"ERROR: Can't open boot device" booting CDROM or disk with Sun[TM] Dual FastEthernet / Dual SCSI PCI Card

Asset ID:	1-72-1006156.1
Update Date:	2017-02-02
Keywords:

Solution Type Problem Resolution Sure

Solution 1006156.1 : "ERROR: Can't open boot device" booting CDROM or disk with Sun[TM] Dual FastEthernet / Dual SCSI PCI Card

Applies to:

Sun Fire 6800 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Fire V1280 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Fire 3800 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Fire 4800 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Fire 4810 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
All Platforms

Symptoms

A system is unable to boot CDROM or disk after configuring the boot alias of the DVD-Rom or disks of a D240 like a regular CDROM or disk connected to a SCSI(Small Computer System Interface) card.

The probe-scsi-all command shows the DVD-ROM at /ssm@0,0/pci@1d,700000/pci@1/scsi@2,1 at target 6, LUN 0, and shows the disks at /ssm@0,0/pci@1d,700000/pci@1/scsi@2,1 at targets 0 and 1.

 ok boot /ssm@0,0/pci@1d,700000/pci@1/scsi@2,1/sd@6,0:f
ERROR: Can't open boot-device

 ok boot /ssm@0,0/pci@1d,700000/pci@1/scsi@2,1/sd@0,0:f
ERROR: Can't open boot-device

Cause

The Sun Dual FastEthernet / Dual SCSI PCI Card uses "disk@X,X" instead of "sd@X,X" for its OpenBoot PROM (OBP) driver name.

Some users may be confused by this, as they assume that the OBP driver name will always be the same as the Solaris[TM] driver name. This is not the case.

Solution

When running the 'format' command from Solaris, it reports the device path as "sd@X,X". This also adds to the confusion, as it is using the Solaris driver name in the device path.

The correct method to allow for a successful boot is to use the device path as reported by the OpenBoot PROM (OBP), using the "show-disks" command.

It should be noted that the show-disks command does not report the device SCSI Target and LUN details. Target and LUN details can be obtained from the "probe-scsi-all" command.

This means you will need to add something like "@X,X" to the end of the device path supplied by "show-disks".

For example:

ok probe-scsi-all

...
/ssm@0,0/pci@1d,700000/pci@1/scsi@2,1
Target 0
Unit 0 Disk FUJITSU MAP3367N SUN36G 0401
Target 1
Unit 0 Disk FUJITSU MAP3367N SUN36G 0401
Target 2
Unit 0 Processor Sun D240 1.09
Target 3
Unit 0 Processor Sun D240 1.09
Target 4
Unit 0 Removable Tape HP C5683A C005
Target 6
Unit 0 Removable Read Only device TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-M17111005
.
.
ok show-disks
a) /pci@3d,700000/pci@1/scsi@2,1/disk
b) /pci@3d,700000/pci@1/scsi@2/disk
c) /pci@1d,700000/pci@1/scsi@2,1/disk
d) /pci@1d,700000/pci@1/scsi@2/disk
q) NO SELECTION
Enter Selection, q to quit: q

Using this information, and the Target / LUN details obtained from a probe-scsi-all, you can now construct the correct device path to boot from.

ok reset-all
ok boot /ssm@0,0/pci@1d,700000/pci@1/scsi@2,1/disk@6,0:f

NOTE:

Make sure that you execute 'reset-all' before 'boot' with "disk@X,X" at the end of the device path, otherwise you may not be able to boot and get the error: Data MMU Miss.

Using "reset-all" will avoid the following scenario:

ok boot /ssm@0,0/pci@1d,700000/pci@1/scsi@2,1/sd@6,0:f
ERROR: Can't open boot-device
ok boot /ssm@0,0/pci@1d,700000/pci@1/scsi@2,1/disk@6,0:f
Data MMU Miss

Whilst this issue is most frequently encountered on the D240, as it is most frequently used boot storage for the Sunfire Midrange series of servers, the problem is not unique to the D240. This misconfiguration error can be seen on virtually any storage that can be connected to the Sun[TM] Dual FastEthernet / Dual SCSI PCI Card (e.g Sun StorEdge[TM] S1).

The most important thing to remember is that, regardless of the controller type, the paths as reported by "show-disks" at the OBP are the paths you need to use when booting.

Product
Sun Fire 6800 Server
Sun Fire 4810 Server
Sun Fire 4800 Server
Sun Fire 3800 Server
Sun Fire E25K Server
Sun Fire E20K Server
Sun Fire 15K Server
Sun Fire 12K Server
Sun Fire V1280 Server
Sun Fire E2900 Server
Sun Fire E4900 Server
Sun Fire E6900 Server

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