pServer Guide for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 · pServer Guide for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5...

pServer Guide for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Document Number 432-000048

Revision 2007-OCT-12

Revision Date Description

2007-OCT-12 GA release of RHEL5.0 pServer software for PAN Manager 5.1 on Egenera BladeFrame.

CopyrightCopyright © 2007 Egenera, Inc. All rights reserved.

This document, and the product described in it, is furnished under license and may only be used in accordance with the terms of such license. The content of this document is furnished for information purposes only and is subject to change without notice.

Egenera, Egenera stylized logos, BladeFrame, BladeLatch, BladeMate, BladePlane, cBlade, Control Blade, PAN Manager, pBlade, Processing Blade, sBlade, and Switch Blade are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Egenera, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

PRIMERGY is a registered trademark of Fujitsu Siemens Computers.

AMD, Opteron, and Athlon are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

EMC, CLARiiON, and Symmetrix are registered trademarks of EMC Corporation.

The IBM Developer Kit for Linux, Java 2 Technology Edition contains software which is copyright IBM Corporation, Sun Microsystems Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., and X Consortium.

Intel and Itanium are registered trademarks and Xeon is a trademark of the Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States or other countries.

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun Logo, Solaris, and the Java logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The virtual VGA console uses Microsoft Terminal Services Advanced Client (TSAC), which is a copyright of Microsoft Corporation.

MindTerm is copyright AppGate AB.

Oracle9i is a trademark of Oracle Corporation.

Red Hat is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

SUSE is a registered trademark of SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, a Novell business.

Roxio and the Roxio logo are trademarks of Roxio®, a division of Sonic Solutions® which may be registered in some jurisdictions.

Nero is a trademark of Nero AG.

Xen, XenSource and XenEnterprise are either registered trademarks or trademarks of XenSource Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Printed in the United States of America.

Egenera, Inc., 165 Forest Street, Marlboro, Massachusetts 01752.

Contents

Preface

Egenera Enterprise Services .................................................................................... viii

Document Conventions ............................................................................................. ix

Chapter 1: Preparing to Install an RHEL5 pServer

About pServers ........................................................................................................ 1-2

Minimum Requirements for an RHEL5 pServer .................................................... 1-3Getting Assistance ............................................................................................ 1-4Upgrade Policy for Existing pServers .............................................................. 1-4

Getting Ready for the pServer Install ...................................................................... 1-5

About RHEL5 pServer Software from Egenera ...................................................... 1-6

Downloading RHEL5 pServer Software from Egenera .......................................... 1-7

Chapter 2: Installing an RHEL5 pServer

Selecting a pServer Installation Method (Media or Network) ................................ 2-2Enabling Media Drives for CD/DVD-based Installs........................................ 2-3Registering ISO Images for VCD-based Installs.............................................. 2-3Setting Up a Network Area for NFS-based Installs ......................................... 2-4

Creating a pServer ................................................................................................... 2-6

iii


Installing the RHEL5 Installer Boot Image on the Control Blades ......................... 2-8Installing the Installer Boot Image from Physical Media................................. 2-9Installing the Installer Boot Image from the Network.................................... 2-10

Installing RHEL5 on a pServer ............................................................................. 2-11Installing from VCD....................................................................................... 2-11Don’t Add SCSI Disks While Installing ........................................................ 2-11Planning for a Root Disk Image ..................................................................... 2-11Installing Supported Kernels .......................................................................... 2-12

Performing an Interactive Installation ................................................................... 2-13Egenera Installation Logs ............................................................................... 2-17Installing Update RPMs ................................................................................. 2-17

Performing a Non-interactive Installation (Kickstart) ........................................... 2-18Preparing for Kickstart ................................................................................... 2-18Performing the Kickstart Install ..................................................................... 2-20

Configuring the RHEL5 Firewall .......................................................................... 2-21Disabling the RHEL5 Firewall ....................................................................... 2-21Supporting PAN Agent with the RHEL5 Firewall......................................... 2-21

Chapter 3: Creating RHEL5 pServers from Root Disk Images

About Root Disk Images ......................................................................................... 3-2Requirements .................................................................................................... 3-2

Preparing an RHEL5 Root Disk Image ................................................................... 3-3Packaging the Root Disk Image ....................................................................... 3-3Registering the Root Disk Image ..................................................................... 3-6

Using an RHEL5 Root Disk Image for a New pServer .......................................... 3-7

Chapter 4: Installing Updates and New Kernels

Installing Non-kernel Red Hat Updates or Errata on a pServer .............................. 4-2

iv

Contents

Installing a Non-default Kernel or Kernel Errata on a pServer ............................... 4-3

Managing Egenera Kernel Modules ........................................................................ 4-4

Chapter 5: Configuring a NAS-rooted pServer

Administrator Responsibilities ................................................................................ 5-2

Guidelines ................................................................................................................ 5-2

Chapter 6: Running RHEL5 pServers in Rescue Mode

Appendixes

Appendix A: Release Notes

What’s New in This Release .................................................................................. A-2

Known Issues ......................................................................................................... A-3

Index

v


vi

Preface

You can use this document to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL5) as the operating system (OS) for a pServer on a pBlade in PAN Manager.

Releases — This document provides information on the following pServer software releases:

These pServer releases support the following OS editions:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Platform

Audience — This document is for PAN Administrators and LPAN Administrators.

Topics — This document provides information on the following topics:

• Preparing to Install an RHEL5 pServer

• Installing an RHEL5 pServer

pServer Release Operating System Platform

RHEL5.0_BF5.1_32_0 32-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0

PAN Manager 5.1 on Egenera BladeFrame

RHEL5.0_BF5.1_64_0 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0

PAN Manager 5.1 on Egenera BladeFrame

Revision 2007-OCT-12 vii


• Creating RHEL5 pServers from Root Disk Images

• Installing Updates and New Kernels

• Configuring a NAS-rooted pServer

• Running RHEL5 pServers in Rescue Mode

• Release Notes

Documentation Updates — To get the most up-to-date version of this document (which includes the latest release notes), go to:

http://support.egenera.com

Related Documentation — To learn about EVBS, which is required to boot RHEL5 pServers, see the document Using Egenera Virtualized Boot Services (available from http://support.egenera.com).

See the PAN Manager online help and bookshelf to learn more about PAN Manager features used to administer and run pServers.

Egenera Enterprise Services

We welcome your feedback on any Egenera document. We would also like to hear your suggestions for additional topics you want included in our documentation.

If you have enhancement requests or technical questions regarding the use of any Egenera product, contact us as follows:

Internet http://support.egenera.com

Telephone 1-866-301-3117

viii Revision 2007-OCT-12

Preface

Document Conventions

Convention Description

> Directory-level delimiter used to navigate the left pane of the PAN Manager GUI.

Example: Resources > Ethernet Connections

Sans serif italics Variable text, such as a path, a filename, or an LPAN name.

Example: lpan -c lpanname

Sans serif Text that must be typed as shown.

Example: Type root at the login prompt.

Bold The name of a field or window element appearing in a GUI. It also highlights default values in PAN Manager man pages.

Example: In the Users page...

Italics Text that is emphasized.

Example: Do not connect the power.

[text] Text that is optional to a command.

{text} A set of choices, one of which is required.

| Separation of mutually exclusive choices in syntax lines.

Example: lpan [-aD | -rD]{switch | SCSI_ID} lpanname

Note Information of importance or that may not fit in main text.

Caution Failure to heed a caution could result in loss of data.

Warning — Failure to heed a warning could result in physical harm to the user or the hardware.!

Revision 2007-OCT-12 ix


x Revision 2007-OCT-12

Chapter 1Preparing to Install an

RHEL5 pServer

This document describes how to install and configure Red Hat® Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL5) on one or more pBlade pServers in PAN Manager. In this chapter, you’ll learn how to prepare for your RHEL5 installation and configuration work. Topics include:

• About pServers

• Minimum Requirements for an RHEL5 pServer

• Getting Ready for the pServer Install

• About RHEL5 pServer Software from Egenera

• Downloading RHEL5 pServer Software from Egenera

Revision 2007-OCT-12 1-1


About pServers

A pServer is a logical server that you define in PAN Manager and associate with the resources you want it to use. These resources include a processing blade (in this case, a pBlade), networked disk storage, and virtual network connections.

Once you create a pServer, you need to install the operating system to run on it. This includes the usual software distribution from the OS vendor (in this case, Red Hat) as well as virtualization extension software from Egenera that’s tailored for this OS.

The Egenera Virtualization Extensions for RHEL5 enable the Red Hat OS to function within your PAN and enable you to administer the pServer from PAN Manager. These extensions consist of modules and device drivers designed for ease of maintenance — they are layered on top of the OS, without any modifications to the kernel, so you can use standard distributions from Red Hat for your OS install and updates.

To learn more about pServers and how to administer them, see the PAN Manager documentation.

1-2 Revision 2007-OCT-12

Preparing to Install an RHEL5 pServer

Minimum Requirements for an RHEL5 pServer

Your platform must meet the following hardware and software requirements to install and run Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL5) on a pServer.

Table 1.1 Minimum Requirements

Component Requirements

cBlade hardware The following cBlades are supported: EP, EX, and ES.

cBlade software PAN Manager Release 5.1 or higher.

Default boot image EVBS (Egenera Virtualized Boot Services) Release 1.0 or higher, installed on the cBlades for use with pServers in the PAN.

EVBS is a flexible pre-boot environment that lets you boot a pServer directly from a media drive, a SAN disk, or the network (using PXE). EVBS also lets you use custom boot arguments to control the boot device selection.

For the details on EVBS and how to use it, see the document Using Egenera Virtualized Boot Services (available from http://support.egenera.com).

Switch blade hardware No restrictions.

pBlade hardware The following pBlades are supported:

• Intel x86 (IA-32)

• Intel EM64T (IA-32E)

• AMD Opteron (AMD-64)

Follow the OS vendor’s recommended memory requirements when choosing a pBlade for your pServer.

pBlade firmware MasterBlaster 42.2 or higher (required by EVBS).

Note: In general, you should keep pBlades at the latest available firmware levels.



Getting Assistance

If you need assistance meeting any of these requirements, contact Egenera Enterprise Services or your authorized support vendor.

Upgrade Policy for Existing pServers

No upgrades to RHEL5.0 from existing Red Hat pServers (including RHEL4.x or any of its patches) are supported. Also, upgrading from an existing 32-bit pServer to a 64-bit pServer is not supported (even in the case of 32-bit RHEL5.0 to 64-bit RHEL5.0).

All RHEL5.0 pServer installations must be done from scratch.

pServer type pBlade pServer — The software and procedures described in this document apply to RHEL5 pServers on pBlades. These pServers do not use the vBlades feature of PAN Manager in any way, even when running the Xen kernel to support guests.

To learn about RHEL5 guests on vBlade pServers, see the vBlades documentation.

Component Requirements



Getting Ready for the pServer Install

To get ready to perform the RHEL5 operating system installation on a pServer, you need to:

1. Meet the requirements listed in “Minimum Requirements for an RHEL5 pServer” on page 1-3.

2. Obtain the following software, in the format appropriate for your needs:

3. Proceed to the “Installation Roadmap” on page 2-1 in Chapter 2, “Installing an RHEL5 pServer”.

Software You Need Where to Get It

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Available formats: choice of 32-bit or 64-bit distribution, each on 1 DVD (or DVD image) or multiple CDs (or CD images)

Red Hat

Egenera Virtualization Extensions for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, RHEL5.x

Available formats: choice of 32-bit or 64-bit distribution, each on 1 CD (or CD image)

For details, see:

• “About RHEL5 pServer Software from Egenera” on page 1-6

• “Downloading RHEL5 pServer Software from Egenera” on page 1-7

Egenera



About RHEL5 pServer Software from Egenera

This section takes a closer look at your choices when selecting a distribution of the Egenera Virtualization Extensions for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, RHEL5.x.

You can run pServers in 32-bit or 64-bit mode on various pBlade types, depending on the pBlade chipset architecture. Use the following table to determine the appropriate Egenera RHEL5 distribution (ISO image) for your needs according to your pBlade hardware and mode requirements.

Table 1.2 Compatibility of Egenera RHEL5 Distributions across pBlade Types

• RHEL5.x_BF5.1_32_0-x.iso Use this image when installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 on Intel x86, Intel EM64T, or AMD Opteron pBlades running in 32-bit mode. The installation files you need are in the /egenera directory.

• RHEL5.x_BF5.1_64_0-x.iso Use this image when installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 on Intel EM64T or AMD Opteron pBlades running in 64-bit mode. The installation files you need are in the /egenera directory.

You can either download these images (as described in the next section) or obtain them from Egenera in CD form.

ISO Image Intel x86 (i386, i586, i686) Intel EM64T AMD Opteron

RHEL5.x_BF5.1_32_0-x.iso yes yes (32 bit) yes (32 bit)

RHEL5.x_BF5.1_64_0-x.iso no yes (64 bit) yes (64 bit)



Downloading RHEL5 pServer Software from Egenera

To download a distribution of the Egenera Virtualization Extensions for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, RHEL5.x, do the following:

1. Go to http://support.egenera.com, then log in using your customer username and password.

If you need assistance logging in, contact Egenera Enterprise Services.

2. Navigate the Web site to find the download page for the RHEL5 pServer software.

3. Follow the download instructions to save the appropriate distribution (ISO image) to your local system.

To determine which distribution you need, see “About RHEL5 pServer Software from Egenera” on page 1-6.

4. (Optional) When the download is finished, you can verify its success by doing the following:

a. Use the Linux md5sum command to calculate the checksum for the downloaded file:md5sum filename

b. Compare that result to the checksum value provided on the download page.

If the values are identical, go on to Step 5 (if not, contact Egenera Enterprise Services).



5. Use the downloaded ISO file in one of these ways:

For more information on planning how to install, see “Selecting a pServer Installation Method (Media or Network)” on page 2-2.

If You Plan to Install from Do This

Physical media (CD) Use a CD burn utility to create a CD that contains the contents of the ISO file.

Virtual CD (VCD) Make the ISO file accessible in PAN Manager as described in “Registering ISO Images for VCD-based Installs” on page 2-3.

Your local network (via NFS)

Mount the ISO file:mount -o loop filename.iso /mnt_pnt

Then copy the contents to a network area as described in “Setting Up a Network Area for NFS-based Installs” on page 2-4.


Chapter 2Installing an RHEL5

pServer

This chapter describes how to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 as the operating system for a pServer on a pBlade.

Installation Roadmap

The sections in this chapter guide you through the process of installing an RHEL5 pServer. Tasks include:

1. Selecting a pServer Installation Method (Media or Network)

2. Creating a pServer

3. Installing the RHEL5 Installer Boot Image on the Control Blades

4. Installing RHEL5 on a pServer (one of the following methods)

• Performing an Interactive Installation

• Performing a Non-interactive Installation (Kickstart)

5. Configuring the RHEL5 Firewall



Selecting a pServer Installation Method (Media or Network)

You have a choice of several methods for installing. This section describes these choices and any setup steps involved.

Method When to Use It

Installing from media: Physical media (CD/DVD)

Use this method to install pServer software directly from CDs or DVDs you have obtained from Red Hat and Egenera (or burned from downloaded ISO images).

This method is only practical when the person installing has physical access to the platform.

To prepare for this method, see: “Enabling Media Drives for CD/DVD-based Installs” on page 2-3.

Installing from media: Virtual CD (VCD)

Use this method to install pServer software directly from ISO images you have downloaded from Red Hat and Egenera (or created from physical CDs or DVDs).

This method is useful for installs on a single platform when the person installing is working remotely from that platform.

To prepare for this method, see: “Registering ISO Images for VCD-based Installs” on page 2-3.

Installing from a Network File System (NFS)

Use this method to:

1. Copy the contents of the Red Hat and Egenera installation media (CDs and DVDs, or ISO images) to a server in your network.

2. Install the pServer software from that network area to network-accessible pServers (connected to a vSwitch that is uplinked to the external network).

This method is useful for installs on multiple platforms when the person installing is working remotely from those platforms.

To prepare for this method, see: “Setting Up a Network Area for NFS-based Installs” on page 2-4.


Installing an RHEL5 pServer

Installation steps vary somewhat depending on the method you use. These variations are noted in this chapter, where applicable.

Enabling Media Drives for CD/DVD-based Installs

Before you can install to a pServer from physical media (a CD or DVD), you must use PAN Manager to enable that pServer’s access to a media drive. For example, you can use the following command to enable a specified media drive for every pServer in a particular LPAN:

# lpan -e "(0.0.0.0)"@myplatform/c1 mylpan

Registering ISO Images for VCD-based Installs

Before you can install to a pServer from ISO images that you insert in the Virtual CD (VCD) drive, you must register those images in PAN Manager. (Just be aware that, because ISO images are large, they can use up a lot of free space on your cBlades.) Follow these steps:

1. Obtain the ISO files (CD or DVD images) to use, as described in “Getting Ready for the pServer Install” on page 1-5. This includes each Red Hat and Egenera CD/DVD image for RHEL5.

If you need to create ISO images from physical media, do the following for each CD or DVD:

a. On a Linux system, insert the CD/DVD into a media drive.

b. Make sure the CD/DVD is not mounted.

c. Enter the following command (as root):# dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/path/cdimg_filename.iso

This creates the ISO image. Note that it takes several minutes to complete.

2. Copy each ISO image to a temporary location (such as the /crash_dumps directory) on one of your cBlades.

3. Register each ISO image in your PAN as a media image. For example:# pan -a -J -C /crash_dumps/rhel5-x-ia32-disk1.iso -P "RHEL5 x IA32 install CD 1" rhel5_x_ia32_disk1



4. Delete your temporary copies of the ISO images (from the /crash_dumps directory or wherever you put them).

Using ISO Images at Install Time

When you’re ready to install RHEL5 software on a pServer, use the following PAN Manager commands to operate registered ISO images and the VCD drive:

Setting Up a Network Area for NFS-based Installs

If you plan to install the pServer software from an NFS server, but have not already set up that server, follow these steps:

1. Obtain the media to use, as described in “Getting Ready for the pServer Install” on page 1-5. This includes each Red Hat and Egenera CD/DVD (or corresponding ISO image) for RHEL5.

2. Follow the procedure appropriate for your Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 distribution.

If your Red Hat distribution consists of a single DVD, copy its entire contents to a directory (nfspath/dirname) on your NFS server.

If your Red Hat distribution consists of multiple CDs, copy the contents of each CD to the same directory (nfspath/dirname) on your NFS server.

To Do This Type

Insert an ISO image in the VCD drive

# pserver --insert-vcd image_name lpan_name/pserver_name

Once in the VCD drive, an ISO image functions just like a physical CD or DVD.

Eject an ISO image from the VCD drive

# pserver --eject-vcd lpan_name/pserver_name



If you plan to install both the 32-bit and 64-bit distributions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, you must set up separate NFS areas. For example:• nfspath/RHEL5.x_BF5.1_32_0

• nfspath/RHEL5.x_BF5.1_64_0

3. Copy the contents of the Egenera Virtualization Extensions for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, RHEL5.x media to the directory nfspath/dirname on your NFS server.

Make sure that you copy all of the files and maintain the directory structure as it is presented in the image.

4. Be sure that the NFS server is network-accessible to the pServer on which you will install the OS:

• If the NFS server is a pServer that resides in the same PAN as your target pServer, and the pServers are connected to non-uplinked vSwitches, use PAN Manager to configure both pServers to connect to the same vSwitch.

• If the NFS server resides on the external network, you must connect your target pServer to a vSwitch that is uplinked to the external network.



Creating a pServer

Before installing the RHEL5 operating system, you must create a pServer. But first, a PAN Administrator must create an LPAN and allocate resources to it. (See the PAN Manager documentation for details about creating an LPAN.)

Once the LPAN is available, create and configure a pServer that has the following features, as illustrated in Figure 2.1. (See the PAN Manager documentation for details about creating a pServer.)

1. A primary pBlade capable of supporting RHEL5.

For a list of supported pBlades, see “Minimum Requirements for an RHEL5 pServer” on page 1-3.

2. One or more SCSI disks.

When adding a disk to be used as the boot disk for a new pServer, you should first clear any existing partitions from it.

3. One uplinked vEth (Virtual Ethernet interface).

This is required for network (NFS) installations.

4. At least one media drive enabled.

This is required for physical media (CD/DVD) installations. If you plan to use the virtual CD (VCD) feature instead, you don’t need to enable the physical media drives.

5. Default boot image set to EVBS.

Make sure that the required version of EVBS (Egenera Virtualized Boot Services) is installed in your PAN. See “Minimum Requirements for an RHEL5 pServer” on page 1-3.



Figure 2.1 Sample pServer Settings



Installing the RHEL5 Installer Boot Image on the Control Blades

Before installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL5) software on a pServer, you must install the RHEL5 installer boot image on one of the platform’s Control Blades (cBlades). PAN Manager automatically registers the image on the other cBlade as well.

This boot image, which is supplied by Egenera, allows you to boot a temporary RHEL5 installation environment to install and configure the operating system for the pServer. You boot this image using the one-time boot feature of PAN Manager, providing boot arguments if necessary. Once the RHEL5 operating system is installed and configured, the pServer thereafter boots from EVBS, which you configure to be the default boot image for your pServer.

Requirements this procedure:

• If you are installing the RHEL5 installer boot image from physical media (CD), you must have physical access to the platform.

• You must have root privileges on the cBlades.

• PAN Manager must be running.

Follow the steps appropriate for your site:

• Installing the Installer Boot Image from Physical Media

• Installing the Installer Boot Image from the Network



Installing the Installer Boot Image from Physical Media

To install the RHEL5 installer boot image from physical media (CD):

1. Insert the 32- or 64-bit version of the Egenera Virtualization Extensions for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, RHEL5.x CD into the media drive on one of the cBlades.

2. Log in as root on that cBlade.

3. On that cBlade, mount the media drive:# mount /mnt/cdrom

4. Run the install.sh script:# /mnt/cdrom/egenera/install.sh

5. When this install is complete, unmount the media drive and eject the Egenera Virtualization Extensions for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, RHEL5.x CD:# umount /mnt/cdrom# eject cdrom

You have successfully installed the RHEL5 installer boot image on the Control Blades. Go on to “Installing RHEL5 on a pServer” on page 2-11.



Installing the Installer Boot Image from the Network

To install the RHEL5 installer boot image from an NFS mount point (as defined in “Setting Up a Network Area for NFS-based Installs” on page 2-4):

1. Log in as root on one of the cBlades.

2. On that cBlade, mount the NFS path from your NFS server: # mount nfs_server_ip:/nfspath/RHEL5.x_BF5.1_32_0 /mnt_point

OR

# mount nfs_server_ip:/nfspath/RHEL5.x_BF5.1_64_0 /mnt_point

Note: Keep a copy of nfs_server_ip and nfspath handy; you will need them later when you install the operating system.

3. Run the install.sh script:# /mnt_point/egenera/install.sh

You have successfully installed the RHEL5 installer boot image on the Control Blades. Go on to “Installing RHEL5 on a pServer” on page 2-11.



Installing RHEL5 on a pServer

The next sections describe how to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 on a pServer, with special attention to Egenera-specific portions of the installation.

Be sure that the RHEL5 installer boot image is already installed on the cBlades. See “Installing the RHEL5 Installer Boot Image on the Control Blades” on page 2-8 for details.

Whether you are installing the software from media (in a physical or VCD drive) or from an NFS server, there are two ways to use the Red Hat installation tools to perform the install: interactively or by using a kickstart file for an unattended installation. Follow one of these procedures:

• Performing an Interactive Installation

• Performing a Non-interactive Installation (Kickstart)

Installing from VCD

If you plan to install from registered ISO images in the pServer’s VCD drive, first read “Using ISO Images at Install Time” on page 2-4 to learn about inserting and ejecting those images.

Don’t Add SCSI Disks While Installing

During any type of pServer installation process, you must not add SCSI disks to the pServer. Adding disks during installation can cause the install to fail or can leave the pServer in an unpredictable state, requiring you to reinstall it.

Planning for a Root Disk Image

If you plan to later make a root disk image (pbroot) from the pServer you’re installing, you must adhere to the requirements listed in Chapter 3, “Creating RHEL5 pServers from Root Disk Images”.



Installing Supported Kernels

The Red Hat installer lets you make choices that affect which kernel(s) are installed for your RHEL5 pServer. For example, the Installation Number that you enter identifies your Red Hat subscription and the set of kernels and other packages available to install.

Kernels supported for use on an RHEL5 pServer depend on whether you are doing a 64-bit or 32-bit install:

Type of Install Supported Kernels

64-bit pServer All of the kernels offered by the Red Hat installer are supported for use on a 64-bit RHEL5 pServer.

32-bit pServer Only the following kernels offered by the Red Hat installer are supported for use on a 32-bit RHEL5 pServer:

• Xen kernel

• PAE kernel

For a kickstart installation, you can use the following syntax in the %packages section to specify these kernels:@virtualizationkernel-PAE

During an interactive installation, you can choose to install the Xen kernel (depending on your Installation Number), but the Red Hat installer does not provide a way for you to choose the PAE kernel. For your convenience, the Egenera portion of the installation automatically invokes an install of PAE if you did not install Xen.

Note: The base kernel is not supported for use on a 32-bit RHEL5 pServer. Although this kernel is installed by default, it is automatically removed from the GRUB menu during the Egenera portion of the installation.



Performing an Interactive Installation

To install the RHEL5 operating system software interactively:

1. Log on to either cBlade.

2. If installing from NFS: Go on to Step 3.

If installing from media: Insert the Red Hat distribution DVD or first CD into an enabled media drive on a cBlade. Or insert the corresponding ISO image in the pServer’s VCD drive.

3. List the available boot images:# pan -i

4. Boot your target pServer, but override the default boot image (which you earlier set as EVBS) to do a one-time boot of the RHEL5 installer boot image. This loads the Red Hat installation program.

For example, to use the 32-bit RHEL5 installer boot image, enter:# pserver -b -I RHEL5xxxxxxI_IA32 lpan_name/pserver_name

Refer to Table 2.1 to determine the display name of the RHEL5 installer boot image you must use for a 32-bit or 64-bit pServer.

Table 2.1 RHEL5 Installer Boot Image Display Names

Display Name Description

RHEL5xxxxxxI_IA32 Installation and recovery ramdisk image for installing RHEL5 IA32 pServers, which run in 32-bit mode on either Intel or AMD pBlades.

RHEL5xxxxxxI_X86_64 Installation and recovery ramdisk image for installing RHEL5 x86_64 pServers, which run in 64-bit mode on either Intel or AMD pBlades.



5. When the command prompt returns, open the pServer’s console:# console lpan_name/pserver_name

You should eventually see the initial screen of the RHEL5 install:Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server

6. Follow the screen prompts to specify details of the RHEL5 install.

As you proceed through the RHEL5 install screens, note that some screens require specific responses to support your RHEL5 pServer. Table 2.2 lists those screens and what you need to specify.

Table 2.2 RHEL5 Install Screens with Specific Requirements for pServer Support

On This RHEL5 Install Screen (in Text Mode)

Do This

Installation Method Select Local CDROM or NFS image. (Only these installation methods are currently supported. Local CDROM applies to a physical drive or a VCD drive.)

Note: This screen does not appear if the media is already in the DVD-ROM drive.

Networking Device Select eth0.

Note: This screen does not appear if the media is already in the DVD-ROM drive, or if Local CDROM was selected in the previous screen.

Installation Number For a 32-bit pServer, you must specify an Installation Number that provides the Xen kernel and/or PAE kernel.

For a 64-bit pServer, specify an Installation Number that provides the kernel(s) you want.



If installing from NFS: Go on to Step 8.

If installing from media: When prompted, insert the appropriate media from Red Hat.

The Red Hat portion of the installation completes.

Boot Loader Configuration Select Use GRUB Boot Loader.

When you’re prompted for options to pass to the kernel, accept the defaults.

When you’re prompted about a boot loader password, don’t use a GRUB password.

When you’re prompted about partitions to boot and their labels in the boot manager, accept the default label and partition.

When you’re prompted about where to install the boot loader, accept the default boot loader location.

Network Configuration for eth0

Make sure that Activate on boot is selected.

Network Configuration for veth31

Make sure that Activate on boot is deselected.

Time Zone Selection Select System clock uses UTC, then from the scroll list, select your time zone.

Package selection Select Customize software selection.

Package Group Selection At minimum, scroll down to select the following groups:

• Clustering (in particular, the ipvsadm package) if available

• Legacy Software Development

• Web Server

On This RHEL5 Install Screen (in Text Mode)

Do This



Note: If necessary, the 32-bit PAE kernel is installed at this time. If you are installing from media, you may again be prompted to insert the appropriate media from Red Hat. Status messages about the PAE kernel install appear on the pServer’s console. To learn more about when and how PAE is installed, see “Installing Supported Kernels” on page 2-12.

7. When prompted, insert the Egenera Virtualization Extensions for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, RHEL5.x media, then press Enter.

8. The Egenera Virtualization Extensions portion of the RHEL5 installation now runs automatically. When the installation script finishes running, a message similar to the following appears:Egenera installation completedType “exit” to reboot.

To exit the shell and reboot the pServer, enter:# exit

The pServer now reboots.

9. When the Red Hat Setup Agent screen displays, you can make configuration changes to the operating system, as appropriate.

To learn what you must do to ensure proper firewall configuration for the pServer, see “Configuring the RHEL5 Firewall” on page 2-21.



Egenera Installation Logs

The Egenera installation script (install.sh) writes logs on the pServer about its portion of the install process:

• This file is a log of all install activity by the script:/opt/egenera/install/egenera.install.log-relnum

where relnum is the release number of your Egenera pServer software. (While the Egenera portion of the install process is in progress, this log file is accessible in the ramdisk environment at /tmp/egenera.install.log-relnum.)

• This file is a log of install activity for Egenera RPMs:/opt/egenera/install/egenera.software.log

You can examine these logs when necessary.

Installing Update RPMs

Once the OS has been installed, booted, and configured on the pServer, you can install any appropriate update RPMs from Red Hat. These updates should correspond to the release number of the operating system software you just installed.

For more information, see Chapter 4, “Installing Updates and New Kernels”.



Performing a Non-interactive Installation (Kickstart)

If you want to perform a non-interactive (unattended) install of the RHEL5 operating system software, read this section to learn about:

1. Preparing for Kickstart

2. Performing the Kickstart Install

Preparing for Kickstart

To perform an unattended install of the RHEL5 software on a pServer, you must have a kickstart configuration file. This file supplies user responses to installation prompts, which can be handy when you need to install the same OS on multiple pServers.

Obtaining a Kickstart File

You can obtain a kickstart configuration file in a couple of ways:

How to Get a Kickstart File Details

Generated from an interactive install

Performing an interactive installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux creates a kickstart configuration file, located here on the pServer:/root/anaconda-ks.cfg

This file captures the parameters you specified during the install.

Provided by Egenera as a sample

You can find a sample kickstart configuration file on the Egenera Virtualization Extensions for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, RHEL5.x media, located here:/egenera/ks.cfg.sample



Editing a Kickstart File

You can use either the generated or sample kickstart file as a starting point, but you must edit your file to:

• Include information specific to your local configuration, such as the installation method (nfs or cdrom).

• Add Egenera-specific requirements, as noted in the ks.cfg.sample file. These requirements are preceded by comment lines containing the word Egenera.

Adding Post-install Commands (NFS only)

If installing from NFS, you can add any site-specific post-install commands you need to the kickstart file by doing the following:

1. Add these two lines to the kickstart file:%post --nochroot/egenera/rd_post_install.sh

This executes the Egenera installation script as the first post-install action (when the Red Hat install is done).

2. Add any site-specific post-install commands after the two lines in Step 1.

If you add commands that depend on the default behavior of the kickstart file, you must either explicitly specify chroot /mnt/sysimage when running those commands, or explicitly specify the full pathname of the file under the /mnt/sysimage mount point.

Your commands will execute after the Egenera installation script. They will not generate any output.

Note: If installing from media, do not add these lines to the kickstart file. They will cause that installation to fail.



Posting a Kickstart File

Place the edited kickstart file in a network-accessible location, such as an NFS server. The kickstart file must exist in a location separate from the cBlades.

Performing the Kickstart Install

For a non-interactive installation of RHEL5, the steps are very similar to those in “Performing an Interactive Installation” on page 2-13. You can follow that procedure, but make the following adjustments:

• Before you boot the pServer, specify the kickstart file and device to use:# pserver -K “ks=nfs:IP_addr:/pathname ksdevice=eth0” lpan_name/pserver_name

where IP_addr is the IP address of the NFS server hosting the kickstart file, and pathname is the location of the kickstart file.

• Once the RHEL5 install starts, skip the step about responding to screen prompts (because the kickstart file provides this information to the install instead).

• When the Egenera installation script and post-install commands finish executing, the pServer automatically reboots.



Configuring the RHEL5 Firewall

When you finish installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 on a pServer, the RHEL5 firewall is enabled by default. Depending on your firewall scenario, you must perform one of the following configuration tasks:

Disabling the RHEL5 Firewall

You can disable the RHEL5 firewall in the Red Hat Setup Agent that displays when your OS boots for the first time. If you don’t do it then, you can get to this facility later by logging into the pServer console as root and typing setup at the command line.

Perform these steps in the Red Hat Setup Agent:

1. On the main screen, run the Firewall configuration tool.

2. On the Firewall Configuration screen, set Security Level to Disabled. Then select OK.

Supporting PAN Agent with the RHEL5 Firewall

To support the Egenera PAN Agent, the RHEL5 firewall must be configured to allow use of veth31 for IP communication. The PAN Agent is needed to provide important administrative features, such as cleanly shutting down or rebooting the pServer from PAN Manager. Without the proper firewall configuration for veth31, the PAN Agent cannot run on the pServer.

Firewall Scenario What to Do

If your site uses a different firewall solution

Disable the RHEL5 firewall.

If you want to use the RHEL5 firewall

Ensure that the RHEL5 firewall configuration supports the Egenera PAN Agent.



Configuring the Firewall

To configure the RHEL5 firewall for veth31:

1. Make sure that the file /etc/sysconfig/iptables on your pServer contains the following line:-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -i veth31 -j ACCEPT

2. If this line is missing, add it and save the file. Then perform the following command to activate your changes:# service iptables restart

The PAN Agent should now be able to run on your pServer.

Enabling the Firewall

If you need to enable the RHEL5 firewall, perform these steps in the Red Hat Setup Agent:

1. On the main screen, run the Firewall configuration tool.

2. On the Firewall Configuration screen, set Security Level to Enabled. Then select OK.


Chapter 3Creating RHEL5 pServers

from Root Disk Images

You can avoid scratch installations of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 on additional pServers by deploying the root disk image (pbroot) of a single RHEL5 pServer. After you have a running RHEL5 pServer, you can use this chapter to create additional pServers.

Topics include:

• About Root Disk Images

• Preparing an RHEL5 Root Disk Image

• Using an RHEL5 Root Disk Image for a New pServer



About Root Disk Images

In Chapter 2, “Installing an RHEL5 pServer”, you learned how to set up an RHEL5 pServer by stepping through the OS install process. That approach is recommended for your first RHEL5 pServer, but there’s an alternative technique that can save you time and effort when creating additional pServers of the same type.

This technique involves preparing and using a root disk image (also known as a pbroot image). It requires you to:

1. Package directories and files copied from the root disk of an existing RHEL5 pServer into a root disk image

2. Register that root disk image with PAN Manager

3. Root one or more SCSI disks with that image, then associate each resulting RHEL5 pServer disk with a new pServer

Requirements You must adhere to the following requirements when working with root disk images:

• Disk partitioning The pServer root disk from which you create a root disk image must have exactly one partition. The root partition (/) should be /dev/sda1.

• pServer must not use LVM The root disk image must be created from a non-LVM pServer (LVM is the Logical Volume Management feature of Linux). Make sure that pServer’s root device is a SCSI device (/dev/sda1), instead of an LVM device such as /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00.


Creating RHEL5 pServers from Root Disk Images

Preparing an RHEL5 Root Disk Image

Preparing an RHEL5 root disk image for use involves:

1. Packaging the Root Disk Image

2. Registering the Root Disk Image

Packaging the Root Disk Image

Perform these steps in the PAN Manager CLI:

1. Log on to the pServer console of your existing RHEL5 pServer:# console lpan_name/pserver_name

2. Create a directory named /image_dir to use in making the root disk image:# mkdir /image_dir

3. Create a temporary file named /tmp/ex_file to hold the list of directories and files that you want to exclude from the tar file you’ll be making for the root disk image.

Note: All entries in the file must start with dot slash (./). Entries can contain wildcards (*).

Insert the following entries in the /tmp/ex_file file:./sys/* ./initrd/* ./tmp/* ./proc ./image_dir

4. Make sure that you are at the root directory:# cd /

5. Create a tar file of the root disk and write the operation to a log file:# tar -cv -X /tmp/ex_file -f /image_dir/pbroot-RHEL5-x-nnbit.tar --preserve . > /tmp/tar.log 2>&1



Note:

• It’s recommended that your tar file name specifies the OS release and bit-type (32bit or 64bit) for easy identification later: pbroot-RHEL5-x-nnbit.tar

• Be sure to use the dot character (.) after the --preserve option.

If you do not have enough space in /image_dir, the tar operation fails with a message similar to /image_dir/pbroot-RHEL5-x-nnbit.tar Wrote only 46800 of 205574 bytes. If this occurs, choose a different location (directory or mount point) to write the tar file, and change the /tmp/ex_file entry ./image_dir to the new location; the entry must start with dot slash (./).

You can check for errors in the log files created by this procedure. Good practice is to use grep, for example:# grep tar: /tmp/tar.log

You can ignore tar: log entries that contain socket ignored.

6. When you finish creating pbroot-RHEL5-x-nnbit.tar, open the file by using the following commands (assuming that your root disk image is in the image_dir directory):# mkdir /image_dir/hold# cd /image_dir/hold# tar xvf /image_dir/pbroot-RHEL5-x-nnbit.tar --preserve > /tmp/tar.log2 2>&1

7. Remove any unnecessary files (such as log files, history files, or ssh keys) from the extracted contents.

8. Edit etc/fstab (in the extracted contents) as follows:

Replace each LABEL=value entry that appears in the left-most column with a valid disk partition. For example, you would replace LABEL=/ with /dev/sda1.



9. Edit boot/grub/grub.conf (in the extracted contents) as follows:

Find the root= kernel argument for each kernel entry and replace LABEL=value with a valid disk partition (this root partition must be the same one you specified for etc/fstab). For example, you would change:kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-8.el5 ro root=LABEL=/ crashkernel=128M@16M console=rcons0,38400 acpi=on nmi_watchdog=0initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-8.el5.img

to:kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-8.el5 ro root=/dev/sda1 crashkernel=128M@16M console=rcons0,38400 acpi=on nmi_watchdog=0initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-8.el5.img

Note: If /boot and root are in different partitions, you must specify /boot in front of /vmlinuz and /initrd in each kernel entry.

10. Edit etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 (in the extracted contents) to remove the entire HWADDR entry (which specifies a hardcoded MAC address).

You must remove this entry to avoid MAC address problems with eth0 when booting.

11. Edit other configuration files (in the extracted contents), as needed.

12. Change directory to /image_dir/hold (assuming that your root disk image is in the image_dir directory) if you aren’t already there:# cd /image_dir/hold

13. Create a mount point for the egenera directory in the proc file system:# mkdir -p proc/egenera

14. Remove the existing tar file:# rm /image_dir/pbroot-RHEL5-x-nnbit.tar



15. Recreate and compress the tar file:# tar -czvf /image_dir/pbroot-RHEL5-x-nnbit.tar.gz --numeric-owner --preserve . > /tmp/tar.log3 2>&1

Note: Be sure to use the dot character (.) after the --preserve option.

16. Copy the root disk image to the /crash_dumps directory on one of your cBlades (specified by its IP address). For example:# scp /image_dir/pbroot-RHEL5-x-nnbit.tar.gz 136.106.187.122:/crash_dumps

17. To end the console session on the pServer, enter:# ~.

Registering the Root Disk Image

Perform these steps in the PAN Manager CLI:

1. Log on to the same cBlade specified in Step 16 of the previous procedure.

2. Register your new RHEL5 root disk image with PAN Manager:# pan -a -R -C /crash_dumps/pbroot-RHEL5-x-nnbit.tar.gz -F fs_type -T os_type -P description root_image_name

3. Delete your temporary copy of the root disk image (/crash_dumps/pbroot-RHEL5-x-nnbit.tar.gz).



Using an RHEL5 Root Disk Image for a New pServer

Once you have registered an RHEL5 root disk image, you can use it to set up one or more RHEL5 pServers. Here are the steps to perform in the PAN Manager CLI for each new pServer:

1. Root a SCSI disk with your RHEL5 root disk image:# disk -R -r root_image_name -g "(SCSI_ID)"

Make sure you include the -g option to install the GRUB boot loader on the disk’s master boot record.

2. Associate the resulting RHEL5 pServer disk with an appropriate pServer (assigned to a pBlade):# pserver -a "(SCSI_ID)" lpan_name/pserver_name "(0.0)"

Specifying "(0.0)" associates the SCSI disk as the pServer’s first disk, which maps to sda in the OS.

3. Specify the default boot image as EVBS, just as you usually do for an RHEL5 pServer:# pserver -I EVBS lpan_name/pserver_name

4. Boot your new RHEL5 pServer:# pserver -b lpan_name/pserver_name


Chapter 4Installing Updates and

New Kernels

This chapter contains important information on updating Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 packages and installing kernels on your pServer. Topics include:

• Installing Non-kernel Red Hat Updates or Errata on a pServer

• Installing a Non-default Kernel or Kernel Errata on a pServer

• Managing Egenera Kernel Modules



Installing Non-kernel Red Hat Updates or Errata on a pServer

Updating Red Hat packages can restore Red Hat default configurations that overwrite required Egenera-specific settings. For this reason, it is recommended to run the Egenera post-install tool egen_usr_post.sh on a pServer after a non-kernel errata RPM installation. This practice ensures that Egenera-required configurations are left intact on the pServer.

To install a non-kernel Red Hat update or errata on a pServer, use the following procedure:

1. Log on to the pServer console.

2. Before installing RPMs from the Red Hat media, enter:# rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY

This prevents the display of DSA signature: NOKEY warnings while installing the RPMs. (The RPM-GPG-KEY file is on the Red Hat media.)

3. Install the appropriate RPMs from the Red Hat media.

4. Run the egen_usr_post.sh tool:# /opt/egenera/egenkern/egen_usr_post.sh

5. (Optional) Reboot if required for your update or errata.


Installing Updates and New Kernels

Installing a Non-default Kernel or Kernel Errata on a pServer

To install a non-default kernel, Red Hat updates, or errata on a pServer, use the following procedure. It involves running the Egenera post-install tool egen_mods_RHEL_post.sh to provide the Egenera kernel modules needed after your install.


2. Before installing RPMs from the Red Hat media, enter:# rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY

This prevents the display of DSA signature: NOKEY warnings while installing the RPMs. (The RPM-GPG-KEY file is on the Red Hat media.)

3. To install the kernel RPM and preserve the contents of the /lib/modules subdirectory, enter:# rpm -i kernel-XXX.rpm

where XXX is the full name of the kernel RPM.

You may now see several messages, including some that begin with WARNING: No module egenera... You can ignore these.

4. Install any other RPMs as needed from the Red Hat media.

During this process, you may see the following error message: mkinitrd failed. You can ignore this message.

5. Run the egen_mods_RHEL_post.sh tool:# /opt/egenera/egenkern/egen_mods_RHEL_post.sh -k subdir

where subdir is the kernel subdirectory under /lib/modules. This is a relative path — do not include the /lib/modules directories in the value of subdir.

6. To reboot the pServer, enter:# reboot



Managing Egenera Kernel Modules

Read this section if you need additional details about using the egen_mods_RHEL_post.sh tool to manage Egenera kernel modules on your pServer.

You can execute egen_mods_RHEL_post.sh without arguments to copy Egenera kernel modules of all supported kernel types from the pServer’s /opt/egenera/modules directory to its /lib/modules directory. By default, this tool will not copy Egenera kernel modules into a /lib/modules subdirectory of a lesser revision than the kernel revision that the modules were built against.

You can execute egen_mods_RHEL_post.sh with arguments for more specialized needs:

• To copy RPM modules for a specific kernel from /opt/egenera/modules to /lib/modules/subdir on the pServer, enter:# ./egen_mods_RHEL_post.sh -k subdir

where subdir is the kernel subdirectory under /lib/modules.

• To downgrade the pServer kernel to a lower kernel revision, enter:# ./egen_mods_RHEL_post.sh -e kernel_revision

This copies a second set of Egenera kernel modules from /opt/egenera/modules to /lib/modules/kernel_revision on the pServer, allowing you to use the Egenera kernel modules associated with a kernel revision lower than the installed kernel revision.

• To upgrade to a different kernel type, enter:# ./egen_mods_RHEL_post.sh -t kernel_type

where kernel_type is the kernel to which you are upgrading, such as smp or xen.


Chapter 5Configuring a NAS-rooted

pServer

You can use a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device for a pServer’s root file system. This chapter describes Egenera-specific requirements for configuring your pServer’s root disk on network attached storage.

Topics include:

• Administrator Responsibilities

• Guidelines



Administrator Responsibilities

The administrator is responsible for making the appropriate configuration file changes and putting the required files on the NAS.

Guidelines

To set up a NAS-rooted pServer, follow these guidelines:

1. Create the pServer that you want to root on the NAS.

2. Specify EVBS as the pServer’s default boot image, just as you usually do for an RHEL5 pServer.

3. Create a root disk image (pbroot) for use with RHEL5 pServers.

See Chapter 3, “Creating RHEL5 pServers from Root Disk Images” for details.

4. Configure the pServer not to stop or start the network interface used to access the NFS server.

5. Make sure that loopback is running on the pServer.

Various services (such as the Egenera PAN Agent) can depend on the loopback interface (lo), as configured in the network configuration file in the /etc/rc.d/rc3.d directory. Loopback is required to boot a NAS-rooted pServer.

6. Edit the /etc/fstab file in the root disk image as follows for the root mount point:

• Change the device to nfsserver:/path/to/root

• Change the file system type to nfs


Configuring a NAS-rooted pServer

For example, you would change:/dev/sda1 / ext3 defaults 1 2

to:nfsserver:/path/to/root / nfs defaults 1 2

7. Set up the disk that will contain the pServer’s root file system on the NFS server and place the contents of the root disk image there.

See standard Linux documentation for information on these procedures.

8. Specify one or more boot arguments for the pServer, according to your network configuration:

• For any NAS-rooted pServer, specify the root=/dev/nfs boot argument. Note that your network must have DHCP configured.

For example, to configure the pServer to boot with a DHCP generated IP address and the root file system located at the value of nfsroot, enter:# pserver -K "root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=172.28.2.116:/path/to/root" lpan_name/pserver_name

The nfsroot argument identifies the location of a root file system on NAS and can be used to override any value provided by DHCP, or to fill it in if missing.

• If you specified a version of NFS while using the mount command to set up the pServer’s disk, specify the same version when configuring the pServer’s boot options.

For example, using mount -o vers=3 requires you to specify version 3 in this way:# pserver -K "root=/dev/nfs vers=3" MyLPAN/ps7

9. To boot the pServer, enter:# pserver -b lpan_name/pserver_name


Chapter 6Running RHEL5 pServers

in Rescue Mode

After you have installed a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL5) pServer, you have the option of running that pServer in rescue mode when necessary. Rescue mode can help you access and repair your operating system when a problem occurs.

To run an RHEL5 pServer in rescue mode, follow these steps in the PAN Manager CLI:

1. Boot or reboot your pServer from the appropriate RHEL5 installer boot image provided by Egenera, and include the rescue boot argument. For example:

To boot a shutdown 32-bit pServer in rescue mode:# pserver -b -I RHEL5xxxxxxI_IA32 -K rescue lpan_name/pserver_name

To reboot a running 32-bit pServer in rescue mode:# pserver -x -f -I RHEL5xxxxxxI_IA32 -K rescue lpan_name/pserver_name

Refer to Table 2.1 on page 2-13 to determine the display name of the RHEL5 installer boot image you must use for a 32-bit or 64-bit pServer.



2. Open the pServer’s console:# console lpan_name/pserver_name

You should eventually see the initial RHEL5 install screen:Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server

3. Follow the screen prompts to specify details of the RHEL5 rescue and start working in the rescue mode shell.

4. When you finish examining and/or repairing your system, exit from the rescue mode shell:# exit

You can now reboot your RHEL5 pServer using the default boot image (EVBS). If a problem occurs, you can repeat the rescue process and make further repairs.


Appendixes

This part of the guide includes the following additional information:

• Appendix A, “Release Notes”


Appendix ARelease Notes

This appendix presents release notes about the installation and use of Egenera Virtualization Extensions for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, RHEL5.x to support pServers on pBlades in PAN Manager.

Topics include:

• What’s New in This Release

• Known Issues

Revision 2007-OCT-12 A-1


What’s New in This Release

The following features are new in the RHEL5.0 pServer release:

• Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (which is based on the 2.6.18 kernel), including such features as:

• Xen hypervisor hosting guest operating systems (fully virtualized or paravirtualized)

Note that support for Xen and guests on RHEL5 pServers is unrelated to the vBlades feature of PAN Manager.

• Kdump crash dumping mechanism, based on Kexec

A pServer now writes the crash dump file to its own disk in /var/log/dump, just as a standard server does (instead of writing it to the cBlades). Just as with a standard server, you now need to make sure that /var has enough space for the crash dump file, or it might not be written completely.

• Cluster Suite Failover

• Distributed Lock Manager

• Global File System

See the Red Hat documentation to learn about using these features.

• Support for PAN Manager 5.1 features, such as fibre channel tape devices and Virtual CD (VCD)

Support for SCSI-3 persistent reservations

See the PAN Manager documentation to learn about using these features.

A-2 Revision 2007-OCT-12

Release Notes

Known Issues

The following known issues apply to the RHEL5.0 pServer release:

pServer console does not display cursor

After an RHEL5 pServer boots, the pServer console might not display the cursor.

Corrective Action: To get the cursor back, do the following:


2. In the bash shell, type reset and press Enter.

Kickstart boot arguments are retained after install

If you install an RHEL5 pServer via kickstart, you may notice that the kickstart boot arguments are retained after the install process is done. For example, these arguments continue to appear in listings displayed by the pserver -l command.

Corrective Action: The retention of kickstart boot arguments does not affect the operation of your RHEL5 pServer. Once the pServer is installed, it boots via EVBS, which ignores the kickstart boot arguments.

If you want to clear these arguments, type the following command:

# pserver -K "" lpan_name/pserver_name

RHEL5 Xen kernel fails to boot on blade with 96GB memory

This is a known Red Hat issue. When you try to boot the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server and Virtualization kernel on systems that have 64GB of memory (or more), the kernel panics with the following message:Panic on CPU 0:

Revision 2007-OCT-12 A-3


Not enough RAM for domain 0 allocation.

Corrective Action: To prevent this from occurring, please update to Red Hat Security Advisory RHSA-2007:0099 (or later), which contains a fix for this issue.

If you are unable to update the kernel, you can work around this issue by booting with the kernel parameters dom0_mem=512M mem=64G. For example, in /boot/grub/grub.conf:

title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-8.el5xen)root (hd0,0)kernel /xen.gz-2.6.18-4.el5 dom0_mem=512M mem=64Gmodule /vmlinuz-2.6.18-4.el5xen ro root=LABEL=/module /initrd-2.6.18-4.el5xen.img

A-4 Revision 2007-OCT-12

Index

A

AMD Opteron pBladesselecting installer boot image for

pServer 2-13support for 1-6

B

boot image, default 2-6

C

cBlades 2-8Control Blades 2-8

D

default boot image 2-6directories

for IA32 releases 1-6for x86_64 releases 1-6

disk partitions 3-2documentation

EVBS preface-viii

updates preface-viiidownloading ISO images for install 1-7

E

egen_mods_RHEL_post.sh 4-3egen_usr_post.sh 4-2EVBS

about 1-3booting with 2-8documentation preface-viiisetting as default boot image 2-6

F

firewall configuration 2-21

G

GRUB settings 2-15

I

install screens 2-14

Index-1


install.sh 2-9installer boot image

associating with a pServer 2-13installing 2-9installing from the network 2-10installing on the cBlades 2-8running in rescue mode 6-1

installingabout 1-1from network (NFS) 2-2, 2-4from physical media 2-2from VCD 2-2interactive method 2-13kickstart 2-18non-interactive method 2-18requirements for 1-3roadmap for 2-1with root disk images 3-2

Intel EM64T pBladesselecting installer boot image for


Intel x86 pBladesselecting installer boot image for


interactive installation 2-13ISO images

downloading 1-7registering 2-3RHEL5.x_BF5.1_32_0-x.iso 1-6RHEL5.x_BF5.1_64_0-x.iso 1-6using at install time 2-4

K

kernel errata

installing 4-3kernels

applying Red Hat updates or errata 4-3

choosing 2-12, 2-14using non-default 4-3

kickstart installation 2-18known issues A-1

L

logs of installation activity 2-17LPANs

creating 2-6LVM

restriction for root disk images 3-2

M

media drives 2-6

N

Network Attached Storage (NAS)using with pServers 5-1

Network File System (NFS) 2-2network installation area

setting up 2-4new features A-1NFS installation

procedures for 2-4server on external network 2-5server on same network 2-5using with NAS-rooted pServers

5-2NFS installation area

Index-2

Index

32-bit versus 64-bit 2-5non-default kernels

installing 4-3non-interactive installation 2-18non-kernel Red Hat updates

installing 4-2

P

PAE kernel 2-12partitions 3-2pbroot images 3-2pServers

about 1-2configuring 2-6creating 2-6example settings 2-7installation roadmap 2-1preparing to install 1-1requirements for 1-3running in rescue mode 6-1

R

Red Hatdirectory in NFS area 2-4editions preface-viiinstallation roadmap 2-1preparing to install 1-1requirements for 1-3

Red Hat errata

installing 4-2release notes A-1releases covered in this document

preface-viirequirements for installing 1-3rescue mode 6-1root disk images

about 3-1associating with a pServer 3-7disk partitions 3-2LVM restriction 3-2packaging and registering 3-3requirements for 3-2

U

upgrade policy 1-4

V

VCD 2-2versions covered in this document

preface-viivEths 2-6Virtual CD 2-2Virtual Ethernet interface (veth) 2-6

X

Xen kernel 2-12

Index-3


Index-4

pServer Guide for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 · pServer Guide for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5...

Documents

Transcript of pServer Guide for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 · pServer Guide for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5...