How to install Red Hat 5.2 on a Compaq with a Smart Array Controller
Preface
If you don't need
Red Hat 5.2
absolutely I suggest you use
Red Hat 6.x
which has support for the Smart Array Controller in his installation disks.
Usefull links and help for installing Red Hat 6.x you find
here
(choose 'Red Hat on a Compaq Proliant' and go to the bottom of the page)
In this paper I try to explain how you can install
Red Hat 5.2
from CD on a
Compaq
with a Smart Array Controller. The disks you find here aren't modified
RedHat install disks ! The disks contain a more or less 'do it yourself'
installation procedure. You have to know what fdisk, rpm , mount etc. are.
If you want to know or my disks will work on your Compaq take a look at the
'reported successful'
table.
Introduction
The installation is reported running well if you do a CD install on a Compaq
with a PCI smart array controller. It works too with a few tricks on a Compaq
with the EISA smart array controller.
If you have questions please join the compaq and linux mailing list
here.
Before asking questions on the mailing list please read my
FAQ
first.
If you want to report a successful installation or want to ask for
additional features use
this form.
Pre Installation
-
Configure your Smart Array Controller and drives with the Smartstart CD.
You should set your OS to Unixware or SCO.
-
Download my latest (version 0.50)
root
/
boot
/
install
disks images.
-
My latest beta disks (version 0.51pre1)
root
/
boot
/
install
are available. I hope that this disks have better support for the internal scsi controller. Please report
here
or this is the matter.
-
If you have trouble with the latest version you can download the previous version (0.41)
root
/
boot
/
install
of the disks images.
-
Read here the version history of the disks
-
Read this
page
if you want to modify my disks
-
Put the disks on 3 HD floppies. I assume that your floppy drive is fd0.
The commands are like this :
In Linux : dd if=cpqarray-0.50.rootdisk of=/dev/fd0 (Don't forget to
gunzip the disks first and to use blank formatted disks).
-
If you have an EISA smart array controller check on what port it is.
Installation step 1 loading all the disks needed for installation
-
Put the bootdisk in your floppy drive and (re)boot the Compaq
-
If you have an EISA smart array controller give this startup argument.:
smart2=port, eg: smart2=0x8000 (0x{port number}0000 f.e port 6 = 0x6000)
-
-
load the kernel and wait for the message to put the rootdisk in
-
Put the rootdisk in the floppy drive and press enter. If all goes well
you get the message : 'compressed image found'
-
After the rootdisk is loaded into the memory you can replace it with the
install disk
-
Mount the install disk : mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
-
Put your RedHat 5.2 CD into the CD drive and mount it : mount /dev/hda /mnt/cdrom
You should use this : mount /dev/sda? /mnt/cdrom , if you have an old
Proliant with a SCSI CD-rom
-
Ok all is ready for installing RedHat.
Installation step 2 making the partition(s)
-
First you have to make partitions on your compaq : fdisk /dev/ida/c0d0
I usually make one big root partition and a swap partition. Later,
after the installation, I make the /usr /home etc. partitions. For an explanation
for making partitions see the RH manual.
If you want to use my install script you should make one big root partition
(about 300 MB) and a maximum swap partition of 127 MB.
-
After you did this you should make a symlink do the big root partition:
ln -s /dev/ida/c0d0px /dev/rootpart (where x is the number of the partition)
-
If you have decided to make more partitions, I have two examples in the
array FAQ for you. This
first example,
contributed by Tate Bloom, creates the partitions before running the install
of Red Hat. The
second example
creates the partitions after the install of Red Hat.
Installation step 3 running the install script
-
Now you can execute the install script : /mnt/floppy/install.sh
-
Here is the install script. The install scripts does a minimal install
of RedHat 5.2. It doesn't install any X-server for example. It does install
the kernel source and the gcc and egcs compilers. If you want to do the
install the installation by typing the commands yourself it can be a useful
guideline.
#!/bin/bash
echo "Creating ext2 root partition"
mke2fs /dev/rootpart
echo "Check the filesystem"
e2fsck -f /dev/rootpart
echo "Mount root filesystem"
mount /dev/rootpart /mnt/compaq
cd /mnt/floppy
./rpminstall.sh
cp -f /mnt/floppy/etc/network /mnt/compaq/etc/sysconfig
echo "Installing modified lilo and kernel"
cp -f /mnt/floppy/etc/lilo.conf /mnt/compaq/etc
cp -f /mnt/floppy/etc/fstab /mnt/compaq/etc
cd /mnt/floppy/RPMS
rpm --root /mnt/compaq --nodeps --force -Uvh compaqarray-patch-1.1-1.i386.rpm
cd /mnt/compaq/etc
/mnt/compaq/sbin/lilo -r /mnt/compaq
echo "Installation complete, check /etc/fstab and /etc/lilo.conf"
echo "Do not forget to unmount the following devices when you are ready"
echo "/mnt/compaq , /mnt/floppy , /mnt/cdrom"
Post Installation
-
Don't reboot just yet. You have to do some checking.
-
Check your /mnt/compaq/etc/fstab. You should check or the right c0d0px
entry is there for the root partition
-
Check your /mnt/compaq/etc/lilo.conf. You should check or the right c0d0px
entry is there. If not, correct it and run /mnt/compaq/sbin/lilo -r /mnt/compaq
-
Ok, now you can reboot the compaq. Don't forget to remove the floppy and
unmount the following devices :
-
/mnt/compaq
-
/mnt/cdrom
-
/mnt/floppy
-
If all has gone the right way your Compaq boots with RedHat Linux.
-
The swap partition isn't formatted. Format it with this command :
mkswap /dev/ida/c0d0px (where x is your swap partition) . Don't forget
to put an entry in the /etc/fstab for it.
-
The installation is ready. Now you can make additional partitions like
/usr and you can add the rpm's you want.
Paper created at 18 March 1999 by Diederick van Dijk , last modified at