Dell Force10 C300 C300 Hardware Installation Guide - Page 53

System Boot, Booting from the BOOT_USER Prompt

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12 System Boot When you supply power to the C300 system, the system performs a series of on self-tests. RPM and line card Status LEDs blink during initialization No user interaction is required as long as the boot process proceeds without interruption. Observe the process on your console monitor. When the boot process is complete, the RPM and line card Status LEDs remain online (green) and the console monitor displays the command line interface (CLI) prompt, Force10>. The RPM cards in the C300 system use a Compact Flash card (external flash memory card) to store and retrieve boot and system images. This is the default storage area for the boot files and the startup configuration file. Upon system boot up or a system reset, the boot process uses parameters stored in nonvolatile random access memory (NVRAM) to boot the system. Each RPM card is equipped with a slot for an external flash memory card (slot0). You can copy the image files and configuration files to the external flash device on the primary RPM. You can also begin your boot process by accessing a remote server containing the boot image and system image files. NOTE: The C300 system supports up to a 40-character file name length, up to a 180-character local file path length, and up to a 256-character remote file path length. For information about the Compact Flash card, refer to Chapter 13, The Compact Flash Card. Booting from the BOOT_USER Prompt To get into the BOOT_USER mode, issue a break control sequence (CNTL+^) to interrupt the automatic boot process or you may enter the mode if you experience boot problems. This mode allows you to modify the parameters necessary to manage the boot process. Only console port access is enabled for the BOOT_USER mode. The BOOT_USER # prompt appears after an autoboot interruption. This is the default boot prompt, not the CLI prompt. In some display outputs, you can continue the help screen display by pressing ENTER or can stop the output by entering q and then ENTER. You can abbreviate the boot commands by entering only the first letter of a command word. (In the BOOT_USER mode, you cannot press the TAB key to complete commands.) A matching algorithm displays the command starting with the letter or letters you entered. For example, b displays the commands starting with the letter b, boot change and boot selector. Entering s h displays the syntax help information. All commands are case insensitive. System Boot | 53

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System Boot
|
53
12
System Boot
When you supply power to the C300 system, the system performs a series of on self-tests. RPM and line
card Status LEDs blink during initialization No user interaction is required as long as the boot process
proceeds without interruption. Observe the process on your console monitor. When the boot process is
complete, the RPM and line card Status LEDs remain online (green) and the console monitor displays the
command line interface (CLI) prompt,
Force10>
.
The RPM cards in the C300 system use a Compact Flash card (external flash memory card) to store and
retrieve boot and system images. This is the default storage area for the boot files and the startup
configuration file. Upon system boot up or a system reset, the boot process uses parameters stored in non-
volatile random access memory (NVRAM) to boot the system.
Each RPM card is equipped with a slot for an external flash memory card (slot0). You can copy the image
files and configuration files to the external flash device on the
primary
RPM. You can also begin your
boot process by accessing a remote server containing the boot image and system image files.
NOTE:
The C300 system supports up to a 40-character file name length, up to a 180-character local file path
length, and up to a 256-character remote file path length.
For information about the Compact Flash card, refer to
Chapter
13,
The Compact Flash Card
.
Booting from the BOOT_USER Prompt
To get into the BOOT_USER mode, issue a break control sequence (CNTL+^) to interrupt the automatic
boot process or you may enter the mode if you experience boot problems. This mode allows you to
modify the parameters necessary to manage the boot process. Only console port access is enabled for the
BOOT_USER mode.
The BOOT_USER # prompt appears after an autoboot interruption. This is the default boot prompt, not
the CLI prompt.
In some display outputs, you can continue the help screen display by pressing ENTER or can stop the
output by entering
q
and then ENTER. You can abbreviate the boot commands by entering only the first
letter of a command word. (In the BOOT_USER mode, you cannot press the TAB key to complete
commands.) A matching algorithm displays the command starting with the letter or letters you entered.
For example,
b
displays the commands starting with the letter b,
boot change
and
boot selector
. Entering
s h
displays the
syntax help
information. All commands are case insensitive.