Using the pcli Utility to Create a Bootable Drive (SPARC)

This section describes how to use the pcli utility to create a logical drive on a SPARC system prior to installing the Oracle Solaris operating system (OS). This section contains the following topics:

• To Prepare to Use the pcli Utility

• To Create a Logical Drive With the pcli Utility

To Prepare to Use the pcli Utility

1. Open an xterm or a gnome terminal window.

   pcli commands can produce large amounts of detailed output. The xterm and gnome terminal windows provide scroll bar functionality, which helps with viewing such output.

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   Note - If you do not have access to a terminal window with scroll bars, such as the xterm or gnome windows, you can use the pcli pagination feature. This feature enables you to specify a number of lines to be printed on the screen before pausing, at which time you must hit a key to continue. For example, the following pcli command prints 20 lines at a time to the screen: {0} ok cli -AdpAllInfo -page 20

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2. Enter the OBP environment by performing one of the following tasks:
   • Press STOP+A on a Sun keyboard from Oracle.
   • Issue a break from a remote console.
3. Use the show-devs command to list the device paths on the system and select the device path for the HBA.

    {0} ok show-devs
   <...>
   /pci@1e,600000/pci@0/pci@3/LSI,mrsas@0
    /pci@1e,600000/pci@0/pci@3/LSI,mrsas@0/disk
    /pci@1e,600000/pci@0/pci@3/LSI,mrsas@1
   <...>
   

4. Use the select-dev command to select the HBA on which the pcli commands that you issue will operate.

   {0} ok “ /pci@1e,600000/pci@0/pci@3/LSI,mrsas@0” select-dev

   You have now selected the HBA upon which all pcli commands will operate. This means you do not need to specify the HBA in any pcli command that you issue, unlike with the MegaCli utility. For example, if you issue the pcli command, -AdpAllInfo, the command automatically applies to the selected HBA. However, the equivalent command through the MegaCli utility would apply only to the card that you specify (the 0 card, as shown here):

   SPARC pcli: {0} ok cli -AdpAllInfo

   MegaCli: MegaCli -AdpAllInfo -a0

5. If you were able to determine and select the card that you wanted in the previous step, skip to . Otherwise, if more than one of the same RAID adapter card is displayed in the select-dev output, use the -AdpAllInfo command to determine which card you want and then select that card.

   {0} ok cli -AdpAllInfo
   Product Name    : LSI MegaRAID SAS 9261-8i
   Product Name    : LSI MegaRAID SAS 9280-8e
   

   The -AdpAllInfo command provides the product name of the HBA. The 8i at the end of the HBA name, LSI MegaRAID SAS 9261-8i, indicates the card is an internal card. If the card is external, the name ends with 8e.

6. Review the following table for useful pcli commands.

   pcli Command Description cli -PdList Lists all physical drives. cli -CfgLdAdd Creates a RAID logical drive. cli -CfgLdDel Deletes a logical drive. cli -LdPdInfo Displays information about logical drives. cli -AdpAllInfo Displays HBA configuration information.

   You are now ready to use the pcli commands to create a logical drive, or MegaRAID virtual drive, on the HBA.

To Create a Logical Drive With the pcli Utility

1. Use the -PdList command to list all the physical drives attached to the HBA.

   Drives attached directly to the HBA are assigned an Enclosure Device ID number of 252 (only eight physical drives can be attached in this way). Drives connected to the HBA through a SAS expander or an external enclosure are assigned different Enclosure Device ID values. In the following example, the physical drive listed in the output is attached directly to the HBA (Enclosure Device ID value of 252).

   {0} ok cli -PdList
   Adapter #0
   Enclosure Device ID: 252
   Slot Number: 0
   <...>
   

2. Use the -CfgLdAdd command to create a logical drive (MegaRAID virtual disk) from the physical disks.

   {0} ok cli -CfgLdAdd -r0[252:0] -- for RAID 0, with Enclosure #252 and Slot 0 --
   {0} ok cli -CfgLdAdd -r1[E0:S0,E1:S1] -- for RAID 1 --
   

3. Use the format(1M) utility to label the physical disks from which you created the logical drive.

   All disks used by the HBA must be labeled, or contain a volume table of contents (VTOC). If you attempt to use an unlabeled disk with the HBA, the disk might not be recognized by the OS or the OS installation itself might fail. For more information about labeling disks, see the documentation for the physical disks.

4. Create an alias for the drive, as described in Creating an Alias for a Bootable Drive (SPARC).