FILE NAME: mem_hotadd_sles7-1.0-1.i386.rpm TITLE: Hot-Add VM patch VERSION: 1.0 LANGUAGE: English CATEGORY: Software - System Management DIVISIONS: Industry Standard Servers (ISS) PRODUCTS AFFECTED: ProLiant DL760 G2 Proliant DL740 OPERATING SYSTEM: SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7 (32 bit) (linux kernel smp 2.4.7) PREREQUISITES: Proliant DL 760 G2 or Proliant DL 740 Latest system ROM Memory HotPlug driver Note: Please visit the following URL to upgrade the ROM http://www.hp.com/support/files/ EFFECTIVE DATE: 04/11/03 ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION ALLOWED: YES SUPERSEDES: None DESCRIPTION: This RPM Package contains the Hot Add Memory (HAM) VM kernel patch for use with HP Servers (with Memory Hotadd capability) mentioned in the PRODUCTS AFFECTED section of this document. ENHANCEMENTS/FIXES: None Table of Contents ================= Introduction Packaging Installing Source RPM Package Uninstall Limitations Notes Introduction ============ The mem_hotadd kernel patch along with the Hot-Add Memory (HAM) module and the hardware specific memory hotplug driver, provides Hot Add Memory support for the Linux system. This file describes the Linux Hot-Add Memory VM patch for the HP Servers mentioned in the PRODUCTS AFFECTED section. Packaging ========= The patch is released in a RPM format. The file name for the package is mem_hotadd-.i386.rpm. Successful installation of this RPM is dependent on the following :- * Presence of the Linux kernel source tree. Please setup the kernel source tree in /usr/src/, before installing this RPM. Installing the source RPM Package ================================= Please make sure that kernel source RPM is installed on the system. Depending on the Linux distribution, install the Hot-Add Memory VM RPM (this will patch the kernel source tree) # rpm -ihv mem_hotadd-.i386.rpm Enabling memory hot-add feature ------------------------------- 1. Go to the directory where Linux kernel sources are present. # cd /usr/src/ will depend on the Linux distribution and the kernel version installed - For RH 2.1AS, it might be linux-2.4.9-e.3 For SLES7, it might be linux-2.4.7 2. Save the current configuration settings to a different location. # cp .config config.save NOTE: If no prior kernel builds were done in this directory, the file .config may not exist. 3. Run the kernel configuration utility. # make xconfig 4. Enable the 'High Memory Support' feature. (Memory hot-add support depends on this). From the Main Menu, select 'Processor type and features'. Click on the button next to 'High Memory Support'. In the drop-down list, select '64GB-highpte'. If '64GB-highpte' is not present, please select the option '64GB' 5. Enable the memory hot-add feature. In the 'Process type and features' menu, select 'y' against the option 'Hot-add memory support'. Click on 'Main Menu' to go back to the top-level menu. 6. Make any other changes to the configuration as required for your system. 7. Save the configuration and exit the configuration utility. From the main menu, click on the 'Save and Exit' button. A pop-up window appears with additional kernel build information. Click 'OK' to exit the configuration utility. Building and installing the Linux kernel ---------------------------------------- NOTE: The user should have the knowledge of building the linux kernel, initial ram disk, loadable modules etc. The following steps are listed as an example. 1. Execute the following commands to build the Linux kernel and modules. # cd /usr/src/ # make dep # make clean # make bzImage modules modules_install If required, compile and build an initrd image to use with the new kernel. 2. Copy the newly built kernel (and initrd image, if required) to the boot directory. # cd /usr/src/ # cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-hotadd # cp System.map /boot/System.map-2.4.7-hotadd # cp initrd.img /boot/initrd-2.4.7-hotadd.img 3. Modify the boot loader configuration file to add the new kernel. NOTE: Below is a sample entry, if you are using LILO as the boot loader. Please modify the appropriate boot loader configuration file on your system - image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-hotadd label=linux-hotadd root=/dev/cciss/c0d0p3 NOTE: The above entry is only a sample and may not be correct for your system or configuration. Please look at already existing entries in /etc/lilo.conf and duplicate those lines to create a new entry for "image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-hotadd". The value for "label" should be unique. 4. Modify the 'default=' line in /etc/lilo.conf as: default=linux-hotadd This will set the new kernel as the default boot image. 5. Execute lilo to update the boot configuration. # /sbin/lilo 6. Reboot the system. Cleaning up a failed installation --------------------------------- If the installation of memory hot-add RPM fails, a clean-up is necessary before attempting the installation again. Execute the following command: # rpm -e mem_hotadd Ignore any messages that are printed. No further action is necessary. Uninstall ========= NOTE: Please save the following instructions before uninstalling the memory hot-add package. This file will also be removed when the package is uninstalled. 1. Remove the memory hot-add RPM. # rpm -e mem_hotadd 2. The memory hot-add patch is removed in the above step. So the kernel has to be rebuilt. Execute the following commands to do this: # cd /usr/src/ # cp config.save .config NOTE: Skip this step if the original configuration settings were not saved. # make xconfig Verify that 'Hot-add Memory Support' option does not appear under Main Menu -> Processor type and features. Verify that all other configuration settings are correct for your system. Save the configuration and exit. # make clean # make dep bzImage modules modules_install # cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz # cp System.map /boot/System.map 3. Update the boot loader configuration file. Following steps are an example, if you are using LILO as the boot loader. Please make appropriate changes to configuration file depending on the boot loader you are using. Example ------- Edit /etc/lilo.conf and modify the 'default=' line as: default=linux 4. Execute lilo to update the boot configuration. # /sbin/lilo 5. Reboot the system. 6. If ths system boots with the default kernel, it is safe to remove the kernel and associated files built when memory hot-add patch was installed. E.g # rm /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-hotadd # rm System.map-2.4.7-hotadd # rm -rf /lib/modules/2.4.7-hotadd* 7. Edit /etc/lilo.conf to remove the entry corresponding to the label 'linux-hotadd'. Execute /sbin/lilo to update the boot configuration. Limitations =========== This release supports hot adding 256 and 512 MB DIMMs. Hot addition of 1 GB DIMMs will be supported in the next release of mem_hotadd RPM. Notes ===== Please note that if you have installed any RPM that upgrades a kernel driver by installing binary drivers, there are a few additional steps you might have to carry out. Here is an example of the CCISS driver RPM - The CCISS RPM installs binary drivers in /lib/modules//... After installing the mem_hotadd RPM and rebuilding the kernel as mentioned in section "Building and installing the Linux kernel" above, the CCISS driver will be replaced with the one in the kernel tree. You will lose the CCISS driver that you installed from the CCISS RPM. The recommended procedure to update CCISS drivers on patched kernels is mentioned in the CCISS RPM documentation. Here is a section from that documentation - "Special actions are required if you have modified the default kernel configuration that Red Hat ships for their Red Hat Advanced Server 2.1 product. If you have modified the default kernel configuration you will need to rebuild the kernel to use the updated drivers after installing the RPM with the --noscripts option. For directions to patch the existing driver and rebuild your kernel please refer to the Red Hat documentation. The driver patches will be available in a gzipped tar file in the /opt/compaq/storage_drivers directory after installing the RPM with the --noscripts option." The above procedure will update the cciss driver source in the hotadd kernel tree. This will make sure that the correct driver gets built, each time the hotadd kernel is built. Please follow similar procedure for any other binary kernel modules that you have upgraded on your system. Copyright 2003, Hewlett-Packard company. All rights reserved. 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