Frequently Asked Questions

Networking Problems
Disk Cloning
Root Console login problems

My IRIX system is having some sort of network problem. I cannot seem to get off my local subnet or off campus?
Check the configuration of the following two files: /etc/config/stat-route.options and /etc/config/ifconfig-1.options.

/etc/config/static-route.options
Must contain: $ROUTE $QUIET add net default 128.197.X.1
Where X is your subnet number.
/etc/config/ifconfig-1.options
Must contain: netmask 0xffffff00
Then run "/etc/init.d/network stop" and "/etc/init.d/network start"

*note: Unless you have multiple interfaces, you should not be running routed.
Run "chkconfig routed off" before you restart the network.
top

How do I clone a disk?
First: You can only clone disks that have the EXACT SAME GEOMETRY AND SIZE because a clone will do a block by block copy of the entire disk. Let's assume that both disks are on Controller 0. A device on an SGI is labeled as (controller, scsi disk id, partition).

At boot time, Hit "esc" or "stop for maintenance" to geto the main menu.
At the main menu select "5" or "Enter Command Monitor"
at the prom prompt type "sash"
once in sash mode, we do the clone:
#cp -b 128b dksc(0,1,10) dksc(0,2,10)
In general " cp -b "block size" "source disk" "destination disk"
top

I'm using a VT terminal as my console and root cannot log in from the console, why?
In the file /etc/default/login, root logins are probably restricted to /dev/console for security reasons. /dev/console should be used for graphics consoles only, if you are using a VT terminal attached to the serial port as the machine console, you must edit /etc/default/login to read /dev/ttyd1 (or whichever respective serial port number) instead of /dev/console.
top