Issue with Creating driver diskette for RHEL 6 (x86_64) using HP SmartStart CD 8.7 for DL380 G7

[riva_gupta]

I created driver diskette for RHEL 6 for HP Proliant DL380 G7 Server using the SmartStart CD ( I used the SmsrtStart CD in a RHEL 5 OS to create driver diskette using the HP SUM utility)

When I used the driver diskette for RHEL 6.1 installation it says the driver diskette created is invalid. The following screen is shown(attached).

Kindly help.

[riva_gupta]

U can also see the error as an image file if the the above document is not opening.

[riva_gupta]

I have also tried creating the driver diskette from HP SmartStart 8.70B and also from HP's website:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=3709945&prodSeriesId=4268682&swItem=MTX-a3d5869a28a04bfaba29230cf6&prodNameId=4268597&swEnvOID=4103&swLang=8&taskId=135&mode=4&idx=1

But the same error :(

[Matti_Kurkela]

There are two possible reasons for the error:

• If you are installing on RHEL 6.1, you must use the newest version of the driver. The version included on the SmartStart CD is good for RHEL 6.0 and its errata kernels only. The newest version is available here:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=3709945&prodSeriesId=4268682&swItem=MTX-cda68f906c194e3b8e63cd0428&prodNameId=4268597&swEnvOID=4103&swLang=8&taskId=135&mode=4&idx=1

• This is a driver for SmartArray B110i, which is generic AHCI SATA controller equipped with HP-specific BIOS and drivers to implement RAID functionality in a way that is compatible to other SATA-capable SmartArray models. Because RHEL already includes a basic AHCI driver, you must specify the boot option "blacklist=ahci" when booting the installer.

When desiging the Driver Disk feature, RedHat assumed that driver disks would be used mainly to add drivers for new hardware that is not yet supported with the standard RHEL kernel. But in this case, you must replace the generic AHCI driver with the SmartArray B110i specific one. Therefore, the "blacklist=ahci" boot option is an absolute requirement to install this driver.

[Jimmy Vance · Accepted solution]

Generally driver disks contain driver modules built for specific kernels. Depending on the driver, something created for RHEL 6.0 may not work with RHEL 6.1.

For the DL380 G7 and RHEL 6.1 you shouldn't need any drivers disks to install the OS.

Someone else provided information on using the B110i driver. While the information on using the driver is correct This driver does not apply as the B110i controller is not available on the DL380 G7

[Matti_Kurkela]

Oops, you're right Jimmy. The link provided by riva_gupta pointed to a RHEL 6.0 version of the SmartArray B110i driver, and I answered without thinking if it makes sense with the stated model. My mistake.

The right driver diskette for DL380 G7 would be here:

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?sp4ts.oid=4091432&spf_p.tpst=psiSwdMain&spf_p.prp_psiSwdMain=wsrp-navigationalState%3Dlang%253Den%257Ccc%253DUS%257CprodSeriesId%253D4091412%257CswItem%253DMTX-30cf1b633a02400095983b17e5%257CprodNameId%253D4091432%257CswEnvOID%253D4103%257CswLang%253D8%257Cmode%253D4%257Cidx%253D1%257Caction%253DdriverDocument&javax.po...

...but as indicated by the Release Notes, it is for RHEL 6.0 and its errata kernels only.

Since there is no newer driver disk available for RHEL 6.1, and the cciss driver is open-source, it probably means RedHat has already included the updated cciss driver to RHEL 6.1 installation images. So a driver disk will not be needed for this server model if you're installing RHEL 6.1 or newer.

(This is actually very common: when a new server model is announced, it might initially need a driver disk, as the hardware is newer than the newest available RHEL release. But if the required driver/update is open-source, RedHat often includes it in their next update release, so that the driver disk requirement will be removed. Other enterprise Linux distributions do the same.)