Virtual Console Daemon (cvcd) fails to start on a Solaris[TM] 10 High End Server domain.

Asset ID:	1-72-1018065.1
Update Date:	2014-07-07
Keywords:

Solution Type Problem Resolution Sure

Solution 1018065.1 : Virtual Console Daemon (cvcd) fails to start on a Solaris[TM] 10 High End Server domain.

Applies to:

Sun Enterprise 10000 Server - Version All Versions and later
Sun Fire 12K Server - Version All Versions and later
Sun Fire 15K Server - Version All Versions and later
Sun Fire E20K Server - Version All Versions and later
Sun Fire E25K Server - Version All Versions and later
All Platforms
Checked for relevance on ***07-Jul-2014***

Symptoms

From the Main SSP (System Service Processor) as user "SSP" on a Sun Enterprise 10000 platform, a netcon (console) session to a Solaris[TM] 10 domain is opened and an error may be displayed on the console:

    [ system/cvc:default failed (see 'svcs -x' for details) ]

On the Main SSP, the /var/opt/SUNWssp/adm//messages file reports:

    netcon_server: netcon_server-(twd2004): ERR: cvc_serv_hostd.c, 641: tid 6: cannot open netcon's network connection to cvcd. Thread exiting!
    netcon_server: netcon_server-(twd2004): WARNING: cvc_serv_hostd.c, 649: using JTAG connection

As the messages above indicates, the SSP detects that cvcd is not running on the domain so JTAG is being used instead. You can also determine on the domain that the cvcd process is not running, and "svcs -x" will report:

    svc:/system/cvc:default (network virtual console)
State: maintenance since Fri Apr 22 10:46:22 2005
Reason: Start method failed repeatedly, last exited with status 1.
See: http://sun.com/msg/SMF-8000-KS
See: cvcd(1M)
See: /etc/svc/volatile/system-cvc:default.log
Impact: This service is not running.

If you view the log file referenced above (again, on the domain), you might see:

    # more /etc/svc/volatile/system-cvc:default.log
[ start + 10.64s Executing start method ("/lib/svc/method/svc-cvcd") ]
/sbin/sh: /lib/svc/method/svc-cvcd: not found
[ start + 10.69s Method "start" exited with status 1 ]

 NOTE:  This problem can occur on Sun Enterprise[TM] 10000 and on Sun Fire[TM] 12K/15K/E20K/E25K
platforms.  The Sun Fire[TM] System Controller (SC) correlates to the SSP in it's
function and role, so please correlate all the information in this document between
these differing platforms.

Cause

This error occurs because SMF (svcadm) can't find cvcd in the "reference" file location that is configured by default in Solaris[TM] 10. The result is that cvcd is not enabled on the domain when it boots up.

Because cvcd is not enabled on the domain, netcon (console) functions are impacted on the E10000 and 12K/15K/E20K/E25K platforms.

The "reference" file which the OS uses to enable cvcd is /lib/svc/method/svc-cvcd (this file points to /platform/`uname -i`/lib/cvcd).

    cvcd is really in the /sbin directory.

Change Request (CR) 6225694 addressed this issue in the initial and all subsequent releases of Solaris 10.

Solution

Relief/Workaround

    # ln -s /sbin/cvcd /platform/`uname -i`/lib/cvcd

Then re-enable cvcd:

    # svcadm clear cvc
    # svcadm enable cvc

Now, a new netcon session should be error free (and not JTAG), and on the domain a cvcd process should exist in the process table:

    # ps -ef|grep cvcd
root  6055     1   0 11:00:21 console     0:00 /platform/SUNW,Ultra-Enterprise-10000/lib/cvcd

@ Internal Comments
cvcd, solaris 10, svcadm, svcs -x, netcon, console
Previously Published As 81462

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