I cheated a bit =)
I ended up swapping or headless hardware with a system we already had
running so I was able to install the first time using the normal boot
CD.
My next step was to take the live CD and try to modify it. The live
CD needs two things enabled in order to consider it ready for use on
a headless XServe G5. It needs to enable the serial console by
default, and it needs fusion MPT support.
About the easiest way to get Linux installed on a headless node
though is to find another PPC system you are willing to spare for a
bit, boot the XServe into Firewire mode, and then install that way.
The Xserve gives you complete access to its internal drive so you
just mount it like normal.. its pretty slick and works really well.
Some issues with Gentoo on XServe's that I have run into:
OpenAFS segfaults the kernel every time its started (annoying)
Yaboot works great on systems with monitors but fails on headless
nodes. You have to use the serial console to boot the system (open
the serial console, and run "boot hd:,\\yaboot"
Apple gets "jumpy" when you tell them that you are thinking about
converting your cluster from Mac OS to Linux =)
Either today or tomorrow I should have our final benchmark results
comparing MacOS to Gentoo PPC64 on our 32 node XServe cluster..
When I get everything up and running I will let you know =)
On Jan 20, 2006, at 9:18 AM, Brandon Edens wrote:
Hi Brady,
I too am in need of a solution for this problem. I've got an XServe
that lacks
CDROM and a video card. I believe I can boot a cdrom through either
a USB
connected or firewire setup. Did you have any luck building a
install CD with
ssh enabled, a default root password, etc...?
I also lack a PPC machine to use catalyst on. I'll have one once I
get the first
machine built. I've been experimenting with qemu ppc64 but am
having problems
with garbled text when attempting to have qemu-system-ppc loads up
the current
Gentoo ppc install cdrom. It seems that qemu (x86) can load the x86
Gentoo
install cdrom.
My current solution is to find any GNU/Linux LiveCD/RescueCD that
will pump an
ip address, enable the ssh server, and allow access to the root
account on some
default password.
Have you continued work on this problem? Have you had success?
Found a solution?
Thanks,
Brandon Edens
On Thu, Jan 05, 2006 at 09:52:49PM -0800, Brady Catherman wrote:
Is there a way to get the default cd to boot with a known root
password and start ssh automatically? Or is there an easier way to
install Gentoo on an XServe that doesn't have a video card?
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