HP-UX — Complete Guide to Enterprise UNIX

In this tutorial, you'll learn about HP. We cover key concepts, practical examples, and best practices to help you understand and apply this topic effectively.

HP-UX is Hewlett-Packard's enterprise UNIX operating system for HP Integrity and PA-RISC servers, featuring the LVM storage stack, Ignite-UX automated provisioning, Serviceguard clustering for 99.999% uptime, and comprehensive system administration tools like SAM and swinstall.

What You'll Learn & Why It Matters

In this tutorial, you'll master HP-UX 11i v3's core capabilities: LVM for flexible storage management, Ignite-UX for network-based OS deployment, Serviceguard for high-availability clustering, and the SAM/swinstall toolchain for day-to-day administration. HP-UX powers the world's most demanding HP-UX environments — from airline reservation systems to hospital patient databases — where a minute of downtime can mean millions in losses.

Real-world use: Emirates Airlines runs its entire reservation and flight operations on HP-UX. Siemens healthcare uses HP-UX for MRI and CT scan image processing. The London Ambulance Service trusts HP-UX for its emergency dispatch systems. When lives are on the line, HP-UX delivers.

The HP-UX Legacy

HP-UX debuted in 1984 as Hewlett-Packard's version of AT&T System V UNIX. It has since evolved through three major lineages — on HP 9000 (PA-RISC), HP Integrity (Itanium), and now HP Integrity with x86 compatibility layers.

graph LR
    HPUX1["HP-UX 1.0 (1984)
Series 200/500"] --> HPUX10["HP-UX 10.0 (1995)
SAM, CDE, LVM"]
    HPUX10 --> HPUX11["HP-UX 11.0 (1997)
64-bit, JFS,
Volume Manager"]
    HPUX11 --> HPUX11iv1["HP-UX 11i v1 (2000)
Serviceguard,
Ignite-UX"]
    HPUX11iv1 --> HPUX11iv2["HP-UX 11i v2 (2003)
Itanium support,
Virtual Partitions"]
    HPUX11iv2 --> HPUX11iv3["HP-UX 11i v3 (2007)
Current major release
TSUE, VxFS,
Multi-core support"]

    style HPUX11iv3 fill:#1565C0,color:#fff
    style HPUX11 fill:#FF9800,color:#fff

HP-UX LVM: Storage Management Done Right

HP-UX's Logical Volume Manager is the foundation of its storage stack. While Linux LVM was inspired by HP-UX LVM, the HP-UX version is more battle-tested and feature-rich in enterprise scenarios.

Physical Volumes, Volume Groups, and Logical Volumes

The hierarchy is familiar if you've used any LVM system:

• Physical Volume (PV) — a disk or disk partition
• Volume Group (VG) — a pool of PVs
• Logical Volume (LV) — a virtual disk carved from the VG

HP-UX LVM Commands

# List all volume groups
vgdisplay

# Show details of a specific VG
vgdisplay -v /dev/vg00

# Create a new volume group
mkdir /dev/vgapps
mknod /dev/vgapps/group c 64 0x020000
pvcreate /dev/disk/disk3
vgextend /dev/vgapps /dev/disk/disk3

# Create a logical volume (2GB, contiguous allocation)
lvcreate -n appdata -L 2048 -C y /dev/vgapps

# Create a file system on it
newfs -F vxfs /dev/vgapps/rappdata

# Mount it
mount /dev/vgapps/rappdata /apps

Expected output (vgdisplay -v /dev/vg00): --- Volume groups --- VG Name /dev/vg00 VG Write Access read/write VG Status available Max LV 256 Cur LV 12 Open LV 12 Max PV 16 Cur PV 2 Act PV 2 Max PE per PV 2048 VGDA 4 PE Size (Mbytes) 4 Total PE 3560 Alloc PE 2848 Free PE 712 Total PVG 0

### Stripping and Mirroring

```bash
# Create a striped LV across 3 disks for database performance
lvcreate -n dblv -L 10240 -i 3 -I 64 /dev/vgapps

# Create a mirrored LV with 2 copies
lvcreate -n mitroredlv -L 5120 -m 1 /dev/vgapps

# Convert an existing LV to mirrored on-the-fly
lvextend -m 1 /dev/vgapps/appdata

# Check mirror status
lvdisplay -v /dev/vgapps/appdata | grep "Mirror"

Online File System Growth

One of HP-UX's hallmark features — grow file systems without unmounting:

# Extend the LV by 500MB
lvextend -L +500 /dev/vgapps/appdata

# Grow the VxFS file system online
fsadm -b 500M /apps

# Verify
bdf /apps

Expected output (bdf /apps):

Filesystem          kbytes    used   avail %used Mounted on
/dev/vgapps/appdata 5242880 1234567 4008313   23% /apps

Serviceguard: High-Availability Clustering

Serviceguard is HP-UX's clustering solution — it monitors applications, servers, and networks, and automatically fails over services to a healthy node if something fails. It's designed for 99.999% uptime (five nines), which means less than 5 minutes of downtime per year.

How Serviceguard Works

A Serviceguard cluster has:

• Active nodes — servers running applications
• Standby nodes — servers waiting to take over
• Package — an application + its IP address, volume group, and file system
• Heartbeat — network signals that prove a node is alive

Serviceguard Cluster Configuration

# Check cluster status
cmviewcl -v

# Verify cluster configuration
cmcheckconf -v /etc/cmcluster/cluster.ascii

# Apply configuration
cmapplyconf -v /etc/cmcluster/cluster.ascii

# Start the cluster
cmruncl

# Start a specific package
cmpkg -a myapp_pkg

# View package status
cmviewcl -p myapp_pkg

Expected output (cmviewcl -v):

Cluster:    PROD_CLUSTER
Nodes:      node1 (node2)
State:      up

Package:    myapp_pkg
Node:       node1
State:      running
Node:       node2
State:      up

What Happens During Failover

sequenceDiagram
    participant C as Client
    participant N1 as Node 1 (Primary)
    participant N2 as Node 2 (Standby)
    participant VG as Shared Storage

    N1->>N2: I'm alive (heartbeat)
    N2->>N1: I'm alive (heartbeat)
    C->>N1: Request data
    N1->>C: Response

    Note over N1: Server crashes!
    N2->>N2: Heartbeat timeout (3 missed)
    N2->>VG: Acquire volume group (vgchange -a e)
    N2->>VG: fsck file system
    N2->>N2: Start application
    N2->>VG: Mount file system
    N2->>C: New owner — service restored
    Note over N2: Total failover: 30-90 seconds

Ignite-UX: Network OS Provisioning

Ignite-UX is HP-UX's answer to Solaris NIM or Linux Kickstart — a network-based system for installing, configuring, and recovering HP-UX machines.

Key Ignite-UX Concepts

Installing a Client with Ignite-UX

# On the Ignite server, create a configuration
cat > /var/opt/ignite/config/client.conf << EOF
hostname = client01
ip_address = 192.168.1.100
netmask = 255.255.255.0
gateway = 192.168.1.1
root_disk = disk0
install_type = hpux.11.31
EOF

# Add software depots
swpackage -s /tmp/hpux-11.31.depot \*
swpackage -s /tmp/patches.depot \*

# Start the Ignite server
/usr/lbin/ignite/ignite -f /var/opt/ignite/config/client.conf

# Boot the client from the network (at client console):
# -> Main Menu -> Boot from LAN

System Recovery with make_archive

# Create a full system archive for disaster recovery
make_archive -a /var/opt/ignite/archives/prodserver.archive -v

# Restore from archive (boot client from Ignite server)
# At the Ignite menu, select "Recover from archive"

System Administration: SAM, swinstall, and parstatus

SAM (System Administration Manager)

SAM is HP-UX's equivalent of AIX's SMIT — a menu-driven tool that simplifies complex admin tasks:

# Launch SAM interactively
sam

# Run SAM for a specific area
sam -r storage
sam -r networking
sam -r users
sam -r kernel

SAM groups operations into logical categories: Users and Accounts, Disks and File Systems, Networking, Kernel Configuration, and Performance Monitoring.

swinstall — Software Management

HP-UX uses the Software Distributor (SD) system for package management. It's more granular than RPM or APT:

# List installed software bundles
swlist

# List a specific bundle's filesets
swlist -l fileset HPUXBase64

# Install software from a depot
swinstall -s /depot/gcc-12.3.0.depot -x mount_all_filesystems=false \*

# Remove software
swremove GCC

# Verify software integrity
swverify GCC

Expected output (swlist):

# Initializing...
# Contacting target "node1"...

Target: node1:/

  HPUXBase64    11.31     HP-UX Base OS (64-bit)
  HPUXBaseAudi  11.31     HP-UX Audio Support
  HPUXBaseNet   11.31     HP-UX Base Networking
  HPUXBaseSec   11.31     HP-UX Base Security
  GCC           12.3.0    GNU Compiler Collection

parstatus — Partition Management

HP-UX on Integrity servers uses hardware partitioning (nPars, vPars) for isolation:

# View all hardware partitions
parstatus

# View details of a specific partition
parstatus -p 0 -v

# Create a virtual partition
vparcreate -p vpar1 -a cpu::1 -a mem::2048 -a io:0::0:0.0.0

# Start a virtual partition
vparboot -p vpar1

Expected output (parstatus):

Partition    Status   CPUs   Memory (MB)   I/O
  0 (nPar)   active    4        8192       3 cells
  1 (nPar)   active    2        4096       1 cell

HP-UX 11i v3 Key Features

HP-UX 11i v3 (the current major release) introduced several enterprise-critical capabilities:

Common Errors & Mistakes

1. Modifying Kernel Parameters Incorrectly

Mistake: Editing /stand/system directly and creating a kernel that won't boot.

Fix: Always use sam → Kernel Configuration → Configurable Parameters, or run kmtune to change parameters safely. After changes, run mkboot -m to rebuild the kernel. Keep at least one backup kernel in /stand/vmunix.prev.

2. Running Out of Device Special Files

Mistake: Creating many LVs without running insf -e to generate device files, then wondering why mount fails with "no such device."

Fix: After creating new LVs, always run insf -e to create the corresponding device special files in /dev. Use ls /dev/vg*/r* to verify they exist.

3. Ignoring VGDA and Quorum

Mistake: Losing a disk in a 2-disk volume group and having the VG become unavailable because quorum is lost.

Fix: In Serviceguard environments, set vgchange -Q n on shared volume groups to disable strict quorum enforcement. A storage admin should always understand quorum: with 2 PVs in a VG, losing one disk loses majority — the VG deactivates. With 3 PVs, losing one preserves majority.

4. Forgetting to Run fsck After an Abrupt Shutdown

Mistake: Recovering from a power outage and mounting file systems directly without checking them first.

Fix: Always run fsck -F vxfs -o full on VxFS file systems after an unclean shutdown. For JFS, use fsck -F jfs. Boot to maintenance mode (hpux -lm) and check all file systems before mounting.

5. Not Configuring Serviceguard Heartbeat Over Dedicated Networks

Mistake: Sharing heartbeat traffic with production network traffic, causing false failovers during peak loads.

Fix: Use dedicated network interfaces for Serviceguard heartbeats — ideally two separate physical networks (LAN and RS-232 serial link). Configure cmcld.conf with HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL=1 and NODE_TIMEOUT=6 for faster failure detection.

Practice Questions

Question 1

What are the three layers of HP-UX's LVM, and what does each do?

Question 2

What is Serviceguard and what problem does it solve?

Question 3

How do you grow a file system in HP-UX without unmounting it?

Question 4

What is Ignite-UX used for?

Question 5

What's the difference between nPars and vPars?

Challenge

Design and implement a two-node HP-UX Serviceguard cluster:

1. Configure shared storage via LVM with a dedicated volume group for cluster data
2. Set up Serviceguard with heartbeat on two dedicated network links
3. Create a package that includes an Apache web server, its IP address, and its file system
4. Write a test script that induces failover (kill the Apache process) and verifies the service moves to the standby node
5. Configure Ignite-UX to capture and restore the complete configuration as an archive

Real-World Task

Your healthcare organization is deploying a new patient records system on HP-UX Integrity servers. Create the infrastructure plan:

1. Design the LVM layout — separate volume groups for OS, application, and patient data (with mirroring for the data VG)
2. Configure Serviceguard for automatic failover (target: <60 second recovery)
3. Use Ignite-UX to create a gold image of the configured system for rapid deployment
4. Set up SAM-based user administration with role-based groups for doctors, nurses, and administrators
5. Create Bash scripts that monitor critical services and email alerts on failure
6. Document the full disaster recovery procedure using Ignite-UX archives

Mini Project: HP-UX Resource Monitor Script

Write a shell script that collects key system metrics from HP-UX:

#!/bin/sh
# hpux-monitor.sh — HP-UX System Resource Monitor

echo "=========================================="
echo "  HP-UX Resource Monitor"
echo "  Host: $(hostname)"
echo "  OS:  $(uname -r)"
echo "=========================================="

echo ""
echo "--- CPU Partition Info ---"
parstatus 2>/dev/null || echo "No hardware partitions found"

echo ""
echo "--- Memory ---"
echo "Physical: $(dmesg | grep "Physical:" | awk '{print $2}') MB"
echo "Available: $(vmstat -s | grep "available pages" | awk '{print $1*4/1024}') MB"
echo "Active processes: $(ps -ef | wc -l)"

echo ""
echo "--- Volume Groups ---"
vgdisplay | grep -E "VG Name|Total PE|Alloc PE|Free PE"

echo ""
echo "--- Top 5 Large File Systems ---"
bdf | tail -n +2 | sort -k2 -rn | head -5

echo ""
echo "--- Software Patches Installed ---"
swlist -l patch | grep -c "PH" 2>/dev/null
echo "patches currently installed"

echo ""
echo "--- Serviceguard Status ---"
cmviewcl -l 2>/dev/null || echo "Serviceguard not running"

echo ""
echo "=========================================="
echo "  Report generated: $(date)"
echo "=========================================="

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