Lets go back to the beginning, and the basics, again. Today, there is no other option to install Linux in an LPAR than using a network installation server. Period.
That network installation server can be any system that serves up one of the following protocols: - FTP - HTTP - NFS - SMB AS LONG AS the TCP/IP traffic from the LPAR can traverse any and all firewalls and routers to get to that server. Note that the ability to connect is _outbound_ from the LPAR and _inbound_ to the installation server. That's important, since it is the Linux installer that is initiating the TCP/IP handshakes. The operating system on the installation server could be Linux, UNIX, z/OS UNIX (USS), Windows, whatever. Now, you can still do the LOAD from the DVD reader in the HMC, as long as you copy the data on the DVD to the install server before putting the DVD into the reader. Doing it that way will eliminate the need to be able connect to the install server from the HMC itself. If you decide to keep trying to use the HMC as the FTP server, then of course you don't have to copy the contents of the DVD. Hopefully your network team will figure out just what needs to be done to make that work, if that's the method you choose. In one of your previous notes you said "So for the FTP file server I can use the hmc enable FTP access to mass storage media giving the installer the IP address of the hmc. And giving the lpar IP address to the hmc FTP facility (for lack of a better name/word). I just want to know for sure If this is valid option for me. If not then I will abandon it and move to other options." It should be a valid option if the proper inbound network access is enabled. Later you said "So for now an IP network is best?" It is the _only_ thing that will possibly work, so I guess you could call it the "best." In another note you said "By the way. If I go the route of the network FTP server. Is there any setting in the hmc that needs to be addressed to allow access to a network FTP server?" Other than using the "load from a remote server" dialog and providing the proper IP address, no. In an earlier note today you said "But since I don't have a valid client ipaddress (in this case the Lpar IP address) then it won't work , would it? The ifconfig command showed inet addr of 127.0.0.1 but the hmc did not recognize it as valid." An IP address of 127.0.0.1 is known as "home" or "localhost." It won't allow you to get traffic into or out of the LPAR. The fact that you only had the loopback interface (lo) configured, concerns me greatly. It means that you didn't get an actual OSA interface "assembled" so you could use it. The installer asks a bunch of questions about the network hardware so it can do what is necessary to perform that assembly. If something isn't right, you won't have a working network device, and you're dead in the water. Once you've answered all the questions, and if you still get a "no repository found" error, then you'll need to get into the shell and poke around to make sure you have a working OSA interface. Things to check are: ip link show This should show you at least two interfaces 1. lo 2. eth0 If you don't see eth0, then something went wrong. Check to see if the qeth and qdio drivers are loaded. cat /proc/modules Check to see if the following directory exists /sys/bus/ccwgroup/drivers/qeth/ You should see something like this: # ls /sys/bus/ccwgroup/drivers/qeth/ 0.0.0211 bind group module uevent unbind Check to see if there is anything in /sys/bus/ccwgroup/devices/ You should see something like this: # ls /sys/bus/ccwgroup/devices/ 0.0.0211 If you only see something like this: # ls /sys/bus/ccwgroup/drivers/qeth/ bind group module uevent unbind then you can try to manually group the interface: echo 0.0.0211,0.0.0212,0.0.0213 > /sys/bus/ccwgroup/drivers/qeth/group If 0.0.0211 then shows up in /sys/bus/ccwgroup/drivers/qeth/, do this: echo 1 > /sys/bus/ccwgroup/drivers/qeth/0.0.0211/layer2 echo 1 > /sys/bus/ccwgroup/drivers/qeth/0.0.0211/online At that point, an "ip link show" command should be showing an eth0 interface. So, try to configure the interface and default route: ifconfig eth0 my.ip.add.ress netmask ??.??.??.?? route add default gw ip.addr.of.gateway Then try to ping the gateway: ping -c 3 ip.addr.of.gateway If that all works, then you should be able to exit out of the shell and let the installer try again. You should probably ask your network team if the gateway system will respond to pings. Some organizations turn that off to reduce the ability of an intruder to figure out what other systems are on the local network. Mark Post ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information on Linux on System z, visit http://wiki.linuxvm.org/
