Hey Eugene: Thanks for this very detailed HOWTO! I will for sure put it up in the website later on.
I just took a quick glimpse at it, and just have a simple question... So do the client nodes end up having the SATA drives as IDE or SCSI? I got a little confused why you would partition it as SCSI and then modify the scripts to IDE, why not just start with IDE? I assume the answer is after all this is done, the client nodes will have SCSI (sda) drives (the SATA drives). Thanks, Bernard > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of eugene > Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 2:30 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Oscar-users] Oscar + SATA + bcm5700 > > Hi all, > > Here is a step by step guide on installing Oscar if you have > serial ATA drives on your client nodes. > > It is very probable that your linux distribution has been > patched to treat SATA drives as IDE devices. In fact if it > isnt, then this howto wont work out of the box for you. This > is not the case however for any of the stock kernels nor for > the kernel used by SIS to perform the PXE boot, which with > the exception of the 2.6 kernels do not even have native SATA support. > > Now there are two routes you can take, both of them include > building a custom kernel, but dont dispair this can be much > easier than it sounds. > > a. If you know how to make initrd images and boel_binaries > you probably dont need this howto so I wont say any more about that. > > b. If you dont know how to do the above or have other > problems that prevent you from using the distribution kernel > source, this is for you. > > 1. First off, install Oscar as normal all the way untill > before you boot up your client nodes. The only unexpected > step is that you have to configure your drive as a SCSI > device, i.e. during "Build OSCAR client Image" choose the > sample.disk.scsi (or a variant thereof) file as your disk > partition file. It is essential that your SATA partitions are > identified as sda*. Now build the client image and define > your clients. > > 2. Secondly, although we will partition our client drive as a > scsi device, your distribution linux version has probably > been patched to recognise SATA drives as IDE devices. We thus > need to ensure that the disk is mounted as an IDE device once > the client install is complete. > This can be accomplished by changing two files: > > 2.1 /var/lib/systemimager/scripts/oscarimage.master > Near the end there is a section where fstab for the client > node is generated. Replace all instances of sda with hda. > This will ensure that your drive partitions are mounted as > IDE devices. > > 2.2 > /var/lib/systemimager/images/oscarimage/etc/systemconfig/syste > mconfig.conf > This file determines the boot parameters on your client. The > boot device doesnt care what kind of disk it is on, but it > has to know where the root partition is going to be. If it > thinks the root is on a scsi drive, bootup will fail. Instead > of editting this file, we will place an altered copy of it in > the overrides folder. > > create the following directory structure: etc/systemconfig/ > inside the /var/lib/systemimager/overrides/oscarimage/ > folder. Copy the systemconfig.conf file to the new directory. > Now edit the file and change the value of the ROOTDEV under > [BOOT] from /dev/sda<somenumber> to /dev/hda<somenumber>. Do > not change the value of BOOTDEV! > > 3. Now we have to compile a kernel that can recognise SATA > devices during the PXE boot phase. Download a stock kernel > source from kernel.org. I used kernel 2.4.24, but it is not > critical which you use. > The exception is 2.6 kernels, they will not work with the > default PXE initrd.img produced by the SIS suite. Next > download the "libata" patch that corresponds to your stock > kernel. It can also be found at kernel.org (I dont recall > where exactly, but it is not difficult to find). Patch the > kernel with libata. > An excellent step-by-step guide on installing, patching and > compiling kernels can be found here: > http://www.digitalhermit.com/~kwan/kernel.html > > 4. cd to /usr/src/<your new kernel source>/ and type "make mrproper" > > 5. Copy /usr/share/systemimager/boot/i386/standard/config to > /usr/src/<your new kernel source>/.config > > 6. execute "make oldconfig" You can choose the default option > at most of the prompts antil the choice about SATA appears. > Choose "y" for all the SATA modules. This will compile them > into the kernel. > > (6.1. Now if you are feeling adventurous, type "make xconfig" > allowing you to mess about with the kernel configuration to > your heart's content. > I disabled all the devices I knew were not essential to the > PXE boot, but I do not think this step is strictly necessary. > Whatever you do, do NOT enable new loadable modules. If you > wish to add something, compile it directly into the kernel. > SATA modules can be found under SCSI > support->SCSI low level drivers by the way.) > > 7. type "make dep clean bzImage modules modules_install". > Wait till its done. This may take a while if you did not > disable a lot of divices in step 6b above. > > 8. Copy arch/i386/boot/bzImage to /tftpbboot/kernel2424. This > is the new kernel we will use to PXE boot. It can be named > anything apart from "kernel", which is overwritten by SIS > during network boot startup. > > 9. cd /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/ > This directory contains a file called default that tells the > PXE boot device which files to grab. Copy default to "C". Why > will become apparent later. Edit "C" and change the value of > KERNEL from kernel to > kernel2424 (or whatever you named your new PXE kernel) Do not > include any non alphabetic, non-alphanumeric characters in > the new kernel name. > Apparently the interpreter is none to clever. > > 10. Right, thats it for the configuration. Start up your > client machine and enter the BIOS. Enable network boot and > change SATA mode to "SATA only" or "Enhanced". "Enhanced" > worked for me but this may vary. > Continue booting. Everything should run smoothly from here. > After installation is complete, shut down the client. > > 11. Start the client. Enter the BIOS as set SATA mode back to > its default. If you enabled LAN boot over HDD boot, set it > back. If everything has been done correctly and no weird bugs > crept into the mix, you should now be able to boot to a > default shell with a login prompt. > > (11.1 If you are not the fiddly type, you can probably ignore > this. For the rest, remember the BOOTDEV that was left as sda > way above. This has now gone and told the boot loader config > file that the boot sector is on a scsi drive. You wont notice > this however unless you try to run the the > boot loader configurator. To set it to its proper value, > edit /etc/lilo.conf or /etc/grub.conf and change the last > remaining entry of sda to hda. > > 12 All done. I dont yet know how this will hold up when a > kernel updater is run, but I suspect it will be fine. > > If you have any queries I will keep watching the list, also > you can e-mail me directly if I dont respond in a timely fashion. > > Thanks yet again to the list members, > > > Eugene > > PS. I found the most usefull thing when dealing with problems > like these is to believe it can be solved. > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by: IBM Linux Tutorials > Free Linux tutorial presented by Daniel Robbins, President and CEO of > GenToo technologies. Learn everything from fundamentals to system > administration.http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=1470&alloc_id=3638&op=click > _______________________________________________ > Oscar-users mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/oscar-users > > ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: IBM Linux Tutorials Free Linux tutorial presented by Daniel Robbins, President and CEO of GenToo technologies. Learn everything from fundamentals to system administration.http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id70&alloc_id638&op=click _______________________________________________ Oscar-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/oscar-users
