Re: Netra T5220

[Brett Lymn <blymn%internode.on.net@localhost>]

On Sun, Nov 18, 2018 at 03:57:53PM -0700, Don NetBSD wrote:
> 
> [Of course, I suspect I'll uncover additional uses as I tinker more with 
> it!]
> 

Yep, I am sure there are plenty of things there :)

> Think of it as having a similar function wrt the ILOM as the OBP has to
> the OS in older Sun boxen.
> 

No, this is a totally different processor, the SP is, effectively, a
separate computer that has hooks into the main machine's hardware for
monitoring and control.  Changing things at the u-boot level has no real
effect on the main machine, just the SP.  You can still access the OBP
when you start the host console.

> Of course, at $WORK, you're not trying to get INTO a box that someone
> has locked up -- as YOU are the party who likely locked it up in the first
> place!
> 

Indeed, what I really meant is that I have never seen any official
Oracle documentation for the SP boot.  It is not something that they
encourage you to poke at.

> OTOH, when a system falls into your lap, you don't always have that sort
> of access.  So, you need to rely on mechanisms that the designers put in
> place to make this sort of thing possible!

Yes, it sounds like a lot of it is aimed at disaster recovery, when the
machine has cratered.  At $WORK that usually means somebody's services
are down which they normally get agitated about at which point we
usually just either have an Oracle field engineer out or have support
guiding us.

-- 
Brett Lymn
Let go, or be dragged - Zen proverb.