Power on

PDC executes CPU, Memory and other tests

PDC initialize the console to display messages

Looks for Primary boot path

It loads and executes Initial System Loader (ISL). Roll of boot ROM ends.

ISL loads the secondary system loader called "hpux". It resides on boot area of the disk

"hpux" loads "/stand/vmunix" into memory and hands control over to kernel

Kernel loads the device drivers

Swapper process started. It has process ID 0. It manages memory for swapping in and out. It schedules all other process. Its first job is to startup the init process.

/sbin/pre_init_rc getting executed. It checks and repairs root file system.

/sbin/init started. Process ID is 1.

It refers /etc/inittab. It does the following.
1. read the /etc/inittab for default run level
2. ioinitrc - It invokes insf command with -e option to find any new devices.
3. bcheckrc - activates LVM and run fsck on file systems if required.
4. /sbin/rc - It brings the system to the default run level. This script is run whenever the system moves from to a higher one or vice versa.
5. /usr/bin/getty

To add a program to the startup time:

1. Execution script for starting and stopping is installed in /sbin/init.d directory
2. Configuration files are placed in /etc/rc.config.d directory
3. If script is to be run on run level 2, place a link to the execution script at /sbin/rc2.d directory

HP-UX boot disk has a boot area. The files in this area are in the LIF format.
Important parts of the boot area are

1. ISL: Initial program loader
2. hpux: Secondary system loader
3. AUTO: contains hpux utility name and arguments to be passed to the hpux utility
4. LIF volume header that identifies LIF volume
5. File containing hp-ux volume name

ISL Commands:

ISL> hpux show autofile # To view the contents of AUTO file

ISL> hpux -is boot # To boot the system in the single user mode

ISL> hpux -lq boot # To ignore quorum and boot

ISL> hpux -lm boot # To boot in the maintenance mode

ISL> hpux -ll /stand # To list the files in the /stand directory

HPUX Commands:

setboot command is used to view or change the boot path in a running system
To set the primary path to scsi.1.0 and auto boot on

# setboot -p scsi.1.0 -b on

To create an area on the boot disk for a LIF volume, boot utilities and BDRA

# pvcreate -B /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0

To place the boot utilities on the boot disk:

# mkboot /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0

To add an AUTO file in boot area:

# mkboot -a "hpux (52.3.0;0)/stand/vmunix" /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0

To List the contents of LIF volume

# lifls -l /dev/dsk/c0t0d0

lifcp command is used to copy files to or from the LIF volume
To copy the contents of AUTO file to file1

# lifcp /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0:AUTO file1 # Copies the contents of AUTO file to file1.

*c n v from http://sys-admin.net/wiki/HP-UX/Startup