How do we set the boot flags on the Sun Fire system controller?

The boot flag settings controls the behavior of the System Controller (SC) during boot. The configuration which can be controlled include enabling SC POST, setting the SC POST diagnostic level, enabling the auto-boot of ScApp and enabling of the ^X and ^A debug keys. The boot flags are stored in the TOD Sram on the SC. Support for boot flags was added in ScApp build 42.

Configuration values:

Bit position    Alignment
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bit 1:0         SC post diag level.  00 == minimum, 11 == maximum
Bit 2           SC POST diag-switch?  0 = disabled, 1 = enabled
Bit 3           Auto-boot ScApp  0 = disabled, 1= enabled
Bit 4           Shell Keys (^A and ^X) 0 == disable shell keys 30 seconds
                after booting ScApp, 1 == leave shell keys enabled.            

A new system controller that has never booted ScApp (build 42 or greater) will always run SC-Post at diag-level maximum. The first time that ScApp runs, the boot flags will be set to the value 0x14 (SC-Post enabled at diaglevel minimum and Shell keys enabled).

When testing is completed, operations will set the boot flags to 0x0c (SC-Post enabled at diaglevel minimum and auto-boot enabled). When running in this mode, the shell keys ^A and ^X will be enabled for the first 30 seconds after boot. If there is a need to reset the boot flags either of the methods described below can be used.

Setting the Boot Flags from vxWorks

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There are two methods in the vxWorks kernel for manipulating the boot flags. These methods are:

-> getBootFlags()

The getBootFlags() will return the current value of the boot flags, or if an error occurs while setting boot flags.

-> setBootFlags(int newValue)

The setBootFlags() method will return the previous value of boot flags, or if an error occurs while setting boot flags.

Note: These methods can only be called after ScApp (build 42 or greater) has been booted on the SC at least one time.

Setting the Boot Flags from ScApp

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Expert mode commands must be used to manipulate the boot flags from within ScApp. These commands are similar to the vxWorks methods.

SC> print BootFlags.getBootFlags()

The getBootFlags() will return the current value of the boot flags, or if an error occurs while setting boot flags.

SC> print BootFlags.setBootFlags(int newValue)

The setBootFlags() method will return the previous value of boot flags, or if an error occurs while setting boot flags.

Author: Hal Mounce/John Cecere