Booting the storage system

Where the storage system boots from

Storage systems boot from a PC CompactFlash Card, from disk, or from a set of floppy diskettes, depending on the system. If your system has a PC CompactFlash card, it is shipped with the most current Data ONTAP release and a diagnostic kernel in a single File Allocation Table (FAT) partition. The CompactFlash card contains sufficient space for an upgrade kernel.

Note
Single partitions were introduced in Data ONTAP 6.5. Prior to that, CompactFlash cards had four partitions. If you are upgrading your storage system from a version of Data ONTAP earlier than 7.0, your storage system will repartition the CompactFlash card. This allows the existing 32-MB CompactFlash to accommodate the size of the new kernel. Support for single partitions also includes support for larger 256-MB cards. For information about how to upgrade the CompactFlash card in your storage system, see the Upgrade Guide.

Booting the storage system from the system or firmware prompt

You can boot the storage system if it is on and displaying one of the following prompts:

The system prompt (toaster>); if so, see Rebooting the storage system."
The firmware prompt (ok)

To boot the storage system, complete the following step.

Step	Action
1	Enter the following command: boot Note If you are booting the storage system from a diskette, ensure that boot diskette 1 is in the diskette drive. Use of any other diskette results in an error message.

Platform-specific booting information

The following sections describe how to boot specific storage systems. For information about how your storage system boots, see the hardware and service guide for your storage system.