Compaq DS 10 Boot and module load problems
boris gerlach
I have here an Alphaserver DS10 from Compaq with
SRM Console and SUSE 7.1 alpha editiom running.
*(No alphabios, no OpenVMS, no True64 UNIX, no NT4 no NT5
no Remote console...)*
ONLY SRM and SUSE alpha 7.1
After setting enviroment variablen I'm able to boot with CD1
from CD-drive using aboot without entering the SRM console anymore
but then I come into the Linux Installation menue and have to load the
Kernelmodule de4x5 for my ethernetdevice
called (Digital equipment DE 500) This module I have to reload manually
every time I boot the server. After I loaded this and some othe modules,
I start the system and can work.
If I do not load this module my ethernetcard remains inactive and can't
be used to reach the network.
The server is from a colleague who is not reachable anymore and also
manuals etc are not sufficiant available.
Question 1:
Can I boot the server without using the CD1 from SUSE may be
via HD (my bootpartition is hdc1 but this is not known by the SRM
console. SRM console allowes only physical media like floppy CDROM
or eth0 eth1 and so on) or via Floppy bootdisk?
Question 2:
Is it possible to load the kernelmodules what I load manually
during the boot session automatically every time I boot?
The goal is:
I want switch on the server without CDROM and boot and login
on the KDE desktop without any other action?
Is this possible?
BR
Boris Gerlach
Staffan Tjernstrom
than that nasty AlphaBIOS crap.
First of all I'd suggest you upgrade to SUSE 8.1 (the network
installation is available on ftp.suse.com under the
discontinued/supplementary tree).
There is also lots of documentation specifically for Alpha (although
it's that US coloroued hat thing, stuff like booting still holds true)
on the iso at
ftp://ftp.sharcnet.ca/redhat_alpha_7_2/RedHat-7.2-alpha-docs.iso
For question 1:
First of all, you have to know where your boot partition and root
partition are, assuming they are not one and the same (but you still
have to know where they are).
I'm going to assume that you're using SCSI disks?
With the system up and running, go to
/boot/etc
There you'll find a file called aboot.conf
For example (taken from my machine, so your values will be different)
this will contain lines like
0:1/vmlinuz-2.6.12-1.1447_FC4axp initrd=/initrd-2.6.12-1.1447_FC4axp.img
root=/dev/sda2 rhgb quiet
1:1/vmlinuz-2.6.12-1.1447_FC4axp initrd=/initrd-2.6.12-1.1447_FC4axp.img
root=/dev/sda2 rhgb quiet console=ttyS1
The number before the colon is the number you would give in the -flags
argument to the boot command (set boot_osflags = <n> will set the
default)
the number following the colon is the index number of the disk that
holds the boot partition (in this case the sda device)
What you have to make sure of is that you have an entry that matches
your configuration.
Then, at the SRM prompt, all you have to do is say
set boot_osdev <harddisk>
set boot_osflags <line number from aboot.conf as described above>
Now, with those values set, all you have to do at the SRM prompt is
type
b
and you'll start the boot process.
If you really want to short-cut everything, you can even set the
auto_action SRM variable to BOOT rather than HALT, and now you'll boot
straight away from power on.
The SRM documentation (as well as lots of DS10 documentation) can be
found on the HP website, by looking under AlphaServer. There's nothing
too much missing there that I can think of. It's also worthwhile
googling comp.os.vms for answers to any questions, as that's quite an
active group
(and also I feel that the hobbyist Alpha OpenVMS kit is far saner to run
than linux on a supported Alpha such as a DS10 in any case, especially
since the arrival of the GNV toolkit that allows for semi-painless
compilation of GNU sources)
As far as question 2 goes, this is pretty simple, yet complicated.
The problem is that you need an initrd file in addition to your kernel
when you boot. You'll probably already have one since generally the SCSI
controllers aren't part of the kernel, but modules added in. Follow the
generic procedure for building an initrd file (same recipe as on say a
x86 POS) and you should pick up the DE500 (tulip) driver automatically.
Certainly, if you go through the SUSE 8.1 install, it will do it all for
you, and get you set up.
Hope this helps.
boris gerlach
At first thanx
> Certainly this is possible, in fact since you have SRM it's a lot easier
> than that nasty AlphaBIOS crap.
>
> First of all I'd suggest you upgrade to SUSE 8.1 (the network
> installation is available on ftp.suse.com under the
> discontinued/supplementary tree).
>
> There is also lots of documentation specifically for Alpha (although
> it's that US coloroued hat thing, stuff like booting still holds true)
> on the iso at
>
> ftp://ftp.sharcnet.ca/redhat_alpha_7_2/RedHat-7.2-alpha-docs.iso
>
> For question 1:
>
> First of all, you have to know where your boot partition and root
> partition are, assuming they are not one and the same (but you still
> have to know where they are).
>
> I'm going to assume that you're using SCSI disks?
No. I run one Fujitsu MPD3108 AT IDE 10,8 GB device
>
> With the system up and running, go to
>
> /boot/etc
>
> There you'll find a file called aboot.conf
>
> For example (taken from my machine, so your values will be different)
> this will contain lines like
>
> 0:1/vmlinuz-2.6.12-1.1447_FC4axp initrd=/initrd-2.6.12-1.1447_FC4axp.img
> root=/dev/sda2 rhgb quiet
> 1:1/vmlinuz-2.6.12-1.1447_FC4axp initrd=/initrd-2.6.12-1.1447_FC4axp.img
> root=/dev/sda2 rhgb quiet console=ttyS1
I can see here one line:
1:1/boot/vm_24gz ro root=/dev/hdc1
Nothimg more
If I switch the boot_osflags to 1 the boot doesnt work anymore
>
> The number before the colon is the number you would give in the -flags
> argument to the boot command (set boot_osflags = <n> will set the
> default)
>
> the number following the colon is the index number of the disk that
> holds the boot partition (in this case the sda device)
>
> What you have to make sure of is that you have an entry that matches
> your configuration.
>
> Then, at the SRM prompt, all you have to do is say
>
> set boot_osdev <harddisk>
This variable doesnt exist in my SRM console
I have only a boot_dev variable
If I try to set this boot_dev to hdc1 it is not allowed
error boot_dev protected from attemted operation appears
> set boot_osflags <line number from aboot.conf as described above>
>
> Now, with those values set, all you have to do at the SRM prompt is
> type
>
> b
>
> and you'll start the boot process.
Its not possible
>
> If you really want to short-cut everything, you can even set the
> auto_action SRM variable to BOOT rather than HALT, and now you'll boot
> straight away from power on.
I did it but its only possible to boot from CD
>
> The SRM documentation (as well as lots of DS10 documentation) can be
> found on the HP website, by looking under AlphaServer. There's nothing
> too much missing there that I can think of. It's also worthwhile
> googling comp.os.vms for answers to any questions, as that's quite an
> active group
>
> (and also I feel that the hobbyist Alpha OpenVMS kit is far saner to run
> than linux on a supported Alpha such as a DS10 in any case, especially
> since the arrival of the GNV toolkit that allows for semi-painless
> compilation of GNU sources)
>
> As far as question 2 goes, this is pretty simple, yet complicated.
>
> The problem is that you need an initrd file in addition to your kernel
> when you boot. You'll probably already have one since generally the SCSI
> controllers aren't part of the kernel, but modules added in. Follow the
> generic procedure for building an initrd file (same recipe as on say a
> x86 POS) and you should pick up the DE500 (tulip) driver automatically.
>
> Certainly, if you go through the SUSE 8.1 install, it will do it all for
> you, and get you set up.
>
> Hope this helps.
Not complete :-)
Boris
Staffan Tjernstrom
> Staffan Tjernstrom wrote:
>
>
> > I'm going to assume that you're using SCSI disks?
>
> No. I run one Fujitsu MPD3108 AT IDE 10,8 GB device
Alphas will only generally boot off of SCSI devices (or the floppy disk)
when running in SRM.
Still a few ways we can get this to work.
1/
I can't offhand remember, but I'm assuming that you'll have some form of
SCSI controller somewhere in the system.
Go out on eBay and pick up a 4GB SCSI-2 disk, they're practically free
these days for the shipping. You'll probably also need a 50-pin to
68-pin converter card (they can be had for around $10-$15 if not
cheaper).
Then do an install and place the /boot partition on the SCSI drive, and
you can have the rest of your partitions on the IDE drive (you may wish
to place the swap partition on the SCSI drive, or just use SCSI of
course). Even 9GB drives are cheap enough these days.
2/
If you want to keep the CD-ROM drive free during the boot, you can boot
from the floppy drive (although this does entail swapping between 2
diskettes during the boot process).
3/
I don't know if the DS10 supports AlphaBIOS at all (or indeed if it
allows for booting from IDE devices). If it does there'll be a download
image somewhere on the AlphaServer portion of the hp website.
Just want to check one thing here, are we dealing with a DS10, or a
DS10L?
We'll get there...
Staffan.
Keith Harwood
> On Thu, 2006-11-23 at 11:56 +0100, boris gerlach wrote:
>> Staffan Tjernstrom wrote:
>>
>>
>> > I'm going to assume that you're using SCSI disks?
>>
>> No. I run one Fujitsu MPD3108 AT IDE 10,8 GB device
> This is the root (pardon the unintentional pun) cause of your problem.
>
> Alphas will only generally boot off of SCSI devices (or the floppy disk)
> when running in SRM.
My DS10 boots perfectly well from IDE disks.
boot dqa0 -fl 0
If I remember rightly ( a dubious prospect at the best of times) SUSE uses a
very old version of aboot. Get a more modern one (0.9b is the latest, I
think) and use that. All the information on what to boot and where is in
the aboot.conf. The -fl value is passed to aboot and it selects the
appropriate line from /etc/inittab.
boris gerlach
> Staffan Tjernstrom wrote:
>
>
>>On Thu, 2006-11-23 at 11:56 +0100, boris gerlach wrote:
>>
>>>Staffan Tjernstrom wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>I'm going to assume that you're using SCSI disks?
>>>
>>>No. I run one Fujitsu MPD3108 AT IDE 10,8 GB device
>>
>>This is the root (pardon the unintentional pun) cause of your problem.
>>
>>Alphas will only generally boot off of SCSI devices (or the floppy disk)
>>when running in SRM.
>
>
> My DS10 boots perfectly well from IDE disks.
>
> boot dqa0 -fl 0
I use exactly this command string to boot.
But in my system dqa0 is the CD-Rom drive.
The IDE device is not shown on the SRM console.
I will try to follow the proposals and give you an info.
> If I remember rightly ( a dubious prospect at the best of times) SUSE uses a
> very old version of aboot. Get a more modern one (0.9b is the latest, I
> think) and use that. All the information on what to boot and where is in
> the aboot.conf. The -fl value is passed to aboot and it selects the
> appropriate line from /etc/inittab.
Thanks
Boris