iSCSI Boot HP DL360 G5 w/ HP NC373i

[Rafael Hinojosa]

Hello,

I've spent the last week trying to iSCSI boot linux off of the internal NIC on a HP DL360 G5.

I started by applying all firmware and BIOS updates using the HP Firmware Update CD (8.60) and configured the NIC to use the iSCSI Option ROM. Once I did that, I booted from the local install and updated the HP iscsi boot uilities from 1.1.0-6 to 1.1.2-0.

I modified the iscsi-boot.cfg file and uploaded it to iLO2 using the specified instructions.

Initially, I have ran into two issues that I have managed to work around.

1) Attempting to connect to the VIP (virtual IP) of our SAN (an HP LeftHand SAN) will not work. I was able to perform a packet capture, and I suspect that the Option ROM will not accept the redirection of IPs. Has this been confirmed? As I understand it, the VIP is used as an initial IP for which clients communicate to the SAN (a traffic cop of sorts). Once they can establish a connection, the VIP (a manager or co-manager) redirects the request/client to an actual SAN module for its LUN. I am able to work around this by providing the IP address of a specific module in the iscsi_boot.cfg file, instead of the VIP. Once again, I ask if this has been confirmed?

2) I suspect that the port on our networking hardware (Cisco Catalyst 3750) is not initializing the network connection fast enough for the NC373i Option ROM to initialize the iSCSI network & login to the target. For the moment, I have been able to stick a 10 BaseT hub to get around this issue (and sniff packets). We will try to adjust the port to hard wire the speed & duplex to see if this will resolve the issue. If it does not resolve this issue, is there anyway to delay the NC373i's connection or to define a number of reconnection attempts?

So, at this point, I have a somewhat working Option ROM iSCSI boot, in that I can connect to the iSCSI LUN. I can present the connected LUN to the RHEL installer and install, but I still cannot boot an OS this iSCSI LUN.

I followed the instructions for creating a KickStart floppy and have been able to start the RHEL installation onto the iSCSI LUN but I am still running into problems.

I first attempted an RHEL 5.1 install onto the iSCSI LUN. The install started out fine, but failed to run the post installation scripts from the floppy, leaving me with a /boot partition that had no kernel image.

My second attempt was to install a newer version of RedHat (RHEL 5.4). This time the install finished & was able to run the post install scripts from the ks floppy. However, when it came time to boot from iSCSI, the Option ROM establishes network connection & logs into the target but does not get past the GRUB initialization. I'm just presented with GRUB on the screen, no prompt, just GRUB and the system locks up. My next attempt will be to try and re-install GRUB on the iSCSI LUN that we wish to boot from and flail around for a while to see if I can get this system booting.

Has anybody else ran into these problems? Can anyone suggest any fixes to my issues?

Thanks,

--Raf

[Anselm Wenner]

if the port of the cisco 3750 come up too slow a

int Gi X/0/X
spanning-tree portfast


can help.

i have had a simular problem with pxe
with dc5800 systems