[TriLUG] server install

[Joel Ebel]

I have an x-series 346 that I've installed RHEL3, RHEL4, debian, and 
slackware on.  No suse.  Sorry. :)  The one thing that really posed a 
problem was the radeon module for xorg.  This may not be a problem with 
suse, but with redhat the graphical installer didn't work since it tried 
to use the radeon module.  I had to install in text mode.  Do you have 
the serveraid 7k controller in it, or are you doing software raid?  The 
raid manager can be a little tricky for the serveraid.  Do you have the 
rsa2 card?  If you want to be able to shut down the system with the rsa2 
card you'll want the ibmusbasm driver from ibm.  If you run into 
something, let me know.  I may have already had to find a solution.

Oh... one more thing.  Avoid BIOS version 1.07.  It broke hyperthreading 
support.  There are like 8 different firmwares you should make sure are 
up to date.  BIOS, diagnostics, baseboard management controller, RSA2 
firmware (if you have the rsa2 card), broadcom firmware, hard drive 
firmware, serveraid firmware, and serveraid bios.  Maybe if you don't 
have the serveraid there's another bios update for the scsi controller. 
  I'm not sure.  The update Xpress cd can boot up and make sure most of 
them are a relatively recent version, but even it is a little outdated. 
  Just make sure you have a BIOS that doesn't destroy your 
hyperthreading support.

Joel

unctux at nc.rr.com wrote:
> If anyone has any helpful hints please feel free to pass them forward.
> Tonight I am going to dive into new waters. I am going to, after many
> years of desktop installs, attempt to install SUSE 9.3 on an ibm x346
> server, with 4(150GB EACH) scsi drives that were previously set up as
> raid5 with windows before i got it, and to add to the degree of
> difficulty I have never had to luxury of dealing with installs on scsi
> controllers. This is a monster machine, 600 GB, dual processors(although
> only one is installed at this moment)3.4 Xeon, 1GB RAM with 7 more slots
> to fill. So if anyone has any helpful hints I am all ears, or if you
> would like to wait for the "cries for help" to come in that is fine
> also, b/c I am sure they are forthcoming. 
> 
> LINUX==LIVE OR DIE!!!!!!!