DL380 health monitor with current Linux

[Alan Dayley]

I have inherited a Compaq Proliant DL380 G1 server.

It had Windows NT 4.0 on it. When first powered up, the fans were full blast and loud. By the time the login screen was displayed, the fans had down shifted to a much quiter level. Fine.

I installed OpenSUSE 10.1 from CDs, formating the hard drives in the process. (Not that I am married to OpenSUSE for this server, it was just handy and recent.) It went relatively well with the fans screaming at full speed the entire time. Now, SUSE boots and appears to be working fine but the fans don't downshift. It's too noisy.

I found that it needs the health monitor driver. The driver download page for the system, http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/family/model/1122.html?lang=en&cc=us&prodSeriesId=254889 lists support for "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1" or "UnitedLinux 1.0/SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8" as the newest version distros.

So finally we reach my questions:
1. Is there any other source for the "hpasm" health program for the DL380 running a more modern distro or kernel?
2. Is there a different program somewhere that can provide this same functionality on a recent Linux?
3. If the answer is negative to the above, must one then run the older supported distro on the hardware?
3a. If so, how is such a distro made secure and fully maintained (patches, fixes, etc.)?
3b. If so, is it a given that this system should not be used as an Internet facing server?

I have other small issues with the server but the fan speed noise control, along with the associated questions above, could make or break it's current intended use.

Alan

[Al_56]

l would go with a currently supported OS, and since you are not married to SUSE l would recommend RedHat Enterprise Linux (or the free open source version of it CentOS (www.centos.org).

Then all HP drivers are current.

Running an older unsupported version of any distro makes patching very challenging and time consuming. They are almost never patched to the same level as currently supported distro's, and as such both security and stability are lacking. l would avoid it if at all possible.

Plus you'll miss all of the benefits of the later distributions such as SELinux (security) and the system management and configuration tools lacking in the old distro's.

Not sure what you'll be using the server for, but if you intend running VMWare on it, do not install the other drivers as they taint the kernel in a way that affects VMWare badly. The kernel tainting o the HPASM module does not affect VMWare.

l would then enable SELinux during OS install and use Bastille to lock the server down and secure it.

Regards,

Alan

please assign points if this post has been helpful.

[Alan Dayley]

Thanks for the reply.

You state that I should go with a current Linux, for all the good reasons, so that the HP drivers will also be current.

I agree but have one final confusion to resolve before I pick another distro.

The driver downloads for newer Linux distributions on the HP site are listed under sections for new or current hardware. For example the RHEL 4 drivers are listed under the DL380 G4. You are saying that these drivers will work on my DL380 G1?

[Alan Dayley]

Update with progress but another issue.

On the advise here, the CentOS IRC channel and from my Linux User Group, I re-installed the OS with CentOS 4.3, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux clone. I then downloaded the PSP for RHEL 4 from the DL380 G3 page. I got the "HP Proliant Linux Deployment Utility" to start by doing the following as root:

- Copy the /etc/redhat-release file to /etc/redhat-releaseOrg (making a backup)

- Edit the /etc/redhat-release file to read "Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES 4 (Nahant)" to match the string that the install752.sh script will look for.

- Excute the command 'ln -s /usr/src/kernels/2.6.9-34.0.1.EL-i686 /usr/src/linux-2.6.9-34.0.1.EL' to create a symbolic link to the kernel source in the place where the script expects to find it.

- Excute the install752.sh script.

At this point I get the utility's main window and the sub window stating "Please wait while the component XML files are parsed" with a spinning life indicator. This window sits there forever and goes no further.

Back in the root shell, a 'ps aux | grep hp' command shows:

root 929 0.0 0.0 32416 732 pts/4 Sl 03:53 0:00 ./hppldu
root 937 0.0 0.0 0 0 pts/4 Z 03:53 0:00 [hpplduparserss]
root 938 97.2 0.0 52964 804 pts/4 Sl 03:53 1:25 ./hpplduinstallerss MG
root 939 0.0 0.3 57012 3476 pts/4 Sl 03:53 0:00 ./hpplduioss MG
root 940 0.4 0.2 34724 2084 pts/4 Sl 03:53 0:00 ./hpplduverchkdbss MG
root 944 0.0 0.0 22236 668 pts/4 Sl 03:53 0:00 ./hppldudepchkss MG

Note that hpplduparserss is marked as defunct. I don't think the parser is going to continue!

The last entry in /var/log/hppldu.log is:

The ProLiant Support Pack for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 v7.52 installation is now in progress.

******************************************************************************************

Any ideas on how I proceed past this issue?

[Alan Dayley]

(Replying to self with partial resolution to last issue.)

I got the hpasm*.rpm to install by doing 'rpm -Uvh hpasm*.rpm" as root. It installed, went through the initialization and configuration steps. Now the fans are not so noisy!

I don't know what else I am missing for not being able to run the full install script but at least this first problem is solved.

Alan

[Mark Hassman]

I had the same issue.. made it as far as waiting indefinitely for component XML files to be parsed. The fix was to replace the string in /etc/redhat-release with:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release 4

After this change, the HP PSP loaded & installed without issue. I'm on CentOS 4.4 w/HP PSP v7.60.

-Mark