4 Sun Fire V890 Dynamic Reconfiguration User’s Guide • August 2004
About Dynamic Reconfiguration and
Multipathing Software
DR works in conjunction with (but does not require) multipathing software. You can
use multipathing software to switch I/O operations from one I/O controller to
another to prepare for DR operations. With a combination of DR and multipathing
software, you can remove, replace, or deactivate a PCI controller card with no
interruption to system operation. Note that this requires redundant hardware; that
is, the system must contain an alternate I/O controller that is connected to the same
devices as the card being removed or replaced. The alternate controller must reside
on a different PCI card or be integrated into the Sun Fire V890 system motherboard
or I/O board. For more information about multipathing software, refer to the Sun
Fire V890 Server Owner’s Guide.
About Dynamic Reconfiguration
Requirements
Certain system requirements must be met in order for DR operations to succeed.
These requirements are summarized below and covered in more detail in the
sections that follow.
Detachability
For a PCI card to be successfully detached from a running operating system:
■ All devices on the card must use detach-safe device drivers.
■ If the card controls any vital system resources, alternate paths to those resources
must be available through some other card or on-board controller integrated into
the system motherboard or system I/O board.
Detach-Safe Device Drivers
For a PCI card to be successfully detached from a running operating system, each
device on the card must have a detach-safe driver. A detach-safe driver enables a
single instance of a driver to be closed while other instances are allowed to remain
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