Sun OpenBoot Parameters and commands

About Openboot :

The firmware in Sun's boot PROM is called OpenBoot. The main features of openboot are  initial program loading ,   &  debugging features to assist kernel debugging .OpenBoot supports plug-in device drivers which are written in language Forth. . This plug in feature allows Sun or any third-party vendors to develop new boot devices but without making any changes to  boot PROM.

Accessing the openboot :

Openboot  console can be accessed by any of the following means . Be careful not to do this on a live system as you might end up in rebooting the server .

1. Rebooting a system , if auto-boot is not set to true rebooted system returns to OK> prompt which is openboot prompt

2. Pressing the keys L1 and A  or STOP A  ,  at the same time will bring you to the OpenBoot system. You will see the display

Type b (boot), c (continued), or n (new command mode)
>

 Typing b boots   the operating system . Typing c resumes the execution of a halted program. Typing n gets you to the Forth monitor, and the prompt will change to ok.  

OpenBoot Parameters & commands:

Following two tables gives a list of Openboot parameters & commands 

1. Openboot Parameters
2. Openboot Commands

printenv

Display all variables and current values.

setenv <variable>

Set variable to the given   value.

set-default  <variable>

Reset the value of variable to the factory default.

set-defaults 

Reset variable values to the factory defaults.

auto-boot

?=true

System directly boots without stopping at OK> after power on.

boot-comman

d=boot
command passed on to auto boot if true. 

boot-file:  
File  for booting  Solaris , default is empty string .This variable contains the default boot arguments that are used when OpenBoot is not in diagnostic mode.

boot-device

=disk net  Device to boot from , multiple devices can be specified using spaces .Other devices will be selected if  first device fails.

 

tpe-link-test?

=true

Tests the UTP  ethernet port link and flashes error messages if there is no network  link.

local-mac-address?

=false

Use the system's  MAC address instead of network card's MAC address . 

Ports

ttyb-rts-dtr-off

=false
ttyb-ignore-cd

=true
ttya-rts-dtr-off

=false
ttya-ignore-cd

=true
ttyb-mode

=9600,8,n,1,-
ttya-mode

=9600,8,n,1,- 

diag-file:

boot file for diagnostic mode This variable contains the default diagnostic mode boot arguments.
diag-device=net

booting device in diagnostic mode.

diag-switch?=false

If true system runs in diagnostic mode.

diag-level=max
Level for diagnostics information , can 

be  min , max and minus . There may be additional platform specific values. If set to off, POST is not called. The default value is platform-dependent.

input-device=keyboard

Input device used at power-on (  keyboard, ttya, or  ttyb).  

keyboard-click?=false

keyboard click sound

keymap:  

For custom keyboards

output-device=screen

Output device used at power-on (screen,
ttya, or ttyb).
ansi-terminal?=true

controls  the behavior of the terminal emulator. The value false causes  the terminal emulator to  stop interpreting ANSI escape sequences resulting in  echoing them to the output device. 
screen-#columns=80
screen-#rows=34

Columns and Rows of display screen.

scsi-initiator-id=7

SCSI bus address of host adapter, range 0-7. Used  in shared scsi storage envornment.
 

pcia-probe-list

=1,2,3,4
pcib-probe-list

=1,2,3

sbus-probe-list

=2,0,1,3

Order to probe pci and sbus  buses for devices.

use-nvramrc?=false

If true , execute commands in NVRAMRC during sys-
tem start-up. Defaults to false .
nvramrc

Displays contents of NVRAM

security-mode=none

Firmware security level (options: none, command ,
or full). If set to command or full, system will prompt for PROM security password. 
  

Security password setting when security mode is command or full.
security-#badlogins=0

No. of bad security login .

password Set  security-password

oem-logo=false
oem-logo?=false
oem-banner?=false

mfg-mode=off

banner 

this command shows the following  systems hardware informatiion : Model, architecture, processor,keyboard, openboot version, Serial no. ethernet  address & host id.
test floppy - test floppy disk drive
test net - test network loopbacks
test scsi - test scsi interface
test-all    test for all devices with selftest method
watch-clock  

Show ticks of real-time clock
watch-net

Monitor network broadcast packets
watch-net-all

Monitor broadcast packets on all net interfaces
probe-scsi

Show attached SCSI devices

probe-scsi-all 

Show attached SCSI devices for all host adapters- internal & external.

boot - boot kernel from default device.
Factory default is to boot
from DISK if present, otherwise from NET.
boot net - boot kernel from network
boot cdrom - boot kernel from CD-ROM
boot disk1:h - boot from disk1 partition h
boot tape - boot default file from tape
boot disk myunix -as - boot myunix from disk with flags "-as"

DEVALIAS

ok>show-devs

ok cd /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3 

ok .properties

ok ls

f00809d8 tape

f007ecdc disk

ok .speed

CPU Speed : 200.00MHz

UPA Speed : 100.00MHz 

PCI Bus A : 66Mhz

PCI Bus B : 33Mhz

nvedit Start nvramrc line editor using a temporary edit buffer
use-nvramrc? If this variable is true , Contents of nvramrc is executed automatically. Set using setenv command
nvrun Execute the contents of nvedit edit buffer
nvstore Save the contents of the nvedit buffer into NVRAM
nvrecover Recover nvramrc after a set-defaults
nvalias <name> <path> Edit nvramrc to include devalias called 'name'
nvunalias <name> Edit nvramrc to remove devalias called 'name'

Key Sequences

These commands are disabled if the PROM security is on. Also, if your system has full security enabled, you cannot apply any of the suggested commands unless you have the password to get to the ok prompt.

Stop - Bypass POST. This command does not depend on security-mode. (Note: some systems bypass POST as a default; in such cases, use Stop-D to start POST.)

Stop-A  Abort.

Stop-D - Enter diagnostic mode (set diag-switch? to true).

Stop-F - Enter Forth on TTYA instead of probing. Use exit to continue with the initialization sequence. Useful if hardware is broken.

Stop-N  Reset NVRAM contents to default values.