Using olrad to remotely flag PCI slots

Many rack-mountable Integrity servers from the rx3600 and up support OLAR, which is an acronym of "online addition and replacement" that applies in many cases to PCI cards. Cell-based servers also support OLAR of complete cells. The System Management Homepage offers some OLAR-related commands but over time I've learned to use the CLI-based olrad command which I trust more than the GUI.

The olrad command can be used not only to replace cards, but also to flash a LED under specific PCI slots. This is very useful when you send an operator on site to plug wires; using olar, you can flag the exact slot where you want a cable to be plugged, and save time.

Here is a quick procedure to see how to do this:

1. Run ioscan to show the hardware path of your device

Example:

# ioscan -kfnC lan
Class     I  H/W Path        Driver S/W State   H/W Type     Description
=========================================================================
lan       0  0/0/1/1/0/6/0   igelan   CLAIMED     INTERFACE    HP A9784-60002 PCI/PCI-X 1000Base-T FC/GigE Combo Adapter
lan       1  1/0/1/1/0/6/0   iether   CLAIMED     INTERFACE    HP AB290-60001 PCI/PCI-X 1000Base-T 2-port U320 SCSI/2-port 1000B-T Combo Adapter
lan       2  1/0/1/1/0/6/1   iether   CLAIMED     INTERFACE    HP AB290-60001 PCI/PCI-X 1000Base-T 2-port U320 SCSI/2-port 1000B-T Combo Adapter
lan       3  1/0/12/1/0/6/0  igelan   CLAIMED     INTERFACE    HP A9784-60002 PCI/PCI-X 1000Base-T FC/GigE Combo Adapter

2. Run "olrad -q" to obtain a table matching hardware paths with slot numbers.

Example:

# olrad -q
                                                        Driver(s)
                                                        Capable
Slot     Path            Bus    Max  Spd  Pwr  Occu Susp OLAR  OLD  Max   Mode
                        Num    Spd                                 Mode
0-0-0-1  0/0/8/1         140    133  133  Off  No   N/A  N/A   N/A  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-0-2  0/0/10/1        169    133  133  Off  No   N/A  N/A   N/A  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-0-3  0/0/12/1        198    266  266  Off  No   N/A  N/A   N/A  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-0-4  0/0/14/1        227    266  266  Off  No   N/A  N/A   N/A  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-0-5  0/0/6/1         112    266  266  Off  No   N/A  N/A   N/A  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-0-6  0/0/4/1         84     266  266  Off  No   N/A  N/A   N/A  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-0-7  0/0/2/1         56     133  133  Off  No   N/A  N/A   N/A  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-0-8  0/0/1/1         28     133  133  On   Yes  No   Yes   Yes  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-1-1  1/0/8/1         396    133  133  Off  No   N/A  N/A   N/A  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-1-2  1/0/10/1        425    133  133  Off  No   N/A  N/A   N/A  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-1-3  1/0/12/1        454    266  133  On   Yes  No   Yes   Yes  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-1-4  1/0/14/1        483    266  266  Off  No   N/A  N/A   N/A  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-1-5  1/0/6/1         368    266  266  Off  No   N/A  N/A   N/A  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-1-6  1/0/4/1         340    266  266  Off  No   N/A  N/A   N/A  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-1-7  1/0/2/1         312    133  133  Off  No   N/A  N/A   N/A  PCI-X PCI-X
0-0-1-8  1/0/1/1         284    133  133  On   Yes  No   Yes   Yes  PCI-X PCI-X

3. Run "olrad -I ATTN slot_number" to flash the LED under the desired slot.

Example:

# olrad -I ATTN 0-0-0-8

4. When you're done, turn off the LED on your slot using "olrad -I OFF slot_number"

Example:

# olrad -I OFF 0-0-0-8