Frank, Thank you very much for taking the time to explain all this. I have a minicluster (to test/play with) coming in with the same hardware (dell is phasing out 1750's so we managed to get a good deal) so I can use that to play with this process and see if I can make it work.
Thanks again for the explanation. :) John -----Original Message----- From: Frank Crawford [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Posted At: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 10:32 PM Posted To: OSCAR Conversation: [Oscar-users] RE: PXE Boot PowerEdge 1750 with tg3 Subject: Re: [Oscar-users] RE: PXE Boot PowerEdge 1750 with tg3 John, others, Put briefly, the process to make the new files is pretty much a hand job. There is a sample kernel config in the /usr/share/systemimager/boot/i386/standard/ directory. Create a new kernel with that config and any other options you need (e.g. make important devices static rather than modules, etc) and make that kernel. One important item is that CRAMFS needs to be compiled into the kernel, not a module, as it is used by initrd.img. Once you've done that, replace the modules in boel_binaries.tar.gz with the new modules you've just created (remembering to get the module path correct, i.e. /lib/`uname -a`). This is for all the non-boot modules that will be needed later in the install process. A totally statically compiled kernel wouldn't need this, but hardly anyone makes a totally static kernel. Finally, to update the initrd.img (which may not be needed, it wasn't in my case), unzip it, mount it (a CRAMFS FS) and copy that to somewhere. You can't modify a CRAMFS image. Update any modules or other binaries you really need to and then create a new CRAMFS image, gzip it, etc, and replace initrd.img. If you haven't replaced any critical boot modules (and by default there aren't any on the standard initrd.img) then there is no need to replace it. The only reason to do all this is that you need a different kernel. The one in the OSCAR 3 image is very old (2.4.18?) and doesn't correctly support a lot of modern devices. The version in the one I made was (from memory) based on Red Hat 9's 2.4.20-20.9 kernel. Again that is now getting old, but is fine for Dell PE1750's. Frank On Wed, 2004-12-08 at 14:00 -0500, OSCAR wrote: > I got this working using Frank Crawford's boel_binaries.tar.gz, > initrd.img, and kernel. (Jason Hlady was kind enough to pass them > along, thanks) > > I've read documentation at systemimager.org and I can't find anything > describing how to modify these files to make them work with other > hardware platforms. I know what the files are, but is there a process > to follow when modifying/creating them? The initrd.img has something > different than the initrd.img that's created by mkintrd -v on the same > hardware. I don't know if there is anything special about the kernel. > Boel_binaries.tar.gz appears to be a subset of the modules, binaries, > and libs. Were they manually tar/zipped by someone or is there a > utility for grouping them or is there a repository some place where > updated ones are placed? > > Sorry...I'm kind of spewing off here, but I really want to understand > how this works better. > > Thanks, > > John > > -----Original Message----- > From: OSCAR > Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 10:46 AM > To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' > Subject: PXE Boot PowerEdge 1750 with tg3 > > I am trying to load a cluster of 1750s and running into > problemd with the PXE boot. From the posts I've read I need a > new kernel, initrd, and boel_binaries. Can anyone point me to > instructions for how these are made up to work with different > hardware platforms? > > The current situation is that I've copied the initrd and > kernel from my headnode to the /tftpboot directory and am > using the original boel_binaries.tar.gz file. I get a kernel > panic on the nodes when they boot because they can't find the > hard drive. I presume this is due to the fact that I have a > raid controller in my headnode, but not in the compute nodes. > Hence the image is pointing to a boot device that doesn't > exist. > > -- ac3 Suite G16, Bay 7, Locomotive Workshop Phone: 02 9209 4600 Australian Technology Park Fax: 02 9209 4611 Eveleigh NSW 1430 ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://productguide.itmanagersjournal.com/ _______________________________________________ Oscar-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/oscar-users ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://productguide.itmanagersjournal.com/ _______________________________________________ Oscar-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/oscar-users
