Dell Force10 E300 Installing and Maintaining the E300 System - Page 51

System Boot, Booting from the BOOT_USER Prompt

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A System Boot When you supply power to the E300 system, the system performs a series of power-on self-tests. SFM, 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 SFM, 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 E300 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 power 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 E300 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 Appendix B, The Compact Flash Card, on page 55. For information about the flash memory card, refer to Appendix B, The Compact Flash Card, on page 55. 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 commands 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. To configure the chassis from the BOOT_USER prompt use the following commands: Command help or ? Purpose • Enter help or ? to display a list of available commands and syntax. • Enter syntax help to display syntax information and variable descriptions. System Boot | 51

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System Boot
|
51
A
System Boot
When you supply power to the E300 system, the system performs a series of power-on self-tests. SFM,
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 SFM, 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 E300 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 power 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 E300 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
Appendix
B,
The
Compact
Flash
Card,
on
page
55
.
For information about the flash memory card, refer to
Appendix
B,
The Compact Flash Card, on page 55
.
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 commands 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.
To configure the chassis from the BOOT_USER prompt use the following commands:
Command
Purpose
help
or
?
• Enter
help
or
?
to display a list of available commands and syntax.
• Enter
syntax help
to display syntax information and variable descriptions.