Solaris install on BL460 G6 can't find disk

[BryanBlackwell]

I'm setting up some new G6 blades with the latest Solaris 5/09 iso. The installer comes up, I get through the questions, but then the installer throws a "no disks found" error and quits. It seems it should at least find the internal drives and then I could add the array driver after installation.

Thanks for any hints.

[Michal Kapalka (mikap)]

Hi,

check this link if your Server is supported.

http://h20338.www2.hp.com/enterprise/cache/492635-0-0-0-121.html

mikap

[BryanBlackwell]

Yes, it's on the supported list. The only notes say that 10GbE is supported now, Flex-10 by July. But I'm installing from an iso, not over a network, so that shouldn't be any problem.

[Michal Kapalka (mikap)]

Hi,
did you try o install a OpenSolaris instead of Solaris ?

mikap

[Michal Kapalka (mikap)]

Hi,

which version of solaris did you installed ?

mikap

[BryanBlackwell]

OpenSolaris is not an option. I'm using Solaris 10 x86 5/09 - in other words the absolute latest.

[Michal Kapalka (mikap)]

hi,

yes you are yusing the latest.


check he link :

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=3884099&prodTypeId=3709945&prodSeriesId=3884098&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=2023

for solaris 10 x86 drivers


mikap

[BryanBlackwell]

Thaks, I have extensively reviewed what's out there. I'm a little stuck on creating a Solaris 10 bootable iso and installing. If anyone's done this and can give me a quick set of steps I'd appreciate it.

[Michal Kapalka (mikap)]

hi,

use ILO to mount the image on your computer.

mikap

PS : ilo on blade are free of charge.

[BryanBlackwell]

Ok, I figured it out, so I'm posting some hints in case someone else is doing this. Generally, the HP Deployment Guide is very accurate, and should be thoroughly reviewed. I did successfully build a blade from scratch and use it as a JumpStart server to install the other blades.

1 - The Solaris Miniroot has a small problem that will keep the disk driver from loading. You must remove the stale lock file /tmp/AdDrEm.lck before installing the additional drivers.

2 - This wasn't in the original question, but there's a newer NIC in the G6 blades we are using that has an updated driver (BRCMbnxe-4.8.11) that you need with the 10GbE NICs.

3 - Those 10Gb NICs, BTW, wouldn't connect to our old 1Gb Cisco enclosure switches. I was trying one in an old enclosure until the new one was installed.

4 - You need to configure only one connection for each physical NIC in the Virtual Connect Manager. Solaris doesn't appear to recognize the virtual interfaces.

Hope that helps someone else.

[James Roberts-Thomson]

Hi Bryan,

I've also been trying to get Solaris 10 5/09 running on BL460 G6 Blades without any success. I have integrated the CPQary3 driver, both v2.1.0 and the newly released v2.2.0 into the miniroot, have installed Solaris successfully, BUT my servers keep randomly locking up after some period of time with messages like " WARNING: CPQary3 : Smart Array P410i Controller HBA firmware Locked !!!" followed by "WARNING: CPQary3 : Please reboot the system". Are your systems stable?

Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Thanks!

[BryanBlackwell]

Hi James,

Ours have been stable (so far :-) The driver I'm using looks a little older than yours, I believe it came with the HP Resource kit. Here's the package listing:

/hp-drivers/CPQary3.pkg.404> pkginfo -l CPQary3
PKGINST: CPQary3
NAME: HP Smart Array Controller Driver
CATEGORY: system
ARCH: i386
VERSION: 1.9.0,Rev=2008.03.31.01.09
BASEDIR: /
VENDOR: Hewlett-Packard Company
DESC: HP Smart Array Controller Driver
PSTAMP: neches030924165540
INSTDATE: Jul 07 2009 01:54
HOTLINE: Please contact your local service provider
STATUS: completely installed
FILES: 17 installed pathnames
13 shared pathnames
11 directories
2 executables
322 blocks used (approx)

Hope that helps.

[James Roberts-Thomson]

Hi Bryan,

>VERSION: 1.9.0,Rev=2008.03.31.01.09

Hmmm... Now I'm confused, as I needed at least v2.1.0 before I could even see the disks... I was using v2.0.0 on a G5 blade and that didn't work on the G6.

Oh well, I'm working with HP to get this stability issue solved.

[Rich Bryant]

Did anyone find the fix for the "no disks found" message during the install of x86 on a blade. and yes we're using the iLO or we wouldn't have gotten that far.. lol..

[James Roberts-Thomson]

Hi Rich,

You'll need modify the miniroot on whatever your booting from in order to add the CPQary3 driver. The easiest way of doing this is from network-based jumpstart, but be aware that you may also need to add network drivers to the miniroot too.

Suggest you read the HP Deployment Guide (http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01153970/c01153970.pdf) and take it from there. This guide is pretty comprehensive.

James.

[BryanBlackwell]

Hi Rich,

Part of the problem is getting that first one running. We have a VMWare farm, so I was able to use that to bootstrap the whole process - you can either use one for a JumpStart server or at least to build a bootable DVD. Basically, the stock Sol 10 DVD is missing two pieces, the disk and network drivers. If you don't have a system to build on in the first place, then you have to add the driver during the installation process. I forget the exact step, but you should be able to find it in the Solaris documentation.

Once you get that first box up, you can then follow the directions to create a custom miniroot that will boot.

[Rich Bryant]

I got the initial install running by adding the driver during the "Apply driver updates" section of the initial install. Now can you point me to the procedure to modify the miniroot for subsequent reboots? Thanks all..

[BryanBlackwell]

Ok, this is mostly cribbed from the various documentation, here are the three pieces I needed for our setup:

HP Driver Installation into miniroot
Once the base JumpStart server is complete, add the HP driver packages to a new miniroot for booting:

/boot/solaris/bin/root_archive unpack \
/export/jumpstart/OS/Solaris_10_x86_2009_05/boot/x86.miniroot /var/tmp/mr

Note: Remove the stale lock file from /tmp of the unpacked miniroot:

rm /var/tmp/mr/tmp/AdDrEm.lck

pkgadd -R /var/tmp/mr -d /export/jumpstart \
/Packages/hp-drivers/CPQary3.pkg.404 CPQary3

pkgadd -R /var/tmp/mr -d /export/jumpstart \
/Packages/hp-drivers/BRCMbnxe-4.8.11-solaris10-i386/bnxe/BRCMbnxe.pkg \
BRCMbnxe

pkgadd -R /var/tmp/mr -d \
/export/jumpstart/Packages/hp-drivers/HPQnetstrategy.pkg HPQnetstrategy

/boot/solaris/bin/root_archive pack /var/tmp/x86.miniroot.new \
/var/tmp/mr

cd /export/jumpstart/OS/Solaris_10_x86_2009_05/boot

mv x86.miniroot x86.miniroot.stock

mv /var/tmp/x86.miniroot.new x86.miniroot

chmod 444 x86.miniroot

Boot DVD Image Creation
A boot image that includes the HP drivers is required to build a server from scratch.

Create a directory to use as a staging area:
mkdir /var/tmp/sol-u7-iso

Copy Solaris from the media:
cd /cdrom/sol_10_509_x86; tar cf - .| (cd /var/tmp/sol-u7-iso; tar xfBp -)

cd into the staging directory:
cd /var/tmp/sol-u7-iso
Copy drivers for later installation:
cp -rp /export/jumpstart/Packages/hp-drivers .

Copy miniroot:
cp -p ../../iso/x86.miniroot ./boot/.

cd up one level.
cd ..

Create the image:
mkisofs -R -b boot/grub/stage2_eltorito -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -o solarisboot-dvd.iso sol-u7-iso
Boot ISO Creation
A custom boot ISO will further automate the installation.

Create a directory to use as a staging area:
mkdir -p /var/tmp/iso/boot/grub
cd /var/tmp/iso/boot/grub

Copy required boot file:
cp /boot/grub/stage2_eltorito .

Create the grub menu (use sample file below):
vi menu.lst

Move to the root of the new ISO:
cd /var/tmp/iso

Copy miniroot and multiboot files:
cp /tftpboot/I86PC.Solaris_10-1/x86.miniroot .
cp /boot/multiboot .

cd up one level.
cd ..

Create the image:
mkisofs -R -b boot/grub/stage2_eltorito -no-emul-boot \
-boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -o solarisboot.iso iso