RHEL5 on rx2660 - Install abort

[RW Hart]

I've been attempting to install RHEL5 AS on an rx2660 (Itanium) system with no success. If it matters, this is a text-based (MP console) install over the network (http).

The intial install dialogs all behave normally, but when it gets to the "Checking package dependencies..." message, I get a python exception and the following traceback:

File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/packageSack.py", line 594, in returnNewestByName raise PackageSackError, 'No Package Matching %s' % name

File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/packageSack.py", line 299, in returnNewestByName return bestofeach.returnNewestByName(name)

File "/usr/lib/anaconda/yuminstall.py", line 998, in getBestKernelByArch


I haven't been abel to turn up anything useful with google. Is this a known issue? Is a workaround available?

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

1) Try a media install.
2) Make sure the system firmware is up to date.

SEP

[RW Hart]

I'm burning CDs for a media install now. Will let you know if the results are any different.

I haven't been able to determine if my firmware is current or not. The support BIOS/Firmware download page for the rx2660 doesn't list ANY versions of System, MP, EFI, or BMC firmware. I guess this means there have been no updates to any of these since the product first shipped?

FWIW, here's what SYSREV says I'm running right now:

Current firmware revisions

MP FW : F.01.58
BMC FW : 05.02
EFI FW : ROM A 05.65, ROM B 05.65
System FW : ROM A 01.05, ROM B 01.05, Boot ROM A
PDH FW : 50.04
UCIO FW : 03.0a
PRS FW : 00.08 UpSeqRev: 01, DownSeqRev: 01

[RW Hart]

More information: The media-based install makes even less progress than the http-based one. It gets to the point where it has determined the layout for partitioning, and then aborts with

The mount point "/boot/efi" is already in use, please choose a different mount point.

At which point I'm forced to reboot.

[TY 007]

Hello,

>> If it matters, this is a text-based (MP console)

It might matters, especially for RHEL on Itanium. Hit into similar issue few years back. Got to install in GUI Mode. Possible installer not fully tested in text-based installation.

Thanks

[Colin Butcher]

Hello,

The most recent firmware update for the rx2660 [Firmware - System 01.05A (ISO) (3 Aug 2007)] contains "System 01.05, BMC 05.06, and
iLO-2 MP F.01.58 " and supersedes "System 01.05, BMC 05.02, and iLO-2 MP F.01.58 ".

See here: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=3346452&prodNameId=3346456&swEnvOID=54&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ux-52904-1 has a new firmware update ISO image.

I do wish that the firmware update procedures were better documented, that the entire firmware (including all associated devices such as the SmartArray controllers) were on a single ISO image and especially that a complete firmware revision history were available.

When working on mission-critical systems we often test and qualify the entire platform, including specific firmware versions. It's important that they be consistent and that we know what they are.

The AlphaServer family are much better to work with in this respect - the single CD ISO image contains all the firmware components you need for the systems and the IO boards - and they're a consistent set of versions.

Cheers, Colin (http://www.xdelta.co.uk).