How install a Redhat 6.0 on a old Compaq Proliant 2000 ( or 1000 )

I will tell you a story about an old Compaq Proliant. Once upon a time an old Compaq Proliant (1996 ) which was abandoned in a corner of the office. It had a Pentium 66 Mhz ( yes with the bug ! ), a Smart RAID 5 controller on the EISA bus, and an Adaptec SCSI controller with a NCR53C710 chip.

In april 1999, Redhat 6.0 was announced to work with the Compaq system.I tried to install Linux with the Redhat bootdisks but they don't work
with the cpqarray.o driver.

With luck, I found a distribution list on the Net at this URL :  http://cpqlin.van-dijk.net/mailarchive/    (old site : www.yps.org/compaqandlinux/) .

After few weeks of  battle and help from the distribution list users, I installed  Redhat 6.0 on my old Proliant. In my penguin quest for the Compaq, I've found some interesting links :

Diederick van Dijk page : http://www.van-dijk.net
Smart2 patch : http://www.insync.net/~frantzc/cpqarray.html
DAC960 patch : http://www.dandelion.com/Linux/DAC960.html
NCR53C710 patch : http://www.sleepie.demon.co.uk/ncr53c710/index.html
Richard Black's site, http://www.geocities.com/rlcomp_1999.
The Smart-2 driver for Linux is now (and has been for some time) maintained by Compaq's Storage Products Division. The official home of the driver is :
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/products/drivers/linux.

Here is the procedure in detail to prepare the install on a Compaq Proliant 2000:

• Make the Redhat bootdisk with boot.img from the Redhat CD.

• Copy the new Kernel to the Redhat bootdisk ( MS-DOS format ). A kernel 2.2.10-ac10 can be download here .

• Start on with the SmartStart CD or the floppy disk "Compaq System Configuration" and verify what irq your NCR controller is set to.

Also remember that whenever you update a ROM or add new hardware, you need to get and run the latest SCU (System Configuration Utility).
The System ROM and SCU are available at:
http://www.compaq.com/support/files/server/us/index.html

Bios / System ROM:
http://www.compaq.com/support/files/server/us/download/7548.html

SCU ( may get old ):
http://www.compaq.com/support/files/server/us/download/8657.html

Go under the system config. Select view or edit details. Find your Embedded SCSI controller. You may have to hit F6 to dig up the IRQ it's using. When you find the IRQ,replace 14 in the line below with your actual IRQ.
e.g. : smart2 : slot 6
        controler SCSI : slot 9, irq 11

• Boot with your "Boot redhat" and at the boot prompt type:

linux smart2=adress sim710=addr:adress,irq:number
e.g. : linux smart2=0x6000 sim710=addr:0x9000,irq:11

• For the partition choices, it's recommended to have the first partition at or less than 1023 blocks (~ 300 Mb ).You can create a root partition and other partitions for /usr, /var, /home, etc...

• If the installation of LILO boot loader onto the the Master Boot Record crashes, you could terminate the installation and reboot with the "rescue"

disk.

• The creation of a "rescue" disk doesn't work correctly during installation, so you could create a new one or download it here .

• Reboot with the "Rescue" disk and start your Proliant.

• Copy the Kernel 2.2.10-ac10  and create a new LILO.

That's all folks, Your old Proliant is now "Powered by Linux".
You could complile a new Kernel to integrate your network card.

How create a "rescue" disk on a Redhat !

It's a script "/sbin/mkbootdisk" which permits the creation of a "rescue" disk after the installation of Redhat.

e.g. : /sbin/mkbootdisk --verbose 2.2.10-ac10

But the script doesn't make it properly because there is a bad path to /dev/ida

To create the special "rescue" for the Proliant :

1. /sbin/mkbootdisk --verbose 2.2.10-ac10
2. mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
3. download the script MKDEV.ida here .
4. copy the script in /mnt/floppy/dev
5. cd /mnt/floppy/dev
6. ./MKDEV.ida
7. Modify the file /mnt/floppy/etc/lilo.conf
         boot=/dev/fd0
         timeout=100
         message=/boot/message
         prompt
         image=/vmlinuz-2.2.10-ac10
                 label=linux
                 root=/dev/ida/c0d0p1
                 append="smart2=0x6000 sim710=addr:0x9000,irq:11"
         image=/vmlinuz-2.2.10-ac10
                 label=rescue
                 append="load_ramdisk=2 prompt_ramdisk=1"
                 root=/dev/fd0
         image=/vmlinuz-2.2.10-ac10
                 label   =c0d0p1
                 root    =/dev/ida/c0d0p1
         image=/vmlinuz-2.2.10-ac10
                 label   =c0d0p2
                 root    =/dev/ida/c0d0p2
etc..
8. execute LILO : lilo -r /mnt/floppy

Congratulations : to participants at the correction of the new Kernel ( Smart 2 et NCR53C710 ) ( Michael, Richard, Antony, Ragen, Diederick, ... )
 

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