drive by mapping the drive location using the parameters shown in TABLE 3-1.


TABLE 3-1   
Option Description
no option Maps and displays a status of all hard drives in color mode.

There are three status rows for each device:

  • Physical slot/location that matches the chassis label.

  • Logical location that matches Windows device name.

  • Drive runtime status

The following syntax is used.

  • Up arrow (^): Indicates the device.

  • ++: Device is present and accessible.

  • --: Device is not accessible, absent/empty or down.

  • .: Devices under the controller are not enumerated. The controller is not enumerated until there is a drive in the slots.

  • ##: Device has warning messages from the storage subsystem.

  • b: Drive slot is bootable if there is OS installed on the drive.

-h or /? Provides utility help information.
-q or /q This option is for the Sun Fire X4500/X4540 server only.It provides a list of Sun Fire X4500/X4540 hard drive physical slot numbers, logical names, and status (present or absent). This option is useful for scripting environments. For example, some applications could include hd -q in noninteractive mode to determine if a specific drive in a specific physical slot is accessible before configuring RAID.
-s or /s Shows summary of all drives.
-x Produces hd_map.html page.


Viewing the hd Utility Drive Mapping Output

You can use the drive mapping output from hd utility for remote analysis. The utility probes and displays the available storage devices in the system.

The hd utility output makes the distinction between controllers, slots, and storage devices that are physically present in the machine and visible to Linux.

This chapter includes the following sections:

procedure icon  To Display the Hard Drive Map

procedure icon  To Display the Drives in Sequential Order

Use the following command to display the disk’s physical slot number, logical name, and status (present or absent).

This option is useful for scripting environments.

For example, some applications could include hd -q in noninteractive mode to determine if a specific drive in a specific physical slot is accessible before configuring RAID.

> hd -q

procedure icon  To Display the Summary

procedure icon  To Display Help