POST

Power-on self-test (POST) probes and tests the components of uninitialized Sun Enterprise 10000 system hardware, configures what it deems worthwhile into a coherent initialized system, and hands it off to OpenBoot PROM (OBP). POST passes to OBP a list of only those components that have been successfully tested; those in the blacklist(4) file are excluded.

hpost(1M) is the SSP-resident executable program that controls and sequences the operations of POST. hpost(1M) reads directives in the optional file .postrc (see postrc(4)) before it begins operation with the host.

Running hpost(1M) outside of the bringup(1M) command can cause the system to fail. hpost(1M), when run by itself, does not check the state of the platform, and causes fatal resets.

POST looks at blacklist(4), which is on the SSP, before preparing the system for booting. blacklist(4) specifies the Sun Enterprise 10000 components that POST must not configure.

POST stores the results of its tests in an internal data structure called a board descriptor array. The board descriptor array contains status information for most of the major components of the Sun Enterprise 10000 system, including information about the UltraSPARC(TM) modules.

POST attempts to connect and disconnect each system board, one at a time, to the system centerplane. POST then connects all the system boards that passed the tests to the system centerplane.