How install a Redhat 6.1 on a old Compaq Proliant 2000 ( or 1000 )

How install a Redhat 6.1 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.

Since Redhat 6.1 was ready,.I decided to reinstall with this distribution.I can't start directly from the CD, so i use my method. Kernel 2.2.12-20 don't include Adaptec SCSI controller. If you install RedHat 6.1 in the Proliant, use the Kernel 2.2.13 or greater who integrate Smart2 patch and NCR53C710 patch.

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/) .

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.

On Linux	on M$Win
dd if=/mnt/cdrom/images/boot.img of=/dev/fd0	rawrite d:boot.img a:

Copy the new Kernel to the Redhat bootdisk ( MS-DOS format ). A kernel 2.2.12-20 can be download here .
( A kernel 2.2.12-20 with the NCR53c8xx chipset can be download here .)

On Linux	on M$Win
mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy -t msdos cp vmlinuz-2.2.12-20 /mnt/floppy/vmlinuz	copy vmlinuz-2.2.12-20 a:vmlinuz

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

first screen, click CANCEL for choice of "Driver Disk"
next screen, click DONE for "I don't have any special device drivers loaded for your system. Would you like to load some how ?"
next screen , select language
next, select keyboard
next, choose "Custom System"
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...

Here is the schema used :

/ 300 Mo ext2 c0d0p1

/usr 860 Mo ext2 c0d0p3 (partition p2 is use for

extended partitions )

/var 250 Mo ext2 c0d0p4

/home 300 Mo ext2 c0d0p5

Swap 64 Mo Swap 2xRAM ; my RAM is 32 Mo

Continue install

choice partitions to format

options options of boot

choice startup

Master Boot Record ( MBR )

choice options lilo ( you can type option -> smart2=0x6000 )

choice network

choice mouse

choice Time zone

choice password

choice normal users

choice authentication

choice packages

choice X-windows

choice Rescue Disk ( Answer Yes )

choice Files

Stop to Step : Creation of "Rescue Disk".
Go to a console ( ALT + F2 ) et type commands to modify LILO :

/mnt/sysimage/usr/sbin/chroot /mnt/sysimage --> New root

cd ----> back to root

vi /etc/lilo.conf

Modify lilo.conf

      boot=/dev/ida/c0d0 ---> indicate the disk for boot
                               ( d0 for first disk ...)
      map=/boot/map
      install=/boot/boot.b
      prompt
      timeout=2             -----> timeout
      default=linux

      image=/boot/vmlinuz ---> symbolic link vmlinuz
              label=linux
              append = "smart2=0x6000 sim710=addr:0x9000,irq:11"   ---> famous options to
                                                                        pass to kernel
              initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img
              read-only
              root=/dev/ida/c0d0p1     ---> indicate the
                                root partition / or partition /boot

/sbin/lilo -v
( ou /sbin/lilo -v -P fix )

you CAN copy the Kernel in /boot at this step :

Put the "Rescue" Disk ( download it here ) in the floppy driver.

mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floopy
cp /mnt/floppy/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20 /boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20
/sbin/mkinitrd -v -f /boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img 2.2.12-20
umount /mnt/floppy

go back to Install screen ( ALT+F1 )

Creation of LILO is ok but the Kernel isn't upgraded, you could terminate the installation and reboot with the "rescue"

disk.

If it wasn't make , you could make a "rescue" disk during installation , but you could create a new one or download it here .

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

If you have jump the step, copy the Kernel 2.2.12-20 and create a new LILO.

cp /mnt/floppy/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20 /boot
cd /boot
rm vmlinuz
ln -s vmlinuz-2.2.12-20 vmlinuz
Modify lilo.conf

boot=/dev/ida/c0d0
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
prompt
timeout=2
default=linux
image=/boot/vmlinuz
        label=linux
        append = "smart2=0x6000 sim710=addr:0x9000,irq:11"
        initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img
        read-only
        root=/dev/ida/c0d0p1

/sbin/lilo ( ou /sbin/lilo -P fix )

That's all folks, Your old Proliant is now "Powered by Linux".

You could compile 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 2.2.12-20

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 :

/sbin/mkbootdisk --verbose 2.2.12-20
mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
download the script MKDEV.ida here .
copy the script in /mnt/floppy/dev
cd /mnt/floppy/dev
./MKDEV.ida
Modify the file /mnt/floppy/etc/lilo.conf

boot=/dev/fd0

timeout=100

message=/boot/message

prompt

image=/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20

label=linux

root=/dev/ida/c0d0p1

append="smart2=0x6000 sim710=addr:0x9000,irq:11"

image=/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20

label=rescue

append="load_ramdisk=2 prompt_ramdisk=1"

root=/dev/fd0

image=/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20

label =c0d0p1

root =/dev/ida/c0d0p1

image=/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20

label =c0d0p2

root =/dev/ida/c0d0p2

etc..

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, ... )

Come back