On August 17, 2004, I had Red Hat Enterprise Linux EL version 3 installed on vinu. (Actually, I installed it as kristine first, then renamed the machine to vinu) Here was the state of affairs before installing AS. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- vinu is an IBM xSeries 365 server, with - four 2.7 gigahertz Intel Xeon processors - 4 gigabytes of main memory. - 7 PCI slots (0-6), slot 1 = video adapter and slot 6 = "RAID Controller" - 2 LSI 1030 SCSI adapters, with no devices on them - 1 IBM ServeRAID-6M adapter, with 6 drives. - 1 36 GB drive , SCSI ID 0 , configured as a RAID 0 array, used for the OS. - 5 147 GB drives, SCSI IDs 1-5, configured as a RAID 5 array, netting me a 560GB drive. No Hot Spares. When vinu boots, the blue LED on its display blinks until the POST is done. This takes a few minutes, so the flashing blue light is not an indicator that something's wrong. BTW, that blue light is also used as a "locator" (similar to SSA disks' "Identify" function) so you can find this server in a sea of server racks. When you see the big "IBM eServer" splash screen, it stays up for a while, but then quickly adds 4 lines at the bottom left of the screen and doesn't give you enough time to read, absorb what you've read, and make a selection. The 4 options are F1 = Configuration/Setup F2 = Diagnostics Alt-F1 = System Partition Boot F12 = Network Boot Later on, it allows you to type ctrl-s to enter a different "MBA Configuration menu", aka "Broadcom NetXtreme Ethernet Boot Agent v6.1.3", which sounds like an automated network install capability. There's nothing useful here. Later on, you can type ctrl-c to enter the "LSI Logic Configuration Utility". This is NOT where you define the SSA Arrays. It's where you can - View or change SCSI IDs for attached devices - Set SCSI prtocol parameters on SCSI hard disk drives - Perform a low-level format on a SCSI hard disk drive but since we have no SCSI devices installed on these adapters, this isn't too useful. You can view the RAID configuration (but not set them) with the next prompt, which is ctrl-i, entering you into the IBM ServeRAID Mini Configuration - Main Menu screen. Selecting "View controller status" from that main menu, gets you to the IBM ServeRAID Mini Configuration - Logical Drive Status screen, where you can see that I have these drives configured as follows Logical Size RAID Logical R5E/R5EE Stripe Write Read Date Created Drive (MB) Level State State Size Policy Ahead mm/dd/yyyy ======= ====== ===== ======= ======== ====== ====== ===== ============ 1 34715 0 Okay 8KB TempWT ADP 05/21/2004 2 560052 5 Okay 8KB TempWT ADP 05/21/2004 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To configure the RAID on this server, you need to find and boot the IBM ServeRAID 6.10 Support CD and how do you know to do this? RTFM, specifically the IBM eServer xSeries 365, Types 8861 and 8862, Installation Guide In Chapter 4, "Configuring the Server", and page 38, "Using the RAID configuration programs" Fortunately, when we got this box, the drives were already configured like this, so I didn't have to do anything. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- df Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/sda1 100692 15035 80458 16% /boot /dev/sda2 31864068 2201156 28044312 8% / /dev/sda3 1007992 112176 844612 12% /usr/vice/cache /dev/sdb1 98435316 12864812 80570284 14% /db/ipnnc AFS 1182583828125 0 1182583828125 0% /afs ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- fdisk -l /dev/sda (With added commas and spacing for legibility) Disk /dev/sda: 36.4 GB, 36,401,315,840 bytes 254 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4442 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16002 * 512 = 8,193,024 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 1 13 103,981+ 83 Linux /dev/sda2 14 4059 32,372,046 83 Linux /dev/sda3 4060 4187 1,024,128 83 Linux /dev/sda4 4188 4442 2,040,255 f Win95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/sda5 4188 4442 2,040,223+ 82 Linux swap ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- fdisk -l /dev/sdb Disk /dev/sdb: 587.2 GB, 587,257,085,952 bytes 254 heads, 63 sectors/track, 71677 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16002 * 512 = 8193024 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 1 12499 100,004,467+ 83 Linux ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpts from /etc/sysconfig/hwconf: class bus device desc Other Data ===== ==== ====== ==================================== ============= CDROM IDE hda VIDEO PCI ATI|Radeon RV100 QY [Radeon 7000/VE] HD SCSI sda Ibm SERVERAID host: 2 id: 0 HD SCSI sdb Ibm SERVERAID host: 2 id: 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- cat /etc/fstab LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1 LABEL=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2 none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0 none /proc proc defaults 0 0 none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0 LABEL=/usr/vice/cache /usr/vice/cache ext3 defaults 1 2 /dev/sda5 swap swap defaults 0 0 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0 /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,kudzu 0 0 /dev/sdb1 /db/ipnnc ext3 defaults 0 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- tail -5 /etc/passwd db2as:x:108:101::/home/db2as:/bin/bash inst1:x:201:201::/home/inst1:/bin/bash db2fenc1:x:200:200::/home/db2fenc1:/bin/bash ipnnc:x:500:500::/home/ipnnc:/bin/bash ipnfenc1:x:501:501::/home/ipnfenc1:/bin/bash ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- cat /etc/sysconfig/network NETWORKING=yes HOSTNAME=vinu.delphion.com GATEWAY=10.224.88.1 cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 # Broadcom Corporation|NetXtreme BCM5704 Gigabit Ethernet DEVICE=eth0 BOOTPROTO=static BROADCAST=10.224.88.255 HWADDR=00:09:6B:F5:1F:66 IPADDR=10.224.88.53 NETMASK=255.255.255.0 NETWORK=10.224.88.0 ONBOOT=yes TYPE=Ethernet cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1 # Broadcom Corporation|NetXtreme BCM5704 Gigabit Ethernet DEVICE=eth1 BOOTPROTO=dhcp HWADDR=00:09:6B:F5:1F:67 TYPE=Ethernet ONBOOT=no cat /etc/resolv.conf search delphion.com nameserver 10.224.88.254 nameserver 10.224.89.254 ======================================================================================== To install Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, I booted from CD (since this was my first AS install, I hadn't set up w3 yet). Interesting that this is the first time that I ever remember seeing, that the next screen came up in a VERY BIG mode, 800x600. I had to move the mouse to the edges of the screen to see the whole page. * But when I later tried an ES CD install, I got the same thing, so it's probably the case that I just don't remember. * It's likely an inherent problem with the RADEON 7000 adapter, or an XFree86 bug. This is a good test case for Red Hat Support. 1) Boot first RHEL AS Version 3 CD. 2) Selected - Graphical Install by hitting - English as my language - and "U.S. English" keyboard. - For the "Mouse Configuration", chose "Generic - 2 Button Mouse (PS/2)", not the default "Generic - 3 Button Mouse (PS/2)". 3) To partition the drives correctly, a) Go ahead and allow "Disk Druid" to "Automatically partition". I'll modify that later. b) Install Linux on sda only, the 34707 MB drive, not the big 560,047 MB drive. So I had to unselect sdb. c) Yes, "Remove all partitions on sda". Disk Druid's default partitioning was Mount Point/ Size Device RAID/Volume Type Format (MB) Start End ========== =============== ======== ====== ====== ===== ====== /dev/sda sda1 /boot ext3 Yes 102 1 13 sda2 / ext3 Yes 32,613 14 4,187 sda3 swap Yes 1,992 4,188 4,442 /dev/sdb sdb1 ext3 No! 97,661 1 12,499 Free d) I added the a 1000MB ext3 file system at /usr/vice/cache for AFS. The final configuration for /dev/sda was Mount Point/ Size Device RAID/Volume Type Format (MB) Start End ========== =============== ======== ====== ====== ===== ====== /dev/sda sda1 /boot ext3 Yes 102 1 13 sda2 / ext3 Yes 31,613 14 4,059 sda3 /usr/vice/cache ext3 Yes 1,000 4,060 4,187 sda4 Extended 1,992 4,188 4,442 sda5 swap Yes 1,992 4,188 4,442 4) "Edit" the eth0 network adapter to NOT "Configure using DHCP" and specified its "IP Address:" as 10.224.88.53 and its "Netmask:" as 255.255.255.0 and its "Hostname:" to vinu.delphion.com and its "Gateway:" to 10.224.88.1 and its "Primary DNS:" to 10.224.88.254 and its "Secondary DNS:" to 10.224.89.254 5) !!! Disabled the firewall ('cause I don't know how to control it, that's why). 6) Didn't install additional languages (difference from Redhat Linux ES). 7) Set "Time Zone Selection" to "America/Los_Angeles". 8) Set the root password. 9) Added every (IMO) useful software package (677 packages & 2.6 GB total) ****************************************************************** ****************************************************************** ** At this point, it formatted the drive & installed Linux. ** ** Started at 5:22. ** ** It asked for CD 1, 2, 3, 4, then 1 again. ** ** Rebooted at 5:43. ** ** Final reboot at 5:48. ** ** Could login at 5:49, taking 27 minutes total. ** ****************************************************************** ****************************************************************** 10) During the install process, I accepted the "Video Card"" they detected, a "ATI RADEON 7000", and changed the monitor from "Unprobed Monitor" to a "Sony CPD-G400". ******************************************************** * Problem: Can't get any more than 800x600. * * * * Maybe the DPI settings are only 302mm x 232mm? * * On vinu, they're 347mm x 260mm. * * But setting the DPI, results in 351mm x 260mm and * * I still only get 800x600 resolution. * ******************************************************** 11) After the first reboot, - accepted their license agreement, - configured NTP, pointing to afs1, - did not create any non-root userids, - did not register with Red Hat Network (RHN). I did this later (see step 15) below). 12) After the second reboot and logging in as root, vi /boot/grub/grub.conf to lower the timeout from 10 seconds to 3. 13) For my own sanity, edited root's .bashrc and commented out those 3 stupid aliases, # alias rm='rm -i' # alias cp='cp -i' # alias mv='mv -i' and added these 6 lines to the bottom. set -o vi alias c='echo \\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n;clear' if [ "$TERM" = "aixterm" ] then alias rc='echo -e "\033[10;97;101m"' else alias rc='echo -e "\033[10;94;106m"' fi 14) To install AFS, mkdir /tmp/afs cd /tmp/afs scp -p jasper@jasper:/afs/d/software/base/linux/openafs-1.2.11/* . rpm -Uvh *rpm vi /usr/vice/etc/cacheinfo and set the cache size to 95% of the number of 1K blocks of /usr/vice/cache. 95% of 1GB (my standard), is 953850. vi /usr/vice/etc/ThisCell and set the cell name to delphion.com. vi /usr/vice/etc/CellServDB remove all the existing lines, and add just these two lines, >delphion.com # Thomson-Delphion 10.224.88.241 #afs1.delphion.com To start AFS now, service afs start ************************************************************ * If you get the following error from afsd starting AFS, * * afsd: All AFS daemons started. * * afsd: Can't mount AFS on /afs(22) * * then check your changes to ThisCell & CellServDB. * ************************************************************ To allow AFS-authenticated logins, ftp's, etc, cp -p /etc/pam.d/system-auth /etc/pam.d/system-auth.Before.AFS cp -p --reply=yes system-auth /etc/pam.d/system-auth To clean up, cd rm -rf /tmp/afs To add our standard links, ln -s /afs/d/u /u ln -s /afs/d/FakeDFS /dfs 15) Registered with Red Hat Network (rhn) up2date --register Configured up2date to use the AFS directory I have set up, up2date-config On "Retrieval / Installation" screen, 1) Check "Retrieve source RPM along with binary package" (if you want to) 2) Check "After installation, keep binary packages on disk" 3) Set the "Package storage directory:" from its default of /var/spool/up2date, to /afs/d/software/fixes/RedHat.Enterprise.Linux.AS-3.up2date Installed latest fixes, which wasn't much. The kernel and precious little else, it seemed. And I still had the problem with 800x600 screen resolution. 16) To restore the /db/ipnnc file system that already existed on /dev/sdb1, I added /dev/sdb1 /db/ipnnc ext3 defaults 1 2 to the bottom of /etc/fstab, mkdir /db mkdir /db/ipnnc mount /db/ipnnc 17) To create the /big file system on that 540 GB RAID array, fdisk /dev/sdb new to accept the default start cylinder of the next (12500) 24999 for the last cylinder, w to write the new partition table and exit Now a fdisk -l /dev/sdb command shows Disk /dev/sdb: 587.2 GB, 587257085952 bytes 254 heads, 63 sectors/track, 71677 cylinders (which is 546 GB) Units = cylinders of 16002 * 512 = 8193024 bytes (which is just under 8 MB) Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 * 1 12499 100004467+ 83 Linux (12,499 cyls= 95 GB) /dev/sdb2 12500 24999 100012500 83 Linux (12,500 cyls= 95 GB) (25000 71677 46,678 cyls=356 GB Free) partprobe /dev/sdb to force the kernel to use the new partition table # mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sdb2 This created 12,517,376 inodes, which I felt was too many, mkfs -t ext3 -T largefile4 /dev/sdb2 # Created only 24,448 inodes. mkdir /big Added this line to the bottom of /etc/fstab, /dev/sdb2 /big ext3 defaults 1 2 mount /big chmod 777 /big 18) To define the HP 8100 Black & White printer, redhat-config-printer Click on "New" Click "Forward" to get to the "Queue name" screen, Name: quetzal Short description: HP LaserJet 8100 Series PS in Mail Room Click "Forward" to get to the "Queue type" screen, For "Select a queue type:", select "Networked UNIX (LPD)" from the pull-down menu. Then for "Server:", put quetzal and for "Queue:", put HP8100 Click "Forward" to get to the "Printer model" screen, From the "Generic (click to select manufacturer)" pull-down menu, select "HP" Then scroll down, find & select "LaserJet 8100". Click "Forward" to get to the "Finish, and create the new print queue" screen, Click "Apply" to do it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------